The first version of Marc Chagall's autobiography will soon be released in Belarusian
The publishing house "Myane Nyama" (I Am Not) announced the soon-to-be-released Belarusian translation of Marc Chagall's memoir "Svae" (Ejgens). This is the first version of the artist's autobiography that has survived to our days, writes Reform.news.

The book is expected to be released from print at the end of October; it is currently at the printing house. The publishing house calls this project the most ambitious in its entire history of work.
Chagall originally wrote his memoirs in Russian, but this text was later lost. In 1925, the autobiography was first published in Yiddish in five issues of the New York magazine "Di Tsukunft" (The Future).
The basis for Siarhei Shupa's Belarusian translation was an 80-page typescript kept in the archives of Di Tsukunft magazine at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York. Changes and additions made in the magazine publication were also taken into account during the preparation of the edition.

This version differs significantly from the widely known French version of the autobiography "My Life", which was published in 1931, translated by the artist's wife Bella Chagall. According to the translator Siarhei Shupa, the 1925 Yiddish text is closer to Chagall's original concept, whereas the French version creates a more acceptable image of the artist for the public and excludes fragments that could create an undesirable impression.

Thus, the book "Svae" allows readers to get acquainted with an earlier version of Chagall's autobiography, preserved in typescripts and Yiddish texts. Siarhei Shupa performed the translation for the Belarusian edition.
The publishing house notes that the project's realization was facilitated by the interest of readers and the translator, as well as the support of patrons.
You can pre-order the book here.
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