Subject
VN and DN on "Who was Shakespeare?" (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITOR'S PRE-NOTE: FOR REASONS THAT SURPASSETH HUMAN UNDERSTANDING, MY
COMPUTER SEEMS TO HAVE CHOPPED UP AND OFF AN IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING
VERSION OF THIS POSTING. LET US PRAY IT WORKS PROPERLY THIS TIME.
-------------------------------
EDITOR'S NOTE: On May 6 David Webb at Dartmouth inquired about a source
for VN's reported attitude toward the eternal "Did Shakespeare write
Shakespeare" issue. Peter Kartsev in Moscow immediated suppplied the
answer and wondered if Dmitri Nabokov had translated the poem (item 1
below). Item 2 is DN's reply, and Item 3 is the corrected text of his
translation.
ITEM I.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Wed, 07 May 1997 01:53:22 +0400
> To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@UCSBVM.ucsb.edu>
> Subject: Re: VN and the Shakespeare authorship "problem" (fwd)
>
> From: "Peter A. Kartsev" <petr@glas.apc.org>
>
> What immediately comes to mind is a poem, written in Dec. 1924 and
> entitled "Shekspir", that is, "Shakespeare". It addresses the
> anonymous, but obviously aristocratic, real author of the plays,
> while mentioning that "thy works were habitually signed - for a
> fee - by a money-lender, that Will Shakespeare who used to play
> the Ghost in 'Hamlet'". It's one of my (many) favourite poems by VN.
> I do hope it's been translated into English by himself or DN, but
> I have no means for checking this right now.
>
> The problem here is whether we should distinguish between the author
> and the "I" of the poem. Elsewhere, I think Nabokov always referred
> to the author of the plays very conventionally as Shakespeare, not
> mentioning the authorship conundrum.
>
> --
> Peter A. Kartsev
> Moscow, Russia
> Phone: (095) 471-5457
> E-mail: petr@glas.apc.org
------------------------------------------------------------
ITEM 2:
>From DMITRI NABOKOV via taxi@flinet.com Sat May 17 15:55:46 1997
Date: Wed, 07 May 1997 14:29:05 -0400
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@UCSBVM.ucsb.edu>
Subject: Dmitri Nabokov Answer Re: VN and the Shakespeare authorship "problem"
7 MAY 1997
YES, I HAVE TRANSLATED VN'S POEM ABOUT SHAKESPEARE MENTIONED BY THE
EVER-ASTUTE PETER KARTSEV. YES, IT DOES CONTAIN A REFERENCE TO A
MARGINAL, MONEY AND NAME-LENDING, GHOST-PLAYING "WILL SHAKESPEARE."
IT APPEARED A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO IN _THE NABOKOVIAN_ ON ITS WAY TO A
FUTURE COLLECTION.
BEST, DN
-----------------------------------------------------------
ITEM 3: Editor's Note. The original Russian text of Nabokov's 1924 poem "Shekspir"
is reprinted in the Ardis 1979 STIXI. Dmitri Nabokov, who is preparing a
volume of English translations of his father's Russian poetry, published
his translation of "Shakespeare" in Issue #20 (Spring 1988), pp. 15-16 of
THE NABOKOVIAN. DN has kindly provided NABOKV-L with his English text
which incorporates his corrections of several small typographic
infelicites in the TN version. Since the limitations of E-mail format make
it impossible to reproduce some of those corrections (and some correct
format details), I have appended a couple of expanatory notes.
---------------------------------------------
SHAKESPEARE
Vladimir Nabokov
1924
translation by Dmitri Nabokov
Amid grandees of times Elizabethan
you shimmered too, you followed sumptuous customs;
the circle of ruff, the silv'ry satin that
encased your thigh, the wedge-like beard -- in all of this
you were like other men.... Thus was enfolded
your godlike thunder in a succinct cape.
