Subject
Re: query Vera dedications (fwd)
Date
Body
Vladimir Mylnikov touched upon a very sensitive issue that should
be treated with extreme caution. Nabokov's own practice seems to suggest
that for him, a dedication was not an integral part of the text that ought
to be rendered in translation. Thus his Russian story "Obida" is dedicated
to Ivan Alekseevich Bunin while "A Bad Day" is not; the translations of his
Russian novels are dedicated to Vera but the originals have no dedications
with the only exception of DAR that, in contrast to THE GIFT, is dedicated
not to Vera but to VN's mother. Even dedications to Vera in the Russian
versions of LOLITA and SPEAK, MEMORY are phrased differently:
"Posviashchetsia moei zhene".
Alexander Dolinin
be treated with extreme caution. Nabokov's own practice seems to suggest
that for him, a dedication was not an integral part of the text that ought
to be rendered in translation. Thus his Russian story "Obida" is dedicated
to Ivan Alekseevich Bunin while "A Bad Day" is not; the translations of his
Russian novels are dedicated to Vera but the originals have no dedications
with the only exception of DAR that, in contrast to THE GIFT, is dedicated
not to Vera but to VN's mother. Even dedications to Vera in the Russian
versions of LOLITA and SPEAK, MEMORY are phrased differently:
"Posviashchetsia moei zhene".
Alexander Dolinin