Amali in old Hebrew means “mother of Lily”. I found out
about it from the documentary called "Podstrochnik" ("Translation"). It was
forbidden from showing for 11 years but after the release became a TV hit that
won the TEFI prize
in 2010.
It is a monologue
of a great translator Lilianna Lungina:
She tells a story of her life, and
mentions that while organizing a puppet theater in Paris her mom took pseudonym
Amali.
It’s not the only fact from that documentary that got deeply into my mind and heart.
Lilliana told that while she was a kid, both her and her mom lived in different countries
for several years: Israel, France, and Germany. All this time Lilianna's dad has been living and working in Moscow, but he would send his daughter a heartfelt postcard
EVERY SINGLE DAY while she was away from him.
Lilliana and her mom ended up going back to USSR in 1930s,
and she described the moment when they crossed the border between Poland
and Ukraine, entered the train station in a small Ukrainian town, and saw many people lying on the floor,
kids crying, and so on. Those people were trying to run away from the genocide famine
in Ukraine. This scene scared Lilliana so much, that she started begging her
mom to go back to Western Europe, but her mom told her that they already crossed
the border with USSR and cannot leave.
Liliana became a brilliant translator, and introduced many great books for Russian-speaking readers. She was well known for her translation of novels for kids and adults from French, German,
Norwegian, Danish and Swedish languages, including world-famous Karlsson-on-the-Roof:
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