Maria Spivak is known to a wide readership for the controversial and heatedly debated translation of a series of books about Harry Potter, which has been actively discussed on online forums to this day. And at the time of release, he literally divided the fans of the cult fantasy novel into two camps.
What else can you recall about the life and work of the translator?
Biography of Maria Spivak
Maria Viktorovna Spivak was born in Moscow on October 26, 1962. Already in her childhood, she knew that she wanted to be a translator. I read a lot, learned English early. Fate decreed otherwise: Maria Spivak graduated from one of the technical universities and found work in her engineering and mathematical specialty.
The crisis of the 90s helped to return to the path chosen in childhood. In the 98th, the future writer loses her job and instead of an intensive search for a new one, decides to try herself in translation.
The first translations of Maria Spivak were made exclusively for a narrow circle of acquaintances. According to the author, she turned to Harry Potter before the official Russian version of the first book was published. Her translation gained wide popularity on the Internet, readers repeatedly requested to continue publishing chapters of the story about the boy who survived.
After the full series of Harry Potter in the Spivak version was printed, the translator received a huge amount of critical reviews. Several times she received letters from aggressively-minded fans of the work with insults and threats. According to relatives, this was one of the reasons for the early departure of the writer from life - she died of a serious illness at the age of 55.
A family
Translator Maria Spivak was born in an intelligent and prosperous family. Parents considered it important to give their daughter a good education. She studied German in a language school, and English herself and in individual lessons, which was somewhat atypical in the USSR during the years of her childhood, taking into account the current political situation.
Family life
Little is known about Maria Spivak's personal life. She was married. It was her husband who first began to post on the Web translations of "Harry Potter", which initially Spivak wrote only for friends, wanting to share with them the impressions of a wonderful book.
In 2009, the translator divorced her husband, which was not easy for her.
Creation
Two novels by Maria Spivak were published: “The Year of the Black Moon”, written after a difficult divorce from her husband, and A World Elsewhere, which was published in English.
Spivak has ten translations of Rowling's books:
- "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone";
- "Harry Potter And The Chamber of secrets";
- "Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban";
- "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire";
- "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix";
- "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince";
- "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows";
- "Fantastic animals and their habitats";
- Quidditch from Antiquity to the Present;
- "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."
And more than 20 translations of other works by British authors.
Maria Spivak was awarded the Unicorn and the Lion Prize.
Fame
Some time after the appearance of the translation of the book "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by Maria Spivak on the Internet, the owners of the rights to the text contacted the woman, banning publication. However, fans reacted instantly by posting the work on another site and under a different name. So the comic pseudonym Maria Spivak appeared - Em.Tasamaya.
Ten years later, when the Rosman publishing house transferred the rights to publish the saga to Machaon, Spivak was asked to purchase her translations for a decent fee.
Spivak probably could not even imagine how many disputes would unfold around her work.
Criticism
The translation, which was initially popular on the Web, expected a flurry of criticism after acquainting with a huge audience of book fans.
It is worth noting that for the translation of M. D. Litvinova, published by Rosman, the fans also always had a lot of complaints, the main of which was the insufficiently well-transmitted style and style of J. K. Rolling.
In the work of Maria Spivak, the most discontent among readers was the translation of proper names.
According to the rules, names should be left unchanged as in the original or adapted if, from the point of view of the Russian language, they turn out to be dissonant. But even those names that Spivak did not translate into Russian, do not sound exactly as required by the rules of reading.
For example, Dumbledore became Dumbledore, although the English letter 'u' usually denotes the sound 'a', and there is no soft sign between two consonants in English. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley turned out to be the Dursleys (original Dursley).
Things were even more complicated with those names that had been translated. Much has been said about the comic effect that is created when Oliver Wood is replaced by Oliver Tree, and Batilda Bagshot by Batilda Zhukpuk.
Well and completely not accepted by the audience were the proper names proposed by Maria Spivak, which are designed to characterize the character in a certain way and are selected only in harmony with the original ones. So, the name of Severus Snape, who is called the Evil Snake, caused great indignation. This name has very little relation to the English version and is not consistent with the character's character, who does not at all personify evil, but is extremely controversial and ambiguous, in addition, a much-loved hero.
Disputes erupted even more after an interview with a writer who said that her translations were better in quality than those published by Rosman. She emphasizes that the translation of the book does not come down to adaptation of the titles and encourages readers to pay attention to the rest of the text.
However, readers have a lot of complaints about the syllable. First of all, many are annoyed by the frequent and usually inappropriate use of slang expressions. For example, Mr. Dursley calls the magical community a gop company, and Hagrid, in the presence of the children, says Filch is a "bastard."
The arrogant admirers of the Potterians continue to find speech, grammatical, stylistic errors and inaccuracies in translation in the books of the Machaon Publishing House.
Those who remember the first translations of Maria Spivak, published on the Web, say that their quality was much better before the editorial changes (the editor of "Makhaon" - A. Gryzunov). Spivak herself very restrainedly commented on these changes, noting that they were inevitable during editing.
Even after the death of the translator, discussions continue. Fans are finding all new advantages and disadvantages of the text Spivak, actively comparing it with Rosman. One way or another, currently Maria Spivak is the author of the only officially published translation of the famous saga.