Teffi - "Rasputin"

[Steve Marder]

Robert,

I agree that nowadays "plate glass" is normally associated with large shop
windows and glass doors; however, "plate-glass bay windows" are not as
rare as one might imagine. As far as size is concerned, the quote does in
fact say "большое зеркальное окно-фонарь."



>Dear Mr Cleminson,
>
>Thank you for taking the trouble to reply to Anne Marie's questions.  But
>there are moments when you seem to forget that a translator has to
>understand not only individual words but also how they fit together.  So
>looking up фонарь in Dal' is a good start, but it doesn't really get one
>very far unless one can also make sense of зеркальное.  (Thank you, Steve
>Marder, for helpfully pointing out that зеркальное окно" = plate-glass
>window.)  Nevertheless, I think this still remains difficult.  Surely
>plate glass is for large shop windows, glass doors, not for small oriel
>windows?  Perhaps here it simply means that it is good quality glass, and
>that you can see very clearly through it?
>
>Аnd the image of the sunset is still more complex.  A 'tsvetnoi
>karandash', surely, can be a coloured pencil or crayon.
>Небо, еще без солнца, чуть-чуть розовело на востоке, и легкая, свинцовая
>дымка, точно растушеванный карандашный мазок на алой пропускной бумаге,
>обозначала место, откуда прорвутся лучи.
>I had imagined, because this is the place where the sun's rays will burst
>through, that there would be some colour here. свинцовая, however,
>indicates the opposite.  So it seemed likely that there was something
>here that Anne Marie and I were failing to understand and I encouraged
>her to ask Seelangers about this passage.  One wouldn't normally, by the
>way, see "smudged pencil shading" on blotting paper.  Anne Marie, by the
>way, is translating this story - and I am helping a litle.
>
>All the best,
>
>Robert
>
>On 20 Jul 2013, at 12:16, "R. M. Cleminson" <rmcleminson at POST.SK> wrote:
>
>> What Jan Zieliński has provided a link to is an oriel window; that this
>>is indeed the meaning of окно-фонарь could easily have been ascertained
>>by looking up фонарь in Dal's dictionary.  I confess I do not really
>>understand the meaning of зеркальное in this context, unless it simply
>>means that one could see one's reflection in it.
>> 
>> As for "растушеванный карандашный мазок", this is rather "smudged
>>pencil shading"; as Seelangers will recall from an earlier exchange,
>>карандаш is graphite, which, in English at least, is pencil, not crayon.
>> 
>> ----- Pôvodná správa -----
>> Od: "Anne Marie Jackson" <annemarie.jackson at ROCKETMAIL.COM>
>> Komu: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
>> Odoslané: sobota, 20. júl 2013 10:50:54
>> Predmet: [SEELANGS] Teffi - "Rasputin"
>> 
>> Dear everyone
>> 
>> I wonder if anyone can make sense of the 'зеркальное окно-фонарь'
>>referred to in the text below, taken from the beginning of Teffi's
>>account of meeting Rasputin.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>   Петербургская оттепель. Неврастения.
>> 
>>   Утро не начинает нового дня, а продолжает вчерашний, серый, тягучий
>>вечер.
>> 
>>   Через большое зеркальное окно-фонарь видно, как на улице унтер-
>>офицер учит новобранцев тыкать штыком а соломенное чучело. У новобранцев
>>сизые, иззябшие сыростью лица. Баба с кульком, унылая, уставилась и
>>смотрит.
>> 
>> 
>> Might this be a skylight?  But if it is, then how is it that Teffi is
>>able to see down onto the street?  Are the sides mirrored, and the
>>soldiers on the street reflected in the mirror(s)?  Or is there a less
>>complicated explanation?  Might the зеркальное окно-фонарь be a bay
>>window?  
>> 
>> Whatever it is, what exactly is mirrored?
>> 
>> Thank you for any ideas!!
>> 
>> 
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>
>
>
>
>Robert Chandler, 42 Milson Road, London, W14 OLD
>
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