Plus que Strougatskis

[Derek C. Maus]

On Thu, 20 Jul 2000, Dave Monroe wrote:

> Have heard complaints about the translations (a friend of mine ran an
> hilarious nigh-unto-monologue on odd turns of phrase and insertions of
> American slang in Definitely Maybe

Did he stop to consider what the effect of a _literal_ translation of
mid-60s Soviet slang might have had on his comprehension of the text
before said rant? The translations are adequate, not great. Then again,
it's not like they're translating _War and Peace_. Speaking of which, if
there was ever an unfortunate translation glitch, it was turning Denisov's
speech impediment into Elmer Fudd: "you wascally Wostovs!"

> and Fredric Jameson called the title trans. itself "idiotic"), but,
> well, hell if I'd know the difference.

Nina Bouis, who did most of the translations, is a pretty well-respected
translator, not just of sci-fi works either. The Russian title is: _Za
milliard let do kontsa sveta_, literally "A Billion Years until the End of
the World" provided you use the Western system of millions and billions.
"A thousand million years to the end of the world" is right in either
system--Russian, like German, uses "milliard" for what Americans think of
as billions.

Don't know why Jameson thinks this is a "stupid" translation, other than
the fact that it is not literal and that he is often given to grand
pronouncements about things that are really rather irrelevant.

> But those Strugatsky novels were in a whole series of translations of
> Soviet SF novels, under the general editorship of Theodore Sturgeon.  
> Still hunting down other titles in the series, anyone have any
> recommendations?

I've got about ten of their books in translation (the originals are what
are hard to find over here). You've got to look in the yellow-spined DAW
paperbacks for some of the more obscure titles...that Macmillan series
covered seven (and probably the best seven) of their books, _Space
Apprentice_, _Defintely Maybe_, _Noon: 22nd Century_, _Far Rainbow/The
Second Invasion from Mars_, _Beetle in the Anthill_, _Roadside Picnic/Tale
of the Troika_ and _Prisoners of Power_, all with brief intros by
Sturgeon.

> [...] the Soviets seem precisely to leave the mysterious as such (and
> cf. Polish SF writer Stanislaw Lem's Solaris, not to mention, say,
> Thomas Pynchon's own particular brand of fabulation).  Any comments?

Well, if Sergei Kuznetsov is still lurking out there, he can probably
speak more eloquently to this, but a lot of ambiguity in Soviet sci-fi
stems from the necessary restraints imposed by government censorship of
certain topics (one of which was *any* direct mention of nuclear war or
its aftereffects...so common a trope in American/British sci-fi as to be
almost hackneyed--even if still relevant--by the 1980s)
  
> Any decent critical works?  Do recall a title or two devoted to, not
> only Soviet SF, but to the Brothers Strugatsky in particular, but I
> guess I just never tracked them down

* John Glad. _Extrapolations from Dystopia: A Critical Study of Societ
Science Fiction_. Princeton, NJ: Kingston Press, 1982.

* Patrick L. McGuire. _Red Stars: Political Aspects of Soviet Science
Fiction_. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1985.

* M. Keith Booker. _The Dystopian Impulse in Modern Literature: Fiction as
Social Criticism_. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. (this one is not
about sci-fi, but does contain a good contextualization of _The Ugly
Swans_ as dystopian fiction).

The only books about the Strugatskiis that I know of have not been
translated into English. Don't know if that's a problem for you or not,
but I wouldn't hold my breath on them getting translated soon. 

A few of the other titles in the Macmillan "Best of Soviet SF" series are
pretty good as well, especially Kir Bulychev's _Half a Life_ and Emtsev
and Parnov's _World Soul_.

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Derek C. Maus               |   "Heck, I reckon you wouldn't even be
dmaus at email.unc.edu         |   human beings if you didn't have some 
UNC-CH, Dept. of English    |   pretty strong feelings about nuclear
http://www.unc.edu/~dmaus/  |   combat."  --Major Kong, DR. STRANGELOVE
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