Reception of K. D. Balmont's Works in China

Bai Yan ORCID: 0000-0003-0530-5471 Postgraduate Student; Department of Russian and Foreign Literature; Peoples' Friendship University of Russia Miklukho-Maklaya str., 6, Moscow, 117198, Russia publikaysiya@mail.ru

Introduction

Konstantin Balmont is one of the most famous symbolist poets of the Silver Age of the Russian literary process. His poetry is imbued with romance, spirituality and beauty, which attracts the attention of readers and scientists from all over the world. Chinese scientists were no exception in the field of research interest in the literary legacy of this author, and back in the 1920s they began to pay attention to Balmont's work.

The relevance of studying the reception of K. D. Balmont's work in Chinese literary criticism is objectified by a number of reasons, among which the strengthening and expansion of ties between Russia and China in many areas of the life of states, including in the field of humanitarian knowledge, is becoming central. In turn, the translation activity and the study of the literary work of the author in question is one of the priorities for the Chinese literary school, since the symbolist poet is spiritually close to the culture of China, and his symbols and images used in poetry correspond to the ideas of the Chinese philosophy of Taoism.

The study of the problem

To date, the problem of the reception of K. D. Balmont's work in China has not been the subject of a special scientific analysis. Science has not developed a periodization of the activities of Chinese translators and researchers to explore the creative heritage of the Russian symbolist poet. In this regard, the author of the article studied a whole range of works by Chinese specialists who in one way or another come into contact with poetry and the creative activity of the artist of the word in question in order to present the results of the work of the Chinese literary school in the stated direction.

The scientific novelty of the study is determined by the fact that for the first time the periodization of the activities of Chinese translators and literary critics who studied the work of K. D. Balmont is presented, as well as the typology of works that raise the question of the work and biography of the named poet is determined.

Goals and objectives of the study

The purpose of this work is to analyze the state of translations and research of the work of the Russian symbolist poet K. D. Balmont in China. In this regard, the author solves the following tasks:

1) to present a periodization of the activities of Chinese translators and literary critics in mastering the poetry of K. D. Balmont and briefly describe the fundamental works devoted to the designated topic;

2) to formalize the typologization of existing works on the poet's work in China;

3) to identify the main problems and limitations in the process of mastering the creativity of the author in question in Chinese literary studies.

Research methods and techniques

The research is based on such research methods as comparative-historical, comparative-comparative and descriptive. The comparative historical method proved to be in demand in the process of periodizing the activities of Chinese translators and literary critics to master the work of K. D. Balmont.

The theoretical significance of the work is determined by the introduction into scientific circulation of research on the literary heritage of the author in question, unknown to Russian scientific circles, published in China.

The practical significance of the research lies in the fact that its results may be in demand in further scientific understanding of the problem of reception of K. D. Balmont's creative heritage in China.

The main part

The history of translations and research of K. D. Balmont's works in China goes back more than a hundred years. Currently, more and more Chinese scientists are beginning to pay attention to the literary legacy of the poet known as the "Singer of the Sun." Balmont, as the founder of the theory and practice of Silver Age symbolism, wrote 35 poetry collections and 20 prose books, made a unique contribution to the development of poetic art, which undoubtedly enriched the treasury of Russian literature. His contemporary and well-known literary critic Valery Bryusov notes in his article "Balmont" that "among modern poets, Balmont is undoubtedly the most significant– both in terms of his spontaneous talent and his influence on literature ^{[4, p. 36]}.

In general, the research of Balmont's work in China can be divided into the following three periods:

1) the initial stage of perception (from the 1920s to the 1930s);

2) the era of stagnation (from the 1930s to 1978);

3) the stage of special attention (from 1978 to the present).

