(no subject)

[oppressed-yoda.livejournal.com]

I was reading a story today by Isaac Babel, "My First Goose", and was wondering if any of you knew where I could find the story in its original russian. There's this one sentence that sounds so weird in english and I was hoping to find it and get a better meaning straight from the source. Any help would be much appreciated!


EDIT: Thanks to all of you for your help finding the story. See, I'm a super novice at Russian, but my Fiction Portfolio teacher and I can't stand this one part in the story (English one) when the Landlady says something like, "I want to go and hang myself." In context it sounds rather dull and unclimactic, and I know it has to mean so much more and probably got translated flatly. So that's what I'm really looking to get at, if you wouldn't mind helping me a wee bit further.

Старуха подняла на меня разлившиеся белки полуослепших глаз и опустила их снова. 
— Товарищ, — сказала она, помолчав, — от этих дел я желаю повеситься. 
— Господа бога душу мать, — пробормотал я тогда с досадой, и толкнул старуху кулаком в грудь, — толковать тут мне с вами... 
И, отвернувшись, я увидел чужую саблю, валявшуюся неподалеку. Строгий гусь шатался по двору и безмятежно чистил перья. Я догнал его и пригнул к земле, гусиная голова треснула под моим сапогом, треснула и потекла. Белая шея была разостлана в навозе, и крылья заходили над убитой птицей. 
— Господа бога душу мать! — сказал я, копаясь в гусе саблей. — Изжарь мне его, хозяйка. 
Старуха, блестя слепотой и очками, подняла птицу, завернула ее в передник и потащила к кухне. 
— Товарищ, — сказала она, помолчав, — я желаю повеситься, — и закрыла за собой дверь. 
А на дворе казаки сидели уже вокруг своего котелка. Они сидели недвижимо, прямые, как жрецы, и не смотрели на гуся. 
— Парень нам подходящий, — сказал обо мне один из них, мигнул и зачерпнул ложкой щи.

 

Thanks again! You guys are great.

Comments

[knavish-tabby.livejournal.com]

http://militera.lib.ru/prose/russian/babel/08.html

МОЙ ПЕРВЫЙ ГУСЬ

[orphanka.livejournal.com]

http://www.lib.ru/PROZA/BABEL/konarmia.txt

[cooleach.livejournal.com]

"My First Goose" is a single chapter from the novel "Red Cavalry" (Конармия)
You can find the full text here http://www.lib.ru/PROZA/BABEL/konarmia.txt

[russian-bob.livejournal.com]

That is a chapter from the book "Конармия" ("Horsearmy")

http://www.lib.ru/PROZA/BABEL/konarmia.txt
to find chapter do search for "гусь".

[nadyezhda.livejournal.com]

This is such a sad/sweet story. I hope you find a copy in Russian!

[bellvampress.livejournal.com]

Ahh. Isaac Babel. <3

[oppressed-yoda.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much!

[nastya-23.livejournal.com]

It's rather interesting. Could you give us this translated sentence?

[khathi.livejournal.com]

I couldn't remember or find any Babel's story of that name, so could you give this sentence, preferably in context? Because there's one fine moment -- Babel isn't really Russian writer, he's classical Jewish author, he just was writing in Russian, not Yiddish. Some of his sentences are really direct calques from Yiddish, and thus sounds really awkward in Russian.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Horsearmy.... He-he -- nice name for the Cavalry Army! :)

[sylviabarrett.livejournal.com]

Well, it depends what you mean by saying that somebody is Russian, American, Jewish or English author. I believe, Babel is a Russian writer. Just look at his language games! He handles the language perfectly. His calques from Yiddish is a part of his game. It doesn't mean he doesn't know the language well enough.

[khathi.livejournal.com]

Obviously not. It just explains the reported peculiarities in his writings.

[sylviabarrett.livejournal.com]

Oh! Then I agree with you.

[russian-bob.livejournal.com]

I thought first to translate it as "Cavalry" but Russian word "Кавалерия" is not the same as weired word "Конармия". So, to keep it's revolutionary-red flavor I also used weired word "Horse-army".

[oryx_and_crake]

Well, that's exactly what the old woman says: "I want to go and hang myself." It does not sound flat for me, not at all. Would you ever say that you want to hang yourself? I hope not, and no one would say that unless he is driven to the edge of despair. At least that's what I feel when I read the story. Imagine that anyone can come into your house, day or night, and beat you, rape you, take anything you own or even your life and the life of your most beloved people. And this situation lasts for years. No one will come to protect you. It is useless to plead because no one will listen. It is useless to appeal to the law because there is no law. In this situation, if somebody takes something from you, you probably will not weep dramatically, wring your hands and call the heaven's wrath upon the heads of people who did an injustice to you - partly because it is useless and worse than useless, it can be dangerous because someone who cracked your goose's head can crack yours as easily. Partly because in this kind of situation you can either lose your mind (literally) or become kind of numb. That's possibly what happened to the old woman. And one does not need flowery phrases with lots of epithets to describe her despair and numbness.
Also think about the protagonist of the story. It is not a nice adventure to him, and the killing of a goose is not exactly stealing apples from the neigbour's orchard. He learns to kill so he is not killed. This old woman could be his grandmother, but he struck her and violated her property - possibly the last thing of value that she owned, and this might mean death of starvation to her. No, the story is not "flat" at all, and every word is meaningful.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Horse-Army sounds like an army that consists entirely of horses, doesn't it? ;-)

[russian-bob.livejournal.com]

Yep, sounds stupid. :)
My daughter is native English speaker, she suggested "Horse-back Army" as closest analog to "Конная Армия".

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Yeah, "horseback" makes some sense :)