Klopstock in Russia: a respected but not read poet

The article is devoted to the literary fate of Russian translations of the poetic heritage by F.G. Klopstock, the great 18th century German poet. Klopstock is one of the most famous and authoritative authors, whose works almost have not been translated in Russia. A comparative analysis of the translations of his religious epic work “Messias” leads to a paradoxical conclusion. The translation by VA. Zhukovsky is the most famous one. Less successful attempts by A.M. Kutuzov and S.I. Pisarev do not contribute to readers’ increase of Klopstock in Russia. They remain a literary fact that did not cause a resonance in the literary life of the late 18th - early 19th centuries. It is no wonder that the Russian readers could get acquainted with the early lyrics by Klopstock only thanks to musical editions of the late 1970s. Translations of sentimental odes found under the notes of Schubert’s songs are taken for the original text and have never been published as separate works. For Russian literature, Klopstock becomes the mythical figure of the sacred songwriter and the most famous German writer with stereotypes mentioned in literary encyclopedia and literary stories. This way of perception is associated with the imperfection or complete absence of decent translations of the vast majority of the German poet’s works. It is followed by an insufficient number of really thoughtful deep analyses of his works. His poetry’s research and fresh translations, appeared at the end of the 20th century should revive the honorable epithets that Frederick Gottlieb Klopstock, an outstanding sentimentalist poet, has ultimately deserved.