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American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages Plays by Anton Chekhov; Eugene K. Bristow Review by: Toby Clyman The Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Summer, 1979), pp. 275-276 Published by: American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/308126 . Accessed: 17/06/2014 02:51 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Slavic and East European Journal. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 91.229.248.184 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 02:51:09 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Playsby Anton Chekhov; Eugene K. Bristow

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Page 1: Playsby Anton Chekhov; Eugene K. Bristow

American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages

Plays by Anton Chekhov; Eugene K. BristowReview by: Toby ClymanThe Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Summer, 1979), pp. 275-276Published by: American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European LanguagesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/308126 .

Accessed: 17/06/2014 02:51

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages is collaborating with JSTOR todigitize, preserve and extend access to The Slavic and East European Journal.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.184 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 02:51:09 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 2: Playsby Anton Chekhov; Eugene K. Bristow

Reviews 275

Anton Chekhov. Plays. Tr., ed., and introd. Eugene K. Bristow. (Norton Critical Editions.) New York: W. W. Norton, 1977. xxxii, 412, $4.95 (paper).

This volume contains a new translation of the major Cexov plays (The Sea Gull, Uncle Vanja, The Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard), annotated and prefaced with brief introductory notes. Included also are Bristow's fine introductory essay, a collection of Cexov criticism, two short dramatic sketches by Cexov, and a selected bibliography.

Bristow's essay "On Translating Chekhov" serves as a fine introduction to Cexov's dramas. In discussing the problems and pitfalls of translating the plays, he not only makes the reader aware of the complexities and subtleties of Cexov's art, but also offers some perceptive comments on the plays themselves. His essay prompts a more critical approach to the reading of these dramatic works.

Cexov, stating his artistic credo, wrote that if a gun is placed on the stage, it must go off; that is, nothing in a work of art can be superfluous-everything must be justified. In Cexov's major plays every component is part of a system of interrelated elements, every detail indis- pensable to the whole. Bristow, aware of this poetic quality in Cexov's dramas, is cautious when making any deletions or additions in his rendition of the plays. For example, while other translators have casually omitted the ubiquitous Cexovian dots (...), Bristow leaves them in- tact, because these "suspensions" have "point and purpose and are significantly related to both structure and character as well as language and thought" (xxxi).

At times Bristow significantly modifies the original. For example, in the Russian text of The Three Sisters, Ma'a often recites the first two lines from Pu'kin's "Prologue" to Ruslan and Ljudmila. While these two lines are sufficient to convey the allusion to a Russian audience, the English audience, unfamiliar with this poem, is unable to associate these literary references. Bristow therefore adds the third and fourth lines from this Pu'kin poem, because his objective is to give "moment by moment in each play as many options for interpretation in English as are similarly created by Chekhov in Russian" (xxx). And indeed, Bristow is keenly attuned to the subtle nuances in Cexov's plays. On the whole, his rendition of Cexov's major dramas conveys the tone and spirit of the original. Occasionally, however, his translation is somewhat awkward or imprecise, and at times even verbose. Consider the following. In The Cherry Orchard, oblezlyj barin, applied to the student Trofimov, is translated as "that used-up old gentleman" (177). Lopaxin, in the first act, explains why he did not get to the train station: "Sidja usnul, Dosada . . . "-which is rendered as "Went dead to sleep sitting up. Annoying, that's what ... " (165); and "Krov' podla po nosu .. ." is given as "The blood ran out of my nose.. ." (166). Further, in The Three Sisters, Olja reacts to Nata'a's callous treatment of the old nanny: "... date malej'aja grubost' . . . volnujet menja." This phrase is translated as "every sort of rudeness ... pulls me apart inside .. ." (135). Apparently Bristow substitutes the last phrase for the more literal translation "upsets me" to convey the intensity of Olja's emotional state, but his rendition is inconsistent with Olja's style of language. Furthermore, Bristow leaves untrans- lated such words as njanja and njane&ka (134), matuAka (115), and papaAa (133), presumably to retain the flavor of the original. Although he provides some footnotes to explain these designa- tions, and English audience is still likely to confuse these terms with Russian names such as Ma'a, Nata'a, or Saga. These criticisms, however, are minor when viewed against the overall

quality of the translation. The introductory notes which preface each play provide information on the dramas'

literary and biographical sources, explanatory remarks on obscure references, and comments on the characters' names. In the latter, Bristow somewhat overstates the case. While the names of the protagonists are significant, it is questionable whether one should seek meaning in most of the characters' names, as Bristow seems to suggest.

