Talk:What's to be done? A romance/I

Here is a comparison of the first paragraph of the novel, in Russian, the Dole translation, the Tucker translation, and finally the French translation by "A.T." The translations are given in reverse chronological order. Words bracketed by asterisks have been moved from the positions marked by single asterisks on a line above. Parts where the Tucker and the French are particularly close are marked in bold.


I Дурак
I. A FOOL.
An Imbecile.
Un Imbécile.


Поутру 11 июля 1856 года
On the morning of the 23d of July, 1856,
On the morning of the eleventh of July, 1856,
Le matin du 11 juillet 1853,

прислуга одной из больших петербургских гостиниц
the servants of one of the largest hotels of Petersburg,
the attachés of one of the principal hotels in St. Petersburg,
le personnel de l'un des grands hôtels pétersbourgeois,

у станции московской железной дороги
near the Moscow railroad station,
situated near the Moscow railway station,
situé près de la gare du chemin de fer de Moscou

была в недоумении,
were in perplexity,
became greatly perplexed
se trouvait vivement perplexe

отчасти даже в тревоге.
and even partly in fear.
and even somewhat alarmed.
et même un peu alarmé.

Накануне, в 9-м часу вечера,
On the previous evening, about nine o'clock,
The night before, after eight o'clock,
La veille, après 8 heures du soir,

приехал господин с чемоданом, занял нумер,
a gentleman arrived with a valise, took a room,
a traveller had arrived, carrying a valise,
était arrivé un voyageur, muni d'une valise,

отдал для прописки свой паспорт,
gave his passport to be registered,
who, after having given up his passport that it might be taken to the police to be viséed,
qui, après avoir remis son passeport pour qu'on allât le faire viser à la police,

спросил себе чаю и котлетку,
asked for tea and a small cutlet,
had ordered a cutlet and some tea,
s'était fait servir une côtelette, du thé

сказал, чтоб его не тревожили вечером,
gave orders that they should not disturb him during the evening,
and then, *, had asked that he might be disturbed no further,
et, * avait demandé, qu'on ne le dérangeât plus

потому что он устал и хочет спать,
because he was tired and wanted to sleep,
*pleading fatigue and need of sleep as a pretext*
*prétextant la fatigue et le besoin de dormir*

но чтобы завтра непременно разбудили в 8 часов,
but that they should wake him without fail at eight o'clock in the morning,
notifying them at the same time to awaken him without fail at exactly eight o'clock in the morning,
et recommandé qu'on le réveillât sans faute, le lendemain, à huit heures précises,

потому что у него есть спешные дела,
because he had important business.
as he had pressing business.
parce qu'il avait des affaires pressantes.

запер дверь нумера
Then he locked the door;
[New paragraph] As soon as he was alone, he had locked his door.
[New paragraph] Dès qu'il avait été seul, il avait fermé la porte à clé.

и, пошумев ножом и вилкою,
and, after rattling his knife and fork,
For a while was heard the noise of the knife, fork,
On avait entendu d'abord le bruit causé par le fonctionnement du couteau, de la fourchette

пошумев чайным прибором,
and jingling the tea-things for a time,
and tea-service;
et du service à thé;

скоро притих, —
nothing more was heard of him.
then all became silent again:
puis tout était rentré dans le silence:

видно, заснул.
He was apparently asleep.
the man doubtless had gone to sleep.
l'homme s'était sans doute endormi.