纳博科夫的英文究竟是不是只有二流?

Jacob(The joy of art has no limit.)
2018-12-19 14:39:23

纳博科夫的英文

纳博科夫从俄语转为英语, a marvelous move comparable to the metamorphosis of a butterfly which became his lifelong obsession.

Nabokov delighted in disturbing nature and astonishing people. Butterflies in America would have led a more peaceful life had he stayed in Russia; they were dismayed by the October Revolution which forced him to leave his native country. On the other hand, people had no better luck than butterflies, as they were often upset by his absurd beliefs or outrageous statements. 举一个例子, 纳博科夫认为他自己的英文只能算是二流("a second-rate brand of English")。这是他的原话(in his article "On a Book Entitled 'Lolita'"):

"My private tragedy, which cannot, and indeed should not, be anybody's concern, is that I had to abandon my natural idiom, my untrammeled, rich, and infinitely docile Russian tongue for a second-rate brand of English, devoid of any of those apparatuses - the baffling mirror, the black velvet backdrop, the implied associations and traditions - which the native illusionist, frac-tails flying, can magically use to transcend the heritage in his own way."

上面这个长句是否可以证明纳博科夫英文只能算是二流?

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Jacob (The joy of art has no limit.) 楼主 2018-12-19 14:43:48

请大家看看纳博科夫的英文究竟是不是二流。

The following passage is selected from "Signs and Symbols," one of Nabokov's best short stories in my opinion.

"This, and much more, she accepted—for after all living did mean accepting the loss of one joy after another, not even joys in her case—mere possibilities of improvement. She thought of the endless waves of pain that for some reason or other she and her husband had to endure; of the invisible giants hurting her boy in some unimaginable fashion; of the incalculable amount of tenderness contained in the world; of the fate of this tenderness, which is either crushed, or wasted, or transformed into madness; of neglected children humming to themselves in unswept corners; of beautiful weeds that cannot hide from the farmer and helplessly have to watch the shadow of his simian stoop leave mangled flowers in its wake, as the monstrous darkness approaches."

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容予 2020-05-21 17:26:15

不是。其实英文可以算他的半母语，他会英文甚至比俄文还早，他英文水准直追福克纳奥尼尔。

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容予 2020-09-02 17:10:21

回头看这个帖子，纳博科夫说他英文二流可能是在跟顶尖的比，那还是有差距的，毕竟有个莎士比亚在那，乔伊斯的英文也好的不得了。

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Jacob (The joy of art has no limit.) 楼主 2020-10-06 14:43:10

回头看这个帖子，纳博科夫说他英文二流可能是在跟顶尖的比，那还是有差距的，毕竟有个莎士比亚在回头看这个帖子，纳博科夫说他英文二流可能是在跟顶尖的比，那还是有差距的，毕竟有个莎士比亚在那，乔伊斯的英文也好的不得了。 ... 容予

Hi, thank you for your response! The late Fudan English professor 陆谷孙 thought highly of Nabokov's English. 请看一位理科生的回忆:

我和复旦大学陆谷孙教授的电邮交往
http://www.yantan.us/bbs/forum-7-1.html

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章鱼风 2020-12-31 20:35:02

或者他根本就是在打趣，猛吹俄语之美，后面紧接着一串散文一样的连珠，都是在说英语哪里没有俄语好

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核桃很睿智 (Weltschmerz...) 2022-10-23 09:47:21 美国

他英语好到我读Lolita的时候，觉得他就是在炫技在秀他对英语的拿捏。句式变换各种各样，造了不少新词～

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为钱做e (添加签名档) 2022-12-19 12:07:02 湖南

纳博科夫的第一语言是英语

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豆友250331341 2023-01-10 22:55:29 安徽

[内容不可见]

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Clinamen 2023-06-09 00:01:14 北京

他的英语写作相当成熟，只不过不是美国式成熟

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黑罗 2026-04-17 01:35:58 加拿大

回头看这个帖子，纳博科夫说他英文二流可能是在跟顶尖的比，那还是有差距的，毕竟有个莎士比亚在回头看这个帖子，纳博科夫说他英文二流可能是在跟顶尖的比，那还是有差距的，毕竟有个莎士比亚在那，乔伊斯的英文也好的不得了。 ... 容予

这是体面人的自谦啦。同行们都对纳博科夫的英语赞不绝口，还有啥可说的？😎

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