Under the rubric of "background material," in addition to writings by Ronald Hingley on the historical, social, and cultural aspects of Cexov's Russia, Bristow has included two short

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Page 3: Playsby Anton Chekhov; Eugene K. Bristow

276 Slavic and East European Journal

dramatic sketches: Impure Tragedians and On the Injurious Effects of Tobacco, in earlier (1886) and later (1903) versions. These sketches help illuminate the major plays and provide a perspec- tive for viewing the development of Cexov's dramatic art in general.

The critical essays in this volume encompass a broad range of criticism, and are repre- sented by a variety of disciplines. Included are selections by David Magarshak, Charles B. Tim- mer, Nicholas Moravievich, Ronald Hingley, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Vladimir Nabokov, Gyorgy Tovstonogov, Thomas G. Winner, Eric Bentley, Robert Brustein, Francis Fergusson, Siegfried Melchinger, and John Gassner. While most of the essays concern Cexov's dramatic works, several address Cexov's art in general. For the student wishing to familiarize himself with Cexov criticism, the selections chosen for this edition are sufficiently broad and varied. There is also, of course, the previously published Robert Louis Jackson volume, Chekhov: A Collection of Critical Essays (White Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1967), which, together with this Bristow collection, comprises a fine, extensive selection of Cexov criticism with minor overlap- ping of content. On the whole, the Norton Critical Edition of Cexov's Plays, edited and trans- lated by Eugene K. Bristow, is a valuable textbook for students of Cexov's dramaturgy.

Toby Clyman, SUNY at Albany

Nicholas Luker. Alexander Kuprin. (Twayne's World Author Series, 481.) Boston: G. K. Hall, 1978. 171 pp., $10.95.

In the preface of this new addition to the Twayne's World Authors Series, Luker mentions that his ". . . monograph aims to be comprehensive as the limits of space stipulated for this series allow." In other words, this treatise primarily address the laity. Methodically, the book con- tains eight essay-type chapters. Each chapter is subdivided into several parts comprising notes and references. The references also include information about the author, a selected bibliography, and an index. The chronological essay-oriented chapters and the index are useful for the uninformed reader, but the selected bibliography is not directed toward the Anglo- lingual anthologist (or enthusiast). The various listings cited, with one exception, refer to, and rely solely on, Russian sources. This phenomenon is immediately apparent in the bibliography, inasmuch as the more interesting and relevant studies on Russian emigre studies are omitted. It must be noted that important publications on Kuprin's works have also appeared in recent years in various Western Russian literature, for example The New Review, Melbourne Slavic Studies, Russian Language Journal, Russian Word in Canada, Anthology of Russian Emigre Literature.

In a critically evaluative overview of the bibliographical listings, the serious reader may well conclude that an impartial assessment of Kuprin's work and life is unattainable in this par- ticular reference, and after having read this publication, the aforementioned assessment is sup- ported.

In his compact chapters Luker depicts Kuprin as a man and an artist and gives an ap- preciation of his literary contributions, the recurrent themes of his work, major aspects of his literary style, and his position on the history of Russian literature. In the first three chapters, Luker boldly deals with Kuprin's literary beginnings and surveys his path to literary fame. Chapter IV is devoted to a critical examination of Kuprin's greatest masterpiece, The Duel. The last four chapters reflect reshuffled translations of extracts taken from various exposes of Soviet experts on Kuprin, for example Afanas'jev, Berkov, Kule'ov, and Volkov. Therefore, Luker's work is also entrenched with basically the same distortions and omissions typical of conformist Soviet criticisms of Kuprin's discourses.

Within the field, the following will be quite obvious: even the titles of the various chapters appear to have been taken directly from books by Afanas'jev, Berkov, et al; the monograph is

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