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Title: Eugene Onegin by Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin, Vladimir Nabokov ISBN: 0-691-01905-3 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 January, 1991 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.71 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Pushkin by way of Nabokov
Comment: At the close of his writing career Vladimir Nabokov predicted that he would be remembered only for two things: Lolita and his translation of the Russian classic Eugene Onegin. He was half right.
Lolita is now firmly apart of the western literary canon. Nabokov's other fictional works are, i believe, gaining popularity due to Lolita's renown. In his own candid assesment (which he had so many of) he placed himself only behind James Joyce as this century's top writer, and now many would agree. But his Eugene Onegin is dying.
When it was published almost a half century ago, Nabokov's literal translation of Eugene Onegin was both praised and attacked. Edmund Wilson was the most effective (or the loudest) critic of the translation. He didn't like, for example, that Nabokov used words that he, Wilson, didn't know; he didn't like that Nabokov's translation didn't rhyme, or that it wasn't in verse. He even criticized Nabokov's choice of English/Russian equivalents.
Nabokov's reply to his critics and his reply to his friend Edmund Wilson in particular was, and still is, overwhelming. He made a boob out of Wilson and his arguments. He told Wilson that out of the thousands of words his translation employs only a few are obscure, and that any dictionary would supply their definition. He argued that he left out rhyme and meter because he wanted to convey as closely as possible what PUSHKIN orignially wrote; he rightly argued that all verse translations are more translator's artifice than the orignial writer's art. He assured Wilson that his Russian to English equivalents were as correct as possible.
For those of you that do ont know, Nabokov grew up speaking both Russian and English (in contrast to Wilson's adopted Russian and often misused English). He was more than very fluent in both languages: he was a great writer in both languages. We're talking Joycean great, not merely Wilsonian great.
In Nabokov we had an ideal translator. If you've ever read his 'Lectures on Literature' you know how precise, how painstaking the man was. He spent more time researching Pushkin and more time translating Eugene Onegin than he spent on any three of his novels combined. This in addition to his already encyclopedic and perfect understanding of Russian Literature, which he helped to shape.
His commentary on this poem is massive and laughably too informative (if such a thing can exist)--it will never be matched, only cited and added to.
Pushkin is considered Russia's greatest writer, not just their greatest poet--he is placed just under Shakespeare in esteem. Eguene Onegin is considered his masterpiece. One can only imagine Nabokov's desire to see it translated adequately in English--picture Harold Bloom being given the proper ability and oppertunity to translate Shakespeare. Nabokov did not take the task lightly. When he was finished he knew he achieved something: thus his prediction of its survival.
Too bad for him and his translation that Edmund Wilson type critisisms still linger. Readers still don't understand that when they favor a rhymed and metered Ardnt or Falen translation to Nabokov's, they are favoring Ardnt and Falen's artistry, not Pushkins. Nabokov is as close as English speakers are ever going to get to Pushkin. Nabokov, with all his powers, could have created a best-selling metered/rhymed version that would have endeared itself to all our poetry bleeding hearts--but he didn't. He didn't want to exploit Eugene Onegin, like others before him; he didn't want to force a rhyme, a sentiment, a turn of speech that Pushkin didn't use. He didn't want to misquote his master. So, he made what many consider a 'bumpy', raw, un-poetic Eugene Onegin.
Though Nabokov's translation among readers is dying, it will always live and give life to other translations. A very interesting acedemic essay should be written on the impact Nabokov's translation and commentary has on subsequent translations and commentaries. James E. Falen's translation is and will be the popular, 'definitive' version of Eugene Onegin. And it is good. But Falen should take every oppertunity to thank Nabokov for making his translation possible.
I suggest that one buy both Nabokov and Falen's translations and read them side by side--it is a very rewarding experience. And don't be suprised if you start enjoying Nabokov's 'bumpy' translation--it has a certain haggard beauty. It's exactly what it is supposed to be: first-rate poetry without the poetry. It's a shaved cat.
Rating: 5
Summary: Refuting D Stephen Heersink's Poshlust* review
Comment: Ignorant Heersink ignobly writes, besides other trite nonsense, "But Nabokov's Pushkin is too literal to be any good. James Falen's trans. is far superior, ... Falen, while also literal, also is metered and rhymes. Nabokov's thuds."
