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Verses and Versions: Three Centuries of Russian Poetry
Vladimir Nabokov was hailed by Salman Rushdie as the most important writer ever to cross the boundary between one language and another. A Russian emigre who began writing in English after his forties, Nabokov was a trilingual author, equally competent in Russian, English, and French. A gifted and tireless translator, he bridged the gap between languages nimbly and joyously. Here, collected for the first time in one volume as Nabokov always wished, are many of his English translations of Russian verse, presented next to the Russian originals. Here, also, are some of his notes on the dangers and thrills of translation. With an introduction by Brian Boyd, author of the prize-winning biography of Nabokov, Verses and Versions is a momentous and authoritative contribution to Nabokov's published works.
441 pages, Hardcover
First published November 28, 2007
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About the author
Vladimir Nabokov
893 books15k followersVladimir Nabokov (Russian: Владимир Набоков) was a writer defined by a life of forced movement and extraordinary linguistic transformation. Born into a wealthy, liberal aristocratic family in St. Petersburg, Russia, he grew up trilingual, speaking Russian, English, and French in a household that nurtured his intellectual curiosities, including a lifelong passion for butterflies. This seemingly idyllic, privileged existence was abruptly shattered by the Bolshevik Revolution, which forced the family into permanent exile in 1919. This early, profound experience of displacement and the loss of a homeland became a central, enduring theme in his subsequent work, fueling his exploration of memory, nostalgia, and the irretrievable past.
The first phase of his literary life began in Europe, primarily in Berlin, where he established himself as a leading voice among the Russian émigré community under the pseudonym "Vladimir Sirin". During this prolific period, he penned nine novels in his native tongue, showcasing a precocious talent for intricate plotting and character study. Works like The Defense explored obsession through the extended metaphor of chess, while Invitation to a Beheading served as a potent, surreal critique of totalitarian absurdity. In 1925, he married Véra Slonim, an intellectual force in her own right, who would become his indispensable partner, editor, translator, and lifelong anchor.
The escalating shadow of Nazism necessitated another, urgent relocation in 1940, this time to the United States. It was here that Nabokov undertook an extraordinary linguistic metamorphosis, making the challenging yet resolute shift from Russian to English as his primary language of expression. He became a U.S. citizen in 1945, solidifying his new life in North America. To support his family, he took on academic positions, first founding the Russian department at Wellesley College, and later serving as a highly regarded professor of Russian and European literature at Cornell University from 1948 to 1959.
During this academic tenure, he also dedicated significant time to his other great passion: lepidoptery. He worked as an unpaid curator of butterflies at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology. His scientific work was far from amateurish; he developed novel taxonomic methods and a groundbreaking, highly debated theory on the migration patterns and phylogeny of the Polyommatus blue butterflies, a hypothesis that modern DNA analysis confirmed decades later.
Nabokov achieved widespread international fame and financial independence with the publication of Lolita in 1955, a novel that was initially met with controversy and censorship battles due to its provocative subject matter concerning a middle-aged literature professor and his obsession with a twelve-year-old girl. The novel's critical and commercial success finally allowed him to leave teaching and academia behind. In 1959, he and Véra moved permanently to the quiet luxury of the Montreux Palace Hotel in Switzerland, where he focused solely on writing, translating his earlier Russian works into meticulous English, and studying local butterflies.
His later English novels, such as Pale Fire (1962), a complex, postmodern narrative structured around a 999-line poem and its delusional commentator, cemented his reputation as a master stylist and a technical genius. His literary style is characterized by intricate wordplay, a profound use of allusion, structural complexity, and an insistence on the artist's total, almost tyrannical, control over their created world. Nabokov often expressed disdain for what he termed "topical trash" and the simplistic interpretations of Freudian psychoanalysis, preferring instead to focus on the power of individual consciousness, the mechanics of memory, and the intricate, often deceptive, interplay between art and perceived "reality". His unique body of work, straddling multiple cultures and languages, continues to
The first phase of his literary life began in Europe, primarily in Berlin, where he established himself as a leading voice among the Russian émigré community under the pseudonym "Vladimir Sirin". During this prolific period, he penned nine novels in his native tongue, showcasing a precocious talent for intricate plotting and character study. Works like The Defense explored obsession through the extended metaphor of chess, while Invitation to a Beheading served as a potent, surreal critique of totalitarian absurdity. In 1925, he married Véra Slonim, an intellectual force in her own right, who would become his indispensable partner, editor, translator, and lifelong anchor.
The escalating shadow of Nazism necessitated another, urgent relocation in 1940, this time to the United States. It was here that Nabokov undertook an extraordinary linguistic metamorphosis, making the challenging yet resolute shift from Russian to English as his primary language of expression. He became a U.S. citizen in 1945, solidifying his new life in North America. To support his family, he took on academic positions, first founding the Russian department at Wellesley College, and later serving as a highly regarded professor of Russian and European literature at Cornell University from 1948 to 1959.
