Marko Vovchok versus Nadezhda Stasova and Maria Trubnikova: Translation Plagiarism on Trial

• In Event: 19th-Century Russophone Women Writers IV: Literary and Other Crimes and Cons

Abstract

Between 1863 and the late 1880s, St. Petersburg became a major center for women's literary translation, with the Women's Publishing Artel (zhenskaia izdatel'skaia artel’) organized by Nadezhda Stasova and Maria Trubnikova. Marko Vovchok (Maria Markovich, 1833-1907) then founded a competing translation magazine – a successful one – also employing female translators. Maria Markovich’s success as a publisher was largely due to her competence and to her connections with the leading publishers in France. The literary magazine Perevodi luchshih inostrannih pisatelij (The Translations of the Best Foreign Writers) which she founded in 1871 in St. Petersburg faced closure after only 15 issues due to a scandal and subsequent trial. Marko Vovchok's competitors accused her of plagiarizing translations of Andersen's fairy tales, prevailing in court. Marko Vovchok was forced to close the magazine and the proposed paper speaks about the circumstances of this affair.

Author

• Polina Vladimirova de Mauny, Paris Nanterre U (France)