A nice little paragraph from the Nov. 12, 1918 entry featuring an argument with Nikolai Gumilyov (who would be shot by the Bolsheviks less than three years later) about translation; Gumilyov was a fine poet, but I’m on Chukovsky’s side here:
I had a run-in with Gumilyov at the meeting [with Gorky]. A gifted craftsman, he came up with the idea of creating a “Rules for Translators.” To my mind, no rules exist. How can you have rules in literature when one translator ad-libs and the result is top-notch and another conveys the rhythm and everything and it doesn’t go anywhere? Where are the rules? Well, he lost his temper and started shouting. Still, he’s amusing and I like him.
(Russian original below the cut.)
На заседании была у меня жаркая схватка с Гумилевым. Этот даровитый ремесленник — вздумал составлять Правила для переводчиков. По-моему, таких правил нет. Какие в литературе правила — один переводчик сочиняет, и выходит отлично, а другой и ритм дает и все, — а нет, не шевелит. Какие же правила? А он — рассердился и стал кричать. Впрочем, он занятный, и я его люблю.
“…and i love him” imo
b/c if it was like he’d have said “i on mne nravitsya”
Does make you wonder what sort of rules for translating a guy like Gumilyov had in mind, though.
@Matt: Indeed. Perhaps his first rule was that the translator must ad-lib, and his second was that (s)he must not convey the rhythm or anything.
“…and i love him” imo
Too literal…and if there actually were “rules for translators” they should include “don’t be too literal.” I would have rendered it “I’m fond of him.”
нет, не шевелит – and it doesn’t go anywhere
and it doesn’t touch you?
“…and i love him” imo
I too would like to hear what English comrades have to say about the difference between
to be fond of – to like – to love
Here люблю sounds like a stronger degree of нравится. Can ‘I like him very much’ be equal to ‘I am very fond of him’ or ‘I love him’?
Here люблю sounds like a stronger degree of нравится. Can ‘I like him very much’ be equal to ‘I am very fond of him’ or ‘I love him’?
Exactly why I’d choose “fond.”
“Love” is too strong, and “like” is too tepid. “Fond” by itself implies “liking very much,” but if you want to edge it closer to “love,” you can say “very fond.”
“Love” is too strong
but he said he loves him, why a translator should be less literal in this case? if he said about liking him very much he would have said i on mne ochen’ nravitsya or something else
i think he used the exactly right word to describe his feeling and one feels his attitude towards G reading the passage and he uses the stronger word to alleviate the impressions of disagreement, not resentment yet of G that he lost his temper and started shouting during their argument
if he said like, would have sounded a bit resentful
but he says he loves him despite the argument, so a reader feels that G had a passionate, lovable personality
while with ‘like’ it would sound as if he must be had some anger management problems
…and we, like, got a total bromance, dude.
but he said he loves him
No, he said “я его люблю.” There is not a one-to-one equivalence between the use of the two words. Russians use люблю much more frequently and easily than English speakers use (or, at any rate, used to use) love. It would have been extremely unusual for an English-speaking man to say of another man “I love him” in Chukovsky’s day. I think “I’m (very) fond of him” is an excellent rendition.
right, bromance
Russians use люблю much more frequently and easily than English speakers use (or, at any rate, used to use) love. It would have been extremely unusual for an English-speaking man to say of another man “I love him” in Chukovsky’s day.
so they are not English and he wrote ‘ya ego lyublyu’ as a person, brotherly love like, then it should be translated as he said, literally, at least to show the Russian specifics maybe too
but, okay, “fond of” sounds okay i guess
Hmm, I wonder what Gumilev’s rules would have said about the любить/love/like/fond question. I agree that “very fond” is a good choice here — this feels like нравиться-plus to me, too.
IMHO, in English, “fond” and “like” say the same thing in different registers.
Only once have I heard “love” used with the same frequency and ease, and that was in a coed rehab in Southern California. Man, I loved that place. Coed rehabs were already rare then and are now practically extinct; I feel sorry for the junkies.
again: L. Hat translates “не шевелит” as doesn’t go anywhere. Do you have to? Can’t it be simply ‘doesn’t touch you’? (as in ‘touching music’)
The Gumilev article on Wikipedia has this sentence:
His childhood nickname was Montigomo the Hawk’s Claw.
