Worlding Sei Shônagon: The Pillow Book in Translation

E. M. Kolpakchi (1935) Russian

E. M. Kolpakchi In “Zapisok u izgolovya” (pp. 179–198) Literatura Kitaia i Iaponii. Vostok, sbornik 1. Ed. N. I. Konrad Moscow: Academia, 1935 Evgeniia Maksimovna Kolpakchi (1902–1952) belonged to the academic circle within Russia that between the wars aimed to produce translations directly from the Japanese rather than through an intermediary language. This important anthology contains translations from Chinese and Japanese into Russian by various authors and translators. Kolpakchi’s selection from Sei Shônagon comprises eleven passages, preceded by a five-page introduction to the author and her work. Russia had long had an interest in Japan, but the 1904– 1905 Russo-Japanese war was likely the cause of the great upsurge in scholarly activity and publications witnessed in the early twentieth century. A incredibly detailed 1958 overview by Robert I. Crane, which explains how Japanese and other Asian languages and literatures were studied in the Soviet Union in the decades that followed, notes that Sei Shonagon ’s masterpiece was part of the typical reading assigned in the third year of a five-year degree. He has high praise for E. M. Kolpakchi (1935) 112 N. I. Konrad, the editor of this volume, as a renowned researcher in the literature of both China and Japan, and characterizes Konrad’s former student Kolpakchi as primarily a linguistic historian who specialized in Japanese. Because Russian grammar avoids the use of the copula “to be” in the present tense, the ellipsis of the original text can be reproduced with relative ease. However, Kolpakchi nonetheless does qualify the spring dawn as beautiful and, like other translators such as Purcell and Aston, she also normalizes the counting of the crows. In a 1977 article on Soviet translations of pre-modern Japanese literature, E. Pinous rightly praises “Kolpakchi’s talent in conveying the elegance and charm, the subtle irony and wit of Sei Shônagon” (239). Russian 113 Из «Записок У Изголовя» Весной самое красивое—заря. Как красивы тонкие лиловеющие тучки, тянущиеся по небу в тот час, когда все яснее и яснее выступают по- степенно белеющие края гор. Летом—прекрасна ночь. О том, как красива она лунной порою,—об этом и так всякий знает. Но даже и безлунная ночь прекрасна с ее порхающими повсюду светлячками. Прекрасна даже тогда, когда идет дождь. Осеню—красивы сумерки. Когда яркое сияние вечернево солнца приближа- ется к гребням гор, вороны по две, по три, по четыре устремляются к своим гнездам, и даже в их полете тогда есть какая-то особая прелесть. Еще красивее длинная вереница диких гусей, которые кажутся совершенно маленькими. Заходит солнце, и такой грустной прелестью исполнены шум ветра и трескотня жучков. Зимой прекрасно раннее утро. А красота падающего снега прямо неописуема. И как хорошо, —когда лежит белый-пребелый иней, или просто так—очень холодно, разжечь поскорей огонь и никуда не выходить без маленькой жаровни. Днем становится теплее, и неприятно, что огонь жаровни или очага затягивается белым пеплом. (I) (p. 186) E. M. Kolpakchi (1935) 114 From “The Pillow Book” In spring, sunrise is the most beautiful. How beautiful are the thin purpling clouds stretching across the sky at the hour when the whitening edges of the hills gradually begin to stand out more clearly. In summer, the night is lovely. How lovely it is when the moon is out—everyone knows about that. But even moonless nights are lovely with the fire-flies flitting everywhere. They are lovely even when it rains. In autumn, dusk is beautiful. When the bright rays of the evening sun approach the ridges of the hills, crows fly by twos, threes or fours towards their nests, and even their flight holds some special delight then. Even more beautiful is the long string of wild geese, which seem to be very small. The sun sets, and the sound of the wind and the chirring of beetles are filled with such melancholy beauty. In winter, the early morning is wonderful. The beauty of the falling snow is quite indescribable. And how good it is, when there is white frost everywhere, or just when it is very cold, to light a fire and not to go anywhere without a little brazier. During the day it warms up a little, and it is unpleasant when the fire in the stove or brazier is covered over with white ashes. (I) [K. D.] ...