Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0005745, Thu, 22 Feb 2001 17:21:11 -0800

Subject
[Fwd: Re: VN's LOLITA translation: Discussion questions]
Date
Body
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On Wed, 21 Feb 2001, D. Barton Johnson wrote:

> ------------------
> There's no
> >> need to feel intimidated re posting on NABOKV-L...
>
> Well in that case.......
>
> Did VN obey his precepts with regard to literal translation in his own
> Russian translation of Lolita?

I recall reading about the translation of "bronx cheer", from which it
seemed to be clear that he tried to present as faithful a picture as he
could. However, I am not sure the rules of literal translation apply in
the same way to writers like Nabokov or Beckett translating their own
works. In his prefaces to the english translations of the Russian
novels,
he repeatedly makes the point that he had to resist the temptation to
change phrasing, but I think that there was an effort to resist.

Cheers!
yours
Kiran

"the impossible [will take] a little longer...."
-Vicki Moore

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~kiran