Villette and The Professor on the Balkan – Part One

Greece

Villette
The first translation of Villette in Greek was published in 1957 by Zervas from Athens. With 368 pages it must have been an abridged edition. The author was given as, in transcription, ‘Karlotta Bronté’ (Καρλόττα Μπροντέ), the title as Viliét (Βιλιέτ). It was translated by Margarítas Petrakopoulos, of whom no other translations are known. No picture of the cover could be found unfortunately.

The second translation was published in 2004, by Beitel from Athens (718 pp.), as Βιλέτ, by Σάρλοτ Μπροντέ. The translation was done by Maria Lainá (1947-), a poet and playwright, and translator of The Professor (see below) and works of for instance Somerset Maugham and Katherine Mansfield.

Cover of the 2004 Greek Villette
(Painting: Henry Raeburn - Portrait
of Miss Eleanor Urquhart
(1793))

The Professor
The first translation of The Professor, by Aris Diktaios, was published in 1955 by K.M. from Athens, as Tó parthenagogeío (The Girls; 270 pp.). Diktaios (1919-1983), a writer and poet too, translated directly from English (e.g. Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca), German, Bulgarian and Russian, and possibly from Chinese too, and indirectly it seems he did translations of Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Romanian and Italian works.

Cover of the 1955 Greek The Professor

The second edition of Diktaios’ translation was published in 1979 by Epikairótita from Athens (339 pp.). The title was changed to the literal translation of the original, O kathigitís. A picture of the cover could not be found.

In 1997 the third edition of his translation was published by Zacharopoulos from Athens (366 pp.).

Cover of the 1997 Greek The Professor

A new translation, by the above mentioned Maria Lainá, was published by Beitel from Athens in 2005 (365 pp.).

Cover of the 2005 Greek The Professor

That same year another translation, by Ángelos Angélou, was published by De Agostini Hellas from Athens (300 pp.), also with the title O kathigitís. It had a reprint in 2006. Angélou , a poet, also translated Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan. The cover is the same as the Spanish 2004 RBA The Professor, without any text on it.

Cover of the 2005/2006 Greek The Professor

The other Brontë novels
Wuthering Heights was the first to have a Greek translation, published in 1943. Jane Eyre followed in 1950, and Shirley in 2011. Anne’s novels have not yet been translated in Greek.

Slovenia

Villette
There have been three editions of one Slovenian translation, all published by Mladinska Knjiga from Ljubljana (496 pp.). The translation was done by Rapa Šuklje (1923-2013). She also translated Wuthering Heights and Shirley, and many other works like for instance George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss. She was also a writer herself. The editions had illustrations by Nora Fry Lavrin (1897-1985), an English woman who had married a Slovenian writer. She also made illustrations for the Slovenian translation of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
The first edition was published in 1965.

Cover of the 1965 Slovenian Villette

The second edition was published in 1970.

Cover of the 1970 Slovenian Villette

The third and last edition is from 1977.

Cover of the 1977 Slovenian Villette

The Professor
There has been no Slovenian translation of The Professor.

The other Brontë novels
Jane Eyre was the first Brontë novel to be translated in Slovenian. It was published in 1955. Wuthering Heights followed in 1962, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in 1974 and Shirley in 1978. There has been no translation of Agnes Grey.

Albania
Only two of the Brontë novels have been translated in Albanian (so far), Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. Both were published in 2003.

Macedonia
The same two novels have been translated in Macedonian (which is related to Bulgarian). Both were first published in 1984.

Eric Ruijssenaars