During this academic tenure, he also dedicated significant time to his other great passion: lepidoptery. He worked as an unpaid curator of butterflies at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology. His scientific work was far from amateurish; he developed novel taxonomic methods and a groundbreaking, highly debated theory on the migration patterns and phylogeny of the Polyommatus blue butterflies, a hypothesis that modern DNA analysis confirmed decades later.
Nabokov achieved widespread international fame and financial independence with the publication of Lolita in 1955, a novel that was initially met with controversy and censorship battles due to its provocative subject matter concerning a middle-aged literature professor and his obsession with a twelve-year-old girl. The novel's critical and commercial success finally allowed him to leave teaching and academia behind. In 1959, he and Véra moved permanently to the quiet luxury of the Montreux Palace Hotel in Switzerland, where he focused solely on writing, translating his earlier Russian works into meticulous English, and studying local butterflies.
His later English novels, such as Pale Fire (1962), a complex, postmodern narrative structured around a 999-line poem and its delusional commentator, cemented his reputation as a master stylist and a technical genius. His literary style is characterized by intricate wordplay, a profound use of allusion, structural complexity, and an insistence on the artist's total, almost tyrannical, control over their created world. Nabokov often expressed disdain for what he termed "topical trash" and the simplistic interpretations of Freudian psychoanalysis, preferring instead to focus on the power of individual consciousness, the mechanics of memory, and the intricate, often deceptive, interplay between art and perceived "reality". His unique body of work, straddling multiple cultures and languages, continues to
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 27, 2009
I have to say that I liked Nabokov's introductions and essays much more than his translations. There was far too much poetry that I just didn't care about, try as I might. But it felt good to read and to hold. The dust jacket has a pleasant texture. And its pages smell as smart as I'd like to feel, at least while I had my hands on it. Problem is, when I set it down (and finally filed it on my bookshelf), I felt stupid again. Stupider, even, if that's a word and/or possibility.
May 2, 2009
Of more interest to Nabokov scholars than to anyone looking for a representative anthology of readable translations of Russian classics. Worth reading for the occasional great Nabokovian sentence, such as this one, after a Robert Lowell "adaptation":
"Recently I have been so distressed by a well-known American poet's impossible travesty of Mandelshtam's logic and magic that I cast around for some Russian poem that I could still save from the enthusiastic paraphrast who strangles another man's muse with his own muse's strong hair."
"Recently I have been so distressed by a well-known American poet's impossible travesty of Mandelshtam's logic and magic that I cast around for some Russian poem that I could still save from the enthusiastic paraphrast who strangles another man's muse with his own muse's strong hair."
March 21, 2012
If my books were burning, and I could only save 5, this one would probably make the list. I've spent many hours translating the poems into English, and then comparing them to Nabakov's English version. I love it! My favorite poets in here by far are Pushkin and Lermontov.
August 6, 2011
"What is translation? On a platter
A poet's pale and glaring head,
A parrot's screech, a monkey's chatter
And profanation of the dead." ---- all turned into literary gold in Nabokov's hands.
A poet's pale and glaring head,
A parrot's screech, a monkey's chatter
And profanation of the dead." ---- all turned into literary gold in Nabokov's hands.
August 13, 2009
I love russian literature and the russian language makes the MOST beautiful poetry.
July 27, 2009
That is definitively my favorite! Seems to me like the apotheosis of his own youth and a wonderful chronicle of vanishing childhood in aristocratic Russia...
January 6, 2011
Absolutely great book of poems - with originals along with translations and Nabokov's comments about translating poetry.
December 9, 2017
Some brilliant translations, particularly the Lermontovs. The notes are a little sketchy; one would wish for more of Nabokov's idiosyncrasy.
November 15, 2015
It had a solid introduction to some poets lesser known to western audiences, but not my favorite translation of more familiar work.
Unfortunately, the essays are fairly ladened with "I'm Vladimir Nabokov, and you're an idiot" tones. The man may have been a brilliant novelist, but not necessarily a supreme translator.
There are better collections of Russian poetry, ones not edited/translated by a total douchebag.
Unfortunately, the essays are fairly ladened with "I'm Vladimir Nabokov, and you're an idiot" tones. The man may have been a brilliant novelist, but not necessarily a supreme translator.
There are better collections of Russian poetry, ones not edited/translated by a total douchebag.
August 15, 2015
Very fragmentary, as Nabokov had no part in its organization. More useful as a study of Nabokov's translating than as an anthology. Falsely advertised. He really makes Tyutchev and Fet sing, though. Important book.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews