Volkov and the Wizard of OZ -ACKNOWLEDGMENT

[Edward M Dumanis]

On Sun, 12 Nov 1995, Barry P. Scherr wrote:

> After reading the reply of Edward Dumanis to Robert Rothstein I felt that the
> discussion had passed into a realm where only Lewis Carroll had gone before.
> Edward Dumanis made a very serious accusation against Boris Zakhoder; namely,
> that Zakhoder had tried to pass off A. A. Milne's work as his own, without
> acknowledging the source.

Let me clear the air.  It is not the question of passing off A. A.
Milne's work as his own but the question of whether and when the translator
has the right to present his translation as an original work.  Check the
Subject line above, you'll see there "Volkov" (not "Zakhoder"). If you
look at my original message, you'll find that the name of Zakhoder was
just one among others.  But if you want to talk about Boris Zakhoder, let's
talk about him.  I included his name only because it had been used in the
message I replied to.  You are absolutely right that Zakhoder's books
have the reference "pereskazal" (retold).  Whether this constitutes full
acknowledgment or not, we might disagree.  Meanwhile, books of Volkov and
others did not have any acknowledgment whatsoever.  So, of course, there
is a difference between their ethical standards.  However, I had no interest
to compare their individual ethics.  The only reason why Boris Zakhoder
happened to be in that company is that he preferred to be listed as an
author rather than to leave this honor to A. A. Miln.  My understanding
is that besides giving an acknowledgment to the original author, we still
have the question of giving a PROPER acknowledgment whatever it might
mean.  Should we talk about Pasternak's "Hamlet" and Lozinskij's "Hamlet,"
or it is still Shakespeare's, and was just translated by Pasternak and
Lozinskij?  How different should be the "retold" story, to justify the
change in the name of its author?  Then what can we say about translation
of poems where a translator has always a dilemma between the form and the
content: what to preserve first?  The answers on these questions involve
the ethical standards of the society where translators live, and ethical
decisions of individuals must be considered only in this context.

Edward Dumanis <dumanis at acsu.buffalo.edu>