Dear Jansy M,

I can't comment on Verses and Versions at all, nor did I mean to. I only found out about it because of recent postings regarding the Nemser review. In my clumsy way I wished to point out that Nabokov in spite of his many great achievements is still open to criticism. My own enormous disappointment with his translation of Evgeniy Onegin (was it VN who liked to called it "One Gin"?) is at the root of it.

You know, it reminds me of why I studied Russian in the first place. One major impetus came from something Nabokov wrote - - I think it was an afterword to Lolita, something to do with Lolita anyway. He wrote that if you weren't able to read Pushkin in his original language it was like going your whole life without ever hearing the music of Mozart. My memory is doubtless flawed, but that's how I recollect it.

I couldn't stand the thought of a life without Mozart, and I invested quite a number of years (and tears) in learning Russian. And Nabokov was right - - Pushkin  simply cannot be appreciated in any other language. But there was one person who could have given the non-Russian speaker a taste of Pushkin's verse (and I think he did actually achieve this in some of his own poems) and that person gave us 

"Of the four-foot iambus I've grown tired. In it writes everyone. To boys this  plaything 'Tis high time to abandon ..."

It doesn't make much difference to me, but I weep for you.

Carolyn



On Feb 27, 2009, at 5:36 PM, jansymello wrote:


C. Kunin [ it's not the quality of V & V that was really my point, but the quality of Nabokov's translations[...] Didn't Nabokov himself describe his translation as "monkey's chatter, the poet's head upon a platter"? Nemser, myself and others only beg to agree...
JM: Much as I usually appreciate your frank remarks, the recent posting you addressed to Katsell and List caught me by surprise. The opposite of idolizing is denigration and I'm not sure that you didn't fall into another extreme.  
What I particularly enjoy in "Verses and Versions", as edited by B.Boyd and Shvrabin , is the opportunity we have to accompany a poet along his hesitations and choices, his different ways to address a challenge, the presentation of his successful, and unsuccessful, results.
The collection, as published in VV is alive and breathing and touchingly Nabokovian (and, I hope, Russian): it deserves my total respect - this doesn't mean uncritical acceptance or an idealistic reverence, but a less speedy approach.    
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Search the archive Contact the Editors Visit "Nabokov Online Journal"
Visit Zembla View Nabokv-L Policies Manage subscription options

All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both co-editors.