It made jump up in excitement, because it is the key clue in unravelling the mystery of a lost Arctic Expetition in Kaverin’s ‘The Two Captains’, an adventure novel (and several screen versions) loved by generations of young Russians.
Does this mean there was a hidden link to Gumilev there? And where does this Montigomo come from? Fenimore Cooper? Anyone?
L. Hat translates “не шевелит” as doesn’t go anywhere. Do you have to?
No, no! I should have made this clear: it’s not my translation, it’s the one in the book. The translator is Michael Henry Heim. I don’t know how I would have translated “не шевелит,” but I wouldn’t have translated it as you suggest, because I didn’t know it could mean ‘touch, move (emotionally).’
eh, if i knew that the translation was not LH’s i wouldn’t have opined maybe
regarding shevelit, moving is maybe the word
if beredit – touching
JimSal: IMHO, in English, “fond” and “like” say the same thing in different registers.
Still, he’s amusing and I like him.
Still, he’s amusing and I’m fond of him.
In MHO, you wouldn’t say you were fond of someone you’d only just met. But oddly (and depending on the register) you might say “I love this guy” about them.
JimSal: IMHO, in English, “fond” and “like” say the same thing in different registers.
Still, he’s amusing and I like him.
Still, he’s amusing and I’m fond of him.
In MHO, you wouldn’t say you were fond of someone you’d only just met. But oddly (and depending on the register) you might say “I love this guy” about them.
And where does this Montigomo come from? Fenimore Cooper?
Apparently from Mayne Reid; Chekhov, in “Мальчики,” has a character say “Вы читали Майн-Рида?” [Have you read Mayne Reid?] and later “Я Монтигомо, Ястребиный Коготь, вождь непобедимых.” [I am Montigomo, Hawk’s Claw, leader of the invincible ones.] This translation renders the last line “I am Montehomo, the Hawk’s Claw, Chief of the Ever Victorious,” which would seem to imply a Mayne Reid character named Montehomo, but googling turns up only that story, and neither the English (linked above) nor the Russian Wikipedia entry mentions a story with such a title. The book Russian writers since 1980 mentions the Mayne Reid connection, but only allows snippet view, and frustratingly does not name the original title:
And I can’t get any more. Anybody know anything about this?
you wouldn’t say you were fond of someone you’d only just met.
That is true. I guess my point then is that I think the difference isn’t simply of the degree of affection.
where does this Montigomo come from
not from Chekhov’s short story where two boys prepare to go away to join Montigomo Sokolinoe Pero?(or maybe it was claw, i am not sure i forgot)
it’s not my translation
sorry, I forgot, I did look up the link to find out about the original. By the way, I can’t read the diary in Russian. Neither Safari, nor Firefox pick up the coding. Can anyone help?
That’s right they can’t always be used interchangeably.
Right:
“How do you like the Linguine with sea urchin sauce?”
“Although I’ve never tried it before, I love it. I’m very fond of sea urchins.”
Wrong:
“Do you love the Linguine with sea urchin sauce?”
“Although I’ve never tried it before, I’m very fond of it.
That’s right they can’t always be used interchangeably.
Right:
“How do you like the Linguine with sea urchin sauce?”
“Although I’ve never tried it before, I love it. I’m very fond of sea urchins.”
Wrong:
“Do you love the Linguine with sea urchin sauce?”
“Although I’ve never tried it before, I’m very fond of it.
Neither Safari, nor Firefox pick up the coding. Can anyone help?
It’s Cyrillic Windows-1251. (I had to try a couple of character sets before I hit on the right one.)
run away,
my memory failed as usually, love the short story and don’t like the translation, what’s that master Volodya instead of Volodichka or Lentilov or the introduction part
right, bromance
you might say “I love this guy”
Is this to say they had a sexual relationship? Because that’s what it implies in American English. Even if this is what is meant, in the U.S. I don’t think it would sound right to put it here, at least not for a formal register. Not that someone’s love life is not now fair game for biographers, but it’s usually put in a dry little paragraph somewhere.
