Date:         Tue, 5 Mar 1996 10:41:52 -0800
Reply-To:     Vladimir Nabokov Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Sender:       Vladimir Nabokov Forum <[log in to unmask]>
From:         Donald Barton Johnson <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Transparent Things, queries (fwd)

EDITOR'S NOTE. Dieter E.Zimmer <[log in to unmask]> is Nabokov's
major German translator and editor-annotator of the splendid Rowohlt
edition of VN's collected works.
-----------------------------------------
When I translated "Transparent Things" into German in 1979, I sent a list of
queries to Vera Nabokov. In this case she did not answer all of them herself but
passed some of them on to Dmitri who had translated the novel into Italian in
1975 ("Cose trasparenti") and discussed most of the problems with his father. I
still have his comments, sent to me on Jan 31, 1980, and copy out those that may
of interest in the ongoing discussion.
- "Yes, the 'centenarian's fruit' is the orange. I think I recall correctly a
legend according to which he who eats lives to be a hundred. In any case,
translate literally."
- "Chudo-Yudo: from Russian folklore, also used by Pushkin: 'Chudo' means
marvel. Together with 'yudo', a complementary nonsense vocable, it connotes, in
Russian legend, something big and impressive. Father may have intended a side
pun on Judo-style pyjamas...
- "The kew tree is the Gingko, or gingko tree, also 'maidenhair'. It was
imported from Eastern China to the original Kew Gardens and elsewhere... The
expression was used in the book simply as an instance of a proofreader's
problems; hence, with Father's approval, I invented a totally different Italian
example that was equivalent in effect."

Dieter E.Zimmer
Erikastrasse 81a * D-20251 Hamburg * Germany
Phone +49-40-488140 * Fax +49-40-4606129
eMail [log in to unmask]