On line Interview
August 2001 by Internrt Observer
Conversation with the well-known translator about his work on translation and his views on his life in the world of poetry
Internet Observer: Your translations are to be found on
some sites in the Internet so that people from all over the world have access
to your works. How does it feel to be famous or, should I say, known to world
public?
Alec Vagapov: Well, I feel flattered. Besides, it's nice
to know that you don't work for nothing, that is what you do is not wasted. It
hasn't brought me a penny so far, yet I am content, and I cherish hope that
some day my creative work will be appreciated and estimated at its true value
by connoisseurs of poetry and public at large.
Internet Observer: Do you think your translations are well read?
Alec Vagapov: Well, I hope so, though you never can tell
for sure unless you set up a forum or place a counter on your site, do some
advertising and that stuff. Your question reminds of my son's remark who told
me the other day that what I was doing was monkey business because "nobody
is interested in poetry in this world of commerce we are living in". He
maybe right to some extent for poetry is not as popular nowadays as it was in
the 60-ties when it was booming, and poets were as popular as film stars or
hockey players. Some older people will remember, poetry performances would
gather dozens of thousands of people on squares and in stadiums where poetry
lovers would come to listen to poets such as Yevtushenko,
Voznesensky and others who recited their poems and
did it so well. It really felt like listening to nice music. Poetry was
thriving, and the galaxy of wonderful poets was widening like never before.
It's different today. There are no new names, not even in the world of pop and
rock where lyric does not matter. However, there are people in any country,
which have interest in poetry and know Yevtushenko
and Voznesensky and would like to read them. I
translate Russian poets of the 60-ties for poetry lovers all over the world.
Internet Observer :Are
Russian poets really well known in the world?
Alec Vagapov: Yes, some of our poets are really world
famous. Everybody heard of Pushkin of course, and
many people outside
Internet Observer: What do you think of Yevgeny Yevtushenko?
Alec Vagapov:I think he is great. He is undoubtedly among the greatest poets of the 20th century, along with Mayakovsky, Blok and Yesenin. I like his early works, poems he wrote in late fifties and the sixties, though some of his later pieces are just as good. I am not particularly interested in what he thinks and says about presidents and regimes. I think that sometimes he kills his poetry by writing "political" poems.
Internet Observer: AndreyVoznesensky was
also known for his political intransigence but his poetry is far from being
political, don't you think?
Alec Vagapov: Voznesensky is very
special. He was, and still is, I suppose, better known as a public figure
rather than a poet. Not that he writes political poems but because politicians
of all sorts use his name as a symbol of freedom or whatever. The same goes for
other poets of the 60-ties such as Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Bulat Okudjava, Bella Akhmadulina and
others. Andrey Voznesensky
is better known in the West because at one time he
had the audacity to have his say straight in Khrushchev's face. Critics and
newspaper reporters focus their attention on what he does and says, what places he visits and what people he meets with
and very rarely on what his poems are about. There are pictures of Vosnesensky shaking hands with outstanding public figures
such as Pope Paul, Senator Robert Kennedy and John Kennedy's widow Jacqueline,
and thats what they think makes one a famous poet.
To
me he is only a poet, and anything else is of no importance. He has worked out his own style, his own way
of expression. Some people may think him to be too self-assertive and
presumptuous, even blatant, writing in 'but me no buts manner. But thats the
way he is. A brilliant elocutionist, he is particularly good at reading his own
poems in public. You should have seen him do it on stage in a stadium, or
elsewhere before a huge audience, back in mid sixties when he was at the height
of his fame. It was like John Lennon shouting out his Instant Karma lyrics,
with tremendous power and feeling: "Well, we all shine on like the
moon and the stars and the sun...", or Elvis Presley screaming "Jail
House Rock".
YevgenyYevtushenko, Bella Akhmadulina and some other poets of the sixties were also
good at reciting their poems. One may call Andrey Voznesensky a freedom fighter but look,
he has lived in "free society" for over 10 years now and hasn't
written anything worth mentioning. The best of his poems were written back in
the 60-ties when he was not "free". The same goes for Yevgeny Yevtushenko and the rest
of those "freedom fighters". Where are their great masterpieces that
should have been written under the condition of freedom? There arent any.
Internet Observer: Andrey Voznesensky's poems must be hard to translate considering his
special manner of writing
Alec Vagapov: Translating poetry is hard anyway.
Sometimes it takes a week or two to find a suitable word or phrase for you are
bound to the rhyme and the rhythmical pattern of the verse. Filatovs
"Soldier Fedot" was the hardest to
translate because of the peculiar style of the language, the pronunciation of
words appropriate to the language of uneducated people. I could have rendered
the phonetic peculiarities of the original by using cockney but then the
translation would have lost the Russian flavour. So I used standard
English and left it to the readers to use whatever style of pronunciation they
may want to choose.
As
for Voznesensky he is not an exception. He is just as
hard to translate as any other poet. I had difficulties in translating his RU
poem, and the problem was different from the one I faced when translating Filatovs fairy tale. I found it hard to render the effects
of the play of words, which the whole poem is based on. He uses words
containing the ru and net syllables, which mean
something to the Russian ear. We know what they stand for whereas the English
reader needs explanation, which you cannot render in your literary translation
and have to do it in footnotes, something I have done to make things intelligible.
