Help with Tsvetaeva poems

Sat Aug 4 00:48:32 UTC 2007

Benjamin,

You are in good company :-) Craig Raine did an interesting adaptation
of "Попытка ревности". It's with a twist, but quite recognizable -

http://plagiarist.com/poetry/2628/

and this is Raine's statement of purpose, if you will -

"One of Hemingway's linguistic projects is to write in Spanish using
English.  I myself once began a translation of Marina Tsvetayeva's 'An
Attempt at Jealousy' in which I aimed to write a kind of
Russian-English, without articles and reproducing the Russian
word-order.  In the event, Tsvetayeva's subject matter, jealousy,
interested me more than the linguistic project and I ended up writing
a traditional ballad"
(see http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/record.asp?id=5254)

Boris

On 8/3/07, Inna Caron <caron.4 at osu.edu> wrote:
> But they were recognizable! :)
>
> Inna
>
>
>
> Inna Caron
> Ph.D. Candidate, Slavic Languages and Literatures
> Graduate Senator (College of Humanities)
> The Ohio State University
> 400 Hagerty Hall
> Columbus, OH 43210
> 614-292-6733
> caron.4 at osu.edu
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
> [mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Benjamin Sher
> Sent: Friday, August 03, 2007 3:36 PM
> To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Help with Tsvetaeva poems
>
> Dear Inna:
>
> Thank you very much. Really appreciate your help. Yes, my adaptations
> are really wild and free. I don't think it's fair for me to even call
> them adaptations. I will try to do more accurate renditions at some
> point in the future. Thank you again.
>
> Benjamin
>
> Inna Caron wrote:
> > Dear Benjamin,
> >
> > These are, indeed, quite interpretive. The first poem ("Resurrection"
> in
> > your rendition) corresponds to Tsvetaeva's "Liubov', liubov', i v
> > sudoragakh, i v grobe..." (the original is not broken into four
> numbered
> > sections). The second poem (the one you have titled Stabat Mater) - to
> > "Okh, gribok ty moi, gribochek, belyi gruzd'!" The third is titled
> > "Vziatie Kryma." All are written in 1920. See full texts below.
> >
> > Любовь! Любовь! И в судорогах, и в гробе
> > Насторожусь - прельщусь - смущусь - рванусь.
> > О милая! Ни в гробовом сугробе,
> > Ни в облачном с тобою не прощусь.
> >
> > И не на то мне пара крыл прекрасных
> > Дана, чтоб на сердце держать пуды.
> > Спеленутых, безглазых и безгласных
> > Я не умножу жалкой слободы.
> >
> > Нет, выпростаю руки, стан упругий
> > Единым взмахом из твоих пелен,
> > Смерть, выбью! - Верст на тысячу в округе
> > Растоплены снега - и лес спален.
> >
> > И если все ж - плеча, крыла, колена
> > Сжав - на погост дала себя увесть, -
> > То лишь затем, чтобы, смеясь над тленом,
> > Стихом восстать - иль розаном расцвесть!
> >
> > * * *
> >
> > Ox, грибок ты мой, грибочек, белый груздь!
> > То шатаясь причитает в поле - Русь.
> > Помогите - на ногах нетверда!
> > Затуманила меня кровь-руда!
> >
> > И справа и слева
> > Кровавые зевы,
> > И каждая рана:
> > - Мама!
> >
> > И только и это
> > И внятно мне, пьяной,
> > Из чрева - ив чрево:
> > - Мама!
> >
> > Все рядком лежат -
> > Не развесть межой.
> > Поглядеть: солдат.
> > Где свой, где чужой?
> >
> > Белый был - красным стал:
> > Кровь обагрила.
> > Красным был - белый стал:
> > Смерть побелила.
> >
> > - Кто ты? - белый? - не пойму! - привстань!
> > Аль у красных пропадал? - Ря-азань.
> >
> > И справа и слева
> > И сзади и прямо
> > И красный и белый:
> > - Мама!
> >
> > Без воли - без гнева -
> > Протяжно - упрямо -
> > До самого неба:
> > - Мама!
> >
> > * * *
> >
> > ВЗЯТИЕ КРЫМА
> >
> > И страшные мне снятся сны:
> > Телега красная,
> > За ней - согбенные - моей страны
> > Идут сыны.
> >
> > Золотокудрого воздев
> > Ребенка - матери
> > Вопят. На паперти
> > На стяг
> > Пурпуровый маша рукой беспалой
> > Вопит калека, тряпкой алой
> > Горит безногого костыль,
> > И красная - до неба - пыль.
> >
> > Колеса ржавые скрипят.
> > Конь пляшет, взбешенный.
> > Все окна флагами кипят.
> > Одно - завешено.
> >
> > Hope this helps.
> >
> >
> > Inna Caron
> > The Ohio State University
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
> > [mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Benjamin Sher
> > Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2007 4:04 PM
> > To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
> > Subject: [SEELANGS] Help with Tsvetaeva poems
> >
> > Dear friends:
> >
> > I would appreciate your help in locating a few poems by Tsvetaeva.
> Here
> > is the problem: About ten years ago I translated a number of poems by
> > Tsvetaeva. These are interpretative translations (or adaptations). My
> > problem in locating the original Russian texts is twofold: first, I
> lost
> >
> > the Russian texts that included the originals for these translations
> > and, secondly, the fact that these are interpretative translations
> means
> >
> > that I cannot easily locate them by title or first line. In fact, I am
>
> > not sure that the titles are my own and not Tsvetaeva's. Here are the
> > three poems in question:
> >
> > http://www.russianpoetry.org/ruspoet/soviet/index.html
> >
> > (Click on Tsvetaeva, English on the menu)
> >
> > Can you help me locate the original poems that these translations are
> > based on? All I really need are the exact Russian titles. I can
> probably
> > find the Russian texts online.
> >
> > Thank you so much.
> >
> > Benjamin
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
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> 8/2/2007 2:22 PM
> >
>
> --
> Sher's Russian Web
> http://www.websher.net
> Benjamin Sher
> sher07 at mindspring.com
>
>
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