Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0006086, Sun, 22 Jul 2001 19:35:01 -0700

Subject
Brodsky's Translation of a Nabokov Poem "Demon"
Date
Body
----- Original Message -----
From: "Yuri Leving" <mslyuri@mscc.huji.ac.il>
To: "Vladimir Nabokov Forum" <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
"


> This message was originally submitted by mslyuri@MSCC.HUJI.AC.IL>

>
> Galya Diment pointed to Brodsky's 1979 translation of Nabokov's 1924 poem
> and Brodsky's irritation about this work. However, the story did not end
> with that. Brodsky's friends decided to issue a special literary almanac
> "Chast' rechi" (A Part of Speech) secretly, to dedicate it to his 40th
> birthday in May 1980. An editor turned to Vera Nabokov and asked for the
> permission to republish her husband's short story "A Matter of Chance" and
> one of the interviews. In February 1980 Vera wrote that she had no
> objections. Finally, the story appeared in that edition, but also did
Volkov
> 's interview with Brodsky, who was not obviously aware that it would be
> published in the same issue with VN's story. This very incident led to the
> editor's resignation. Ludmila Shtern uncovers the whole story (with Vera's
> letter reprinted) in her recent fascinating book "Osya, Iosif, Josef"
> (Moscow: Nezavisimaya gazeta, 2001).
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: D. Barton Johnson <chtodel@gte.net>
> To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> Sent: Friday, July 20, 2001 9:32 PM
> Subject: [Fwd: Brodsky's Translation of a Nabokov Poem "Demon"
>
>
> > ------------------
> >
> >
> > From: Galya Diment <galya@u.washington. edu>
> >
> > While updating my article on Brodsky's and Nabokov's autobiographical
> > writings for a re-publication, I came across Brodsky's 1979 translation
> > of
> > Nabokov's 1924 poem which (translation, that is), for some reason, has
> > not
> > been widely mentioned at all. (After searching through many sources,
> > both
> > on Nabokov and Brodsky, I found just one reference in an interview with
> > Volkov from which I am quoting below.) "Demon" appeared in _The Kenyon
> > Review_, in their first issue after a 9-year hiatus in publication -- 1
> > (Winter 1979): 120. It's there next to a publication of one of Nabokov's
> > letters to Wilson which is, unlike the poem, cited in Juliar's
> > bibliography and other sources. I will reproduce both the original and
> > the
> > translation below -- but here is Brodsky's reaction to what he had been
> > asked to do from an interview with Solomon Volkov (in Russian) several
> > years after the publication of the translation:
> >
> > "I had very mixed feelings about it. First of all, complete disgust for
> > what I was doing because Nabokov's poem is of very low quality. He, in
> > general, in my opinion, never materialized as a poet... I was against
> > that
> > idea but they kept insisting..."
> >
> > Brodsky's feelings about Nabokov as a poet are also expressed in "A Poet
> > and Prose" from _Less Than One_: "Some, like Nabokov, for example, have
> > tried to the very end to convince themselves and those around them that
> > even if they were not primarily poets, they were poets all the same."
> >
> > Here's the translation -- the original is below:
> >
> > Demon
> >
> > Vladimir Nabokov
> >
> > Where have you flown here from? What kind of grief d'you carry?
> > Tell, flier, why your lips do lack
> > a tint of life, and why the sea smells in your wings?
> >
> > And Demon answers me: "You're young and hungry,
> > but sounds won't satiate you. So don't pluck
> > your tightly drawn discordant strings.
> >
> > No music's higher than the silence. You were born
> > for strict, austere silence. Learn
> > its stamp on stones, on love, on stars above your ground."
> >
> > He vanished. Darkness fades. God ordered me to sound.
> >
> > Translated from the Russian by Joseph Brodsky
> >
> >
> > Original:
> >
> > Otkuda priletel? Kakim ty dyshish' gorem?
> > Skazhi mne, otchego tvoi usta, letun,
> > kak mertvye, bledny, a kryl'ia pakhnut morem?
> >
> > I demon mne v otvet: "Ty goloden i iun,
> > no ne nasytish'sia ty zvukami. Ne trogai
> > natianutykh toboi nestroinykh etikh strun.
> >
> > Net vyshe musyki, chem tishina. Dlia strogoi
> > ty sozdan tishiny. Uznai ee pechat'
> > na kamne, na liubvi i v zvezdakh nad dorogoi."
> >
> > Ischez on. Taet noch'. Mne Bog velel zvuchat'.
> >
> >
>