Subject
Details of a Sunset
From
Date
Body
In translation VN gave his early Russian story Katastrofa (1924) a new title, "one that has the triple advantage of corresponding to the thematic background of the story, of being sure to puzzle such readers as "skip descriptions" and of infuriating reviewers." Details of a Sunset (1976) became the title story of VN's last collection of stories to appear in his lifetime.
A sentence in Katastrofa, Полнеба обхватил закат ("The colors of the sunset had invaded half of the sky" in Details of a Sunset), is almost a quotation of a line in Tyutchev's poem Poslednyaya lyubov' (Last Love, 1852-54):
Полнеба обхватила тень
Shade encompassed half of the sky.
Another line in Poslednyaya lyubov', Продлись, продлись, очарованье (Stay longer, stay longer, enchantment), seems not unrelevant in the context of VN's story whose hero dies in an accident and never learns that his bride left him for her old lover (fate has spared Mark after all!). On the other hand, with years Tyutchev's poem (particularly, the closing stanza) has probably acquired a new significance for VN. Here it is followed by VN's rhymed translation:
О, как на склоне наших лет
Нежней мы любим и суеверней...
Сияй, сияй, прощальный свет
Любви последней, зари вечерней!
Полнеба обхватила тень,
Лишь там, на западе, бродит сиянье, –
Помедли, помедли, вечерний день,
Продлись, продлись, очарованье.
Пускай скудеет в жилах кровь,
Но в сердце не скудеет нежность...
О ты, последняя любовь!
Ты и блаженство, и безнадежность.
Love at the closing of our days
is apprehensive and very tender.
Glow brighter, brighter, farewell rays
of one last love in its evening splendor.
Blue shade takes half the world away:
through western clouds alone some light is slanted.
O tarry, O tarry, declining day,
enchantment, let me stay enchanted.
The blood runs thinner, yet the heart
remains as ever deep and tender.
O last belated love, thou art
a blend of joy and of hopeless surrender.
Alexey Sklyarenko
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A sentence in Katastrofa, Полнеба обхватил закат ("The colors of the sunset had invaded half of the sky" in Details of a Sunset), is almost a quotation of a line in Tyutchev's poem Poslednyaya lyubov' (Last Love, 1852-54):
Полнеба обхватила тень
Shade encompassed half of the sky.
Another line in Poslednyaya lyubov', Продлись, продлись, очарованье (Stay longer, stay longer, enchantment), seems not unrelevant in the context of VN's story whose hero dies in an accident and never learns that his bride left him for her old lover (fate has spared Mark after all!). On the other hand, with years Tyutchev's poem (particularly, the closing stanza) has probably acquired a new significance for VN. Here it is followed by VN's rhymed translation:
О, как на склоне наших лет
Нежней мы любим и суеверней...
Сияй, сияй, прощальный свет
Любви последней, зари вечерней!
Полнеба обхватила тень,
Лишь там, на западе, бродит сиянье, –
Помедли, помедли, вечерний день,
Продлись, продлись, очарованье.
Пускай скудеет в жилах кровь,
Но в сердце не скудеет нежность...
О ты, последняя любовь!
Ты и блаженство, и безнадежность.
Love at the closing of our days
is apprehensive and very tender.
Glow brighter, brighter, farewell rays
of one last love in its evening splendor.
Blue shade takes half the world away:
through western clouds alone some light is slanted.
O tarry, O tarry, declining day,
enchantment, let me stay enchanted.
The blood runs thinner, yet the heart
remains as ever deep and tender.
O last belated love, thou art
a blend of joy and of hopeless surrender.
Alexey Sklyarenko
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/