Subject
Spelling of Anna Karenina (fwd)
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From: TA Colquhoun <TAColquhoun@compuserve.com>
Message text written by Vladimir Nabokov Forum:
>It is first necessary to understand that the termination -a is only
used when speaking or writing in Russian. Translations into English
eliminate the variable form, omitting the a and using the masculine
pronunciation of a surname, as in Countess Tolstoy or Madame Blavatsky.
One does not use Countess Tolstoya or Madame Blavatskaya when speaking
English.<
Maybe that was a consistent rule 'before', but what about writers like
Tatiana Tolstaya? Natalya Baranskaya? Lydia Chukovskaya? Are they too
'victims' of misguided translators??
Alexandra Colquhoun
Message text written by Vladimir Nabokov Forum:
>It is first necessary to understand that the termination -a is only
used when speaking or writing in Russian. Translations into English
eliminate the variable form, omitting the a and using the masculine
pronunciation of a surname, as in Countess Tolstoy or Madame Blavatsky.
One does not use Countess Tolstoya or Madame Blavatskaya when speaking
English.<
Maybe that was a consistent rule 'before', but what about writers like
Tatiana Tolstaya? Natalya Baranskaya? Lydia Chukovskaya? Are they too
'victims' of misguided translators??
Alexandra Colquhoun