Nabokov’s Poetry in the Mirror of Self-Translation

What is it about?

This chapter contains concluding remarks on Nabokov’s self-translations across fiction and poetry, arguing he adapts his method to context rather than applying a single rule: using Bakhtin’s concept of objectification, it shows that when the speaker is maximally distant from the author (Humbert Humbert in Lolita), poems are translated as character artifacts, keeping a flawed, idiosyncratic voice over ‘beautiful’ versification; when the speaker is closer (Fyodor Godunov-Cherdyntsev in The Gift), the translation can become autonomous poetry that blends author and character; and in Poems and Problems, where Nabokov translates his own poems, the distance collapses and the task becomes re-creation aimed at form, rhythm, and precision.

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Photo by Fleur on Unsplash

Photo by Fleur on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This chapter reframes Nabokov’s self-translation as a deliberate, variable practice rather than a rigid literalist technique, as it often thought of. By linking translation choices to the author–character “distance” (via Bakhtin), it explains why the same writer can preserve a distorted fictional voice in one case and pursue fully autonomous poetry in another. Including Poems and Problems also shows what changes when the distance collapses, clarifying how self-translation becomes a form of rewriting and a tool for reading Nabokov’s aesthetics across genres.

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