"The Avenger" by Anton Chekhov (OT)

O

Oleg Volk

Staff Alumnus
This is my first experiment in translating from Russian into English. Since the story is set at a gun store, I hope it isn't too far off-topic... http://dd-b.net/olegv/avenger.html
(This is one of the first stories by Chekhov that I read...ended up getting a complete set of his books.) Advice on grammar appreciated, I have had no time to refine the translation.

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Oleg "peacemonger" Volk

http://dd-b.net/RKBA
 
Oleg - I don't speak or read Russian, so I am hardly in a position to speak with authority on matters of translation.

That being said, I only have a couple of suggestions:

"I would recommend, Monsieur, to take this splendid revolver. A Smith & Wesson system, the last development in the science of firearms.
Triple action, with an extractor, range of six hundred paces, centerfire.

I don't know what a "triple" action revolver is and maybe ejector rather than extractor?

All right, kill him, she stays alive, I wait with suicide and get arrested.

"Wait with suicide" doesn't translate well and is confusing given the context of the sentence.

I've read translations of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy and the odd cadence present in the dialogue in those works is also present in your Chekhov translation.

That's a compliment. :)

Don't know if this helps, but there you go.

Cliff
 
Triple action=double action is technical English.
Extractor is, in fact, the ejector...except that "extractia" was a contemporary Russian term meaning "ejection". :)
 
The "triple-action" is an error in translation, probably by Checkov when going from English to ?Russian originally. It should be "Triple-lock", as in S&W .44 Hand Ejector First Model Revolver, nicknamed the Triple Lock because the cylinder lock into position in 3 places instead of the normal two. See Flayderman's Guide, 7th editon, pg. 202.


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Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club
68-70
 
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