If I say I love linguine with sea urchins, would you assume a sexual relationship was meant? If I say I never loved my mother, would you breath a sigh of relief?
If I say I love linguine with sea urchins, would you assume a sexual relationship was meant? If I say I never loved my mother, would you breath a sigh of relief?
“Я Монтигомо, Ястребиный Коготь”
But maybe only in Russian
This reference below uggests to me the idea that Chekhov mis-remembered the source for his Montigomo and its not Mayne-Reid at all – but Fenimore Cooper as Sashura suggests.
СОБСТВЕННОЕ ИМЯ В РУССКОЙ ПОЭЗИИ ХХ ВЕКА: СЛОВАРЬ ЛИЧНЫХ ИМЕН
МОНТИГОМО [М. Ястребиный Коготь; лит. персонаж, известный в России по переводам произведений Ф. Купера и рассказу А. П. Чехова “Мальчики”; в знач. нариц.] и встает / живьем / страна Фениамора / Купера / и Майн Рида. / / И берет / набитый “Лефом” чемодан / Монтигомо / Ястребиный Коготь. Шутл. М925 (195)
http://www.philol.msu.ru/~humlang/slovar.si.2003/0ja.htm
(The quote’s from Mayakovsky, Mexico)
If it is Fenimore Cooper (or anyone else for that matter), then the name probably isn’t a straight transliteraton either (Was he translated directly from English via French or some other language?).
Did none of Chekhov’s editors (English or Russian) ever check the reference? I’ve tried the online 30 volume edition but couldn’t see a notes volume. Did they just accept him on his word(s)?s
“Russian writers since 1980”
The poem is by Igor Mironovich Guberman (Игорь Губерман)
МОНТИГОМО НЕИСТРЕБИМЫЙ КОГАН – full text on this page, along with others:
http://lib.align.ru/getbook/3342.html
There’s also a children’s book Я Монтигомо, Ястребиный Коготь by Vitali Gubarev as well
(And all because Montigomo sounds wrong)
There’s a movie cliche from male bonding movies: “I Love you, man!” It’s doesn’t mean sexual love, just the male bonding thing. I’ve never seen it outside the movies. I think that people tell me that you see it in rehab groups.
Yeah, that’s why I wrote “or, at any rate, used to use.”
Incidentally, I just ran across an exchange in Chukovsky in which he quotes Gorky’s reminiscences of Tolstoy: Tolstoy says (in literal translation) “You don’t love me, do you?” and Gorky responds “No, I don’t love you.” The translator quite properly uses “like” instead.
no rules exist
Surely too dogmatic? “To translate” means something. Further, each reader will compare rival translations and decide ‘better’ and ‘worse’, according to a variety of criteria: lexical accuracy, emotional accuracy, and so on.
If you agree that something is or is not a “translation”, and you find one translation preferable to another – and Chukovsky does both in the blogicle’s excerpt -, there must be some ‘rules’ in your mind by virtue of which you’re comparing is/is not and superior/inferior.
The facts that there are no objective, universally empirically compelled criteria and that there are boundary cases (where the term ‘translation’ is disclosed as imperfectly definite) are not arguments that there are no ‘rules’. Rather, the indefiniteness of “translation” as a category indicates (to me) that care and rigor are called for by readers, starting with translators, not that there’s no reason for such care and rigor!
The only Chukovsky my county library has is The Telephone. I’m guessing that it’s somewhat loosely translated – although, if there are “no rules”, how could anyone tell ‘loose’ from ‘strict’? (In fact, on the cover, it’s not called a ‘translation’, but rather an “adaptation”.)
The translator, William Jay Smith, has kept something of rhythm (I’m guessing that the book, a ‘children’s’ book, scans perfectly in Russian) and rhyme (again, I’d guess that the poetry rhymes in Russian). For example, the Flamingos:
“We’ve swallowed every frog in the lake,
And are croaking with a stomachache!”
And the Rhino:
“Terrible trouble,
Come on the double!”
“What’s the matter? Why the fuss?”
“Quick. Save him…”
“Who?”
