A possibly confused sentence of Teffi

[John Dunn]

I have to say that on this occasion I disagree with Ralph Cleminson: the sentence is not confused, though I accept that it would struggle to find a place among the ten most elegant sentences ever written in Russian.  I think that the essential clarifications have been made by Paul Gallagher and Svetlana Grenier.  They are:
1. The contrast is between страх and ужас;
2. The words тебя, человека and глину all refer to the same person, i.e. the woman revolutionary, whereas слепившего agrees with горшечника.

I think that with that interpretation the sentence does make sense, though it did take me a while to arrive at that point.
  
John Dunn.

Не знаю, как могу смотреть на тебя и не кричать по-звериному, без слов, — не от страха, а от ужаса за тебя, за человека — "глину в руках горшечника", слепившего судьбу твою в непознаваемый рассудком час гнева и отвращения…»____
____________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of R. M. Cleminson [rmcleminson at POST.SK]
Sent: 27 March 2014 09:59
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] A possibly confused sentence of Teffi

The problem is that the sentence IS confused, and as it stands it is hard to make out what it is supposed to mean.  If Teffi had written 'Не знаю, как могу смотреть на тебя и не кричать по-звериному, без слов, — не от страха, а от ужаса за тебя, "глину в руках горшечника", за человека, слепившего судьбу твою в непознаваемый рассудком час гнева и отвращения…', that would make perfect sense (horror both on account of the woman and of the person who has made her what she is); but as it is, the phrase 'глину в руках горшечника' appears to refer to the moulder rather than the moulded.  It is just conceivable, given the biblical overtones of the phrase, that she means to suggest that not only has the woman been formed by someone else, but that that person is the blind instrument of Providence, but that is probably an over-interpretation, and in that case it is very confusing to use the same metaphor in respect of both of them.  I'm afraid it may simply be a stylistic and/or logical lapse on the part of the author, in the face of which translation is powerless.

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