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An Anthology of Chuvash Poetry (Unesco Library of World Poetry)

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AN ANTHOLOGY OF CHUVASH POETRY, compiled and introduced by Gennady Aigi and translated by Peter France, was published by Forest Books in 1991 as part of the UNESCO Library of World Poetry When I found this book in, of all places, the Hong Kong public library, I was excited. As a graduate student of Finno-Ugrian linguistics focusing on Mari, I've recently begun to study its influential neighbour Chuvash. Furthermore, I've long been a fan of Gennady Aigi, the Chuvash poet who first wrote in his native language and then turned to Russian, producing some of the most original verse in that language until his sad passing in 2006. Well, this continues to be, as far as I know, the only anthology of Chuvash verse in English translation for the layman, but I found so much about it infuriating.

Gennady Aigi's introduction introduces not only Chuvash poetry, but the culture of the Chuvash themselves. On one hand, it's interesting to read Aigi's view of the culture in which he was born, which he feels to be ancient and sublimely exotic, with its pagan vestiges and unusual language. However, Aigi was not a trained linguist, archaeologist, or historian, and he makes many claims about the Chuvash language and people that are either dubious or simply false. One cannot state outright that one's people is descended from the Huns, for we know too little about the Huns. Chuvash does not belong to the "Uralo-Altaic" family of languages, for most reputable linguists place the Uralic language separate from the "Altaic" languages, which in itself is an increasingly untenable grouping.

One might argue that the introduction is but a little part of the book, and what should count are the poetry selections and their translations. It is true that there is much interesting stuff here, ranging from such anonymous material such as texts associated with Chuvash pagan mythology and songs and speeches to the early luminaries of Chuvash modern poetry. These poems have never elsewhere appeared in English translation and for that reason this publication is important. For example, as far as I know, only here can one find any translation into English of portions of "Narspi", Konstantin Ivanov's moving tragedy of love and death. And this translation is of the second edition of Aigi's anthology, when he included the later, Soviet, generations of poets.

However, as Peter France admits in his preface, he doesn't speak but a few words of Chuvash. His translations are made from translations which Aigi made in turn from the Russian, meaning that the poems here are quite distanced from how they were originally written. France claims that he sent the material to a Chuvash scholar to review, but that raises the question of why he didn't just commission said Chuvash scholar to translate the poems himself from the original Chuvash.

If you are interested in Chuvash affairs and have some training already in the history and culture of the Chuvash, consider seeking this book out--though if you're the type that is learning Chuvash, you might even wait to read the selections here in the original. However, though the Chuvash people are fascinating and their literature worth better knowing, I am reluctant to recommend this book to laymen if it would only serve to perpetuate falsehoods through Aigi's introduction. Plus, translations of translations just seem wrong.