“The Hippopotamus.”
According to the pictures, the creature at the other end of all the animals calling for help is a little kid. I’m not erudite, or ingenious, enough to have detected a political layer of meaning. ??
The mysterios Montigomo is mentioned in the short story L.Sprague de Camp. Employment.
The text is not available on-line. May be someone knows it? That way we could at least get American spelling of the name. Neither Mayne Reid, nor Fenimore Cooper searches gave anything. But it must be something well known by 1887 (the year Chekhov’s story was written.
Telephone in Russian is here
enough to have detected a political layer
But what political layer did you see?
The illustations for William Jay Smith’s version mentioned by deadgod appear to have misinterpreted the poem and added a dimension not there. There’s no little boy in the poem – the animals are phoning Doctor Aibolit – hero of a number of Chukovsky’s poems which also feature a number of the telephoning animals (especially the galosh-eating crocodiles).
I think you’d need to be over-interpreting to find any politics in this particular poem.
By the way, Chukovsky’s “The Art of translation” would shed further light on his theories of translation, although I’ve not read it and its english version is not in print.
But what political layer did you see?
None, Sashura! As I wrote: “not […] enough to have detected”.
———-
There’s no little boy in the poem
Indeed, not – thanks for bringing up Dr. Aibolit, keith100. I’m definitely not astute enough to have intuited his or her existence in a million years.
The illustrator is Blair Lent; the pictures are cool enough, in their Scarry way, but there’s no ‘doctor’ in the village. The animals collaborate to save the Hippo, directed (I think) by the kid. There are pictorial details, as advertised on the inside jacket cover, that indicate “Russian scenes, architecture, and clothes” (like the caps and fur hats that several animals wear, and a balalaika-looking thing the Pig is playing) – but one has to wonder whether Lent had the opportunity to see the original illustrations accompanying the Russian text (authorized – or drawn – by Chukovsky?).
The galoshophagous Crocodiles survive the translation and its illustrations:
“For supper tonight
We’d like to sprinkle on our goulashes
One or two dozen delicious galoshes!”
(Does Russian folk culture imagine unlucky fishermen hooking-and-reeling-in boots from the shoeshedding deeps?)
One of my editions has illustrations by Vladimir Konashevich which appear to be originals, but I wouldn’t say they were necessary to the text and they don’t have the doctor either. I’ve probably read too many of Chukovsky’s poems featuring the doctor that I’ve assumed his presence. (I think I’m wrong about the crocodiles eating galoshes in other poems too – but there are crocodiles!)
Russians don’t seem to have had the same reverence for illustrations for children’s books – Nabokov’s Alice doesn’t retain the original Tenniel. And if covers are anything to go by, neither do older editions of Pooh or the Moomin books.
Interestingly enough, the illustrations are quite realistic for talking animals and not at all like the modernist ones getting done for other books at the time – the 20’s were a very good year for illustration/design in the Soviet Union
Still, its a lovely poem and stands up to a lot of re-reading.
If you’re not heartily sick of it by now, there’s the 1944 cartoon version on youtube featuring Chukovsky himself (seems the animals were phoning him after all)
URL?
“Telephone”, after K. Chukovskiy.Телефон, К.Чуковский (1944), Part 1, Part 2. “The Stolen Sun” is here too (discussed on an earlier thread), Part 1, Part 2, with English captions. That one does look political to me, in the same sense that Tolkien does.
I think the poem is a fairly open allegory on opression, just like Tolkien – take your pick who or what the crocodile represents.
The 1978 version of “The Stolen Sun” is at http://www.veoh.com/collection/chukovski/watch/v349894ApaBH8Hq#
The quality of the reproduction is a bit crap, but the cartoon itself is great.
Nice to compare the differences in storyline, and this version is more obviously political in its images. The scenarist is Lyudmila Petrushevskaya
“Telephone”, after K. Chukovskiy
Thanks very much—what a treat to see Chukovsky himself!
deadgood: sorry, my mistake.
unlucky fishermen hooking-and-reeling-in boots
yes, here is one illustration to a children’s story ‘[Sa]Shurik visits Granpa’
Montigomo
It looks like Chekhov invented Montigomo himself. The Indian chief’s name from ‘The Boys’ started a life of its own after the story and was used by parents as a mildly ironic nickname for boys.
