Olga Berggolts

[Robert Chandler]

Thank you, Sasha.  Nevertheless, I prefer this reading,  which was sent to me off list:

> это прекрасный образец классической риторической фигуры, называемой "климаксом":
> 
> я не боюсь
> я не собираюсь кончать собой от страха
> я встаю над страхом
> я знаю, я помню, я могу,
> я сама буду источником страха для моих палачей!

All the best,

Robert

On 20 Jan 2013, at 11:31, Alexandra Smith <Alexandra.Smith at ED.AC.UK> wrote:

> Dear Robert,
> 
> In my opinion, Vladimir Markov (sadly, he passed away recently) was right because he takes the subtext into consideration. The crucial word in the last line is the word "too" (tozhe). Your rendering destroys the allusion embedded in the poem. The intelligent reader of this poem in 1952 would have picked the subtext of the poem straight away.
> It is related to the notion of poetic destiny. Markov is correct. In this poem
> Berrgolts is inscribing herself into the tradition of subversive poets opposed to the regime.
> 
> All best,
> Sasha
> 
> 
> 
> Quoting Robert Chandler <kcf19 at DIAL.PIPEX.COM> on Sun, 20 Jan 2013 10:47:58 +0000:
> 
>> Dear all,
>> 
>> I'm not confident that I understand the last line of this short poem:
>> 
>> Обещание («Я недругов смертью своей, не утешу...»)
>> 
>> ...Я недругов смертью своей не утешу,
>> чтоб в лживых слезах захлебнуться могли.
>> Не вбит еще крюк, на котором повешусь.
>> Не скован.  Не вырыт рудой из земли.
>> Я встану над жизнью бездонной своею,
>> над страхом ее, над железной тоскою...
>> Я знаю о многом. Я помню. Я смею.
>> Я тоже чего-нибудь страшного стою...
>> 
>> 1952
>> 
>> Vladimir Markov, who is usually reliable, translates the last line as
>> "I deserve some terrible destiny too."
>> 
>> This is wrong, isn't it?  Isn't it more like
>> "I'm worth something terrible…" (i.e. I am worth a great deal)
>> ?
>> 
>> R.
>> 
>> Robert Chandler, 42 Milson Road, London, W14 OLD
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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> 
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Robert Chandler, 42 Milson Road, London, W14 OLD

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