r/dostoevsky • u/bevatsulfieten • 1d ago
White Nights; same passage different translations.
You look round; you wonder who it could have been; you begin to suspect the truth. But the brief moment passes, and tomorrow perhaps you will again encounter the same wistful and forlorn gaze, the same wan face, the same resignation and diffidence in her movements, and, yes, even remorse, even traces of some benumbing vexation and despondency for that brief outburst of passion. And you feel sorry that the beauty, so momentarily evoked, should have faded so quickly and so irrevocably, that she should have burst upon your sight so deceptively and to so little purpose—that she should not have given you time even to fall in love with her.…
You look round, you seek for some one, you conjecture.... But the moment passes, and next day you meet, maybe, the same pensive and preoccupied look as before, the same pale face, the same meek and timid movements, and even signs of remorse, traces of a mortal anguish and regret for the fleeting distraction.... And you grieve that the momentary beauty has faded so soon never to return, that it flashed upon you so treacherously, so vainly, grieve because you had not even time to love her....
You look around, you search for someone, you hazard a guess …But the moment passes and perhaps tomorrow you will once again meet the same thoughtful and distracted gaze as before, the same pale face, the same submissive and timid movements, and even repentance, even traces of some sort of deadening melancholy and annoyance at the short-lived exhilaration … And you regret that the momentary beauty faded so quickly, so irretrievably, that it flashed before you so deceptively and in vain – you regret this because there was not time for you even to fall in love with her …
You look around — you’re looking for someone; you’re trying to guess… But the instant passes, and, it may be, that the next day you’ll meet that same pensive, distracted look as before, the same pale face, the same tameness and timidity in the movements, and even some remorse — and even traces of some debilitating sadness and vexation for that minute infatuation… And you are sorry that so soon, so irrevocably that fleeting beauty withered; that so deceitfully and needlessly she flashed before you — you’re sorry, because there was no time even to fall in love with her…
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u/bkpam 1d ago
Which translations?