Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0007244, Sat, 7 Dec 2002 17:51:55 -0800

Subject
Fw: Fw: Chose: verification of the Pushkin quote
Date
Body
----- Original Message -----
From: "alex" <sklyarenko@users.mns.ru>
To: "Vladimir Nabokov Forum" <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, December 07, 2002 5:15 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Chose: verification of the Pushkin quote


> This message was originally submitted by sklyarenko@USERS.MNS.RU to
the
> NABOKV-L list at LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU. If you simply forward it back to the
list,
> using a mail command that generates "Resent-" fields (ask your local
user
> support or consult the documentation of your mail program if in doubt), it
will
> be distributed and the explanations you are now reading will be
removed
> automatically. If on the other hand you edit the contributions you receive
into
> a digest, you will have to remove this paragraph manually. Finally, you
should
> be able to contact the author of this message by using the normal
"reply"
> function of your mail program.
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (54
lines) ------------------
> Dear Freda,
>
> Thank you for correcting my mistranslation of the quote. I should have
been
> particularly careful, when translating a quotation. Otherwise, it just
awes
> me to imagine how many mistakes in English, which is very much "intuitive"
> in my case, I use to make. Although I'm aware of those mistakes'
abundance,
> some imp prompts me to write new messages to NABOKV-L. I'm sorry!
> At the risk of committing more errors, I would like to use the opportunity
> and to add that "kurva" (whore, as referred to Ninon de Lenclos) in
another
> Pushkin's letter cited by me might be related to kurva the dance in the EO
> travesty in the beginning (1.2). Although Nabokov makes a point of the
> allusion to the mistranslations from Mandelstam in Vivian Darkbloom's
Notes
> to ADA, many, if not all, allusions in ADA are double-edged. Besides,
> "kurva" is a very rare word in Pushkin's vocabulary, and I can't remember
> off-hand an instance of his using it in his works. I must consult the
> Dictionary of Pushkin's Vocabulary that has helped me to find the source
of
> the "happiness - university" quote.
>
> Alexey Sklyarenko
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
> To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> Sent: Saturday, December 07, 2002 7:37 PM
> Subject: Fw: Chose: verification of the Pushkin quote
>
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Fuller, Freda" <freda.fuller@mwsu.edu>
> > To: "'D. Barton Johnson '" <chtodel@cox.net>
> > Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 8:43 PM
> > Subject: RE: Chose: verification of the Pushkin quote
> >
> >
> > > DBJ:
> > >
> > > That full Pushkin quote from alex means:
> > >
> > > "It's said, unhappiness is a good school: it may be. But happiness is
> the
> > > better university."
> > >
> > > One posting on Nabokov-L MIS-translates the end of the quote; the
> posting
> > > says that "luchshiy" is "best," but it isn't; it's "BETTER." It has
to
> > have
> > > an addditional word form, a helping form, to be "best." Perhaps the
> > > distinction may be insignificant, but again, perhaps not.
> > >
> > > Freda Fuller-Coursey
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
>