Itt-ott, 1969. november - 1970. szeptember (3. évfolyam, 1-10. szám)
1970-07-01 / 8-9. szám
I HOZZÁSZÓLÁSOK HOZZÁSZÓLÁSOK HOZZÁSZÓLÁSOK r Á. MÁKKÁX’S REVIEW OF A. NYERGES'S ADY TRANSLATIONS Editor, ITT-OTT: I should like to make a few comments on Ádám Makkai's review of A. Nyerges's translation of Ady poems which appeared in your April issue. While Mr. Nyerges's book is no doubt a commendable contribution toward a knowledge of Ady as a great poet, Mr. Makkai' s review bears little resemblance to commendable criticism, but is better termed a kind of glorification. Judging from the few examples which Mr. Makkai indicated, Mr. Nyerges's translations span in scope from erratically outstanding "imitations" (in the style of Ezra Pound and Robert Lowell) to wincingly inaccurate distortions. William Arrowsmith, in his work on translation, put it succinctly: "Translation is the skill of honorable deception, which is why it is not a mug's game." The question I put to you, gentlemen, is this: has Mr. Nyerges without a doubt retained his honor consistently throughout? An exegesis of the evidence in "Fekete zongora" clearly indicates that he has not. A literal (non-poetic?) rendering immediately discloses the unhappy camp quality of Nyerges's "transimitation." Idiotic instrument: it cries, neighs and drones^(throbs). Let him flee (it), whoever hasn't (a sense of) wine, This is the black piano. Its blind master rends it apart, strins away, This is the melody of life, This is the black piano. And for this we have: "The screwy strings--they whinny, whine and croon. Be off unless you have a fifth." (See p. 27, April issue). The sexual connotations are patently overplayed. Ady would smirk in his grave at the superimposition of a "tickler" in that verse. Here even Mr. Makkai's explanation for the flagrant variation cannot convince any reasonable reader that the translator has not usurped the author and set up his own shop in the shambles. Admittedly, "The ghost got into Paris yesterday" attains a significantly higher level. It is a fine and fully flowing translation. The other example, "Lezörögsz-e, mint rég hervadt virág," precisely indicates this erratic quality, the basis of my objection, in one short poem. In the English version, the level of the language style in portions of the poem distorts that of the Hungarian. "Rég hervadt virág" is not the stylized, literary and hardly ever spoken "dessicated," but rather more like spoken English usage, "long ago whithered away" or "wilted." And again, who todaywould naturally used "flounced" in spoken English? The word which might more readily come to the tongue in a descriptive passage is "scurries." Finally, unless you work in a steel factory, is "dross" a commonly used term in American English? (Come now!) Waste, filth or scum—perhaps. But the mere selection of words 28