The first person in China to pay attention to Balmont is Qu Qiubai. He is a well-known Chinese literary critic, writer and translator. In his book "The History of Russian Literature", written during his stay in Russia from 1921 to 1922, Qu Qiubai notes: "Although Balmont was an active modernist, he often praised only such abstract things as "boundless, eternal, high," and never mentioned real life" ^{[9, p. 58]}. And here Qu Qiubai already points out that Balmont is a pantheist poet.

Later, Zheng Zhendo (郑振铎) briefly described Balmont in the monograph "A Brief History of Russian Literature", published in 1924. He mentions the changes in Balmont's creative style. The researcher believes that Balmont is a modern decadent (during his initial entry into the literary world), but later his style changed, which made the Russian author the greatest poet and the "king of poetry" in modern Russia. Zheng Zhendo mentioned Balmont's most significant poetry collections such as "Burning Buildings", "We will be like the Sun", "Only Love", "Under the Northern Sky" ^{[14, pp. 133-134]}.

Comparing the opinions of Qu Qiubai and Zheng Zhengduo, we find that Zheng Zhengduo, based on the idea of Qu Qiubai, compared Balmont with other symbolist poets (Zinaida Gippius, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Fedor Sologub, Valery Bryusov), highly appreciating his creative manner and contribution to Russian literature, and also began to pay attention to specific works the poet. However, it should be noted that neither of these researchers published works focused on the analysis of Balmont's works, but only presented him as a contemporary poet with a clear literary talent.

However, it should be noted that this can be considered as the first attempts by Chinese literary critics to understand and perceive Balmont's literary legacy. During this period, there was not even a single translation of Balmont's name in China, but there were different translations. These brief information about the poet in research papers devoted to the literary process of Russia as a whole did not arouse much response from readers of that time, so Balmont and his work did not have an impact on Chinese literature of that time.

Between the 1930s and the 1970s, China experienced political and social hardships such as the Cultural Revolution, Civil War, and famine. At this stage, the literature of the Silver Age was gradually leaving the field of view of Chinese scientific circles, and Balmont's research was also in a state of stagnation. It was only after the "policy of reform and openness" began in China in 1978 that the study of the legacy of the Russian symbolist gradually began to resume.

In 1978, Yu Wei published an article in the World Literature magazine entitled "The Soviet Union is restoring the reputation of the decadent poet K. D. Balmont," which revealed evidence of Balmont's "rebirth" in his homeland. Famous Chinese literary critics and translators Cheng Hairong and Gu Yunpu translated Balmont's article on the theory of symbolism, "Elementary Words about Symbolic Poetry." Subsequently, from the 1990s to the present, many translated collections of Balmont's poetry have appeared in China, which is the basic research material for studying the work of the author in question.

In 1998, Wang Jianzhao published his own translation, Selected Poems of the Russian Silver Age, which translated 16 poems by Balmont from the most popular and significant poetry collections ("Under the Northern Sky" (1894), "Silence" (1897), "Burning Buildings" (1900)., "Let us be like the Suns" (1903), "Only Love" (1903), "Sonnets of the Sun, Honey and the Moon" (1921) ^{[6, pp. 38-53]}. In 2000, the famous Chinese translator of poetry Gu Yunpu selected poems by poets of the Silver Age and published a translation with the same title, Selected Poems of the Russian Silver Age. Unlike the previous translation, which simply lists poets and their works, in this translation the authors are divided by the Chinese literary critic into different chapters according to literary schools (symbolism, acmeism, futurism), and Balmont, as one of the most prominent representatives of symbolism, is placed in the first chapter with other symbolist poets (Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Valery Bryusov, Andrei Bely, Alexander Blok, Maximilian Voloshin). Comparing two Chinese collections of poems, we come to the conclusion that the second translator, Gu Yunpu, translated the poems ("I caught the departing shadows with my dream...", "I dream of the Sea and the deep Sky...", "The Swan") from another poetry collection by Balmont "In the Vastness" (1895) ^{[7, pp. 23-38]}.

