Ukraińska Ania

W styczniu skontaktowała się ze mną Pani Bozhena Antonyak z ukraińskiego Wydawnictwa „Urbino”, dzięki któremu również czytelnicy na Ukrainie mogą poznać przygody Ani Shirley w swoim rodzimym języku. „Ania z Zielonego Wzgórza” ukazała się w grudniu 2012r., a dziś debiutuje szósty tom cyklu — „Ania ze Złotego Brzegu”. Dzięki uprzejmości Pani Bozheny (wielbicielki Ani!) i Wydawnictwu „Urbino” mam przyjemność zaprezentować okładki sześciu części ukraińskiej Ani, ktorych autorem jest Pan Jurij Symotiuk.

Tłumaczką „Ani z Zielonego Wzgórza”, jak i pozostałych części, na język ukraiński jest Pani Anna Wowczenko, która na moją prośbę napisała kilka słów o swojej pracy nad Anią. Bardzo dziękuję Pani Ani za to, że zechciała podzielić się swoim doświadczeniem z Czytelnikami mojego bloga.

"“Anne of Green Gables” appeared in my life mainly as a piece of an exquisite language. I started translating it and getting re-acquainted with it yet in 2012; and from the very first pages the book revealed its mysterious soul to me. So I’ve been keeping seeing my work as a try to explain its soul in Ukrainian to let Ukrainian readers see it too. And now when the 6^th part of the series, “Anne of Ingleside”, is being translated already, I still find it rather challenging to dig into the deepest mines of language (both English and Ukrainian), and catch the widest angle of Lucy Montgomery’s outlook, light and observed with smile, but still very earnest.

For me, “Anne…” series as a piece of literature is always about an ability to find the most proper and precise word to describe the ongoing life, to fulfill it, and to make it vast and thorough with senses; therefore, translating “Anne…” series for me is constant fascination with its every word, none of which is out of its place, and my efforts are aimed to reach the same effect in its Ukrainian analogue. Every clear, proper and accurate word of the book assures the reader of its genuine sincerity. So the process of translation for me is also a try to reveal Montgomery’s sincere attitude to everything she sees and shares with her readers, to life itself, to people who make it wholesome. In my opinion, it’s a much needed quality nowadays, in literature as in common life; thus, if Ukrainian analogue of “Anne…” helps anyone to open their heart to world’s greatest treasures, I will find my mission as a translator complete.

For my country, with its newest history, “Anne…” series could be the most helpful in its terminal part, “Rilla of Ingleside”.  The most keen and accurate portrait of war – for the World War I is the main character of the book – along with images of the personages, each of them being an everyday hero without even knowing that, shows us the true value of everyone’s life – life itself, with its sense in hoping for the next day with dawn to come, and faith to maintain you despite everything. This deepest Montgomery’s sympathy not only for every “Rilla…”’s character but also for every reader, provides everyone who starts the book with essential message, which is manifested from the very beginning of the very first part of the series: you are never alone with whatever you face in life, for always there is anyone to share the worst experience of yours, in the present or in the past. I think it’s the most needed knowledge to stand through all the ordeals, and thus my translation may also become a display of gratitude to Lucy Montgomery and all her characters for teaching us that here and now in Ukraine. One’s life cannot be wasted if there is a room for such lessons in it."

Pani Anna Wowczenko