Roncesvalles: a poem by Shalamov.

[Elena Ostrovskaya]

Dear Robert,
I, the other way round, would go with your first version. The sentence, in
my understanding, goes like this:
I saw ... the sword - the witness of the events long past - which the
mountains volunteered to guard.

Guarding events does not make much sense to my Russian ear and events
guarding anything even less.

The only thing that does not support my version is the lack of the second
dash in Shalamov's text, unlike my English interpretation. I would still
rather go along with it (especially, since punctuation is often ellipitic)
than have to explain how it is possible to guard something that is
temporary, such as events.

Hope it helps,
Lena.

Elena Ostrovskaya,
Associate professor,
Faculty of Philology
Higher School of Economics

2012/11/21 Sasha Senderovich <sasha.senderovich at gmail.com>

> Dear Robert,
>
> It's the second version on your list of hypotheses, it would seem: the
> sword is the witness of those forgotten events, which, in turn, the
> mountains have taken upon themselves to preserve.
>
> Best, Sasha
>
> ==================================
> Sasha Senderovich
> www.sashasenderovich.com
>
> Visiting Assistant Professor
> Russian and East European Studies
> Lafayette College
>
>
>

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