The 21st Century Translation of the Novel "The Devils" by Dostoevsky in Azerbaijani: Translation of the Title, Epigraphs and Stavroghin’s Character

Abstract

The article describes the first and the only translation of the novel The Devils into Azerbaijani by Professor M. Kojayev, a researcher of Dostoevsky. The Devils is of great interest because of its artistic problems of ideology, deep spiritual and philosophical questions of a human and society.

The study deals with the adequate translation of the title, epigraphs and the character of a protagonist. It is conducted in a comparative-literary aspect. The choice of the subject is determined by the ideas codified by Dostoevsky in the original. The author of the article assesses the translation of the whole novel into Azerbaijani, comparing some extracts from the original text and the translation. The fact that the word "devils" in the Azerbaijani language is polysematic makes it necessary to analyze the choice of the proper word for the title of the novel, which is considered to be a Russian masterpiece. The epigraphs are treated as elements that contain the meaning and the content of the whole work. From this point of view it is necessary to follow the adequate translation from Russian into Azerbaijani.

Dostoevsky focused his attention on the most important moment in the history of ideological and spiritual development of Russia. Therefore, the character of the novel, rather than the content, is more important. The article portrays a protagonist's image, his attitude to the opposite sex, thus the author analyzes his character, as well as the whole book The Devils by Dostoevsky.