Language and identity - the Russian face of Nabokov: the writer translating himself

• Grant number: 07/06922-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2008
• End date: February 28, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature
• Principal Investigator: Elena Vássina
• Grantee: Graziela Schneider Urso
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Although Nabokov is usually best remembered as the North-American author of "Lolita", his Russian origins are rarely mentioned. Brazilian readers and literary critics never think of linking Nabokov with Russian literature, even though he was first known as a Russian writer, for over two decades, and even though he identified himself as such, as well as being a translator, self-translator, teacher and theoretician. This Project is the first one to offer a direct translation from Russian into Portuguese, as well as a critical study, of "Spring in Fialta" (1956), a remarkable collection of short stories from Nabokov's Russian period, considered a masterpiece, never yet published in Brazil. The critical edition will help underline the important links between Nabokov and the Russian literary tradition, especially with Tolstoy, Tchekhov, Pushkin and Gogol. It will also describe in detail Nabokov's poetics and stylistic peculiarities, as well as the linguistic process at work in the short stories. This Project aims at studying Nabokov's translation process, raising issues linked with the changes in his literary landscape and language, and studying the relation between writing, translation, as well as cultural and artistic identity. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

URSO, Graziela Schneider. Nabokov\'s russian face: poetics and translation. 2010. Master's Dissertation - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD) São Paulo.