Mikhail NAKHMANSON
A WORD IN DEFENSE OF PHILIP FARMER
Only Philip Farmer's name appears in the title. But is it only
Farmer humiliated, insulted and insulted? The same can be said about
Fritz Leiber, Harry Harrison, Isaac Asimov, Robert Asprin,
Andre Norton and many, many others. From the list of these names
It is clear that below we will talk about fantasy; but in other commercial
genres - detective, thriller, erotic novel - sometimes things are
just as sad.
However, I am not going to explain to readers the difference between ho-
poor and bad translation; this question seems obvious and
requiring no comment. It is much more interesting to speculate about an-
Glo-American fiction as such, about its translation into Russian
language, about the difficulties and features of this process, about the relationship
relations with publishers. If at the same time I manage to rehabilitate that
or another unfortunate author, I will consider my task completed
Nenna. On a massive scale, such a restoration of "honor and
dignity" is being dealt with by several science fiction publishers - for example
example, "Mir", "Polaris" and "Troll", - whose efforts cannot but be
call for respect.
As a matter of fact, I was inspired to write these notes by two ma-
material published in the "Book Review": a letter from a reader
tz O. Rozanova from Smolensk (“North-West” has good translations-
chicks", "KO"#32) and Sergei Belov’s article “How much is high art
in? Literary translation and the book market" ("KO" #34).
First, about Rozanova’s letter. Her kindness is infinitely dear to me
opinion about our work - especially since she mentions books
"Doc" Smith, the translation of which took a lot of effort. However, dear
the reader made an inaccuracy: the four-volume "Doc" Smith
published not by North-West, but by St. Petersburg publishing house
“Speaks,” which is what the book title says; True, he went out in "se-
Northwestern super.
But is this error so significant? For me, something else is more important:
if the reader - the highest judge! - appreciated our work, then I get
moral right to acquaint him with our re-
Vodka's "cuisine". So let those who liked Edward Elmer
Smith, read these notes further - something funny awaits them.
Now about Belov’s material, which addresses the issues
reduction in the quality of translations. Everything he wrote, in my opinion,
absolutely true, but his article turned out to be unfinished. B
Unfortunately, there are no examples in it - more precisely, names are not given
heroes of those comedies and dramas that are sometimes played out in our book -
sweet market. I don’t know Belov; perhaps he is a collaborator
com of the publishing house "Polaris" and it was simply awkward for him to blaspheme the
kurentov? To some extent I will try to complement it a little
article.
Janus, god of the Romans, wasone in two persons; I'll try to speak
drink in three at once - like Feng, Translator and Author. Feng is the one
who reads science fiction (avidly, of course); A translator is someone who
transfers foreign works of his favorite genre to his native
language; Author is someone who writes something original in that language.
So, let's start in order.
FEN. My qualifications as a fan are by far the highest of
three of the above incarnations. Perhaps I am exactly the reader
which any science fiction writer sees in rosy dreams: I read
fiction throughout my entire adult life (that is, forty-three years, starting
from the age of six); I'm not afraid to admit that I love her more than my friend
different literary genres (despite age, academic degree,
scientific works and other evidence of maturity and mental completeness
values); besides, I am a physicist, and, therefore, I can appreciate the idea
the author from a professional point of view.
I have always been surprised by people who are serious and very intelligent, not
those who recognize science fiction or consider it primitive reading material for
teenagers. Amazing lack of foresight! Of course, an entertainer -
fantasy is just a way to have a good time (which
already quite a lot), but more serious works often contain futurity
rological forecasts and very interesting ideas that stimulate creativity
the scientific thought of a scientist. Science fiction is essentially pragmatic, because
reflects one of the most important human needs - desirepre-
guess the future.
This is exactly what I tried to do about a year and a half ago. At that
time, the chest of pre-conventional fiction had already shown the bottom, and some
book merchants are hastily (the Russian law has not yet been adopted
about copyright protection!) were carried to the printing house somehow translated -
new “post-convention”, while others, more far-sighted and rich, began
negotiations began with Western literary agents on the acquisition of the publishing house
rights. It was not difficult to foresee what would happen next. In recent piracy
in recent times, many publishing houses, according to a fair remark
Sergei Belov, were guided by the slogan: “Primitive texts in
illiterate translations for the undemanding reader." However
then ten translators could translate one and the same into Russian
same Heinlein novel, presenting it, for example, to four publishers -
Moreover, both of them were in conditions of free competition
tions. Ultimately, the better option won out; yes,
If we talk about Heinlein, then the translations turned out to be the best
A. Korzhenevsky and A. Bransky. Perhaps their publishers received co-
top profit, which doesn’t interest me at all; anyway
the reader, the fan, won - having paid for the book, he received a good
text.