I’m trying to reference this now.
It looks like Chekhov invented Montigomo himself
Ah, that would explain a lot. If you can find a reference, you will have added a brick to the Great Wall of Knowledge.
This journal article could answer the Montegomo question. As Google puts it “The author traces how the motif Montehomo (the story of Anton Chekhov “Boys”) is reflected in the works of Russian and world literature”
Головачева, А.
Монтигомо Ястребиный Коготь / А. Головачева // Литература в школе. – 2000. – № 1. – С. 38-45
Аннотация: Автор статьи прослеживает, как мотив Монтигомо (рассказ А.П. Чехова “Мальчики”) находит отражение в произведениях русской и мировой литературы
There are other references to Montegomo in Chekhov’s Осколки московской жизни for 1885 5th October & 20th april – an entrepreneur called Alexandrov with the nickname Монтигомо, Ястребиным Глазом is hiring the zoological gardens for an opera. Ястребиным Глазом is Hawkeye, which leads us back to Fenimore Cooper. However, the usual translation of Hawkeye is Соколиный глаз. Maybe earlier translations used Ястребиный Глаз. And anyway, its hawks claw we’re after.
But perhaps this is where he got the name as Мальчики was published in 1887.
Yeah, it certainly sounds like Chekhov invented the name, and all those sources claiming he got it from Mayne Reid or Fenimore Cooper should be ashamed of themselves.
should be ashamed
It’s pretty comical, though – like rebuking Cervantes for having plagiarized two and a half chapters from Pierre Menard.
It’s pretty comical,
it is – an ironic invention, a mystification by Chekhov starts a life of its own, goes from ironic to heroic, gets mocked and parodied, finds false attributions and is even reborrowed now back into English language literature!
thanks keith100 – the “Oskolki’ article of 1885 is the main clue. There are several other where Chekhov mentions children playing cowboys and Indians and pretending to run away to America. I would explain the discrepancy between Ястребиный (Hawk’s) and Соколиный (Falcon’s) by folklore colouring. Hawks are negative characters in Russian lore (evil sorcerers, highwaymen etc.) and Falcons are always positive heroes. As Cooper’s character is heroic, in translation his nickname was sometimes transformed into a positive Falcon.
Chekhov took Hawk-Eye and turned it into Hawk’s Claw because of the same reference: he wanted to avoid envoking the Falcon of Russian folk tales.
What I still can’t find is the source of Montigomo. There is one obscure 1840 reference to a Monte Gomo in Italy. Another possibility is that there was a brand of Jamaican rum at the time with a similar sounding name. Montego Bay in Jamaica is refered to by locals as Mo Bay and sometimes written Montego(Mo).
Besides Fenimore Cooper and Mayne Reid there was a very popular German writer of cowboy adventure books, Karl May. Could Montigomo be sourced to him? German comrades?
I don’t claim to be familiar with Karl May’s whole oeuvre, but Montigomo does not sound familiar. As mentioned in the Wiki article, Karl May’s Indian hero is Winnetou.
Can’t be May, he didn’t become famous until the 1890s.
About 1980 I met an old German who’d come to America in the 20s when he was young and spent his whole life in wilderness areas of the West. (I met him at the head of Lake Chelan in E. Washington, in an area which could be reached only by boat.) I imagine that he’d read some of those books.
Around 1870 Isak Dineson’s father spent a year or two as a trapper with the Chippewa in Wisconsin. Like him, his daughter was both adventuresome and syphilitic.
Possibly for different reasons.
Possibly for different reasons.
The other idea I had was triggered by the Mayakovsky quote from Mexico. Montegomo sounds (if you’re deaf and tired) a bit like Montezuma. I know there’s a variety of ways of writing his name but I doubt its relevant.
Montegomo sounds like Montezuma
Thanks – I thought about him too. Jules Verne wrote a history of the Great Geographical discoveries in three volumes with striking
chapters on conquistadors. They are translated into Russian. And there is a novel Montezuma’s Daughter by Henry Haggard, also translated, but it was written in 1890s.