In 2014, the outstanding translator Gu Yu selected 150 of Balmont's poems and published a collection of translations, Fragrance of the Sun. Selected poems by K. D. Balmont" ("太阳的.. 巴尔蒙特诗选»). Although this is a small part of Balmont's work, this is the first translation specifically dedicated to his poetry.

In 2021, another book of translated poetry was published, "I came to this World. Selected poems by K. D. Balmont" ("我来到这世界. 巴尔蒙特诗选»). Its author, the famous translator Guan Yinguang, selected 254 poems by Balmont from his early poetry and the most significant poetry collections "Burning Buildings" (1900), "Let us be like Suns" (1903), "Only Love" (1903), "The Liturgy of Beauty" (1905). In all the translations, the translators invariably chose poems about the sun ("I came into this world", "Let's be like the sun! Let's forget about ...", "The Fragrance of the sun"), which to some extent reflects one of the most important aspects of the research interest of Chinese scientists in the works of Balmont.

As for Balmont's research and his work, as of December 2024 (since 1978), the search engine on the Chinese electronic resource platform CNKI showed that there are 51 works dedicated to Balmont, including the symbolism of the sun, the features of symbolism in the work of the Russian symbolist, and the musicality of his lyrics. Based on the existing material, the work on the study of Balmont's work in China can be divided into the following types::

1) Works dedicated to the life and creative path of the author. Zhang Bing (张冰) in the article "The King of Poetry – K. D. Balmont" briefly talks about Balmont's rich life experience and emphasizes the unique charm of his poetry. Later, this literary critic in his monograph "Russian Literary Trends and Schools of the Silver Age" notes that Balmont is a theologian-philosopher, and his central idea is the self ^{[11, p. 92]}. And here Zhang Bing mentions the influence of contemporaries (mainly V. Solovyov) on Balmont. Wang Jianjian gives a detailed description of Balmont's creative path, and notes that the symbol of the sun and the theme of the "victory of the sun over darkness" permeates the poet's entire life ^{[5, pp. 35-36]}. Other scholars Gu Yu, Zhou Qichao, and Zeng Siyi also pay attention to Balmont. Among them, Zeng Siyi divides Balmont's poetry into three periods and analyzes the features of poetry at each stage. In these scientific works, researchers focus on the biography and creative evolution of the poet, which is of great practical importance for further analysis of the features of Balmont's works.

2) Research devoted to the analysis of the style and features of Balmont's poetry. Based on the content of existing works, it should be noted that Chinese literary critics pay special attention to the musicality of the author's poems, the use of symbols (mainly the symbol of the sun), the meaning of the moment. First and foremost, you should identify the work of Zhou Qichao (周启超) ("Silver age of Russian literature" ("白银时代俄罗斯文学研究") and Zeng Sii (曾思艺) (monograph "the Study of Russian poetry" ("俄罗斯诗歌研究"), which emphasizes musicality and philosophy of the moments in the work of Balmont. In the future, the way the sun caught the attention of many Chinese scientists that determined the emergence of a number of such works as "the Singer of the sun: the poetic style of K. Balmont" ("太阳的歌手--巴尔蒙特诗作风格管窥") Zhang Cecina (张克勤), "sunlight is the analysis of the symbol of the sun in the poems of Balmont" ("太阳的光辉--康·德·巴尔蒙特诗歌中的太阳意象研究") Liu Siena (刘思恩), "the Image of the sun in the poems of Russian poets-symbolists of the Silver age" ("俄罗斯白银时代诗人诗歌中的太阳意象") Mu Agen (牧阿珍).

