Vladimir Solov’ev, traduttore di Hāfeẓ

Abstract

The essay is dedicated to the Russian translations ofHafez made by Vladimir Solov’ev in 1885. The Russian philosopher’s interest in the Persian poet is part of European, and specifically German, Orientalism, but finds a more direct origin in the Hafezian translations published by Afanasij Fet in I860. Solov’ev’s lyrics have hitherto been thought to be translations of Hafezian imitations by the German poet Friedrich Bodenstadt (Der Sanger von Schiras, Hafisische Lieder 1877). The essay shows how Solov’ev translated Hafez through Georg Friedrich Daumer’s rewritings (Hafis 1856), the same edition used twenty-five years earlier by Fet. For both poets, Hafez was functional in conveying their own artistic and philosophical vision.