Subject
Updike and Nabokov: A Question of Translation (fwd)
Date
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John Updike's latest collection of criticism, MORE MATTER, includes his New
Yorker review of VN's Collected Stories, which he admirably praises. This
time around, though, he adds an interesting footnote that gingerly raises
the question of how well certain of the stories translate into English.
Updike writes:
"at some points ... some thing a little beyond the edge of English is
produced. What is meant, in 'The Admiralty Spire,' by a barber's 'taking aim
with his comb and flipping my hair over with a linotype swing'? Can the verb
'pimp' be transitive, as in (in 'A Slice of Life') 'she and she alone pimped
them together'? Do we get the picture intended, in 'Mademoiselle O,' with
"Eyed shadows move on the garden paths'? Just asking."
Any takers?
Rodney Welch
Yorker review of VN's Collected Stories, which he admirably praises. This
time around, though, he adds an interesting footnote that gingerly raises
the question of how well certain of the stories translate into English.
Updike writes:
"at some points ... some thing a little beyond the edge of English is
produced. What is meant, in 'The Admiralty Spire,' by a barber's 'taking aim
with his comb and flipping my hair over with a linotype swing'? Can the verb
'pimp' be transitive, as in (in 'A Slice of Life') 'she and she alone pimped
them together'? Do we get the picture intended, in 'Mademoiselle O,' with
"Eyed shadows move on the garden paths'? Just asking."
Any takers?
Rodney Welch