Internet Observer: Bulat Okudjava and Vladimir Vysotsky didn't read their poems, they sang them. Were
they, in fact, poets or singers, do you think?
Alec Vagapov: They are poets in the first place though
some may think them to be singers, or bards, that compose and recite poems,
while playing the guitar. I dont want to compare but Bob Dylan does the same
thing and to most people he is a singer, of course (folk, rock, pop or country-
whatever you call it). To me he is primarily a poet, a satirical writer that
has something to say and speaks out, playing the guitar and singing. Likewise,
I think Bulat Okudzhava and
Vladimir Vysotsky are poets because their performance
does not conform to my understanding of what the art of singing is all about.
Listen to the Beatles and you will see what I mean. It all depends on how you
look upon it because, after all, they do both write poetry and sing and may be
rightfully considered to be both poets and singers.
Internet Observer: You have
translated only a small fraction of what the poets have written. What are the
criteria of selecting a poem for translation?
Alec Vagapov: I think
its only natural that I should translate poems that appeal to me. Sometimes I
choose a poem, which, I think, is representative of a particular poet. Say,
poems like the City Romance or Saying Good-bye to the Mountains couldnt
have been written by anybody but Vladimir Vysotsky.
Or the The Antiworlds is definitely Vosnesenskys piece of work.
Internet Observer:You translate poets of the 60-ties. I presume, they have
something in common, but each of them must have some peculiarities, something
distinct from others such as the choice of words, the metrical foot, the
rhythmical structure of a line, something that makes up the authenticity of
their poetical expression, style and all that. Did you notice those peculiar
features while translating?
Alec Vagapov: Yes, you are right when you say that they
have some common features. The techniques of writing poetry are not unlimited,
after all. Sometimes it is impossible to say who the author of a particular
poem is. I will give you two poems to read, one by Byron and one by Shelly, and
you wont say who is who because it is impossible to judge a poet by reading
just one poem. But there are ways and means of making your poetry unique
and original, and only gifted and talented poets
manage to do it.
Generalisation
is a precarious thing, but I will run the risk of describing Okudhava as a lyrical poet with his city life romance, Vysotsky as a satirical poet with an amazing ability to use
humour, irony, sarcasm, ridicule, and the like, in exposing, denouncing, or
deriding vice, folly, etc., and Voznesensky as an experimentalist always searching
for new forms of expression.
Internet Observer: How did
you come to translating poetry? Do you remember how it all started?
Alec Vagapov: It all
started with my discovery of Vladimir Mayakosky at
the age of 16 when I caught sight of a collection of his poems at the city
library. I started reading it and could not stop. It was non-stop reading for
days on end. And that was the beginning of my love of poetry. I started reading
and rereading everything I could get hold of, from Pushkin
to Yesenin and contemporary poets of which there were
many.
At
school we learnt poems by Russian classics such Pushkin,
Lermontov, Tutchev and Fet but it was not I until
I took interest in Mayakovskys literary work that I
really became a poetry lover.
Internet Observer: Did you
try to write your own rhymes?
Alec Vagapov: Yes I did. At school I wrote satirical and
humorous poems for the wall newspaper and even tried to have my great
masterpieces published but the editors refused to accept them because of
obvious imitation of Mayakovsky and lack of
individual way of expression. And then again when I was a student I started
translating English poetry into Russian, without obvious success. I think the
reason for the failure was the unhappy choice of poems for translation. I
translated poems that were available at the Library of Foreign Literature in
Internet Observer: How did you come to write for the Internet?
Alec Vagapov: Somebody told me about the electronic magazine called Speaking In Tongues. Guided by the Voices, and I wrote to the editor (Max Nemtsov -a beautiful fellow from Vladovostok) asking if I could have my translations placed in his magazine, and he answered in the affirmative. And that was the beginning of my "literary career". I have my own site now.
Internet Observer: What about your rights? Have you had them reserved?
Alec Vagapov: No, I havent. I am afraid it involves a
great deal of red tape, and I dont know how to get all the formalities done.
So I decided to let things slide, whatever happens. Incidentally, my
translation of Filatovs fairy tale was used by
film producer Ovcharov who won first prize at the
Berlin International Film Festival in 1992 for the film based on my
translation... My name was not mentioned anywhere to say nothing of some fee I
was entitled to as the translator. Some people say I should have known better
when placing my translations in the Internet for what happened should have
naturally been expected. But I let it pass. I am not going to sue anybody. May
God judge them and bless them.
Internet Observer: What are
your plans for the future? Are you going to continue your creative work?
Alec Vagapov: No, not until I find something interesting
to translate. Something to my liking or something I think has to be translated.
Internet Observer: Thank you most sincerely for the interview.
It was nice talking to you.
Alec Vagapov: Thank you
Alec
Vagapovs literary sites:
http://www.foto.lib.ru/w/wagapow_a/
http://vagalecs.narod.ru/