The Fate of Success: Anna Radlova's Shakespeare
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46991/TSTP/2026.SI.3.133Keywords:
Anna Radlova, Sergei Radlov, Soviet Union, Soviet theater, Shakespeare, translationAbstract
Today, the discussion of Shakespeare translation in the early Soviet era typically centers on the giants Mikhail Lozinskii and Boris Pasternak, whose translations are often contrasted with Anna Radlova’s, and usually not in her favor. Indeed, Radlova experienced virtual oblivion in the Soviet postwar period and is rarely mentioned today. In the 1930s, however, Anna Radlova’s translations of Shakespeare dominated the Soviet cultural scene, and there was no more successful Shakespearean theater director than Sergei Radlov. This paper revisits the reception of Radlova’s translations and Radlov’s productions against the backdrop of the history of Shakespeare translation in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, the practice of stage translation, and the politics of translation at the height of Stalinism.
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