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This essay is about authorship and translation by means of a genetic approach to a peculiar case study: Dmitri Nabokov’s double translation - from Russian into English and then into Italian - of Vladimir Nabokov’s Volshebnik (1939, The Enchanter, 1986, L’incantatore, 1986, 2011). Thanks to the material in the archives of the Berg Collection (NYPL), I could follow the history of the posthumous publication of this novella, in English and Italian. But something was missing: there were no traces of the first drafts of the translations. In the second part of this article I question precisely what is missing, focusing on the genesis of L’incantatore, Dmitri Nabokov’s Italian translation of The Enchanter. Here, as with his English translations done in collaboration with his father, under his father’s “responsibility”, Dmitri Nabokov’s own authority and authorship are at stake. The son of the great writer, who did not master Italian as well as he mastered English, went on translating in collaboration with other, trustworthy translators. This practice, although rather common, raises an ethical question: what does a signature in a translation mean? And what does it mean when the (last) name happens to be the same as the author’s?

The Strange Case of Nabokov's Enchanter

MONTINI C
2020-01-01

Abstract

This essay is about authorship and translation by means of a genetic approach to a peculiar case study: Dmitri Nabokov’s double translation - from Russian into English and then into Italian - of Vladimir Nabokov’s Volshebnik (1939, The Enchanter, 1986, L’incantatore, 1986, 2011). Thanks to the material in the archives of the Berg Collection (NYPL), I could follow the history of the posthumous publication of this novella, in English and Italian. But something was missing: there were no traces of the first drafts of the translations. In the second part of this article I question precisely what is missing, focusing on the genesis of L’incantatore, Dmitri Nabokov’s Italian translation of The Enchanter. Here, as with his English translations done in collaboration with his father, under his father’s “responsibility”, Dmitri Nabokov’s own authority and authorship are at stake. The son of the great writer, who did not master Italian as well as he mastered English, went on translating in collaboration with other, trustworthy translators. This practice, although rather common, raises an ethical question: what does a signature in a translation mean? And what does it mean when the (last) name happens to be the same as the author’s?
2020
Cet essai propose une approche génétique de la question de l’autorialité et de la traduction à travers un cas d’étude particulier: la double traduction, d’abord du russe vers l’anglais et ensuite du russe et de l’anglais vers l’italien de Volshebnik de Vladimir Nabokov (1939, The Enchanter, 1986, L’incantatore, 1986, 2011). Grâce aux documents d’archive (Berg Collection, NYPL), j’ai pu reconstituer l’histoire de la publication posthume de ce récit, en anglais et en italien. Quelque chose manquait, cependant, à cette histoire, car il n’y avait plus de traces des premiers jets de ces traductions. Dans la deuxième partie de cet article j’interroge justement cette lacune avec une attention particulière à la genèse de L’incantatore, la traduction italienne de Dmitri Nabokov de The Enchanter. Dans ce cas particulier, ainsi que dans le cas de ses traductions en anglais faites en collaboration avec son père et sous la ”responsabilité” de ce dernier, l’autorité et l’autorialité de Dmitri Nabokov sont en jeu. Le fils du grand écrivain, qui ne connaissais pas l’italien aussi bien que l’anglais, a continué à suivre la même pratique traductive entamé avec son géniteur: il traduisait avec d’autres collaborateurs de confiance. Cette pratique, même si commune, soulève une question éthique: quelle est la signification de la signature du traducteur dans l’économie du texte traduit? Et encore, quelle est sa signification si le nom du traducteur s’avère être le même que celui de l’auteur?
Genetics, translation, Vladimir and Dmitri Nabokov, The Enchanter
L'incantatore
Volshebnik
1.1 Articolo in rivista
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12607/34295
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