Benjamin Sher

RUSSIAN TRANSLATOR

[July 25, 2007]

BIOGRAPHY:

 Born in Poland in 1947, immigrated to Israel in 1950, came to the United States in 1959. Attended McMain Junior High School (1959-1961) and Fortier Senior High School in New Orleans (1961-1964). Attended the University of New Orleans, graduating with a B. A. in Philosophy in 1969. Spent most of 1972 in Paris, France. Returned to the University of New Orleans in 1973, graduating with an M. A. in English in 1975. I have been translating from Russian since the 1980's. Married to Anna Wentzell, originally from Moscow, Russia, since 1993.

EDUCATION:

B.A. Philosophy (minor: French), University of New Orleans, 1969. "On the Kierkegaardian Dialectic of Existence" in Arete, UNO scholarly journal, 1969.

M.A. English, University of New Orleans, 1975. Thesis: Revolt and Bondage: War-Prison Symbolism in Hamlet , 1975.

PUBLICATIONS:

Culture in Transition: A Search for Identity Through the Arts in Post-Soviet Russia. An International Conference at Yale University April 11-13, 2003. Essays on Post-Soviet Russian Culture by contributors representing the search for identity as reflected in Russian literature, the visual and performing arts, education and the media at the turn of the century. A bilingual edition published by Yale U. Press and the National Centre for Contemporary Arts (Russia), 2003. Also available online at the following URL: http://www.websher.net/yale/rl/cultureintransition/

The Road to Terror: Stalin and the Self-Destruction of the Bolsheviks, 1932-1939. Published by Yale U. Press, 1999 (Annals of Communism Series). Documents from top secret U.S.S.R. Communist Party archives. Full-page cover review in The Times Literary Supplement of London, Jan. 28, 2000. For more information, cultural background and review excerpts, please see the announcement at http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300077728

The Tower. A novel by Konstantin Vaginov. (Original title: Goat-Song, 1928). A classic of Russian modernism. First translation ever into English. Published in 1997 in hardback and online by Sher Publishers. For reviews and for free access to the complete online edition of the novel, please see: http://www.websher.net/spub/index.html

Theory of Prose by Viktor Shklovsky. Originally published in Moscow in 1929. First translation of this major work of 20th century literary criticism published by Dalkey Archive Press in 1990. Full- page review by Michael Dirda in The Washington Post Book Review (July 22, 1990). See: http://www.centerforbookculture.org/dalkey/backlist/shklovsky.html#theory

The Dog by Valentin Krasnogoroff. A contemporary tragedy in two acts dealing with genocide and human responsibility. American premiere performance at Nada Theater of New York by American Theater Company in 1998. Director: Howard Fishman. Program Notes at: http://www.websher.net/srl/dog-prm.html

The Last Days of Leo Tolstoy by Vladimir Chertkov, a poignant memoir of Tolstoy's death by his personal secretary and life-long disciple. First published in 1911. Translated for the first time into English, this remarkable historical document was published online by Linguadex of San Diego in 1999. Read it online at: http://www.linguadex.com/tolstoy/

Lady Cat’s Cat~A~Strophe. A children’s play in verse based on the classic Koshkin Dom by Marshak. Performed in workshop format by the Southern Repertory Theater of New Orleans in April, 1998. Directed by Natasha Ramer. Book available online at http://www.websher.net/srl/marsh.html

Requiem by Anna Akhmatova. A prose poetic adaptation of the classic poem on the Gulag by Benjamin Sher. See online at http://www.websher.net/srl/requiem.html

Emerging Trends in Russian Culture. An online repository of Russian texts, audio and video covering every major aspect of contemporary Russian culture. Mostly in Russian. Please see: http://www.websher.net/yale/rl/emergingtrends/

Sher’s Russian Index. A comprehensive collection of links to Russian materials online by category. Used very widely by Russian faculty and students all over the world. Please see: http://www.websher.net/inx/icdefault1.html

"Persona Non Grata" by Sasha Sokolov. A searing indictment of the Soviet system using avant-garde techniques as applied to personal myth, history and everyday life. Published in Columbia University's Translation: A Journal of Literary Translation (Fall, 1989). See online text: http://www.websher.net/srl/sokl.html

 "Tennessee Williams in the Soviet Union" by Maya Turovskaya, a leading Russian expert on the Soviet cinema. Published in The Tennessee Williams Quarterly (Winter, 1991-1992).

POETRY:

New Poetry Review. A forum for the discussion of modern Anglo-American poetry. In English only. Please see web site at: http://www.newpoetryreview.org. Click on Forum in menu at top. Or go directly to : http://www.newpoetryreview.org/forum/

Russian Poetry. A bilingual anthology of Russian verse by the new, post-Soviet generation of Russian poets. Translator: Benjamin Sher. Consultant: Anna Sher. In Russian and English. Please see: http://www.russianpoetry.org. To access the site, enter the following ID: username: guest; password: welcome.

Russian Jewish Poetry. A bilingual anthology of Russian Jewish verse from the Tsarist, Soviet and Contemporary periods. Translator: Benjamin Sher. Consultant: Anna Sher. In Russian and English. Please see: http://www.russianjewishpoetry.org. To access the site, enter the following ID: username: guest; password: welcome.

Mythmaker and Other Poems by Benjamin Sher. Poems, Translations, Adaptations, Critical Essays. Download a copy in MSWord format from the web at: http://www.newpoetryreview.org/mythmaker/ . To access the site, enter the following ID: username: guest; password: welcome.

REVIEWS:

"Perils of the Soviets' Brave New World." Review of Alexander Kabakov's No Return, an anti-utopian novel about the new Russia. Published in The Washington Post (12-27-1990).

Ultimatum by Vladimir Gakov (Moscow, 1989). Review of Gakov's study of nuclear war and its effects as depicted in science fiction. Review published in Nuclear Texts and Contexts (Fall, 1990).

CONTACT:

Benjamin Sher
sher07@mindspring.com
Sher's Russian Web
http://www.websher.net