On European sources of “The mirror of human life” (Moscow, 1674)

Abstract

The article analyses similarities and differences between the texts of the monument of ancient Russian literature “The Mirror of Human Life” (Moscow 1674) which is written by Russified Dutchman in Russian service A. A. Vinius (1641–1716), and its two possible European sources: “Theatrum morum” by Aegidius Sadeler (Prague, 1608) and “Vorstelijke warande der dieren” by Joost van den Vondel (Amsterdam, 1617). The authors consider the sequence of fables in the three collections and the titels of fables in each of them. Three texts are compared in detail: the fable number 1 in Sadeler’s book, number 47 in Vondel’s book and number 47 in Vinius’ book (On the woodcutter). The comparison revealed significantly more similarity between the text by Vinius and the text by Vondel than the text by Sadeler. The conclusion is made that the Russian translator A. A. Vinius used not only one of these source texts but both of them.