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Re: THOUGHTS/QUERY: Zertsalo, V. I. Lukin
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Dear Matt,
is it possible that Pierre Claude Nivelle de la
Chausee imitated (or translated) Robert Dodsley's "The Toy-Shop"?
Or vice versa? And Lukin knew Nivelle's version?
As I remember, it was a lenghty discussion among
Russian scholars whether Pushkin
himself knew English well enough to read the originals of
Byron, Shakespeare and others or he had known French translations.
English was relatively little known in Russia.
Also, in 18 and 19 century the notion of author's rights was
very different from contemporary one. I remember that one part
(of 6) in "Melmot the Wanderer" is practically a translation
of "La Religieuse" by Diderot, except that the names and
places are changed. (The plot is moved to Spain and we have
there a monk instead of a nun.)
Best regards,
Sergei
> Many thanks to Gavriel Shapiro for pointing me to the Lukin EO note.
> Nabokov calls Lukin's play "charming," especially in comparison to his
> contemporaries. But is Nabokov wrong about the source? In his note VN says
> that Lukin was imitating the French writer Pierre Claude Nivelle de la
> Chausee. Others, however, clearly point to Lukin's play being an imitation
> of Robert Dodsley's "The Toy-Shop." Indeed, the description of Lukin's
> play seems pretty clearly to mimic the Dodsley--though interesting that VN
> doesn't mention the Lorgnette.
>
> Matt Roth
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is it possible that Pierre Claude Nivelle de la
Chausee imitated (or translated) Robert Dodsley's "The Toy-Shop"?
Or vice versa? And Lukin knew Nivelle's version?
As I remember, it was a lenghty discussion among
Russian scholars whether Pushkin
himself knew English well enough to read the originals of
Byron, Shakespeare and others or he had known French translations.
English was relatively little known in Russia.
Also, in 18 and 19 century the notion of author's rights was
very different from contemporary one. I remember that one part
(of 6) in "Melmot the Wanderer" is practically a translation
of "La Religieuse" by Diderot, except that the names and
places are changed. (The plot is moved to Spain and we have
there a monk instead of a nun.)
Best regards,
Sergei
> Many thanks to Gavriel Shapiro for pointing me to the Lukin EO note.
> Nabokov calls Lukin's play "charming," especially in comparison to his
> contemporaries. But is Nabokov wrong about the source? In his note VN says
> that Lukin was imitating the French writer Pierre Claude Nivelle de la
> Chausee. Others, however, clearly point to Lukin's play being an imitation
> of Robert Dodsley's "The Toy-Shop." Indeed, the description of Lukin's
> play seems pretty clearly to mimic the Dodsley--though interesting that VN
> doesn't mention the Lorgnette.
>
> Matt Roth
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm