No Longer Lost in Translation
Richard Rose reviews Welcome to the Smashing Center by Boris Kokotov
About the reviewer: Breaching the Barriers: Short Stories and Essays from India written by Richard Rose was published in 2022; a new collection of short stories The Artist’s Model and Other Stories will be published in 2023.
A few years ago, I read the account written by György Dalos of the fourteen-hour meeting between the philosopher Isaiah Berlin and the poet Anna Akhmatova in St Petersburg in 1945. This tryst, said to have been regarded by the Russian poet as one of the most significant in her life, has been mulled over and debated by historians and philosophers ever since. I came to the Dalos book1 originally through my interest in the writings of Berlin, who as Professor at Wolfson College Oxford did much to promote ideas surrounding the nature of humanity. I was of course aware of Akhmatova, but knew little of her writing, and being conscious of this lack in my education, I headed for the library at the university where I work, in search of her poetry.
For those of us who lack the Russian language, reading the poetry of Anna Akhmatova inevitably requires the services of a translator and within a few minutes of searching the library, I had gained access to two collections of Russian poetry, each containing examples of her work in English. Over the next few days while familiarizing myself with some of the works of this great poet, I became aware of subtle differences in the translation of the poems. While these translations undoubtedly remained true to the sentiments of the poems, the expressions of these sometimes differed considerably. For example, in a poem titled “The Muse,” the first version that I read began with the lines:
When in the night I await her coming,
My life seems stopped, I ask myself: What
Are tributes, freedom or youth compared
To this treasured friend holding a flute?
The second translation that I considered presented the same lines in the following manner:
When I wait, at night, for her to come,
Life, it seems, hangs by a strand.
What are honour, youth, freedom,
Next to the dear guest, flute in hand?
The meaning of the lines is clear enough, but which version I wondered, would be closest to Ahkmatova’s original verse?
I imagine that when living writers work alongside translators of their work, there must be opportunities to discuss meaning in some detail. I anticipate that such discussions can assist the translator in ensuring that the tenor of the work is maintained in as close a manner to the original intentions of the author as possible. It is notable that some writers work throughout much of their life with the same, presumably trusted, translator: Amos Oz with Nicholas de Lange, Orhan Pamuk with Maureen Freely for example. Does this mean that readers are provided with a more consistent translation of the author’s work?
I first came across Boris Kokotov through his translations of Russian poetry and was interested to see that he has also translated the work of some eminent writers in English, including the American Nobel laureate Louise Glück into Russian. His work in this sphere has an eloquence that afforded me some insights into poetry that I might well have overlooked, and I was therefore pleased to see this new collection of Kokotov’s writings.
As I would have expected, there are translations of Russian poets within this work including the now familiar Anna Ahkmatova and Osip Mandelstam, but also introducing me to others previously unknown to myself such as Velimir Khlebnikov and Djelal Kuznetsov. These introductions were welcomed, but I was equally pleased to discover that Boris Kolkotov has a versatility as a writer that goes well beyond his work in translation.
Welcome to the Smashing Center presents readers with fine examples of Kolkotov’s own poetry and prose. A diverse range of poetry, short stories and what he describes as mini-dramas enables the writer to demonstrate both his thoughtful and playful nature. In his poetry he appears to take pleasure in playing with words in an almost childlike manner:
Asked why he did what he did
a convict said:
Because of my convictions
While it is easy to discern the joke within this and other poems such as “No Plans” and “ESL Lesson,” I would suggest that Kolkotov uses this device in order to point his readers in the direction of much more profound issues. This is evident in poems such as “The Road to Extinction” and “The Image,” in which he considers the passage of time and the ways in which change might impact all our lives.
The balance between humour and the belief that something more profound may be present in everyday situations persists in the prose work in this collection. Pieces like “Just to be Sure” and the short drama “Poetry Reading in the Local Library” present believable characters in situations that resonate while perhaps remaining outside of the reader’s direct experience.
A few of the stories, including the title piece “Welcome to the Smashing Center,” feel dystopic in nature, almost Orwellian in their portrayal of situations out of control. The juxtaposition of writing that has humour with depictions of a much darker nature characterises this book and is used to demonstrate the author’s dextrous approach to writing that is both atmospheric and amusing.
Welcome to the Smashing Center should provide something of interest to a wide range of readers. Those who are familiar with Boris Kokotov as a translator may be surprised to find so much more within this interesting collection.
Copyright © 2022 by Richard Rose
