Nabokov, “the Wretched Aksakov”, and Early English Translations of Sergei Aksakov’s Autobiographical Prose. Problems of Natural History

Abstract

This article considers English translations of Sergei Aksakov‟s pastoral trilogy (1856-58), or parts of it, by „a Russian lady‟ (1871), James Duff (1916-24), and M. C. Beverley (1924), in the light of Vladimir Nabokov‟s pronouncements about literary translation in general and his dismissive statements about Aksakov as a writer. Particular attention is devoted to Aksakov‟s descriptions of the flora and wild life of the province of Ufa and the difficulties this posed for the translators. It concludes with selected passages from the trilogy in which these matters are especially prominent, in the author‟s English translation.

Keywords

• Nabokov
• Sergei Aksakov
• English translations
• Natural history