The Role and Place of Metatext in Vladimir Nabokov’s Translations and Self-Translations

The article considers the role and place of metatext in translations and self-translations by Vladimir Nabokov. Although the functions of metatexts have been the focus of a large number of linguistic studies, they have not been thoroughly analysed yet in the context of translation. The purpose of our study was to investigate the types and functions of metatext as a result of a translator’s metacommunication. We analysed the translator’s forewords and commentaries in Vladimir Nabokov’s translation of Alexander Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin and compared Nabokov’s approach to those of eleven other translators of the novel. We also analysed the self-translations of Vladimir Nabokov’s memoirs Drugie Berega (Other Shores), Conclusive Evidence, and Speak, Memory. Using continuous sampling and comparative analysis methods, we selected and systematised 665 text fragments, which were then subjected to discourse analysis. According to Nabokov’s idea of faithful translation, the translator’s task consists in rendering the meaning of the original text as closely as possible and facilitation of its comprehension by the target text recipients. The study demonstrated that to bridge the linguocultural gap between the author of the source text and the recipients of the target text, Nabokov considered it necessary to provide the readers with metatext as an explicit way of guiding the recipients through the text. The metatext in Vladimir Nabokov’s translation of Eugene Onegin stands out due to its scrutiny and an in-depth analysis of the structure of the original text and its cultural and historical context, which, in turn, served as a basis for making brilliant (although sometimes disputable) translation decisions. Metatextual inclusions observed in Nabokov’s self-translated autobiography and, in particular, the way they are changing from version to version convincingly illustrate his ability to tell his life story to different generations of English- and Russian-speaking communities.