Seymour Mayne, Cusp: Word Sonnets, translated into Russian by Mikhail Rykov, Saint-Petersburg, Silver Age, 2019, 146 pages

Abstract

A review of the Russian translation of a word sonnet volume by University of Ottawa professor Seymour Mayne. Mikhail Rykov's rendering of Mayne's word sonnets shines a remarkably bright light on how the inherent nature of the Russian language moulds poetry translations from English.

Being a pioneering endeavor of its kind, it can teach "the writing Russian reader" a new way to treat the traditional European sonnet form.

Keywords

• Seymour Mayne
• word sonnets
• poetry translation
• Russian
• English