Chekhov's Three Sisters (translation question)

[LeBlanc, Ronald]

I have a translation question for the list, asked on behalf of a UNH colleague in the theatre department who is preparing a production of Chekhov's Three Sisters.

Twice in the play Masha uses the idiom "где наша не пропадала" (gde nasha ne propadala).  My colleague, who does not know Russian and who has been relying on a number of translations in putting together a performable script, is leaning toward "Come what may" as an English rendering of the phrase.

Does that rendering strike you as satisfactory? Or would you suggest a more felicitous alternative?

For context, Masha uses the idiom near the end of Act I as they are sitting down for lunch and Natasha makes her appearance (Masha proposes a toast, comments rather ironically that life is sweet, and then uses this phrase) and again near the end of Act II as Chebutykin informs everyone that Natasha does not want the mummers to come over to the house that evening because little Bobik is not feeling well (Masha uses the phrase in response to that news and to the realization that they are all being asked to leave the house . . . she also comments to Irina that it's Natasha who's sick, not Bobik!).

Please feel free to respond either to the list or to me off-list (ronald.leblanc at unh.edu).

Thanks,

Ron

Ronald D. LeBlanc
Professor of Russian and Humanities
Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Murkland Hall G10H
University of New Hampshire
Durham, NH 03824
603-862-3553
ronald.leblanc at unh.edu

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