Kotlovan: such'ya zazhimka

[Robert Chandler]

I'm extremely grateful to all the contributors to this thread, and
especially to Maria Dmytrieva, who has greatly expanded my knowledge of the
sexlife of dogs!

Given that collectivisation and raskulachivanie are central to Kotlovan, is
it possible that 'such'ya zazhimka' also hints at the quite common phrase
'zazhimat' v kulak'?

Zhachev is always terse, and he needs to be terse in English too.  My first
attempt at this passage is as follows:
‘Grabbing cunt of a kulak,’  Zhachev decreed of the activist.  ‘I knew it
all along.  So what are you going to do with this member now?’
(I'm sure this can be improved on, but it is a start.  I should explain that
we are, at least provisionally trying to tranlate 'opredelit' consistently
as 'decree'.  Platonov uses this word quite a lot of times, and always
slightly oddly.)  

As for 'chlen', yes, there are indeed puns on that word throughout Kotlovan.

Best wishes to all,

R.

  Я так и знал, что он сволочь, сучья зажимка! – определил Жачев про
активиста. – Ну что ты тут будешь делать с этим членом?!
(Ya tak I znal, chto on svoloch’, suchya zazhimka! - opredelil Zhachev pro
aktivista. ‘Nu chto ty tut budesh delat’ s etim chlenom?!


> Yes, muzhskoi chlen. It's a highly developed metaphor!
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
> [mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Candace McNulty
> Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2008 3:29 PM
> To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Kotlovan: such'ya zazhimka
> 
> Further question in light of the following:
> 
> --- Maria Dmytrieva <xmas at UKR.NET> wrote:
>     
>> So, if I had to translate the phrase literally I
>> would say it is the 'locked vaginal muscles of the
>> bitch'.    
> 
> Question re:     
>> ‘Nu chto ty tut budesh delat’ s etim
>> chlenom?!   
> 
> Does "chlen" provide the same range of meaning as
> "member" in English?
> 
> Even if not, there's that kind of Nabokovian bilingual
> punning possibility...
> 
> Candace 
> 
> 
> 
>  
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