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Fw: translation of the phrase in IB and a new query
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----- Original Message -----
From: alex
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2004 3:36 PM
Subject: translation of the phrase in IB and a new query
Dear Alain Andreu and all,
"Smert' mila, eto taina" in literal translation means "death is sweet, this is a secret."
I'm glad to learn that the meaning of the original "Italian" phrase can be decoded after all. So probably the theory suggested by V. L. Shokhina (the commentator whom I cited) is far-fetched.
Now I also have an important query. Could somebody of you who has a copy of Poems and Problems write for me the English translation of lines 5-8 of VN's Russian poem To Prince S. M. Kachurin? The corresponding lines in the Russian original are:
"Svyashchennikom amerikanskim
tvoy bednyi drug pereodet,
i vsem dolinam dagestanskim
ya shlyu zavistlivyi privet."
Our splendid publichka (the Public Library) simply hasn't a copy of PP. And I'm not sure that there is a copy at the Nabokov museum.
Many thanks in advance,
Alexey Sklyarenko, S-P