Three sonnets or one? (certain details of Shakespeare translation tradition by Boris Pasternak and Yves Bonnefoy)

The question to be studied in the article is the translation as a cultural dialogue (according to Walter Benjamin’s interpretation) and at the same time the reflection of national cultures in this dialogue. Comparative analysis (lexical, syntactic and semantic) is based on English-Russian translation of Shakespeare sonnet made by Boris Pasternak and English-French made by Yves Bonnefoy. Two categories, time and visuality, was taken to trace how temporality in translations could be demonstrated in comparison with the original text and regarding the research of the original’s epoch. This analysis leads to the conclusion that the translation itself could be named a specific genre in 20th century and this genre is intended not only for cultural dialogue but for exposition of ulterior original’s potential too.