web analytics

Samuil Marshak – In the Van (My Children’s Book and Notes on Translation)

The scans in this post are of the book that was published by Progress Publishing House in 1982. That’s how long – as long as I live – I’ve been learning the English language.
In hindsight, this was also my first acquaintance with the art of translation because in the book is the poem by the famous Russian poet and translator, Samuil Marshak. I have previously shared with you his superb rendering of Love and Poverty by Robert Burns. Now, this is another way round: Marshak’s poem, In the Van, translated into English by Margaret Wettlin.
Before you jump to read the original Russian text and to look at the book which leaves I had been turning with my tiny fingers at the age of 2, a few observations on translation, or rather, on what was added and what was lost. In the poem, Marshak didn’t name a street; the street name appears in the translation. And later in the poem, we are told that the lady went to Zhitomir, which is a city in the north-west of Ukraine. However, translation tells us that the city was “in southern Ukraine”. And while the street name hardly matters, the part of Ukraine does. The poem was written in 1926 and evidently tells the story of an affluent woman fleeing Soviet Russia. Marshak most likely was reflecting on an incident that took place in the not too distant past. While the so-called White Emigration was leaving for Sourthen Europe and America via the Crimea (which is, indeed, in the south of Ukraine), a large part was also fleeing to Northern Europe, via northern parts of Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic countries. Thus the fate of the lady may differ, depending on which way she exited the Ukraine.
To use the final two lines of the poem as the pun, in the course of her journey from the Russian language to English, the lady in the van could have changed her opinion, and go to the Crimea instead of Zhitomir.
Самуил Маршак – Багаж (1926)

Дама сдавала в багаж:
Диван,
Чемодан,
Саквояж,
Картину,
Корзину,
Картонку
И маленькую собачонку.

Выдали даме на станции
Четыре зелёных квитанции
О том, что получен багаж:
Диван,
Чемодан,
Саквояж,
Картина,
Корзина,
Картонка
И маленькая собачонка.

Вещи везут на перрон.
Кидают в открытый вагон.
Готово. Уложен багаж:
Диван,
Чемодан,
Саквояж,
Картина,
Корзина,
Картонка
И маленькая собачонка.

Но только раздался звонок,
Удрал из вагона щенок.

Хватились на станции Дно:
Потеряно место одно.
В испуге считают багаж:
Диван,
Чемодан,
Саквояж,
Картина,
Корзина,
Картонка…
– Товарищи!
Где собачонка?

Вдруг видят: стоит у колёс
Огромный взъерошенный пёс.
Поймали его – и в багаж,
Туда, где лежал саквояж,
Картина,
Корзина,
Картонка,
Где прежде была собачонка.

Приехали в город Житомир.
Носильщик пятнадцатый номер
Везёт на тележке багаж:
Диван,
Чемодан,
Саквояж,
Картину,
Корзину,
Картонку,
А сзади ведут собачонку.

Собака-то как зарычит.
А барыня как закричит:
– Разбойники! Воры! Уроды!
Собака – не той породы!

Швырнула она чемодан,
Ногой отпихнула диван,
Картину,
Корзину,
Картонку…
– Отдайте мою собачонку!

– Позвольте, мамаша. На станции,
Согласно багажной квитанции,
От вас получили багаж:
Диван,
Чемодан,
Саквояж,
Картину,
Корзину,
Картонку
И маленькую собачонку.

Однако
За время пути
Собака
Могла подрасти!

To your convenience, here is a full scanned version of the English text (on Scribd) AND ALSO something completely different – a rather irreverent and somewhat provocative 1996 illustrated Russian edition of the same poem. Enjoy and share your thoughts!

http://www.scribd.com/embeds/112006657/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-ers0x51nvdfhbimrcwm

http://www.scribd.com/embeds/136316555/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-2ng9oq4qgyasfa5hrs30

error: Sorry, no copying !!