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Fw: Fw: Nabokov and Andrei Makine's _The Crime of Olga Arbyelina_
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----- Original Message -----
From: Bouazza, Abdellah
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 12:44 AM
Subject: RE: Fw: Nabokov and Andrei Makine's _The Crime of Olga Arbyelina_
I recall an interview years ago during which Makine revealed that in order to get his first novel published, which he had originally written in French, he claimed that it was a French translation of a Russian novel: once it was accepted Makine felt compelled to produce that Russian "original": he translated his French novel into Russian at great speed. If I am not mistaken, he himself translated all his novels into Russian -quite the reverse of VN.
My impression when reading some excerpts of Makine's was "Proust overdone with Nabokovian themes in a minor key".
Makine's statement that he admires VN's innate sense of style and not so much VN the aesthete or the stylist is very much saying the same thing twice: what makes VN so genuine and original is the innateness of his style and aestheticism, and which sets him apart from his epigones: I still have to read one so-called or self-acclaimed disciple of VN who is utterly convincing.
A. Bouazza.
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EDCOMMENT: I agree that Makine's statement re VN's sense of style is a non-statement. I have only read Makin in English but my impression is that is his language has becomeconsiderably denser between "Winter Dreams of my Russian Summers_ and _The Crime of Olga Arbelina-.
-----Original Message-----
From: D. Barton Johnson [mailto:chtodel@cox.net]
Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 11:38 PM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: Fw: Nabokov and Andrei Makine's _The Crime of Olga Arbyelina_
ADDENDUM. An interviewer asked Makine about his preference for writing in Franch and his attitude toward VN. His reply: "I live and publish in France so my choice of French is quite logical. This said, the real language of literary creation for me is poetic language, one that can modulate itself into any national dialect, whether it be French, Russian, English or Chinese. It is not so much the aesthete or the stylist that I admire in Nabokov; rather it is his innate sense of style."
----- Original Message -----
From: D. Barton Johnson
To: nabokv-l@listserv.ucsb.edu
Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 2:29 PM
Subject: Nabokov and Andrei Makine's _The Crime of Olga Arbeyelina_
EDNOTE/QUERY
Makine, a Siberian Russian who emigrated to France in his late twenties (1987), evoked comparisions to Nabokov with his prize-winning first novel _Dreams of my Russian Summers_. The comparision is chiefly based on the circumstance that Makin writes very well in a second language. I gather that several of Makine's works have also been published in Russian. I do not know whether they are "author translated" or by some one else. If the former, it might be a further interesting parallel to VN and of significance to those who are interested in the impact of language A in language B.
Does anyone know whether Makine has translated any of his own work into Russian?