Evgeny Khramov - poet, translator

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Evgeny Khramov is a Russian poet. However, this figure is known in literature primarily for its translations. Thanks to Khramov, Soviet readers got acquainted with the work of such a writer as Henry Miller. The poet also translated into Russian the works of Rilke, Kipling, Galczynski.

Poetry and chess

Khramov Yevgeny Lvovich was born in Moscow in 1932. He was by no means famous as a poet. His poems are known in narrow literary circles. The main feature of Khramov was a high level of erudition, truly encyclopedic knowledge in various fields.

The parents of the future poet were chemists. Yevgeny Khramov did not follow in their footsteps, but entered the law faculty of Moscow State University. Worked as an investigator for several years. The unpoetic work of the criminologist tormented, apparently, Khramov. After all, from his youth he loved above all poetry and chess. Such different hobbies are another confirmation of the originality of this person. Yevgeny Khramov is the only poet in Russian literature who has received the title of chess master.

Expeditions to the taiga

In the sixtiesyears of the last century, many Soviet intellectuals were captured by the romance of taiga travel. Expeditions of geologists, evening songs by the fire… Young people from the Arbat, Malaya Bronnaya went on long trips in order to stock up on impressions and experience. One of these romantics was Yevgeny Khramov. At the same time, in the sixties of the last century, the first collection of poems by the young poet was published.

Pedagogical activity

Khramov's works were published in the Novy Mir magazine. He also appeared on television and radio and taught poetry workshops. The poet's students spoke of him as an unusually tactful, intelligent person. Yevgeny Khramov did not impose his point of view at literary seminars. Poems, even far from perfection, were not criticized by him. Khramov used to gently point out the shortcomings present in the works of novice authors, using examples from the works of more experienced poets.

One of the famous sayings of the poet to the audience of the seminar: “If half of you stop writing poetry in a few years, I will consider that my life was not lived in vain.”

Translation activities

Khramov was also engaged in literary translation. From time to time, works by foreign authors were published in the Novy Mir magazine. The Soviet poet translated Kipling, Rilke, Galchinsky. In particular, one of the Russian-language analogues of the German romantic poem "Loneliness" (Einsamkeit) belongs to the hero of this article.

Once an edition of memoirs fell into Khramov's handsCasanova in French. The poet was carried away by the turbulent, adventurous life of an eighteenth-century adventurer. Casanova's biography included countless adventures, an escape from prison, meetings with such historical figures as Voltaire, Catherine II. In 1991, the Olimp publishing house published a book of memoirs of the famous adventurer, translated by Yevgeny Khramov.

Casanova's memoirs were the first steps towards eroticism in Soviet literature. Khramov later translated the novel "Emmanuel", which was subsequently published by a Georgian publishing house. This time the poet performed under a pseudonym. Khramovs also translated some works of the Marquis de Sade from foreign prose. But he considered the translation of part of the trilogy "Rose of the Crucifixion" to be his main work. Khramov was also interested in the work of Henry Miller, a little-known writer in the Soviet years.

The Soviet translator translated prose from English, German, French, Polish.

The works of some talented representatives of the peoples of the USSR became known thanks to his translations. Although Yevgeny Khramov found time to create his own poetic works. All poems (“Hunting”, “I passed the field of life …”, “There is in the silence of Moscow lanes …” and so on) are contained in the following collections:

1. "Avenues and country roads".
2. "Beloved people".
3. "Sensation of color".
4. "Autumn Equinox".
5. "Where are you going people."
6. "City Life".

Politicallooks

Khramov's latest project is The Black Book of Communism. The poet claimed that he was not interested in politics. But one day, leaving the house to shop, he disappeared for several days. On Pokrovka Street that day there was a demonstration in defense of glasnost. Khramov decided to support the protesters and followed them all the way to the Belorussky railway station, where he was arrested and taken into custody for several days. Subsequently, the poet assured colleagues and relatives that participation in the demonstration was an accident, and political games would never touch his life.

Yevgeny Khramov passed away in 2001. Buried in Moscow.