Haughty, aloof from theatre's alarums,
you easily, regretlessly relinquished
the laurels twining into a dry wreath,
concealing for all time your monstrous genius
beneath a mask; and yet, your phantasms' echoes
still vibrate for us: your Venetian Moor,
his anguish; Falstaff's visage, like an udder
with pasted-on mustache; the raging Lear....
You are among us, you're alive; your name, though,
your image, too -- deceiving, thus, the world --
you have submerged in your beloved Lethe.
It's true, of course, a userer had grown
accustomed, for a sum, to sign your work
(that Shakespeare -- Will -- who played the Ghost in _Hamlet_,
who lived in pubs, and died before he could
digest in full his portion of a boar's head)....
The frigate breathed, your country you were leaving.
To Italy you went. A female voice
called singsong through the iron's pattern,
called to her balcony the tall _inglese_,
grown languid from the lemon-tinted moon
amid Verona's streets. My inclination
is to imagine, possibly, the droll
and kind creator of _Don Quixote_
exchanging with you a few casual words
while waiting for fresh horses -- and the evening
was surely blue. The well behind the tavern
contained a pail's pure tinkling sound.... Reply --
whom did you love? Reveal yourself -- whose memoirs
refer to you in passing? Look what numbers
of lowly, worthless souls have left their trace,
what countless names Brantome* has for the asking!
Reveal yourself, god of iambic thunder,
you hundred-mouthed, unthinkably great bard!
No! At the destined hour, when you felt banished
by God from your existence, you recalled
those secret manuscripts, fully aware
that your supremacy would rest unblemished
by public rumor's unashamed* brand,
that ever, amidst the shifting dust of ages,
faceless you'd stay, like immortality
itself -- then vanished in the distance smiling.
----
Copyright C1979 Vladimir Nabokov Estate
English version copyright c1988 Dmitiri Nabokov
---------------------------------
Notes appended by editor (DBJ).
* Brantome, Pierre de Bourdeilles (1535?-1614) was a courtier and soldier
of fortune whose _Vies des hommes illustres et grands capitaines_ and
_Livre des dames_ form a racy account of his times. His name, of course,
should bear a circumflex accent over the "o."
*"unashamed" should have a mark indicating that the final "-ed" is
pronounced as a fourth syllable.
COMPUTER SEEMS TO HAVE CHOPPED UP AND OFF AN IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING
VERSION OF THIS POSTING. LET US PRAY IT WORKS PROPERLY THIS TIME.
-------------------------------
EDITOR'S NOTE: On May 6 David Webb at Dartmouth inquired about a source
for VN's reported attitude toward the eternal "Did Shakespeare write
Shakespeare" issue. Peter Kartsev in Moscow immediated suppplied the
answer and wondered if Dmitri Nabokov had translated the poem (item 1
below). Item 2 is DN's reply, and Item 3 is the corrected text of his
translation.
ITEM I.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Wed, 07 May 1997 01:53:22 +0400
> To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@UCSBVM.ucsb.edu>
> Subject: Re: VN and the Shakespeare authorship "problem" (fwd)
>
> From: "Peter A. Kartsev" <petr@glas.apc.org>
>
> What immediately comes to mind is a poem, written in Dec. 1924 and
> entitled "Shekspir", that is, "Shakespeare". It addresses the
> anonymous, but obviously aristocratic, real author of the plays,
> while mentioning that "thy works were habitually signed - for a
> fee - by a money-lender, that Will Shakespeare who used to play
> the Ghost in 'Hamlet'". It's one of my (many) favourite poems by VN.
> I do hope it's been translated into English by himself or DN, but
> I have no means for checking this right now.
>
> The problem here is whether we should distinguish between the author
> and the "I" of the poem. Elsewhere, I think Nabokov always referred
> to the author of the plays very conventionally as Shakespeare, not
> mentioning the authorship conundrum.
