Gor'kii phrase (cont.)

[Prof Steven P Hill]

Dear colleagues and Dr Chandler:

Would "cultural playthings" sound any better?

Best  wishes,
Steven P Hill,
University of Illinois.
____________________________________________________________

Date: Tue 14 Jul 20:57:39 CDT 2009
From:  <LISTSERV at bama.ua.edu> 
Subject: Re: GETPOST SEELANGS
To: "Steven P. Hill" <s-hill4 at ILLINOIS.EDU>
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:49:17 +0100
From: Robert Chandler <kcf19 at DIAL.PIPEX.COM>
Subject: Grossman - Gorky - kul'turnye igrushki

Dear all, 
This is from the chapter in VSE TECHET about the Terror Famine 
in Ukraine - the Holodomor. 

  Я видела:  дивчина одна поползла поперек 
тротуара,  ее  дворник ногой  ударил,  она  на мостовую  скатилась.  И не 
оглянулась  даже,  ползет  быстро, быстро, старается, откуда еще сила. И еще 
платье  отряхивает,  запылилось, видишь.  А я в этот день газету московскую 
купила,  прочла статью Максима Горького, что детям нужны культурные 
игрушки. Неужели  Максим  Горький  не  знал  про  тех  детей,  что  битюги  
на свалку вывозили, - им, что ли, игрушки? 
____________________________________________________________

I can’t make up my mind how to translate these kul’turnye igrushki. 
‘Educational toys’ sounds fine, but I worry that it may be too modern.  Did 
the concept of ‘educational toys’ exist in the 1930s? 
‘Cultured/cultural toys’ possibly sounds even more absurd in English than in 
Russian.  It is ok for it to sound a bit absurd – the phrase does, after 
all, make the narrator indignant – but we need it to sound like something 
Gorky could actually have said.  Can anyone think of any other possibilities? 
_______________________________________________________________

I saw one young girl crawl across the pavement.  A street sweeper gave her a 
kick, and she rolled onto the roadway.  She didn’t look round.  She just 
crawled on, fast as she could, heaven knows where she got the strength from. 
And she even tried to shake the dust off her dress.  That same day I bought 
a Moscow paper.  I read an article by Maksim Gorky about how children need 
cultured (educational??) toys.  Did Gorky not know about the children 
stacked on the cart?  Did they really need cultured toys?  Or maybe Gorky 
did know – and kept silent, like everyone kept silent. 

All the best, 
Robert 
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