Russian Names

The proper transliteration of Russian names into English has been debated as long as Russian literature has been translated into English. While there may not be a "correct" way to transliterate, SEEJ has a few guidelines for how transliterated names appear in the journal.

Well-Known Russian Authors

The common spellings of specific authors are allowed (i.e., transliteration is not necessary). For example:

• Leo Tolstoy (Lev Tolstoy is also acceptable)

• Fyodor Dostoevsky

• Maxim Gorky

• Vladimir Mayakovsky

• Nikolay Chernyshevsky

• Osip Mandelstam

• Vissarion Belinsky

Fictional Characters

The names of fictional characters must be transliterated according to the Library of Congress transliteration table. Please see the section on transliteration for additional tables for other languages.

Dmitrii spends large amounts of money on nights filled with champagne.

Dmitry spends large amounts of money on nights filled with champagne.

However, when quoting from a book passage, do not alter the original text. If the translation you are quoting uses Dmitry, that is how the name must appear inside the quotation. But when referring to the character in your own words, you must conform to the Library of Congress transliteration.

Although annoyed by and dismissive of his wife while they were together, it is clear that the death of the princess deeply affected Andrei:

Three days later the little princess was buried, and Prince Andrey went up the steps to where the coffin stood, to give her the farewell kiss. And there in the coffin was the same face, though with closed eyes. "Ah, what have you done to me?" it still seemed to say, and Prince Andrey felt that something gave way in his soul and that he was guilty of a sin he could neither remedy nor forget.