Platonov translation problem

[B. Shir]

die down to you?

--- Mary Delle LeBeau <marydelle at SBCGLOBAL.NET> wrote:

> How about-- soon I'll come die beside you or soon I'll
> come die by
> you, or next to you.
>
> Mary Delle LeBeau
>
> On 12 Nov 2004, at 7:34, Robert Chandler wrote:
>
> > Dear all,
> >
> > Fairly near the beginning of CHEVENGUR, Sasha Dvanov
> (probably about
> > 11 years old) is sent out by his foster family to go
> and beg.  He
> > stops by the grave of his real father, a suicide, and
> talks to him:
> >
> > “His father lay patiently and nearby, not complaining
> how grim and
> > terrible it feels to remain alone all winter. What was
> there down
> > there? It was bad there, it was quiet and cramped
> there, and it was
> > impossible from down there to see the boy with the
> stick and the
> > beggar’s bag.
> >
> >  ‘Father, they’ve made me go out begging.  Soon
> I’ll come and
> >  die your way
> > {Soon I’ll be dead with you / Soon I’ll come and
> die on you} you
> > must be lonely there on your own, and I’m lonely
> too.’”
> >
> > Тhe Russian of the last sentence is as follows:
> > – Папа, меня прогнали
> побираться, я ь
> > скоро умру к тебе – тебе там
> ведь
> > скучно одному, и мне скучно.
> Papa, menya
> > prognali pobirat’sya, ya teper’ skoro umru k tebe
> — tebe tam
> > ved’  skuchno odnomu, i mne skuchno. “Skoro umru k
> tebe” is of
> > course breathtakingly bold, apparently simple yet
> unforgettable.  It
> > is as if the child does not recognize the boundary
> between life and
> > death, and for this reason says “umru k tebe” as
> straightforwardly
> > as he might say “priidu k tebe”.
> >
> > Any suggestions?  “I’ll be dead with you” is not
> bad, but a
> > little too ordinary.  “I’ll come and die your
> way” lacks the
> > memorable childish simplicity of the original.
> “I’ll come and die
> > on you” has the right boldness, but perhaps sounds
> hostile.
> > Although I’m hoping that the context and the possible
> literal
> > meaning (that Sasha will come and die right there on
> the grave) may
> > make it acceptable.
> >
> > Vsego nailuchshego,
> >
> > Robert
> >
> >
>
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> > ---
>
>
> Ph.D. candidate in Russian
> University of Southern California
> Los Angeles, CA
>
>
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