Traduire Lolita - article ; n°3 ; vol.72, pg 521-529

Maurice Couturier

Description

Revue des études slaves - Année 2000 - Volume 72 - Numéro 3 - Pages 521-529
Translating Lolita
The author of this article, who is currently preparing a new French translation of Nabokov's famous novel, spells out the defects of Eric Kahane's translation published in 1959 and explains why it was necessary to establish a new one, especially for the Pléiade edition of Nabokov's novels. The author of Lolita was aware of the many shortcomings of Kahane's translation but did not take time to correct them. The present translator explains the principles which are guiding his work on the novel, claiming that he wants to remain absolutely faithful not only to the contents but to the wording and syntax of the text, and he ends his article with a brief examination of four stylistic problems: slang, which changes from generation to generation, word games and neologisms, the many French expressions, and finally free indirect style, concluding that Nabokov's idiosyncratic English owes a great deal to his other languages, Russian and French.
9 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: REVUE_DES_ETUDES_SLAVES
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2000
• Nombre de lectures: 28
• Langue: Français

Extrait

Monsieur Maurice Couturier

Traduire Lolita

In: Revue des études slaves, Tome 72, fascicule 3-4, 2000. pp. 521-529.

Abstract

Translating Lolita

The author of this article, who is currently preparing a new French translation of Nabokov's famous novel, spells out the defects

of Eric Kahane's translation published in 1959 and explains why it was necessary to establish a new one, especially for the

Pléiade edition of Nabokov's novels. The author of Lolita was aware of the many shortcomings of Kahane's translation but did not

take time to correct them. The present translator explains the principles which are guiding his work on the novel, claiming that he

wants to remain absolutely faithful not only to the contents but to the wording and syntax of the text, and he ends his article with a

brief examination of four stylistic problems: slang, which changes from generation to generation, word games and neologisms,

the many French expressions, and finally free indirect style, concluding that Nabokov's idiosyncratic English owes a great deal to

his other languages, Russian and French.

Citer ce document / Cite this document :

Couturier Maurice. Traduire Lolita. In: Revue des études slaves, Tome 72, fascicule 3-4, 2000. pp. 521-529.

http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/slave_0080-2557_2000_num_72_3_6683