3) Works mainly devoted to the theory and concept of Balmont's symbolism. Zheng Tiu (郑体武) in the article "The View of the Russian senior Symbolists on symbolism" notes that Balmont perceived symbolism aesthetically, and the poet focuses on fixing impressions and the beauty of the moment ^{[19, p. 30]}. He believes that according to Balmont, the poet is primarily the creator of purely artistic values. Zhang Yi, in his master's thesis "A study of symbolism in the poetry of K. D. Balmont" ("巴尔蒙特诗歌的象征主义研究"), explored the poet's symbolism in such three aspects as the factors of symbolism formation, the spiritual meaning of symbolism and the artistic features of symbolism, revealed the uniqueness of Balmont's symbolism and explored the inner spiritual meaning of the main images. In her dissertation "On Symbolism in the Poetry of Konstantin Balmont", Zhao Ye carefully explained and summarized such features of symbolism in Balmont's poetry as lyricism, musicality, and religiosity, and emphasized the importance of studying Balmont's poetry for an in-depth understanding of the general patterns of development of the poetry of the symbolists of the Silver Age. Zhu Songmei also deeply analyzed the musical, color, mystical and religious features of symbolism in Balmont's poetry. The depth of the topic's development in these works suggests that many Chinese scientists are currently showing a special interest in the explication of typical features of Russian symbolism in Balmont's work.

The results of the study

Balmont attracts Chinese researchers for the following main reasons.

First, after the implementation of the "policy of reform and openness" in 1978, Chinese scholars began to pay more attention to Russian literature. Russian Russian literary critics are interested in the modern interpretation of Russian classical literature, systematic studies of the history of Russian literature, as well as the main literary phenomena and trends. Symbolism, as the most important phenomenon in Russian modernist literature, is in the focus of attention of literary critics. Chinese scientists believe that symbolism is a symbol of the movement of Russian literature towards modernity (Zheng Tiu, Liang Zongdai). Balmont, as an outstanding representative of the senior symbolists, did not accidentally enter the field of view of Chinese researchers. In addition, Balmont always glorified such enduring values as love and life, even in difficult years, and his poetry is imbued with romance, spirituality and beauty, which, among other things, had a certain significance in solving modern problems of that time.

Secondly, the special attention of Chinese researchers to the poetry of the author in question determines the fact that Balmont himself is interested in Chinese culture and the proximity of the poet's worldview to the aesthetics of the Chinese philosophy of Taoism. In 1995, Xu Jiarong and Lyudmila Sorokina, in an article "Chinese Motifs in Russian Poetry", analyzed Chinese motifs in Balmont's The Great Nothing and argued that Chinese Taoism greatly influenced his worldview and artistic work. Gu Yu also mentions Balmont's interest in Taoism and the philosophy of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu. In addition, Balmont himself translated poems by Chinese poets and the Taoist masterpiece "Tao Te Ching" ("The Book of the Way and Dignity"). According to Gu Yu, Balmont has made a unique contribution to cultural exchanges between China and Russia.

Thirdly, the constantly updated translations of Balmont's works provide Chinese readers with the conditions for a deep perception of his poetry, understanding the concept of creativity and worldview.

However, we consider it necessary to mention that although Chinese scientific circles highly appreciated the literary value of Balmont and obtained many results, there are some disadvantages and limitations in the process of mastering the legacy of the Russian symbolist in China. Admittedly, there are still no translations of the author's prose in the country. Accordingly, Chinese literary criticism does not have works that reveal Balmont's prose legacy. Obviously, the study of Balmont's poetry still occupies a predominant place in China at present, but there remains a significant gap in this area: for example, many poetry collections have not yet been translated. Translations of K. D. Balmont's works are mainly focused on such of the poet's most significant poetry collections as "Silence", "Burning Buildings", "We will be like suns", "Only Love", "Under the Northern Sky". The analysis and research of the works is also limited exclusively to these poetry collections. The lyrical, symbolic and musical principles in Balmont's work are in the focus of attention of Chinese literary critics.

Conclusions

Based on the current state of research, we conclude that the prospects for further development of the literary heritage of the author in question are seen in a more detailed and in-depth study of Balmont's work and the reception of his works in Chinese literary studies, in particular, in the accumulation of research experience in analyzing the author's religious and philosophical ideas embodied in the work of the Russian symbolist.