Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0020544, Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:46:25 -0400

Subject
Re: Poe, Raven, Kafka
Date
Body
I sent a post about this earlier, but it seems to have gone missing. My
comment is below the others.

On Sun, Aug 15, 2010 at 3:51 PM, Jansy <jansy@aetern.us> wrote:

> *JM*: I tried to read the automatic translation, but it was a torture.
> One word stood out, at first, related to chess. “Rook”. I had just asked
> the list about “raven” (apparently, a translation from the Czech ”kafka”).
> Ravens and rooks are both “corvus” Can anyone inform me if “kafka”
> indicates the raven or the rook in czech? ( still trusting novelist
> Murakami’s information). A second question ( related to the original in
> Russian in the translation provided by Google/Norquist): what does
> “elephant” mean in the poem?
> *Jerome Katsell*: I don't believe "kafka" means raven in Czech. The usual
> for raven is "hravan," and "vrána" is used for crow. There's also "hravan
> polní," which means rook, the bird. The other rook, the chess rook/castle is
> "vĕž".
> *
> *
>
David P.: The Czech for 'raven' is 'havran' (not 'hravan') or 'krkavec,'
both of which have been used to translate Poe's poem. 'Kavka' in Czech means
'jackdaw.' It most certainly would not be appropriate for Poe's poem.

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