Not long ago I purchased other books - "Foster's Worlds" in seven
volumes published by the Smolensk publishing house "Klyuch". Judging by the contents
information attached to the title, the publishing house legallyacquired exclusive rights to everything published in the seven-volume edition
works and, being a monopolist, hired those translators who
whomever you wish. Not the best, one must assume (in other words, not the most
our dear ones). Of course, what happened as a result can be
thief, covering his eyes at the sight of pearls: “The toothy womb tilts-
she looked up and almost indifferently bit off the dangling head", "...he
parts of the body that have nothing to do with the cause of his condition
"The expression of unshakable confidence returned to him again,
only slightly crumpled”, etc., etc. The names of the authors of these
masterpieces are not named - on the books there is only a copyright of the company-pe-
translator of IPP "AMECH Ltd".
I should note that Foster’s texts are very specific and complex.
us; more difficult than Farmer, Anne McCaffrey, "Doc" Smith, Sterling
Lanier, Jeffrey Lord, Van Vogt, Eric Frank Russell, Isaac
Asimov and a dozen other authors whom I had the pleasure of translating.
To cope with them, you need excellent specialists! But money
money...We paid dollars for the rights, which means we need to save rubles
on translation. At whose expense? For mine, the reader's.
Sometimes I remember with nostalgia the recent lawless times
on...
TRANSLATOR. Little secret: as a rule, to prepare a
For an accurate translation, it is not a brilliant knowledge of the original language that is required.
nala, but the possession of one’s native, Russian. Then the toothy wombs will not
willbite off heads, rub various parts of the body and have
rumpled look. In short, a translator is not paid for what he does.
understands the text in English, and for an acceptable translation of it
text into Russian.
From my own practice and conversations with colleagues, I learned that
There are three translation methods. The first is an approximate translation
to the original. It happens that the English-language author is good and excellent
"goes" in Russian - literally flows like wine from a bottle into
glass without losing its aroma, strength, or color.
Happy is the translator who received such a book! Work with
it’s a pleasure for her. I was so lucky only once - from a novel -
Farmer's mi from the series "River's World".
Much more often, a translation that is close to the text turns out to be clumsy.
The paradise of the method involves a departure from the original. Where? Not at all
any side. It is necessary to capture the essence of the work - humor, lyricism -
ku, dynamics, specifics of dialogues, subtext - and ensure that the novel
made the same emotional impression on our reader -
tion, as in English. Save not the letter, but the spirit! At the same time,
I believe that very significant changes to the original
text.
Finally, there is a third method, when the translator is capable of literary
turn a thing into Russian is always close to the original, as
no matter how difficult it may be. This is top class; that's probably how they worked
specialists, through whose efforts we receivedcollected works
Jack London, Jules Verne, HG Wells and other classics.
Since I don’t want to damage the source texts, but to work on
at the extra-class level, alas, I can’t, I had to choose the second choice
so. Therefore, most of the translations that I did - and, firstly
turn, novels of the "Pernovsky" series by Anne McCaffrey and works
E.E. "Doc" Smith are, rather, retellings. How much is this
is it acceptable in these specific cases? Well, on the one hand, both
the above-named author is not London or Wells; on the other hand,
there was another reason for very free treatment of them
texts. Unfortunately, Smith and McCaffrey's works suffer
numerous logical inconsistencies that I simply could not
"skip" into the Russian text; the exclusion of these absurdities begins
the situation led to a local change in plot moves and additional writing
whole episodes.
Let me explain this using the example of “Doc” Smith. He is an old author
worked in the twenties and fifties, and his creations are now
simply unreadable - both in English and Russian (literally)
nom translation). But Smith is a classic, one of the founding fathers of America.
rican fiction, creator of the once famous series
about Lensmen; and we, his translators, wanted to offer domestic
to the fans of such a Smith, who at least did not cause
them hostility or impressions of archaic antiquity. I'm deepgrateful to the publishing house "Speaks", which took the liberty
carry out this project almost simultaneously with another translation,
made by the publishing house "Armada". Now our fantasy fans
sticks have two versions of the "Saga of the Lensmen" - and this, perhaps, is praised -
titus for many years.
Smith has plenty of absurdities. For example, presidential elections
countries can take place in an airport building; fugitives whom he himself
God ordered to get away from the hostile planet, they linger there for the sake of
fights with a monster; space marines cut down opponents in
cabbage with axes, and noble Lensmen casually destroy
lions of intelligent beings (of course, incorrigible bad guys who
very often they sell drugs). As far as possible, we have
tried to smooth out, cut off, rewrite such episodes, preserving and strengthening
liv the best aspects of Smith's creations - their dynamism, humor, heroic
pathetic.
