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For context, Wilson and Nabokov were friends, but this was a nearly suicidal literary gesture by Wilson, whose Russian was as shaky as his judgement. Here is Na

For context, Wilson and Nabokov were friends, but this was a nearly suicidal literary gesture by Wilson, whose Russian was as shaky as his judgement. Here is Nabokov training his guns on Wilson in a letter to the editor, and sending him to the bottom of the sea: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1965/aug/26/letters-the-strange-case-of-nabokov-and-wilson/ http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1965/aug/26/letters... Nabokov's Onegin translation is I believe intentionally unreadable, but as a work of scholarship it stands alone. One of the footnotes, for example, is a forty-page essay on the history of dueling.

maehwasu 11y ago
Yeah, Nabokov pwned him pretty hard. It's always a bit weird/uncomfortable to witness non-native speakers of a language confidently and incorrectly expound on the language to people who have a far stronger command of it than they. Pretty much guarantees errors of the type Wilson makes.
david927 11y ago
Reading the reply, which is as brilliantly witty and lethal as I would expect from Nabokov, I can't help but pine for intellectuals of that caliber to exist today.
mynegation 11y ago
Yes, it also struck me that, with regard to usage of Russian, most of the time Wilson is either flat out wrong or argues about inconsequential things. I wonder if Nabokov's translation was meant to serve as a reference for more traditional, future translators, like Johnston and Falen, as a source of very precise meaning. An "intermediate representation" of sorts...
- idlewords 11y ago
  That's exactly what I think. Plus a scary head-on-a-pike to frighten those who think you can translate poetry. It's a piece of scholarly performance art and love letter to Pushkin all in one.
rodionos 11y ago
Thanks for sharing the link to Nabokov's reply. Sometimes the context behind literary rivalries is as educational as the subject matter itself. I think Wilson wasn't far from truth when he said that Nabokov likes to suffer himself, linguistically, and made others suffer as well. I remember gaining distinct caustic feelings after reading Nabokov for more than 10 pages per day. His prose can be poisonous.
- idlewords 11y ago
  I'm curious about what you read. His Onegin translation is the only thing I can think of that matches your description; otherwise his prose style is extraordinarily clear.

maehwasu 11y ago

Yeah, Nabokov pwned him pretty hard. It's always a bit weird/uncomfortable to witness non-native speakers of a language confidently and incorrectly expound on the language to people who have a far stronger command of it than they. Pretty much guarantees errors of the type Wilson makes.

david927 11y ago

Reading the reply, which is as brilliantly witty and lethal as I would expect from Nabokov, I can't help but pine for intellectuals of that caliber to exist today.

mynegation 11y ago

Yes, it also struck me that, with regard to usage of Russian, most of the time Wilson is either flat out wrong or argues about inconsequential things. I wonder if Nabokov's translation was meant to serve as a reference for more traditional, future translators, like Johnston and Falen, as a source of very precise meaning. An "intermediate representation" of sorts...

idlewords 11y ago
That's exactly what I think. Plus a scary head-on-a-pike to frighten those who think you can translate poetry. It's a piece of scholarly performance art and love letter to Pushkin all in one.

rodionos 11y ago

Thanks for sharing the link to Nabokov's reply. Sometimes the context behind literary rivalries is as educational as the subject matter itself. I think Wilson wasn't far from truth when he said that Nabokov likes to suffer himself, linguistically, and made others suffer as well. I remember gaining distinct caustic feelings after reading Nabokov for more than 10 pages per day. His prose can be poisonous.

idlewords 11y ago
I'm curious about what you read. His Onegin translation is the only thing I can think of that matches your description; otherwise his prose style is extraordinarily clear.