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Re: retranslating Pnin
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Dear Maurice,
thanks for sharing this. I have translated Lolita into Portuguese but
disgracefully (or not) never read Pnin. But it is often we translators feel
tortured by our authors, and with ethical conflicts... just like actors, I
suppose (and imagine what it took the author...)
Good luck and best of strength,
Margarida
On Thu, Dec 10, 2015 at 7:53 AM, Maurice Couturier <
Maurice.COUTURIER@unice.fr> wrote:
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> I am currently doing a new translation of "Pnin" for the Pléiade and often
> feel that Nabokov is torturing me from wherever he is. I had never had this
> impression in my previous translations ("Lolita" and the screenplay,
> "Glory", two volumes of short stories and "The original of Laura", not
> counting seven books by David Lodge). The language itself, more convoluted
> and less pure perhaps than in Nabokov's other novels written in English,
> compels the translator to juggle with both syntax and vocabulary in an
> unprecedented way. Remember what Nabokov himself said about the difficulty
> of translating from English into French; but, here, there is something
> else. I don't know if Gene, Dieter and the other colleagues who translated
> this novel experienced the same thing; I'd appreciate their comments.
>
> I am also beginning to change my appreciation of this novel. I have
> written about Nabokov's brand of sadism elsewhere; I almost feel it in my
> bones as I am translating "Pnin" and it makes me uncomfortable at times. I
> thought I admired this novel a lot, but I am beginning to wonder if I
> hadn't misread it. Am I an exception?
>
> Maurice Couturier
>
> Search archive with Google:
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>
> Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
> Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
> Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
> Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
> AdaOnline: "http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/
> The Nabokov Society of Japan's Annotations to Ada:
> http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html
> The VN Bibliography Blog: http://vnbiblio.com/
> Search the archive with L-Soft:
> https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L
>
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>
--
Dep. Estudos Anglísticos - FLUL
CEAUL / ULICES
Centro de Estudos Anglísticos da Universidade de Lisboa
penpalintranslation.com
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
Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
AdaOnline: "http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/
The Nabokov Society of Japan's Annotations to Ada: http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html
The VN Bibliography Blog: http://vnbiblio.com/
Search the archive with L-Soft: https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L
Manage subscription options :http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=NABOKV-L
thanks for sharing this. I have translated Lolita into Portuguese but
disgracefully (or not) never read Pnin. But it is often we translators feel
tortured by our authors, and with ethical conflicts... just like actors, I
suppose (and imagine what it took the author...)
Good luck and best of strength,
Margarida
On Thu, Dec 10, 2015 at 7:53 AM, Maurice Couturier <
Maurice.COUTURIER@unice.fr> wrote:
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> I am currently doing a new translation of "Pnin" for the Pléiade and often
> feel that Nabokov is torturing me from wherever he is. I had never had this
> impression in my previous translations ("Lolita" and the screenplay,
> "Glory", two volumes of short stories and "The original of Laura", not
> counting seven books by David Lodge). The language itself, more convoluted
> and less pure perhaps than in Nabokov's other novels written in English,
> compels the translator to juggle with both syntax and vocabulary in an
> unprecedented way. Remember what Nabokov himself said about the difficulty
> of translating from English into French; but, here, there is something
> else. I don't know if Gene, Dieter and the other colleagues who translated
> this novel experienced the same thing; I'd appreciate their comments.
>
> I am also beginning to change my appreciation of this novel. I have
> written about Nabokov's brand of sadism elsewhere; I almost feel it in my
> bones as I am translating "Pnin" and it makes me uncomfortable at times. I
> thought I admired this novel a lot, but I am beginning to wonder if I
> hadn't misread it. Am I an exception?
>
> Maurice Couturier
>
> 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
> Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
> Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
> Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
> AdaOnline: "http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/
> The Nabokov Society of Japan's Annotations to Ada:
> http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html
> The VN Bibliography Blog: http://vnbiblio.com/
> Search the archive with L-Soft:
> https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L
>
> Manage subscription options :
> http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=NABOKV-L
>
--
Dep. Estudos Anglísticos - FLUL
CEAUL / ULICES
Centro de Estudos Anglísticos da Universidade de Lisboa
penpalintranslation.com
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
Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
AdaOnline: "http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/
The Nabokov Society of Japan's Annotations to Ada: http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html
The VN Bibliography Blog: http://vnbiblio.com/
Search the archive with L-Soft: https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L
Manage subscription options :http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=NABOKV-L