Thread: Pushkin

I am currently reading Alexander Pushkin's collected stories. If I knew it would be this easy to read I probably would have attempted before. Apparently his poetry does not translate well - rather the complexity of his poetry doesn't translate, but his stories are compulsively readable. It is like having someone sit next to you and tell you a story. Very intimate, effortless style. And he can spin a yarn, too. Any other Pushkin fans out there?

Oh Pushkin is a real dude! I really thought it was somebody made up by my book.

Originally Posted by mary

Any other Pushkin fans out there?

I am not a fan but I like Pushkin. What the stories you are reading?

Dear friend,
Are you reading in English or Russian?
You can also find a lot of Pushkin at www.lib.ru

Originally Posted by mary

Any other Pushkin fans out there?

Yes. I'm a Pushkin fan. I'm 37 but I read his fairy tales every day!!!

Not a bad choice, since his повести are considered to be a model of good Russian prose.

37 was a fateful age for Pushkin, ALexander!!

I am currently reading "Повести покойного Ивана Петровича Белкина." Who can tell me about this?

I went to see Pushkin's apartment in St. Petersburg, and the tour group consisted of me, a couple of other soppy-lookin' young women, and a bunch of teenage boy skateboard punks. A couple of the punks got all weepy when they showed us the waistcoat Pushkin was wearing when he duelled and his death mask This was the point when I decided I loved Russia.

Originally Posted by begemot

37 was a fateful age for Pushkin, ALexander!!

Yes. I know.

Originally Posted by Линдзи

I went to see Pushkin's apartment in St. Petersburg, and the tour group consisted of me, a couple of other soppy-lookin' young women, and a bunch of teenage boy skateboard punks. A couple of the punks got all weepy when they showed us the waistcoat Pushkin was wearing when he duelled and his death mask This was the point when I decided I loved Russia.

What a supremely cool post Lindzi
Indeed Pushkin seems to revered here almost to the point of idolatry. There are monuments to him everywhere. I have had teenagers quote him to me at length, even though they knew I couldn't understand it.
The sad thing is I'm quite incapable of understanding it, even with a dictionary (OK maybe I need a better one)

подруга дней моих суровых
голубка дряхлая моя!
одна в глуши лесов сосновых
давно, давно ты ждёшь меня

It's the poem about 'Nyanya' .. I tried to translate it but I couldn't find some of the words. But reading it out loud was really beautiful!

Originally Posted by waxwing

подруга дней моих суровых
голубка дряхлая моя!
одна в глуши лесов сосновых
давно, давно ты ждёшь меня

Here is my stab at translating it:

My friend in my hardest days,
My dear old woman!
For a long long time you've been waiting for me
Alone, in the depth of the pine woods.

(izvinitye, no na iMac ne magu pisat pa-russki )

Thanks Friendy.
Sounds a lot better in Russian eh ?

I got that surovikh was 'tough' or 'hard' but I couldn't figure out the second line. Can you tell me anything about the words 'golubka' and 'dryakhlaya'?
And of course this is only the beginning of the poem

btw, 'since a long time' would have to be 'for a long time' .. which reminds me, since this is the first time I've ever corrected you .. how did you learn English?

Originally Posted by waxwing

Can you tell me anything about the words 'golubka' and 'dryakhlaya'?

голубка - female pigeon, here it means "dear", "darling" (but that form of address is not very common now)
дряхлый - decrepit

Originally Posted by waxwing

btw, 'since a long time' would have to be 'for a long time' .. which reminds me, since this is the first time I've ever corrected you .. how did you learn English?

Thanks for the correction. I've edited my previous post according to it. I learned English at school with a certain share of self-studying, of course.

Originally Posted by Friendy

Originally Posted by waxwing

btw, 'since a long time' would have to be 'for a long time' .. which reminds me, since this is the first time I've ever corrected you .. how did you learn English?

Thanks for the correction. I've edited my previous post according to it. I learned English at school with a certain share of self-studying, of course.

Only school (not University) + self study? That's a pretty amazing achievement. I think I've only met one person here in Russia who has that kind of level of English without having lived abroad. Well OK, one or two others but they are teachers of the language. поздравляю тебя с болшим успехом

Here is the continuation:

Originally Posted by А.С. Пушкин

Ты под окном своей светлицы
Горюешь, будто на часах,
И медлят поминутно спицы
В твоих наморщенных руках.
Глядишь в забытые вороты
На черный отдаленный путь;
Тоска, предчувствия, заботы
Теснят твою всечасно грудь.
То чудится тебе. . . . . . .

At the window of your room
You grieve like a sentry keeping watch
And the knitting needles in your wrinkled hands
Are slowing down every minute
You are looking at the black distant road
Through the forgotten gates
Your heart is constantly filled
With grief, presentiments and concerns
Sometimes it seems to you …

Originally Posted by waxwing

Only school (not University) + self study?

No, I learned it at the University too, but I think that the most of my knowledge I got at school and from self-studying, at the University it was more like mastering and, of course, such specific things like applying to science etc.