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Hill Country Russian TRANSLATIONS

James Nelson
Russian Specialist
   Translator, Interpreter, Teacher

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My name is James Nelson. I began studying Russian in 1960 as a military linguist and have never stopped. I have about six years' residence in Russia and the former Soviet Union in various capacities. I have a Ph.D. in Slavic Languages and Literatures and taught Russian for many years in both civilian and military programs. In 1994-95 I interpreted at seminars at the George C. Marshall Center in Garmisch, Germany as well as in other assignments. Since 2000 I have concentrated on translating books, fiction and non-fiction, from Russian into English, including a four-book historical novel about Genghis Khan. I also do commercial translations.

We can be contacted at hillcountryrussian@yahoo.com.

 

Infinity Publishing has published the following of my translations, a thousand-word excerpt from each of which and purchase information about which may be found at www.buybooksontheweb.com by entering either the title or the author's name at that site's search window:

 

The Mystery of Genghis Khan: A Historical Novel, Books One and Two, and The Mystery of Genghis Khan: A Historical Novel, Books Three and Four by Wladimir Secinski are available in hard copy and as eBooks (Amazon Kindle and other formats). Buy now

In these books Mr. Secinski proposes answers to the question: How did a small band of seemingly backward people conquer most of the known world of their time? Mongol success rested on the lifestyle developed in the harsh conditions of the steppe combined with the most advanced practices of the Chinese, and on two outstanding personalities: Genghis Khan himself and his Chinese advisor Yeh-liu Chu-tsai. The novel combines history, ethnography, and political, economic, and military theory with the human factor: greed and lust, generosity and love, ambition and selflessness.

 

The Afghans: A Novella of Soviet Soldiers in Afghanistan, by Vladimir Rybakov (penname of Wladimir Secinski).

In the late summer of 1987, rumor had it the Soviet army was about to leave Afghanistan. Senior Lieutenant Borisov didn't believe the rumor and wangled an assignment to Afghanistan. Borisov believed in his country's mission in Afghanistan and wanted a piece of the action. He believed in the essential nobility of his profession and in lots of other clichés, too. He expected enlisted men to obey their officers unquestioningly and for everyone to follow the regulations. It turns out nearly everything he expected and believed in was wrong. Even love.

Creature: A French-Russian Thriller, by Vladimir Rybakov.

André runs a small firm in Paris taken over from his Russian father. Happy with his mistresses, he is unaccountably drawn to Vera, a Russian Jew living in Israel. He has a second job, one for which his main job is basically a front. Russia's history and destiny is a recurrent topic in the novel, as is that of several other countries: France, Israel, and especially Poland. It is also a novel of family, of love, and of deception, self-deception, confused personal and cultural identity, and of sexual dysfunction and frustration. And the corpses pile up.

 

Stop Being Surprised! Vignettes from Soviet Literary and Other Life, by noted Russian critic Benedikt Sarnov.

Most of the vignettes are one, two, or three pages long; a few are longer. All are written in an easy conversational style. Most are wryly humorous, but some are tragic. Topics range from the absurdities of the Soviet economic system to the oddities and travails of cultural and scientific figures, from the difficulties of everyday life to the horrors visited upon innocent people. Sarnov is Jewish, and the consequences of being a Jew in the Soviet Union are a frequent subject.

 

Night Wolves, by the popular Russian crime novel author Friedrich Neznansky.

Someone is staging spectacular armed robberies of bank armored cars in Moscow. Intrepid detective and inveterate womanizer Sasha Turetsky and his colleagues set about trying to solve the robberies and also one particularly mysterious murder. Meanwhile Felix Portnov, once the leader of the notorious "Night Wolves" gang in Moscow and now a U.S. citizen, has recently returned to Russia, where he is presenting himself as a respectable businessman. The police wonder what Portnov is really up to. Eventually, many corpses later, they find out.

 

Infinity Publishing has also published my own Bosnia Journal: An American Civilian's Account of His Service with the 1st Armored Division and the Russian Brigade in Bosnia.

The 1st Armored Division formed the core of Multinational Division North to keep the peace in Bosnia in 1996. A Russian brigade was part of that effort. I was personal interpreter to Major General William L. Nash in his dealings with the Russian commander, and I was stationed at HQ Russian Brigade for that purpose. I also interpreted for many others, both civilian and military, developing close relationships with both Russian and American personnel. This is the first publication of the journal that I kept while there.

 

Ready for publication but so far without a publisher is The Steel King by Russian journalist and novelist Yulia Latynina.

Yulia Latynina does "ripped from the headlines" fiction, her purpose being to illuminate post-Soviet Russia in the exciting and condensed way available to fiction.

Her books should appeal to those who are interested in Russia in general and also to those who simply want a good read. She writes in a racy style, and I think I capture that. There is violence, sometimes sex, and a considerable amount of sheer adventure. And along the way, the reader also acquires information about and understanding of the processes under way in Russia since the Soviet collapse.

Ms. Latynina has attracted a certain amount of interest in the West. In particular, the New York Times published a flattering article about her in 2001 and she has published in the Washington Post. But so far, none of her books are available in English, and I am endeavoring to rectify that, with the permission of her Moscow publisher and Ms. Latynina herself.

The Steel King is about a coal miners' strike in Siberia in the mid-1990s. The local steel king faces loss of his steel mill, which he acquired by various machinations early in the decade, and he gets in bed with local gangsters to force an end to the strike. The book is about how all that plays out and also includes a love story and one honest man. My translation of The Steel King is ready for publication now. The word count is approximately 85,000.

Land of War is about the troubles in the North Caucasus and in particular on the Chechnya-Dagestan border, which continue to this day, although for the author to make it possible to generalize somewhat, she calls Dagestan the Republic of Northern Avaria-Dargo. The violence described in the book is extreme. Ms. Latynina also details the kleptocracy that has developed in the region. The picture she paints of Russian officials, with one exception, is not very flattering, either. The word count is 194,000.