There may be a Montgommery link.
Montgomery Alabama doesn’t give anything, but Montgomery in Ohio is sometimes shortened to Montgomo.
Monty, the Field-Marshal, has roots in Normandy. Many placenames here have -de-Montgommery in them. But it didn’t take me any further either.
Don’t forget there are two (unrelated) Field Marshal Montgomerys.
Don’t forget there are two (unrelated) Field Marshal Montgomerys.
I tried to see if the Gumilyov reference would provide fresh lines of enquiry but the most comprehensive site on him doesn’t appear to mention it. Its search isn’t working but google didn’t catch it either.
There’s not many hits with Гумилев Монтигомо or Гумилёв Монтигомо (about 500 between them) and the wikipedia reference goes nowhere.
It’s got to be possible that Chekhov‘s source for “Montigomo” was Chekhov‘s imagination gibbering to itself.
Looking for something attractively, exotically, adventurously (?) Italian: Mount something, Monte Cassino, monte-blah blah, Lake Como . . .
“Montigomo” was Chekhov’s imagination
Thanks, deadgood,
I’m afraid I’ll have to stop on this. What I wanted to source is the nickname of Alexandrov-Montigomo, the theatre producer, mentioned in Chekhov’s article in Oskolki magazine. Otherwise it seems to be clear that Chekhov took Montigomo the Hawk-Eye off the producer and changed it to Montigomo the Hawk-Claw for The Boys story.
Gumilyov reference
Keith, thanks,
This article about Akhamtova, I think, explains the Gumilyov-Montigomo link. And, yes, it doesn’t take anywhere except showing how Montigomo was used in ironic sense.
Sashura
I think I’ve finally found the “official” word. These are notes to Chekhov’s ОСКОЛКИ МОСКОВСКОЙ ЖИЗНИ
http://feb-web.ru/feb/chekhov/texts/sp0/spg/SPG-383-.htm
Translation by my friend, Mr Google (I don’t believe every word he says, but he’s good for a quick once over.)
Happy old new year.
Pp. 163. Entrepreneur Alexandrov, nicknamed Montehomo, Hawkeye … – Newspaper “Moscow sheet” May 9, 1884 reported that since that day in the Zoological Gardens “You can observe who arrived in Moscow a colony of Indians …» (№ 127); also see a scene “The Indians came and information Colony Indians in Moscow ( “Moscow sheet”, 1884, № 128, 10 May). A month later the same newspaper announced that, in the Hermitage Gardens on June 12 “in a fantastic theater will be presented in the 1-th time a new piesa:” Mon-ti-Gomme, or Hawkeye, the leader of an Indian tribe O’mano-Ashanti “great performance in 3 acts, with marches, military evolutions, dancing wild, battle, and so on. The episode is taken from the era of rivalry of the French to Mexican to a gold mine in the Rio Plata “(1884, № 160, June 12). It’s nickname Alexandrov repeated Chekhov in the form of Alexandrov-Montehomo “in the last 50-m essay” Fragments of life in Moscow. In modified form – Montehomo Hawk’s Claw – used for the hero of the story by Chekhov in 1887 “Boys” (Chechevitsyn).
whoa, this looks like it! thanks Keith. I should have found it myself, really.
Google does a good job – only ‘dancing wild’ should be ‘dances of the savages’. The rest is comprehensible if awkward.
But what a wonderful cocktail of a ‘piesa'(play). African Ashanti are moved to America, Hawk-Eye is a Rubber Mountain and Mexico fights the French near River Plate! It reminded me of Cab Calloway’s introduction for the Blues Brothers: just back from a tour of Europe, Scandinavia and the Sub-Continent.
And I do recommend feb-web.ru resource to students of Russian literature. It has English pages too.
Excellent work, keith100! When Sashura gave up, I thought it was hopeless.
The mysterios Montigomo is mentioned in the short story L.Sprague de Camp. Employment.
The text of “Employment” is available, but there is nothing like Montigomo or Montihomo in it, nor any reference to hawks whatever.