As for the first volume, which a reader from
Smolensk, then I must admit that “Doc” Smith has no
where there was no novel "The Bloody Eye of Sarpedion". This thing is
the result of combining two of his short stories, "Tedric" and "Lord Ted-
Rick", and additions to a number of intermediate episodes that connected them into a single
new whole. In its own way, "Bloody Eye" is an extrapolation of "Doc"
Smith of the thirties and forties in our time with the aim of presenting
his work to our readers in the most advantageous light.A few words about the novels of the Pernovsky series by Anne McCaffrey
("Flight of the Dragon", "Wanderings of the Dragon", "White Dragon", "Fragment-
the people of Pern", a trilogy about the harpist Menolly, etc.) Here are alterations
was less, but in McCaffrey's literal translation into Russian it is clearly
“didn’t work”: instead of a heroic saga, the result was a kind of rose-tinted sentiment
mental tediousness, the reading of which could bring tears to the eyes
like a twelve-year-old schoolgirl. We put a lot of effort into
correct this situation, and I think our readers became acquainted with
Anne McCaffrey's creativity is not at its worst.
Most of the novels of the "Pernovsky" series belong to the post-
conventions, publishing rights to them were not acquired. Here in-
There is a curious moral problem that we can solve
only the author of the work. So - what does he, the author, prefer:
appear before millions of Russian science fiction fans in
decent but illegal translation, or sell the birthright
for several thousand dollars, with an almost one hundred percent guarantee that
toothy maws will bite off hanging heads? In short,
money or fame? It is clear that the foreign author wants to slant on
Russian fields have both, but complete happiness, alas, does not exist.
Yes, we translators rushed with the novels of Anne McCaffrey, defending
not her purse, but her honor; and now her noble dragons soar over
Moscow and St. Petersburg, not stampedseal in the contract,
but not subjected to the reproach that befell Farmer’s heroes,
Foster and others. What's better?
AUTHOR. For the last year I have done almost no translation work; I'm writing
original novels about a certain heroic figure named Richard
Blade, invented by Jeffrey Lord (this pseudonym was used
Americans Lyle Engel, Roland Green and Ray Nelson). Blade, despite
to his craving for forceful methods of conflict resolution, I care about him, and
if readers show interest in this kind of entertainment,
literature, we’ll talk about it later.
But now I would like to dwell on one point, related to
zannom with translation and writing "cuisine". Often the process of re-
revoda is a formal battle, and not with the text, but with the fact
who created it, with the original author. The person who writes the most
is fully revealed in his creations; from them one can understand his emotions
national mood, worldview, assess the level of intelligence and
area of interest. He is invisibly present behind the scenes, and the translator is
also a person, with his own concepts of what is good and what
it’s so bad - it enters into a fight with the author from the first pages of the novel.
mana
But since there is a duel, there must be a winner! Who will win
Will it matter - the author of the translator or the translator of the author?
The result depends only on their intelligence and talent. Great - or
just a great writer like Philip Farmer wins outright.
Hisyou feel superiority from the very first sentences; he conquers,
seizes, takes prisoner, and then you only think about not
spoil it, do not distort it, because it is good without additions or corrections
and literary polish.
But there are times when the desire to remake the source text is weak.
bland and inexpressive, becomes irresistible. It seems to me that such
the tendency is inherent not so much in translators as in our Russian-
language writers acting as translators. After all, the original
the talented author not only masters the art of stringing together words, following
to the original source; he has creative potential, imagination,
imagination, ability to build a plot. If he has more of all this,
than the creator of the original thing, the result is not difficult to predict -
a stronger and more interesting work appears in Russian
better than the original.
However, not everything is so simple. You can remake Jeff's novels
Free Lord and write similar entertaining eclecticism; well, well
if the case concerns Philip Farmer?
A WORD ABOUT THE FARMER. I suspect that to our readers Farmer
I am more familiar not as the creator of “The World of the River” and “The World of Days”
(the latest series will soon be released by the Troll publishing house), but how
author of "Multi-tiered World". This fantasy cycle was released by "Centro-
polygraph", "Crime Press - Asmadey", "Lokid", "Vasilievsky ost-
ditch", "Base", "Gemma" and almost certainly others unknown to me
publishing houses,approximately half a million in total circulation. Some people
I put my copyright on the book, some people were shy, but the essence is from
this does not change - in all versions the horns are clearly visible
and the hooves of the previous self-made translation, the “signet”.
Here is the beginning in Russian of "The Creator of the Universe", the first novel
cycle: "The ghost of a trumpet call howled from the other side of the doors."
