Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0004304, Tue, 27 Jul 1999 14:58:57 -0700

Subject
Re: VN Epigram??/Translation (2)
Date
Body
From: Luba Lepskaya <lubal@home.com>

>>Somnitel'na pechatnaya pechal'.
>>Kto vzyal pero i razdobyl bumagu -
>>Tot polon sil, i uzh ego ne zhal'.
>>A zhal' na zhaloby proshedshuyu otvagu."
>
The sadness of a printed word is dubious.
Who took up a quill and got some pages -
Is full of vigor, and no longer pitied by us.
But, it's a grudge to use a long gone courage on complains.

Sorry, that I had to use a couple of exact same words from the
Galya's translation,
but I have tried to do a translation with my understanding of the
above epigram, if I may say so.

Sincerely,

Luba

>Rough Translation:
>
>To Russian poets.
>
>The genuineness of printed sadness is dubious
>The one who picked up a pen and found paper
>Is full of vigor and hardly deserves our pity
>What is a pity is that one's daring is wasted on complaints.
>
>I suspect it's about the melancholy nature of much poetry published in the
>emigre papers at the time. I don't remember seeing the epigram in Rul' or
>it being attributed to Sirin when I did my research for the Companion on
>VN's uncollected criticism -- but it could've well been there. The
>general flavor of VN's reviews of his contemporary emigre poets was quite
>similar. He did think they complained and lamented too much.
>
>Galya Diment
>
>
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>^ Galya Diment ^
>^ Professor and Graduate Advisor ^
>^ Slavic Languages and Literatures ^
>^ University of Washington ^
>^ Box 353580 ^
>^ Seattle, WA 98195-3580 ^
>^ Ph. 206-543-7344/206-543-6848 ^
>^ Fax: 206-543-6009/206-522-1959 ^
>^ ^
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>