Subject
chuckricks/xuxriki//schyOgol'/shchegOl (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. I have now check's Dieter Zimmer's German translation of
the English version of INVITATION used in the splendid Rowohlt Nabokov
edition that he edits. I know that in many cases, he checked with Nabokov
about points of translation. Although I do not know that he specifically
checked "chuckricks" with Nabokov, it is quite probable. In his German
rendering, he gives "Kukerlein" (with an umlaut u). "Kukerlein" is not
in my Cassell's dictionary. Jeff Edmunds found "Gaufres frites" (fried
waffles" in Jarl Priel's French translation. If this was done in VN's
lifetime, he probably checked it. Does "Ku(e)kerlein" have this meaning?
I have gotten a couple of exasperated messages over this matter.
If you are not interested, just delete (without reading) any messages with
"chuckrick" on the subject line. Even matters of precision aside
(which they are not), there is a considerable aesthetic stylistic point
here.
----------------- Message requiring your approval (25 lines)---------------
From: Earl Sampson <esampson@CU.CAMPUS.MCI.NET>
Peter Kartsev wrote:
>Earl Sampson in the message below may be confusing two Russian words,
>shchegol (accent on the last syllable), meaning goldfinch, and
>shchyogol' (accent in the first), meaning fop or dandy. So it seems
>that Mandelshtam uses the latter in the third line, then in all
>other cases the "bird word".
We're probably spending too much time on this, especially since it's gone
well off topic, but just in self-defense, no, I was not confusing the two
words (though I admit I have to look them up every time to be sure which is
the goldfinch and which is the fop). My point was that since according to
our resident birder Don, shchyOgol' also means "Spotted Redshank",
Mandlelshtam may have had the bird meaning in mind in the third line _as
well as_ the "dandy" meaning, which I think is clearly primary. The visual
image I get is of the persona throwing his head back like a fop does (e.g.
to toss a lock of hair (a coxcomb!)), but also like a bird, e.g. a hungry
baby bird (cf. "detskii rot": there seems to be a typically Mandelshtamian
fusion of portrayer and portrayed here).
Thanks to Peter and Charles for clarifying the khvostik lodkoi for me.
Earl Sampson (esampson@cu.campus.mci net)
the English version of INVITATION used in the splendid Rowohlt Nabokov
edition that he edits. I know that in many cases, he checked with Nabokov
about points of translation. Although I do not know that he specifically
checked "chuckricks" with Nabokov, it is quite probable. In his German
rendering, he gives "Kukerlein" (with an umlaut u). "Kukerlein" is not
in my Cassell's dictionary. Jeff Edmunds found "Gaufres frites" (fried
waffles" in Jarl Priel's French translation. If this was done in VN's
lifetime, he probably checked it. Does "Ku(e)kerlein" have this meaning?
I have gotten a couple of exasperated messages over this matter.
If you are not interested, just delete (without reading) any messages with
"chuckrick" on the subject line. Even matters of precision aside
(which they are not), there is a considerable aesthetic stylistic point
here.
----------------- Message requiring your approval (25 lines)---------------
From: Earl Sampson <esampson@CU.CAMPUS.MCI.NET>
Peter Kartsev wrote:
>Earl Sampson in the message below may be confusing two Russian words,
>shchegol (accent on the last syllable), meaning goldfinch, and
>shchyogol' (accent in the first), meaning fop or dandy. So it seems
>that Mandelshtam uses the latter in the third line, then in all
>other cases the "bird word".
We're probably spending too much time on this, especially since it's gone
well off topic, but just in self-defense, no, I was not confusing the two
words (though I admit I have to look them up every time to be sure which is
the goldfinch and which is the fop). My point was that since according to
our resident birder Don, shchyOgol' also means "Spotted Redshank",
Mandlelshtam may have had the bird meaning in mind in the third line _as
well as_ the "dandy" meaning, which I think is clearly primary. The visual
image I get is of the persona throwing his head back like a fop does (e.g.
to toss a lock of hair (a coxcomb!)), but also like a bird, e.g. a hungry
baby bird (cf. "detskii rot": there seems to be a typically Mandelshtamian
fusion of portrayer and portrayed here).
Thanks to Peter and Charles for clarifying the khvostik lodkoi for me.
Earl Sampson (esampson@cu.campus.mci net)