Subject
Different VN's in Russian & English?
Date
Body
EDITORIAL NOTE. Since the summertime doldrums are upon us, I thought the
following query (and my semi-response below) might provide some food for
thought. It's the kind of question that (il-)logical positivists like
myself tend to steer clean of since it involves so many imponderables
but it is not without interest. Comments from anyone?
-----------------------------------
> FROM:Mari Yamaguchi(VES04065@niftyserve.or.jp)
>
> I'm a student at Rikkyo University in Tokyo. In one of the
> classes there, a teacher has asked me to research into one of
> any bilingual(or trilingual, or more) authors and find out
> if the writer's personality changed when he/she used different
> languages. I decided to do my research work on a trilingual
> author, Vladimir Nabokov. So I have to find out whether(if any,
> how) his personality in his English works is different from
> that in his Russian works, or in his French works. I have done
> some research and I already found that Nabokov didn't feel so
> comfortable to write novels in English. He felt more comfortable
> in Russian. But I don't know HOW differently his personalities are
> appeared in his works. If I only knew both English and Russian,
> I could probably find out about it by myself. If you could just tell me
> how I can find necessary information about it, I'd be very grateful!
>
> Mari Yamaguchi, from Kanagawa Japan
>
------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mari Yamaguchi,
.................... You can get some backgound information from a book
by Elizabeth Beaujour, _Alien Tongues_, I think it's called, which deals
with Nabokov, inter alia. The author also has an essay or two in the
recent _Guide to Nabokov_ edited by Vladimir Alexandrov. Her bibliography will
give you a place get background to the matter. My own feeling is that
Nabokov projects rather the same image in both Russian and English.
Best of luck.
D. Barton Johnson
following query (and my semi-response below) might provide some food for
thought. It's the kind of question that (il-)logical positivists like
myself tend to steer clean of since it involves so many imponderables
but it is not without interest. Comments from anyone?
-----------------------------------
> FROM:Mari Yamaguchi(VES04065@niftyserve.or.jp)
>
> I'm a student at Rikkyo University in Tokyo. In one of the
> classes there, a teacher has asked me to research into one of
> any bilingual(or trilingual, or more) authors and find out
> if the writer's personality changed when he/she used different
> languages. I decided to do my research work on a trilingual
> author, Vladimir Nabokov. So I have to find out whether(if any,
> how) his personality in his English works is different from
> that in his Russian works, or in his French works. I have done
> some research and I already found that Nabokov didn't feel so
> comfortable to write novels in English. He felt more comfortable
> in Russian. But I don't know HOW differently his personalities are
> appeared in his works. If I only knew both English and Russian,
> I could probably find out about it by myself. If you could just tell me
> how I can find necessary information about it, I'd be very grateful!
>
> Mari Yamaguchi, from Kanagawa Japan
>
------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mari Yamaguchi,
.................... You can get some backgound information from a book
by Elizabeth Beaujour, _Alien Tongues_, I think it's called, which deals
with Nabokov, inter alia. The author also has an essay or two in the
recent _Guide to Nabokov_ edited by Vladimir Alexandrov. Her bibliography will
give you a place get background to the matter. My own feeling is that
Nabokov projects rather the same image in both Russian and English.
Best of luck.
D. Barton Johnson