In reply to JM, I think Nabokov was here faithful to literal translation, although he forgoes Pushkin's iambic tetrameter except for
Jansy Mello: Fascinating exchanges*.There's one nagging question,though. If, as AS and SS affirm, there is no ambiguity (or little ambiguity) in Pushkin's sentence in Russian - but there are "often fruitful" ambiguities in VN's translation (following JK and SKB and, indirectly, CK) - can we say that VN was following the strictures of the criteria he used in the translation of EO, or did he deviate from them in this instance?
.....................................................................................*AS:(quoting Pushkin) ...":lyubov'yu shutit satana(with love jokes Satan)."CK: I have to disagree with Alexey's usually excellent EnglishAS: ...here Carolyn, you disagree with Nabokov's incomparable and precise English - for it is his translation.CK: Satan does not joke lovingly, as is would appear in Alexey's translation, but uses love to make fun of humans.AS: This is exactly what Pushkin is saying.Stan Kelly Bootle: Do we have have a common word-order reversal adding to the potential ambiguity? SVP (subject verb predicate) in many languages can be varied for emphasis. Here we have PVS to stress the adverbial predicate ... The object &/or nature of Satan’s humour/satire. A comma/pause plus italics may clarify:With love, jokes Satan.The preposition WITH remains ambiguous:Satan jokes ABOUT love? Or Satan jokes LOVINGLY? Is the Russian dative case-ending lyubov'yu equally ambiguous? Regardless of Nabokov’s ‘incomparably precise’ command of Russian & English, there remain inescapable (often fruitful!) NL ambiguities, especially with poetry & aphorisms.Finally: Is the ‘epigraph/epigram’ referring to a particular incident (resting on subsequent context), or a general accusation about the Devil’s indifference to human emotions?[to SKB: 'Is the Russian dative case-ending lyubov'yu equally ambiguous?']Jerry Katsell: Certainly there are no lack of ambiguities in VV's work, often fruitful, as Stanley Kelly-Bootle states.One thing is certain though: lyubov'yu is grammatically feminine with a soft consonant ending and thus here in the instrumental, not dative case, -- perhaps adding to the adjectival emphasis of the word in first position in the phrase.
Sergei Soloviev [ to SKB]: no, in Russian it is less ambiguous (ambiguous variant would require "s lyubov'yu...").AS: lyubov'yu is instrumental case. No ambiguity in Russian, despite the reversed word order.Ljuba Tarvi lyubov'yu shutit satana. Here is this line in the four latest full-text translations of EO:
Tom Beck (2004): for Satan loves а fiendish joke! Stanley Mitchell (2008): That Satan plays оn gentlefolk.
Henry Hoyt (2008): Тhе Evil Оnе plays jokes with love. D.M. Thomas (2011): For Satan always jokes with love.
All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.
All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.