M. Roth:" I was wondering where
you got that translation. You are correct that Eliot does not translate it
himself in his footnotes to the poem...I found a somewhat oblique
reference to Baudelaire's line in VN's essay on Gogol's "Overcoat." He
says, regarding readers who want to learn Russian, "But I do welcome the right
sort--my brothers, my doubles" (LoRL 61)..."
JM: My favorite edition of
Eliot's poems, and the Brazilian translation by Ivan Junqueira was
borrowed by a friend of mine, in Rio - and I didn't want to disturb him. This is
why I consulted a Brazilian anthology I still kept - where I found the note. A
few days ago I was lucky to find for sale the little
everyman's edition (sometimes it's not easy to gain quick access to
imported books), which informed me of my mistake. In a way, the incorrect quote set various things into
motion and stimulated me to pick up Eliot and to get a bilingual
French-English selection of Baudelaire. You mentioned various
fascinating samples, related to the "double", referencing Toilest and
Baudelaire. Today one more link came to light, now to VN's essay on
Gogol. I'm certain there'll be other
examples lying in wait. As I see it, it's important. to ascertain why
Nabokov himself chose the term "double"(as in a mirror) - if he
intended it as an irony. He once wrote that his ideal audience, or
readership, would be constituted by people with a face like his (?) ...I
cannot recollect the sentence right now, I'll look it up later on. Thank you for
the special variants!