There are options: “Behind the doors, someone ghostly, again pulled out
horns a series of sounds." And here is a detail of the physiology described by Farmer
centaurs: "Most of the centaur had to breathe", "Large
the horse part of the centaur had to breathe", "Large animal
part of the centaur had to breathe" (the last option is in three
publications).
Of course, this large horse animal part of the centaur must
the wife needed to breathe, but it would have been better for Philip Farmer if
In these parts she did not take a breath!
What is the problem? Why do we have excellent re-
waters of Farmer's "Hidden Feast" (performed by O. Artamonov and
published by "AMECH Ltd" - JSC "Loris"), quite readable translations
"Mira Reki" ("Russian Troika" and "Troll" - "Yuventa") and some
other novels, and the "Multi-tiered World" has already stumbled six
publishers, exposing Farmer to ridicule?
The point is not only that Artamonov is much more qualified than the be-
winter workers trying to control their respiratory organs
centaur, but also infeatures of Farmer's creativity. He's very
a versatile writer: he has science fiction, very
concrete and realistic, which actually seemed to “flow-
et" from English into Russian; there are hoaxes, parodies and imitations
zhaniya; There are things of a philosophical nature that are very difficult to understand.
niya; and there is a fantasy about the World of Five Tiers, written in a completely
different than the series about the World of the River. This tale cannot be translated -
"one to one", otherwise all her enchanting charm from the very first
phrases will be drowned out by the howl of ghostly horns. Here we are faced with si-
situation when it is necessary to confront a major writer,
to convey the emotional mood, essence and meaning of his creation -
albeit entertaining and devoid of deep thoughts, but from this
no less difficult to translate.
Now, as I write these lines, surrounded by horse parts
centaurs who breathe down my back from the pages named above
publications, I want to tell readers: don’t believe it! Philip Farmer co-
not like that! He is smart, sarcastic, mocking; he is an amateur
hyperbole, he is a mystifier, a creator of riddles and secrets, and even in the most
In his weak works, he will not insult you with a clumsy phrase.
Farmer is “The Hidden Feast”, “Rise from the Ashes”, “Dark Behind-
thoughts", "Interstellar Sin", "World of Days"; and we will try to
this list quickly included a worthy translation of the legend about
Multi-tieredWorld.
In conclusion, a few words about publishers - those with whom
translators should be friends.
Fortunately, both myself and my colleagues parted ways pretty quickly
with those employers who promise a lot but don’t pay
almost nothing. No matter how high the fees have been in recent years
or not so much, publishing houses "Speaks", "VIS", "Leila", "Deimos",
"Troll", "Iuventa" paid them promptly and honestly, without humiliating
neither us nor our work. I am not a supporter of the thesis “money has no smell.”
They even smell great! They give off the bitterness of deception when received after
repeated humiliating requests! With those I listed above,
There were no such problems and it was a pleasure to work with them.
Among them - however, with big reservations - I would include
"North-West". I have an ambivalent attitude towards this major...
to the science fiction publishing house. As a reader, I am very grateful to him,
since two "Northwestern" series, fantasy and science fiction,
tics, gave us, the fans, a lot of good books (although there were failures).
One can only regret that the selection of works was somewhat
chaotic character, and that such excellent translators as
I. Togoeva ("A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula Le Guin) and V. Lapitsky
("Prince of Light" by Roger Zelazny) soloed in "North-West" then-
just once.
As a translator, I made four books for North-West -
Lanier "Jero's Journey", McCaffrey "Wanderingsdragon" and "Flight
Dragon", Lord "The Adventures of Richard Blade" (the last two are in
co-authored with Yu. Barabash and V. Ivanov), after which in the summer of 1992
year I parted ways with this publishing house. I am not a translator
"North-West", as a reader from Smolensk thought, but completely
I have no objection to my name working to honor and prosperity
publishing house, to which I, after all, owe a lot.
I was repeatedly asked about the reasons for the discrepancy with Sever-
ro-Zapad". The point is not only that this is a publishing house, offering
relatively modest fees, often delaying their payment; with
you inevitably resign yourself to this. A more significant point is
position of the editorial management, which could be formulated
put it this way: St. Petersburg is a big city of hungry intellectuals
there are a lot of people in it, so there are no irreplaceable people. I'm only passing on my own
subjective feelings and in no way insist on their complete
according to reality; however, they arose for me. Posko-
I'm close to the exact opposite principle - every intelligent
and a hard-working person is irreplaceable in his place - then I, unfortunately,
was forced to part with North-West.
And one more thing: unlike “Yuventa” and “Troll”, “North-West”
didn't want to publish Philip Farmer! A mortal sin I suppose
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