[Don Jones]

Nabokov’s poem To My Youth, originally in Russian, was translated twice by the writer himself. It is a wonderful poem.

Also, there is a recording of Nabokov reciting his first translation of the poem into English, followed by his recitation of the original Russian. Quite stunning.

Those with access to Russian, whose poetry when recited always makes that language to my ear sound more gorgeous than any other, can determine how well Nabokov translated his poem and pick up on nuances necessarily lost in translation.

Both translations and recording of recitation are offered here.

Enjoy,

Don