In reply, I quote Nabokov from his Foreword, "Literal: rendering, as closely as the associative and syntactical capacities of another language allow, the exact contextual meaning of the original. Only this is true translation."
Later, Nabokov asks: "can a rhymed poem Like Eugene Onegin Be truly translated with the retention of its rhymes? The answer, of course, is no. To reproduce the rhymes and yet translate the entire poem literally is mathematically impossible. But in losing its rhyme the poem loses its bloom, which neither marginal description nor the alchemy of a scholium can replace. Should one then content oneself with an exact rendering of the subject matter and forget all about form? Or should one still excuse an imitation of the poem's structure to which only twisted bits of sense stick here and there, by convincing oneself and one's public that in mutilating its meaning for the sake of a pleasure-measure rhyme one has the opportunity of prettifying or skipping the dry and difficult passages? I have been always amused by the stereotyped compliment that a reviewer pays the author of a "new translation." He says: "It reads smoothly." In other words, the hack who has never read the original, and does not know its language, praises an imitation as readable because easy platitudes have replaced in it the intricacies of which he is unaware. "Readable," indeed! A schoolboy's boner mocks the ancient masterpiece less than does its commercial poetization, and it is when the translator sets out to render the "spirit," and not the mere sense of the text, that he begins to traduce his author."
If you, like me, agree only with Heersink's sentiment that "it's worth while to read the very best Pushkin", I wholeheartedly endorse Nabokov's sublime Eugene Onegin, but on condition you find the original 4 volume set (vol. 1 Introduction Translation, vol. 2 Commentary One to Five, vol. 3 Commentary Six to End, vol. 4 1837 Russian Text). Nabokov's Commentaries are like the blood to the heart that is his translation, it "thuds" for a reason!
EO is the counterpoint: completing a simplified stylistic publishing triptych of Nabokov the writer, the lepidopterist, the scholar.
* Nabokov writes "Russians have, or had, a special name for smug philistinism -poshlust." From Essay 'Philistines and Philistinism'.
Rating: 5
Summary: Never mention "literature" without reading this book!
Comment: I'm a Russian Language and Literature major in Yonsei Univ. in Korea. Having lived in Moscow for around 3 years, I'd heard there a lot about Pushkin and read many of his famous works. The most prestigious of his, however, must be "Onegin." It's a great mixture of verse and prose in its form. If possible, try to read this in Russian, as well. This long poetical prose was written for 8 years and the ending rhyme perfectly matches for the entire line until the very end. Compared to others, it is definitely a conspicuous and brilliant one. "Onegin" can be the author himself or yourself. The love between Onegin and TaTyana is neither the cheap kind of love that often appears in any books nor the tragic one that is intended to squeze your tears. As a literature, this book covers not only love between passionate youth, but also a large range of literary works in it, which can tell us about the contemporary literature current and its atmosphere. Calling Onegin "My friend", Pushkin, the author, shows the probability and likelihood of the work. Finally, I'm just sorry that the title has been changed into English. The original name must be "Yevgeni Onegin(¬¦¬Ó¬Ô¬Ö¬ß¬Ú¬Û ¬°¬ß¬Ö¬Ô¬Ú¬ß)." If you are a literature major or intersted in it, I'd like to recommand you read this. You can't help but loving the two lovers and may reread it, especially the two correspondences through a long period of time. Only with readng this book, you'll also learn a huge area of the contemporary literature of the 19th century from the books mentioned in "Onegin" that take part as its subtext. Enjoy yourself!
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Title: Eugene Onegin: A Novel in Verse (Oxford World's Classics) by Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin, James E. Falen, Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin ISBN: 0192838997 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: October, 1998 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: Lectures on Literature by Vladimir Nabokov, Fredson Bowers, John Updike ISBN: 0156027755 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 16 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Dead Souls : A Novel by NIKOLAI GOGOL ISBN: 0679776443 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 25 March, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: A Hero of Our Time by MIKHAIL LERMONTOV ISBN: 0679413278 Publisher: Everyman's Library Pub. Date: 30 June, 1992 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Vladimir Nabokov : Novels and Memoirs 1941-1951 : The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Bend Sinister, Speak, Memory (Library of America) by Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, Brian Boyd ISBN: 1883011183 Publisher: Library of America Pub. Date: October, 1996 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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