  shaposhnikova-vi-vestnik-2026-1.pdf |
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- Victor Hugo’s poetry collection Les Orientales (1829) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s West-Östlicher Divan (1819): on the problem of the literary context of French Orientalism of the 1810–1830s
- Shaposhnikova V.I. Victor Hugo’s poetry collection Les Orientales (1829) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s West-Östlicher Divan (1819): on the problem of the literary context of French Orientalism of the 1810–1830s. Vestnik of Kostroma State University, 2026, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 106–109. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2026-32-1-106-109
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2026-32-1-106-109
- УДК: 821(44).09”19”
- EDN: ETDHER
- Publish date: 2026-01-20
- Annotation: Victor Hugo’s “Eastern Poems” and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s “West-Eastern Divan” are separated by ten years. Goethe’s name became well-known in France in 1770s due to the publication of “The Sorrows of Young Werther” and “The Erl-King”, with the latter influencing much of French Romantic poetry. “West-Eastern Divan”, translated into French for the first time in 1835, was not well-received. This article explores the first translation of “West-Eastern Divan” into French, as well as the difference in the portrayal of the East in “West-Eastern Divan” and in Hugo’s “Eastern Poems”, which was received differently by Hugo’s contemporaries. The article reaches a conclusion: “West-Eastern Divan” which was written as a dialogue of equals between West and East, in accordance with Goethe’s ideas of “world literature”, was not seen as something that fit into Romantic point of view. Hugo’s “Eastern Poems”, inspired by the Greek War of Independence, affirmed poetic freedom, as well as Romanticism’s prevalence in contemporary literary circles.
- Keywords: Victor Hugo’s “Eastern Poems”, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s “West-Eastern Divan”, Romanticism, Orientalism.
- Literature list: Morua A. Olimpio, ili jizn’ Victora Gugo [Olimpio or Victor Hugo’s life]. Moscow, Inostranka Publ., 2021, 672 p. (In Russ.) Tolmachev M.V. Svidetel’ veka Viktor Gugo [Witness of the century Victor Hugo]. Moscow, Pravda Publ., 1988, 295 p. (In Russ.) Baldensperger F. Goethe en France. Paris, Hachette, 1904, 392 p. (In French) Besson A. Victor Hugo: Vie d'un géant. Paris, France Empire, 2001, 456 p. (In French)