Збірка перекладів поезій Валерія Брюсова (1925) за редакцією Бориса Якубського є в українській
літературі середини 1920-х років одним із найцікавіших перекладацьких проектів, присвячених
українсько-російським літературним зв’язкам. Переклади зробили Микола Зеров, Максим Рильський,
Павло Филипович. У цій статті на основі нових архівних документів реконструйовано історію
створення цієї збірки, зроблено спробу осмислити головні напрями рецепції творчості В. Брюсова
в Україні 1920-х років, уперше друкуються раніше не відомі архівні джерела.
In the mid-1920s, there were several translated books addressing Ukrainian-Russian literary relations.
One of the most notable of them was the poetry book "Valerii Briusov. 1873–1924", edited by the researcher
and literary critic Borys Yakubskyi. The poems were translated into Ukrainian by neoclassic poets Mykola
Zerov, Maksym Rylskyi, and Pavlo Fylypovych. The preface was written by Borys Yakubskyi. This book also
included the translated Ukrainian article of Russian communist politician Yurii Kamenev. It is unknown
who translated the article as there was no information about its author.
In this article, new archival documents are considered which may refute a popular version of history of
the translated poetry book "Valerii Briusov. 1873–1924" (1925). This version was edited by translator and
researcher Hryhorii Kochur. In his paper "Translated Works by Neoclassical Poets" (1991), he claimed the
book "Valerii Briusov. 1873–1924" was prepared by poets in the early 1920s and was completed in 1923
(the date of Briusov’s 50th anniversary). But Kochur got acquainted with the neoclassic poets only in 1930s,
so he could make a mistake. Consequently, the letter of Soviet Ukrainian critic and communist Volodymyr
Koriak, which was enclosed in this article, indicates that the book was initiated by the Ukrainian State
Publishing House in October of 1924 and was completed within one month. The manuscripts of Briusov’s
poems translated into Ukrainian by Zerov confirm our hypothesis.
Also, in this paper we try to reconstruct the historical and literary contexts of the reception of Briusov’s
works in Ukraine during the 1920s. All in all, we can summarize that this reception was ambiguous. On the
one hand, Briusov was considered the master and innovator of the poetic forms; he also was the leader of
Russian symbolists and the teacher of a young generation of the post-revolutionary poets; he explored
European culture. On the other hand, we have noted the negative reaction to Briusov’s activity in Ukraine
as a military correspondent in Russian newspapers when the Russian troops invaded Galicia in 1914 during
the First World War.
In appendixes, Koriak’s letter and the little-known Briusov’s poem translated into Ukrainian by
Fylypovych have been enclosed.
