tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post2833194788252692439..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: Why is this age worse than other ages? - Anna Akhmatova, narrative poetAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-11034680485131882222016-05-31T12:33:39.407-05:002016-05-31T12:33:39.407-05:00Cleanthess: It's quite good; the major quibble...Cleanthess: It's quite good; the major quibble I'd have would be with the lines:<br /><br />I won’t return to trouble men<br />Or visit stranger’s dreams again<br /><br />In the Russian, людей is 'people (regardless of gender),' not 'men (as opposed to women),' and especially these days "men" seems inappropriate and misleading; сны чужие is 'other people's dreams,' not "stranger’s dreams" (and in any case, shouldn't that be "strangers' dreams"?).<br />Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-57139076023023170132016-05-30T21:54:51.725-05:002016-05-30T21:54:51.725-05:00Yes, thanks - way before my time. Did I know there...Yes, thanks - way before my time. Did I know there was an internet in 2002? I'll pretend I did not.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-65297185372859252792016-05-30T15:04:41.974-05:002016-05-30T15:04:41.974-05:00Languagehat, thank you very much for those links. ...Languagehat, thank you very much for those links. I'm a big fan of your blog (and of Dr. Mair's Languagelog blog). This is the original Russian for the poem I quoted above, could you please tell us what you think about the translation?<br /><br />Но я предупреждаю вас,<br />Что я живу в последний раз.<br />Ни ласточкой, ни кленом,<br />Ни тростником и ни звездой,<br />Ни родниковою водой,<br />Ни колокольным звоном –<br />Не буду я людей смущать<br />И сны чужие навещать<br />Неутоленным стономCleanthesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15363416290397892659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-73999439661020698082016-05-30T08:45:19.111-05:002016-05-30T08:45:19.111-05:00Oh, and back in 2002 I discussed translations of a...Oh, and back in 2002 I <a href="http://languagehat.com/translation/" rel="nofollow">discussed</a> translations of a particular poem myself at LH.Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-15634648159430278362016-05-30T08:36:48.056-05:002016-05-30T08:36:48.056-05:00You will want to read this critical essay by Marjo...You will want to read <a href="http://www.bookforum.com/archive/dec_04/perloff.html" rel="nofollow">this critical essay</a> by Marjorie Perloff on Nancy K. Anderson and other Akhmatova translators; as I wrote <a href="http://languagehat.com/ahkmatoviana/" rel="nofollow">here</a>, "I agree with her about the relative merits of the translations she excerpts (though all are hideously inadequate)." The comment by Alexei in that thread is also instructive.Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-56754591186196457262016-05-28T23:16:11.222-05:002016-05-28T23:16:11.222-05:00Glad you liked it. And it's "God didn'...Glad you liked it. And it's "God didn't save" not "God doesn't save"-- another failure of proofing. <br /><br />mayareadsbookshttp://mayareadsbooks.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-83610354181463365632016-05-28T20:01:37.021-05:002016-05-28T20:01:37.021-05:00Yes, the movement of that poem is wonderful. Than...Yes, the <i>movement</i> of that poem is wonderful. Thanks so much for the translation.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-76062680779741433872016-05-28T19:55:48.217-05:002016-05-28T19:55:48.217-05:00Sorry, that should be "the ruined house"...Sorry, that should be "the ruined house" not "our ruined house." What comes of not proofreading, alas!mayareadsbookshttp://mayareadsbooks.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-47522622903732326072016-05-28T19:50:59.281-05:002016-05-28T19:50:59.281-05:00"The Last Toast"
I drink to our ruined ..."The Last Toast"<br /><br />I drink to our ruined home<br />To my cruel life<br />To solitude together<br />And I drink to you.--<br /><br />To the lie of the lips that betrayed me<br />To the eyes' deadly cold<br />To the fact that the world is cruel and rough<br />To the fact that God doesn't save<br /><br /><br />My translation. "The fact that" is totally unsatisfactory- the Russian is more like "to that". <br /><br />I love the hourglass shape of this poem-- how it starts panning over the effects of the breakup, then narrows to an accusing "you", then widens to indict the world and God.mayareadsbookshttp://mayareadsbooks.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-29782652995353736362016-05-28T19:32:45.741-05:002016-05-28T19:32:45.741-05:00Jean, that is almost exactly what you are seeing h...Jean, that is almost exactly what you are seeing here, me meaning to read Akhmatova for years (and then, finally, doing it).<br /><br />Both of the above poems sound great. Now I will be meaning (not for too many years, I hope) to read a <i>different</i> Akhmatova.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-59854309056258387782016-05-28T15:01:40.871-05:002016-05-28T15:01:40.871-05:00I've been meaning to read Akhmatova for years....I've been meaning to read Akhmatova for years...Jeanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14247515387599954817noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-85062205429326577722016-05-28T10:37:23.309-05:002016-05-28T10:37:23.309-05:00The Richard McKane translation of Echo is my favou...The Richard McKane translation of Echo is my favourite version: <br /><br />The roads to the past have long been closed<br />and what is the past to me now?<br />What is there? Bloody slabs,<br />or a bricked up door,<br />or an echo that still could not<br />keep quiet, although I ask so…<br />The same thing happened with the echo<br />as with what I carry in my heart<br /><br />kaggsysbookishramblingsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-35273822389261116652016-05-28T09:55:36.342-05:002016-05-28T09:55:36.342-05:00Some of her poems feel like a shorter, more direct...Some of her poems feel like a shorter, more direct Szymborska, with their common sense, playful, fresh way of looking at bemusing topics:<br /><br />Ah, but I am warning you<br />This life’s the last I’m living through.<br />Not as a swallow, or a poplar<br />Not as a reed or a star,<br />Not as water from a well<br />Nor a bell’s hollow song—<br />I won’t return to trouble men<br />Or visit stranger’s dreams again<br />With my unquenchable lament.<br /><br />Anna Akhmatova, 1940, as translated by Meryl Natchez in Poems from the Stray Dog Cafe.Cleanthesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15363416290397892659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-63198681107687341582016-05-28T08:36:46.740-05:002016-05-28T08:36:46.740-05:00Yes, such an interesting person, and poet, too.Yes, such an interesting person, and poet, too.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-36765150699320709402016-05-27T22:28:44.011-05:002016-05-27T22:28:44.011-05:00i'll have to get some of that - she's defi...i'll have to get some of that - she's definitely got a handle on it... txMudpuddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17194891656971454279noreply@blogger.com