On Sep 23, 2015, at 2:08 PM, Alexey Sklyarenko wrote:
Heather Ale (1895) is a famous ballad by R. L. Stevenson, the author of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1885). According to Carolyn Kunin, Pale Fire (the novel) is a parody of R. L. Stevenson’s novella. Indeed, the novel’s three main characters, Shade, Kinbote and Gradus, seem to represent different aspects of one and the same person, Prof. V. Botkin (the American scholar of Russian descent).
To the List,
At first I was surprised to hear that "Heather Ale" was a famous poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, since I had never heard of it - but a bit of googling explains the discrepancy:
Stevenson's "Heather Ale" was brilliantly translated into Russian by the genius poly-lingual poet Samuel Marshak, as "Вересковый мёд" (Vereskovy myod). The translation was published in 1941, just as the USSR was entering the Second World War, called in Russia "The Great Patriotic War". The ballad won immense popularity there during the War for emphasizing the virtues that Stevenson was portraying - of relentless bravery against hopeless odds, as well as willingness to sacrifice and die rather than reveal one's secrets to the enemy. This old Scottish tale served as a major morale boost to the initially beaten but eventually victorious Russians.
And though this poem is not widely known in its original English any longer, many Russian-speakers still love it to this day, and are sure to recognize its closing words, epitomizing the tenacious perseverance of the "Last Pict" ... **
Anton Nossik
Further I'd like to comment that Alexey is not quite right in saying that I took Pale Fire to be a parody of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - more an homage I would say or a re-imagining of that famous tale. Also, I never took Botkin seriously (nikto b'); my idea was that Kinbote* is to Shade as Hyde is to Jekyll (more or less). Gradus is merely a figment of his (or their) imagination.
Carolyn
*Kinbote is compensation (bot or bote) paid to a family for an injury done to one of their kin. In the RLS tale, kinbote is paid by Dr Jekyll to the family of Mr Hyde's first victim, a little girl he knocks over in the street.
**Правду сказал я, шотландцы,
От сына я ждал беды,
Не верил я в стойкость юных,
Не бреющих бороды.
А мне костер не страшен,
Пусть со мною умрет
Моя святая тайна,
Мой вересковый мед.