Владимир Набоков - Комментарии к «Евгению Онегину» Александра Пушкина

   But she, not noticing her sister,
   lies with a book in bed,
   page after page
 4 keeps turning over, and says nothing.
   Although that book displayed
   neither the sweet inventions of a poet,
   nor sapient truths, nor pictures,
 8 yet neither Virgil, nor Racine, nor Scott, nor Byron,
   nor Seneca, nor even
   the Magazine of Ladies' Fashions
   ever engrossed anybody so much:
12 it was, friends, Martin Zadeck,33
   head of Chaldean sages,
   divinistre, interpreter of dreams.

   This profound work
   a roving trader had one day
   peddled into their solitude,
 4 and for Tatiana finally
   with a broken set of Malvina
   had ceded for three rubles fifty,
   moreover taking for them a collection
 8 of vulgar fables,
   a grammar,
   two “Petriads,” plus Marmontel, tome three.
   Later with Tanya Martin Zadeck
12 became a favorite. He gives her joyance
   in all her sorrows and beside her,
   never absenting himself, sleeps.

   The dream disturbs her.
   Not knowing what to make of it,
   the import of the dread chimera
 4 Tatiana wishes to discover.
   Tatiana finds in the brief index,
   in alphabetic order,
   the words: bear, blizzard, bridge,
 8 dark, fir, fir forest, hedgehog, raven, storm,
   and so forth. Martin Zadeck
   will not resolve her doubts,
   but the ominous dream portends
12 to her a lot of sad adventures.
   For several days thereafter she
   kept worrying about it.

   But lo, with crimson hand34
   Aurora from the morning dales
   leads forth, with the sun, after her
 4 the merry name-day festival.
   Since morn Dame Larin's house is full
   of guests; in entire families
   the neighbors have converged, in sledded coaches,
 8 kibitkas, britskas, sleighs.
   There's in the vestibule jostling, commotion;
   there's in the drawing room the meeting of new people,
   the bark of pugs, girls' smacking kisses,
12 noise, laughter, a crush at the threshold,
   the bows, the scraping of the guests,
   wet nurses' shouts, and children's cry.

   With his well-nourished spouse
   there came fat Pustyakóv;
   Gvozdín, an admirable landlord,
 4 owner of destitute muzhiks;
   a gray-haired couple, the Skotínins,
   with children of all ages, counting
   from thirty years to two;
 8 the district fopling, Petushkóv;
   Buyánov, my first cousin,
   covered with fluff, in a peaked cap35
   (as he, of course, is known to you);
12 and the retired counselor Flyánov,
   a heavy scandalmonger, an old rogue,
   glutton, bribetaker, and buffoon.

   With the family of Panfíl Harlikóv
   there also came Monsieur Triquét,
   a wit, late from Tambóv,
 4 bespectacled and russet-wigged.
   As a true Frenchman, in his pocket
   Triquet has brought a stanza for Tatiana
   fitting an air to children known:
 8 “Réveillez-vous, belle endormie.”
   Among an almanac's decrepit songs
   this stanza had been printed;
   Triquet — resourceful poet —
12 out of the dust brought it to light
   and boldly in the place of “belle Niná”
   put “belle Tatianá.”

   And now from the near borough,
   the idol of ripe misses,
   the joy of district mothers,
 4 a Company Commander has arrived;
   he enters.... Ah, news — and what news!
   there will be regimental music:
   “the Colonel's sending it himself.”
 8 What fun! There is to be a ball!
   The young things skip beforehand.36
   But dinner's served. In pairs,
   they go to table, arm in arm.
12 The misses cluster near Tatiana,
   the men are opposite; and the crowd buzzes
   as all, crossing themselves, sit down to table.

   Talks for a moment have subsided;
   mouths chew. On all sides plates
   and covers clatter, and the jingle
 4 of rummers sounds.
   But soon the guests raise by degrees
   a general hullabaloo.
   None listens; they shout, laugh,
 8 dispute, and squeal. All of a sudden —
   the door leaves are flung open: Lenski
   comes in, and with him [comes] Onegin. “Oh, my Maker!”
   cries out the lady of the house. “At last!”
12 The guests make room, each moves aside
   covers, chairs quick;
   they call, they seat the pair of friends

   —  seat them directly facing Tanya,
   and paler than the morning moon,
   and more tremulous than the hunted doe,
 4 her darkening eyes
   she does not raise. In her stormily pulses
   a passionate glow; she suffocates, feels faint;
   the two friends' greetings
 8 she hears not; the tears from her eyes
   are on the point of trickling; the poor thing
   is on the point of swooning;
   but will and reason's power
12 prevailed. A word or two
   she uttered through her teeth in a low voice
   and managed to remain at table.

   Tragiconervous scenes,
   the fainting fits of maidens, tears,
   long since Eugene could not abide:
 4 enough of them he had endured.
   Finding himself at a huge feast,
   the odd chap was already cross. But noting
   the languid maid's tremulous impulse,
 8 out of vexation lowering his gaze,
   he went into a huff and, fuming,
   swore he would madden Lenski,
   and thoroughly, in fact, avenge himself.
12 Now, in advance exulting,
   he inwardly began to sketch
   caricatures of all the guests.

   Of course, not only Eugene might have seen
   Tanya's confusion; but the target
   of looks and comments at the time
 4 was a rich pie
   (unfortunately, oversalted);
   and here, in bottle sealed with pitch,
   between the meat course and the blancmangér,
 8 Tsimlyanski wine is brought already,
   followed by an array of narrow, long
   wineglasses, similar to your waist,
   Zizí, crystal of my soul, object
12 of my innocent verse,
   love's luring vial, you, of whom
   drunken I used to be!

   Ridding itself of its damp cork,
   the bottle pops; the wine
   fizzes; and now with solemn mien,
 4 long tortured by his stanza,
   Triquet stands up; before him the assembly
   maintains deep silence.
   Tatiana's scarce alive; Triquet,
 8 addressing her, a slip of paper in his hand,
   proceeds to sing, off key. Claps, acclamations,
   salute him. She
   must drop the bard a curtsy;
12 whereat the poet, modest although great,
   is first to drink her health
   and hands to her the stanza.

   Now greetings come, congratulations;
   Tatiana thanks them all.
   Then, when the turn of Eugene
 4 arrived, the maiden's languid air,
   her discomposure, lassitude,
   engendered pity in his soul:
   he bowed to her in silence,
 8 but somehow the look of his eyes
   was wondrous tender. Whether
   because he verily was touched
   or he, coquetting, jested,
12 whether unwillfully or by free will,
   but tenderness this look expressed:
   it revived Tanya's heart.