D.H. Lawerence and Russian

[imatitle]

I have no means of getting any biography of D.H. Lawrence, and I am interested in knowing how and when he learned Russian.
I have tried the internet and I was unable to find anything there, save some snipped clips.
If anyone has a biography of him, could you please quote any passages about how and when he learned Russian.
I also read that he translated some of Shestov's works, if you know Russian and have read the original, how do you find his translation?

[Logos]

Uni of Nottingham has an extensive collection of D. H. L.'s works, papers, and biography

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/mss/coll...ll/index.phtml

--

[Virgil]

Originally Posted by imatitle

I have no means of getting any biography of D.H. Lawrence, and I am interested in knowing how and when he learned Russian.
I have tried the internet and I was unable to find anything there, save some snipped clips.
If anyone has a biography of him, could you please quote any passages about how and when he learned Russian.
I also read that he translated some of Shestov's works, if you know Russian and have read the original, how do you find his translation?

Imatitle, I did my master's thesis on D.H. lawrence and while I'm aware of his translating a few works from Russian, I can't quite say how and when he learned it. I don't recall it ever being mentioned in a biography. I know he was friends with a Russian expatriate named S.S. Koteliansky, and together I believed translated two works from Russian, one of them being the Shestov that you mention. I wonder if the working relationship between the two was Kot translated from Russian and Lawrence wording it into the best English. Of course that's just specualtion on my part. Lawrence also had translated several works from Italian and he did this by himself. I know he knew Italian well, he having lived in Italy for a good number of years, and you will also find Italian phrases in his personal works. But I cannot remember any Russian phrases in any of his personal works. If I had to guess I would say Lawrence's Russian was very limited.

Here's a site on Koteliansky: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._S._Koteliansky. It might help. May I ask what's your interest in Lawrence's Russian translations?

[imatitle]

Logos, Virgil thank you both for your quick response and help.

Logos, the Arabic proverb in your signature reads in the original "Daa al-kafilta taseer wal kilaba tanbah" if you are interested.

This is what I found on the Nottingham University site

"while at the end of July he would meet for the first time the Russian translator S. S. Koteliansky (1882-1955), who remained his friend all his life."

"S.S. ('Kot') Koteliansky (1880-1955) Born in the Ukraine, Samuel Solomonovich Koteliansky moved to England in 1911 and remained there for the rest of his life. He translated many Russian works and collaborated on these translations with various English authors, including D.H. Lawrence. His collection of letters from D.H. Lawrence, in the British Museum, numbers 346 and is the largest collection of Lawrence's letters to a single recipient to be preserved."

If only so much is found in a biography then Virgi's speculation that Lawrence's knowledge of Russian was poor and that his "Translation" was more of a paraphrases of Koteliansky's seems plausible - but this remains a speculation and I want to be certain.

Virgil, sometime ago I read a translation of "The Merchant of Venice" into Arabic by Khalil Mutran that made me change my perspective of the limits of translation; here was a translation that neglected nothing of the original and was able to transmit it faithfully, the sense of loss that I spoke of in my thread on translation, was at its minimum. I want to see how Lawrence dealt with these limits, and what his method of translation is.
I have just been reading Shestov's All Things are Possible and if it is indeed Lawrence's translation, it is a remarkable prospect.

Have you read any of the Italian books Lawrence had translated in the original? If so, what do you think of his translation? Is it faithful? Is it awkward?

[Virgil]

Originally Posted by imatitle

Have you read any of the Italian books Lawrence had translated in the original? If so, what do you think of his translation? Is it faithful? Is it awkward?

That was interesting information imatitle. Thank you. I'm always trying to expand my knowledge of Lawrence. So I see I was right that Lawrence's Russian was poor. Probably self taught. I have not read any of Lawrence's translations. My knowledge of other languages is poor, but I can read a little Italian. Unfortunately I would not be skilled enough to rate the translation. But Lawrence's Italian was good. I wish you luck in your endeavors and if you find any more information on Lawrence I would be interested if you could post it. Thanks.

[Logos]

Originally Posted by imatitle

.... Logos, the Arabic proverb in your signature reads in the original "Daa al-kafilta taseer wal kilaba tanbah" if you are interested. ....

Ahh that is great! thank you so much for letting me know this, I will add it to my sig