A.D. Hope's Essays on Russian Literature

Wells, David N., AUMLA : Journal of the Australasian Universities Modern Language Association

In the fifth of his "Western Elegies," written towards the end of his career, the pre-eminent Australian poet A. D. Hope notes the importance for him as a person and as a writer of his exposure to languages and cultures other than English. For the speaker of more than one language, he writes, aware that neither thought nor feeling is properly translatable,

his soul grows still and attentive,

Aware, beyond any speech, of a metaphysics of meaning

Which teaches that not mere words but the heart is what

must be translated.1

Hope was an avid learner of languages throughout his life, from Latin to Arabic and Japanese, and, as Kevin Hart has noted, "had …

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Publication information: Article title: A.D. Hope's Essays on Russian Literature. Contributors: Wells, David N. - Author. Journal title: AUMLA : Journal of the Australasian Universities Modern Language Association. Issue: 114 Publication date: November 2010. Page number: 39+. © AUMLA Nov 2008. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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