Konstantin Sluchevsky
Yes, for the multitude of people it’s hard to avoid...

Yes, for the multitude of people it’s hard to avoid
The creative influence of celebrated ideas,
The influence of Rudins, Raskolnikovs, Chatskys,
Oblomovs!¹ They weigh us down!.. Not like chains,
But only mentally, absolutely not heavy, brotherly...
The artist cuts a silhouette out of life;
He, strictly, is nothing, doesn’t exist in nature!
But a feeble man, without long reflection,
Takes on the ready results of others’ opinions,

And there’s no room for his own to germinate —
Like a spiderweb all paths are woven
Of simple, unbroken, healthy conclusions,
And over his mind — each day, the swarm
of creations of the powerful minds of others thickens...

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1. The hero-protagonists of Russian nineteenth century classics: Turgenev’s novel Rudin, Dostoyevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment, Griboyedov's play Woe from Wit, and Goncharov’s novel Oblomov, respectively.

Translated by Albert C. Todd