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[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

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[Buck Turgidson]

Good link

I read Nabokob's translation of Yevgenii Onegin. I enjoyed it but I can't comment on the translation. I imagine it is pretty good.

Most Russians I have talked to say Pushkin is difficult to translate because he uses a lot of untranslatable slang. They also tell me that he used obscene words. While I lived there I memorized the poem "Black Shawl" in Russian. Every time I came to the line "Nevernuyu devu lobzal Armianin" my Russian listeners would laugh. They told me it was racey. It translates roughly "An Armenian was licking the unfaithful girl."

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

Good morning Buck

Yes, I agree that translations of poetry (and other literary works) can be less than 100% accurate. There's no doubt that some words and expressions (in every language) defy direct translation. I'm just glad that it was an 'Armenian' and not an 'American' doing the licking.

With regard to "The Flower"; I presented this particular poem to my advanced Multi-Media class, in English, and discovered that one of my students in this group had memorized the original Russian version when she was a grade-school kid. She's now in her 30ies, and still knows it by heart. According to her, the translation was excellent.

Russians are not always so generous with their compliments, so I feel pretty good about using these in class now. On top of that, I've found that Russians are REALLY keen on reading Pushkin in English, so much so that I've even had requests from total strangers for copies of these poems in English. I swear.

Thanks for your reply, Buck ... and have a nice day
kEnT