TRANSLATION INTERPRETATION OF HAMLET’S MONOLOGUE “TO BE OR NOT TO BE” IN THE CONTEXT OF THE LITERARY PRINCIPLES OF V.V. NABOKOV AND B.L. PASTERNAK

Abstract

Vladimir Nabokov’s translation of Hamlet’s soliloquy is compared to the original text and Boris Pasternak’s version. The translators had different views on the theory of translation which manifests through different approaches taken by Nabokov and Pasternak when they were translating Shakespeare’s conceptual metaphors. Nabokov’s aspiration for literal translation is put in contrast with «intentional freedom» of Pasternak’s «Hamlet». It is noted that Nabokov’s translation is much closer to the English text in terms of semantic content but nonetheless lacks idiomatic «naturalness» of Pasternak’s translation.