Abstract
It is widely known that Vladimir Nabokov’s “literal” translation of Eugene Onegin sparked a
heated controversy between the translator and Edmund Wilson. In this translation, Nabokov
abolished rhyme and added over a thousand pages of commentary. Yet the iconoclastic
translation seems to have been misunderstood. This paper outlines the influence of Nabokov’s
controversial translation by comparing it with rhymed translations of the poem and by proposing
a rereading of Nabokov’s essay “Problems of Translation,” reprinted in Venuti’s Translation
Studies Reader. Even though his “literal” translation has no successors, the translation’s influence
on the rhymed translations of Onegin has been so profound that those who regard its extreme
“literalism” as a failure still had no choice but to consult Nabokov’s version. Paradoxically, such
critiques have kept Nabokov’s translation and translation theory alive even now, 35 years after
his death.
