When ПушкинComes to Shove

[Judson Rosengrant]

Sure, Inna, let's continue off-list, since the matter has many dimensions.
But let me say before we do that I'm not 'dismissing' anything but rather
attempting to define accurately what verse translation is and can be as a
matter of its ontology.

I want to acknowledge that it is not translation in the same same sense and
with the same criteria of accuracy as generally obtains with prose.  Would
you accept a version of Dostoevsky that merely 'left the reader haunted by a
line or an image, which was hopefully, though not always, most
representative' of his intention?  I don't think you would, and to me that
practical awareness of a difference is not especially odd or controversial.
But, on the other hand, the consequences of failing to keep the difference
between verse and prose translation firmly in mind and before the user can
be destructive.  It can mislead innocent readers and generally cheapen the
quality of our representation and understanding of foreign literatures and
cultures, the very things we are duty bound to serve as scholars and
translators, as essential intermediaries.

There has been much discussion of these issues in English and of course in
other languages over the centuries, and that is as it should be, since the
issues are important and there are no easy answers to any of them.

Jud  


Judson Rosengrant, PhD
PO Box 551 
Portland, OR 97207

503.880.9521 mobile
jrosengrant at earthlink.net

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