KOTLOVAN; pisat'sya na pokoi

[Robert Chandler]

Dear John, and all,

I like John Dunn's suggestion (below) in many way.  My only reservation is
that the peasant sees the collective farm as offering not so much a quiet
life as something close to death.  So our latest (losing the idea of
retirement but hinting at 'the peace of the grave') is this:

‘Put my mind at rest, comrade chief.  Shall I sign up for the peace of the
collective farm, or shall I wait?’
‘Sign up, of course, or I’ll be sending you off to the ocean.’

The ocean, John, is more or less literal.  The kulaks are to be put on a
raft and floated off downstream...

Thanks to all who have answered!

R.

> Robert,
> 
> One possibility might be:
> 
> Should I sign up to the CF for a quiet life or should I wait (for a bit)?
> 
> в океан is also a bit odd.  Presumably he doesn't mean it literally.  I would
> take it is a rather elaborate euphemism for what Malinina in one of her novels
> calls 'the region of the male genitialia'. The only phrase that comes to my
> mind is:
> 
> Sign up, of course, or I won't be able to see you far enough.
> 
> I'm sure, though, that you'll find something better than that.
> 
> John.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert Chandler <kcf19 at DIAL.PIPEX.COM>
> To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
> Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:17:15 +0000
> Subject: [SEELANGS] KOTLOVAN; pisat'sya na pokoi
> 
> Dear all,
> 
> Does anyone have any brilliant ideas for the following?
> 
> – Ты мне, товарищ главный, скажи на утеху: писаться мне в колхоз на покой,
> иль обождать?  – Пишись конечно, а то в океан пошлю!
> 
> ‘Put my mind at rest, comrade chief.  Shall I retire (enroll??) into the
> collective farm, or shall I wait?’ (pisat'sya mne v kolkhoz na pokoi, ili
> obozhdat’)
> 
>  ‘Enroll, of course, or I’ll be sending you off to the ocean.’
> 
> The problem  lies in the various meanings of ‘pokoi’.
> Uiti v pokoi = to retire
> Pokoi = peace
> Vechnyi pokoi = eternal rest
> 
> It would also be good to preserve the way that the activist’s ‘pishis’’
> echoes the peasant’s ‘pisat’sya’.  But we can’t do that if we use ‘retire’
> because that word can only be used by the peasant; it is not how the
> activist sees things.
> 
> Poka,
> 
> Robert
> 
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> 
> John Dunn
> Honorary Research Fellow, SMLC (Slavonic Studies)
> University of Glasgow, Scotland
> 
> Address:
> Via Carolina Coronedi Berti 6
> 40137 Bologna
> Italy
> Tel.: +39 051/1889 8661
> e-mail: J.Dunn at slavonic.arts.gla.ac.uk
> johnanthony.dunn at fastwebnet.it

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