Subject
VN bibliography (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Stephen Blackwell <sblackwe@utk.edu>
Chapter 9, "A Vile Non-verse," 255-278 in Douglas R. Hofstadter, LE TON
BEAU DE MAROT: IN PRAISE OF THE MUSIC OF LANGUAGE. New York: Basic
Books, 1997. xxiv + 662 + 72a + 72b pp.
The chapter follows a longer version of the piece that appeared in the NYT
BOOK REVIEW last November, here called "A Novel in Verse." "A Vile
Non-verse" is a fairly angry rejection of VN's theory of translation as
expressed in the EO volumes, a defense of other verse translations of EO,
and a criticism of VN's attacks on his fellow-translators. The chapter
includes extensive parody of some of VN's stylistic trademarks (anagrams,
obscure words), for example, a thumbnail biography of the "eminent
Franco--Irish playwright Marvin Validbook." There are some factual errors
concerning the published form of VN's translation and commentary, and one
or two fundamental misconceptions of Pushkin's novel. The rest of
Hofstadter's book is devoted to various--inumerable--reflections on poetry
and translation thereof.
Stephen H. Blackwell
Assistant Professor of Russian
Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages
701 McClung Tower
University of Tennessee
Knoxville TN 37996
Chapter 9, "A Vile Non-verse," 255-278 in Douglas R. Hofstadter, LE TON
BEAU DE MAROT: IN PRAISE OF THE MUSIC OF LANGUAGE. New York: Basic
Books, 1997. xxiv + 662 + 72a + 72b pp.
The chapter follows a longer version of the piece that appeared in the NYT
BOOK REVIEW last November, here called "A Novel in Verse." "A Vile
Non-verse" is a fairly angry rejection of VN's theory of translation as
expressed in the EO volumes, a defense of other verse translations of EO,
and a criticism of VN's attacks on his fellow-translators. The chapter
includes extensive parody of some of VN's stylistic trademarks (anagrams,
obscure words), for example, a thumbnail biography of the "eminent
Franco--Irish playwright Marvin Validbook." There are some factual errors
concerning the published form of VN's translation and commentary, and one
or two fundamental misconceptions of Pushkin's novel. The rest of
Hofstadter's book is devoted to various--inumerable--reflections on poetry
and translation thereof.
Stephen H. Blackwell
Assistant Professor of Russian
Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages
701 McClung Tower
University of Tennessee
Knoxville TN 37996