Grayson, J.

Nabokov Translated. A Comparison of Nabokov's Russian and English Prose

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.

Item #15334
ISBN: 0198155271

Hardcover, dust jacket. 270 pp.

From review of the book by Marina T. Naumann:

"This recent analysis of Nabokov's work is an Oxford Modern Language and Literature Monograph, and as such is part of a series established to publish high-quality works which have a wide interest yet "constitute distinguished specialist contributions to their subject."
The author, a lecturer in Russian at the University of St. Andrews, has achieved these aims. As a critic of Nabokov, Dr. Grayson addressed herself to a popular subject.
At the same time she makes a scholarly, objective study of Nabokov's unexplored "auto-translations." Often this topic leads her into some fascinating tangential discussions on the use of fantasy and sound instrumentation, on foreignness, and on exhibitionist tendencies in Nabokov's writings, to give but a few examples.
In the first chapter, Grayson notes Nabokov's many different translations; those into English, into Russian, into English and Russian, from and into French. Basically, in translating, Nabokov proved to be an incorrigible reviser who was forever refreshing his material.
There was one significant exception - Nabokov
never retouched work written in his native Russian. Even his Russian translation of Lolita was free of all collaborators, The English translations, on the other hand, represent a different approach, a most complex one, and Grayson concentrates on this facet of Nabokov's craft. She is particularly qualified because she has the literal renderings prepared by Scammell and Glenny, the translators engaged by Nabokov in the 1960s. (Since then his son has been the official translator, and given Nabokov's distaste for loose drafts and manuscripts, it is unlikely that these have or will ever become available)
Grayson begins with an enlightening chapter on the theory and practice of Nabokov's translation.
For translations considered scholarly or scientific, such as his versions of A Hero of Our Time and Eugene Onegin, Nabokov applied his formula of
"literal translation" In the latter case it forced him to abandon measure and rhyme. Nabokov felt he overcame this re-
striction by supplying copious footnotes and a full commentary.However, his early translation of Alice in Wonderland and his English verse translations of his own Russian poems were not considered "teaching aids"

Price: $45.00