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Re: Racemosa: fluffy flowers of the cheryomuha [Query]
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Dear Jansy:
The Russian text simply says "they lead me to a ravine - to kill"
this is a common case of an eager translator deliberately making things more complex,
trying to be more Nabokovian than Nabokov :)
The word 'rip' is Boris Leivi's unnecessary addition, meant as a "crack, tear" as in "ripping".
I do not think a "ravine's rip" combination works this way in English. He possibly ?meant "a rip of a ravine"
this links still works: http://www.vladivostok.com/speaking_in_tongues/nabokov2.html
(No r.i.p., and no 'ripping' modern machine-guns yet, as the ravine imagery refers to the Russian Civil War of 1918-1920, where the only machine-gun available was endearingly called 'maximka', often mounted on the two-wheel horse cart (an infamous 'tachanka'), fusing an ancient chariot imagery with Mr Maxim ?'s Victorian invention -- see Isaac Babel's stories)
Victor Fet
________________________________
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU> on behalf of Jansy Mello <jansy.mello@OUTLOOK.COM>
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2016 12:18 PM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: [NABOKV-L] RES: [NABOKV-L] Racemosa: fluffy flowers of the cheryomuha [Query]
On March 05, 2009 Victor Fet sent a translation of a poem by V. Nabokov ["...This refers also to the famous VN's image of a ravine where Communists shot people, a ravine overgrown with racemosa that survived through Communist regime: Rossiya, zvezdy, noch' rasstrela/ i ves' v cheremuhe ovrag. 'Some nights, as soon as I'm asleep,/To Russian shores my bed would run;/And now - to the ravine's rip -/Be executed with a gun. .........But you, my heart, would go further.../This you with passion would assume:/Still Russia, stars, the night of murder,/The ravine - the bird-cherry bloom.(Transl. by Boris Leivi) at http://spintongues.msk.ru/nabokov2.html ]
I have no access to the original in Russian (even if I did I wouldn't be able to understand it). The URL leading to Boris Leivi's translation was not found.
There's on word in English that intrigued me ( "to the ravine's rip") because at first I associated it to the tearing noise of machine guns. Later I noticed that the letters also suggest "r.i.p." (requiescat in pace: rest in peace) producing what, to me, is a very powerful condensation (ravine,violent death, peace).
I wonder if this employ of "rip" in English is to be found in V. Nabokov's poem "Rasstrel" or if its secondary meaning is accidental.
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The Russian text simply says "they lead me to a ravine - to kill"
this is a common case of an eager translator deliberately making things more complex,
trying to be more Nabokovian than Nabokov :)
The word 'rip' is Boris Leivi's unnecessary addition, meant as a "crack, tear" as in "ripping".
I do not think a "ravine's rip" combination works this way in English. He possibly ?meant "a rip of a ravine"
this links still works: http://www.vladivostok.com/speaking_in_tongues/nabokov2.html
(No r.i.p., and no 'ripping' modern machine-guns yet, as the ravine imagery refers to the Russian Civil War of 1918-1920, where the only machine-gun available was endearingly called 'maximka', often mounted on the two-wheel horse cart (an infamous 'tachanka'), fusing an ancient chariot imagery with Mr Maxim ?'s Victorian invention -- see Isaac Babel's stories)
Victor Fet
________________________________
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU> on behalf of Jansy Mello <jansy.mello@OUTLOOK.COM>
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2016 12:18 PM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: [NABOKV-L] RES: [NABOKV-L] Racemosa: fluffy flowers of the cheryomuha [Query]
On March 05, 2009 Victor Fet sent a translation of a poem by V. Nabokov ["...This refers also to the famous VN's image of a ravine where Communists shot people, a ravine overgrown with racemosa that survived through Communist regime: Rossiya, zvezdy, noch' rasstrela/ i ves' v cheremuhe ovrag. 'Some nights, as soon as I'm asleep,/To Russian shores my bed would run;/And now - to the ravine's rip -/Be executed with a gun. .........But you, my heart, would go further.../This you with passion would assume:/Still Russia, stars, the night of murder,/The ravine - the bird-cherry bloom.(Transl. by Boris Leivi) at http://spintongues.msk.ru/nabokov2.html ]
I have no access to the original in Russian (even if I did I wouldn't be able to understand it). The URL leading to Boris Leivi's translation was not found.
There's on word in English that intrigued me ( "to the ravine's rip") because at first I associated it to the tearing noise of machine guns. Later I noticed that the letters also suggest "r.i.p." (requiescat in pace: rest in peace) producing what, to me, is a very powerful condensation (ravine,violent death, peace).
I wonder if this employ of "rip" in English is to be found in V. Nabokov's poem "Rasstrel" or if its secondary meaning is accidental.
Google Search <http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&hl=en%0A>
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the Editors<mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> NOJ<http://www.nabokovonline.com> Zembla<http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> Nabokv-L <http://web.utk.edu/%7Esblackwe/EDNote.htm>
Policies<http://web.utk.edu/%7Esblackwe/EDNote.htm> Subscription options<http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=NABOKV-L> AdaOnline<http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/> NSJ Ada Annotations<http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html> L-Soft Search the archive<https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L> VN Bibliography Blog<http://vnbiblio.com/>
All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.
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,dana.dragunoiu@gmail.com,shvabrin@humnet.ucla.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