Skuka stoit v serdtse - Andrey Platonov's HAPPY MOSCOW

[John Dunn]

I suppose that in an ideal world you would want a single English root that would cover all the occurrences of 'skuka' etc.  The best I can up with is 'sad' (sadden, sadness etc.).  This seems to work for the first instance, where you could have something like 'The sadness has reached/pierced my heart' or 'sadness lies in my heart', but is harder for the second: A child fell sad/became sad/was saddened all sound a little strange, though you could argue that so does the original.  

I also have doubts about 'independently'; I assume that 'samostojatel'no' means that no-one else was involved in the death, and I am not sure that 'independently' quite conveys that.  Perhaps 'died by his own hand', which I offer less as a solution than as a step that might point you in the direction of something better.

John Dunn.
________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Robert Chandler [kcf19 at DIAL.PIPEX.COM]
Sent: 05 December 2011 23:13
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: [SEELANGS] Skuka stoit v serdtse - Andrey Platonov's HAPPY MOSCOW

Dear all,

Here are a few lines from chapter ten of the novel, including what will be printed as endnotes:
“Never mind,” said Sartorius, remembering himself.  “Now we’re going to intervene in what lies inside a man, we’re going to find his poor, terrible soul.” (An allusion to Stalin’s call, in his February 1931 speech “On the Tasks of Managers,” for maximal intervention in economic production:  “It is time to finish with that rotten policy of nonintervention in production.  It is time to master a new policy that corresponds to the situation of today: Intervene in Everything.”  Stalin, Collected Works, vol 13, p. 410 http://www.hrono.ru/libris/stalin/13-18.php)

“It’s time we did, Semyon Alekseyevich,” said Bozhko.  “Somehow I’ve had enough of being the old kind of natural man.  My heart’s sick of it all. (!! Skuka stoit v serdtse.)  Mother History’s made monsters of the lot of us!”

Does anyone have any inspired suggestions for Skuka stoit v serdtse?  " My heart’s sick of it all." conveys the sense, but is sadly dull in comparison with the Russian

                                        *

Throughout this novel, Platonov uses 'skuka', 'skuchnyi' and 'skuchat'' a great deal, and often in unexpected ways.  Of a young boy who has committed suicide, for example, it is said что где-то в комнате заскучал и самостоятельно умер ребенок

At present we have this: Grieving and in tears, Katya told how somewhere in a room a child had felt dismal and had died independently – at a time when she was being intoxicated by happiness with his father.
 Can anyone suggest anything better than "felt dismal"?

 All the best,

Robert



Robert Chandler, 42 Milson Road, London, W14 OLD





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