German self-translation of the ballad "Svetlana" by V. A. Zhukovsky

This article represents the next step towards the systematization and comprehensive understanding of V. A. Zhukovsky's writings in German within the wide context of the author's life and work. Self-translation of the ballad "Svetlana", which didn't receive adequate attention, is being introduced for the first time. Research of the history of writing the ballad, the author's intention and poetic destination of the piece in German along with the literary analysis of the self-translation leads to the conclusion of the author's high level of knowledge of the German language and artistic style of the Russian romanticist as well as of innovative vision of Zhukovsky the teacher.