Plus que Strougatskis

[Dave Monroe]

... well, wish I had the book at hand, but there were some pretty enteratining
moments, at least when you stopped to think, say, what IS the Russian for ...
well, whatever.  Didn't mean to touch a nerve, just firing off whatever came
to mind, is all.  But speaking of weird translations, note the way a Chinese
accented French is translated into English in the currently circulating
(Vintage International these days, I believe, but it's an old one) trans. of
Andre Malraux's Man's Fate (Man's Estate in the UK).  But Fred J. seems just
to have preferred the literal trans., is all--certainly, "Definitely Maybe"
not only does not trans. the Strugatskys' title, it might well put a certain
spin on the story that the literal translation doesn't (cf. A la recherche du
temp perdu, " In Search of Lost Time," and the Shakespeare quotin' Remembrance
of Things Past).  Then again, it does rather capture the spirit of the
indeterminate spirit of the goings on therein, but it foregrounds that, rather
than letting it arise in the reading.  Which it may or may not do, of course,
so ... and have been searching deperately for the Daw books as well, which
fortunately DO tend to pop out at you, although they also tend to be John
brunner novels, for better or worse (let me know, I know some of you are up on
JB).  But am glad for the references, and have a couple to add:

Howell, Yvonne.  Apocalyptic Realism: The Science Fiction of Arkady and Boris
Strugatsky

Potts, Stephen W.  The Second Marxian Invasion: The Fiction of the Strugatsky
Brothers

Sorry, didn't scribble down publishers, dates, but ... but I've had no luck
yet turning 'em up, so ...

"Derek C. Maus" wrote:

> 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_.
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 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
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------