Platonov and God

[Alexandra Smith]

Dear Robert,

I  would be tempted to translate this  phrase  -"O, Gospodi, Gospodi,  
khot¹ by ty byl, chto li!" - as "Dear, dear Lord! If only you were  
around...".
The repetition in Platonov's sentence creates an effective rhytmical  
flow, I think. "Chto li" is used to emphasise the notion of wishful  
thinking ... it also sounds colloqual and mimicks the spoken language  
rather well.

All best,
Sasha Smith
>



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