>
> --
> Peter A. Kartsev
> Moscow, Russia
> Phone: (095) 471-5457
> E-mail: petr@glas.apc.org
------------------------------------------------------------
ITEM 2:
>From DMITRI NABOKOV via taxi@flinet.com Sat May 17 15:55:46 1997
Date: Wed, 07 May 1997 14:29:05 -0400
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@UCSBVM.ucsb.edu>
Subject: Dmitri Nabokov Answer Re: VN and the Shakespeare authorship "problem"
7 MAY 1997
YES, I HAVE TRANSLATED VN'S POEM ABOUT SHAKESPEARE MENTIONED BY THE
EVER-ASTUTE PETER KARTSEV. YES, IT DOES CONTAIN A REFERENCE TO A
MARGINAL, MONEY AND NAME-LENDING, GHOST-PLAYING "WILL SHAKESPEARE."
IT APPEARED A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO IN _THE NABOKOVIAN_ ON ITS WAY TO A
FUTURE COLLECTION.
BEST, DN
-----------------------------------------------------------
ITEM 3: Editor's Note. The original Russian text of Nabokov's 1924 poem "Shekspir"
is reprinted in the Ardis 1979 STIXI. Dmitri Nabokov, who is preparing a
volume of English translations of his father's Russian poetry, published
his translation of "Shakespeare" in Issue #20 (Spring 1988), pp. 15-16 of
THE NABOKOVIAN. DN has kindly provided NABOKV-L with his English text
which incorporates his corrections of several small typographic
infelicites in the TN version. Since the limitations of E-mail format make
it impossible to reproduce some of those corrections (and some correct
format details), I have appended a couple of expanatory notes.
---------------------------------------------
SHAKESPEARE
Vladimir Nabokov
1924
translation by Dmitri Nabokov
Amid grandees of times Elizabethan
you shimmered too, you followed sumptuous customs;
the circle of ruff, the silv'ry satin that
encased your thigh, the wedge-like beard -- in all of this
you were like other men.... Thus was enfolded
your godlike thunder in a succinct cape.
Haughty, aloof from theatre's alarums,
you easily, regretlessly relinquished
the laurels twining into a dry wreath,
concealing for all time your monstrous genius
beneath a mask; and yet, your phantasms' echoes
still vibrate for us: your Venetian Moor,
his anguish; Falstaff's visage, like an udder
with pasted-on mustache; the raging Lear....
You are among us, you're alive; your name, though,
your image, too -- deceiving, thus, the world --
you have submerged in your beloved Lethe.
It's true, of course, a userer had grown
accustomed, for a sum, to sign your work
(that Shakespeare -- Will -- who played the Ghost in _Hamlet_,
who lived in pubs, and died before he could
digest in full his portion of a boar's head)....
The frigate breathed, your country you were leaving.
To Italy you went. A female voice
called singsong through the iron's pattern,
called to her balcony the tall _inglese_,
grown languid from the lemon-tinted moon
amid Verona's streets. My inclination
is to imagine, possibly, the droll
and kind creator of _Don Quixote_
exchanging with you a few casual words
while waiting for fresh horses -- and the evening
was surely blue. The well behind the tavern
contained a pail's pure tinkling sound.... Reply --
whom did you love? Reveal yourself -- whose memoirs
refer to you in passing? Look what numbers
of lowly, worthless souls have left their trace,
what countless names Brantome* has for the asking!
Reveal yourself, god of iambic thunder,
you hundred-mouthed, unthinkably great bard!
No! At the destined hour, when you felt banished
by God from your existence, you recalled
those secret manuscripts, fully aware
that your supremacy would rest unblemished
by public rumor's unashamed* brand,
that ever, amidst the shifting dust of ages,
faceless you'd stay, like immortality
itself -- then vanished in the distance smiling.
----
Copyright C1979 Vladimir Nabokov Estate
English version copyright c1988 Dmitiri Nabokov
---------------------------------
Notes appended by editor (DBJ).
* Brantome, Pierre de Bourdeilles (1535?-1614) was a courtier and soldier
of fortune whose _Vies des hommes illustres et grands capitaines_ and
_Livre des dames_ form a racy account of his times. His name, of course,
should bear a circumflex accent over the "o."
*"unashamed" should have a mark indicating that the final "-ed" is
pronounced as a fourth syllable.