from The Teacher of Symmetry Cycle
Фотография Пушкин (1799–2099)
Fotografiya Pushkin (1799–2099)
English release: Pushkin’s Photograph (1799–2099)
Literal: Pushkin’s photograph (1799–2099)
In 1985, an author has visions of a time traveler named Igor from 2099. The traveler is
being sent by his comrades in the domed city of St. Petersburg back to the 19th century,
where he is tasked with capturing images and audio of motherland’s supreme father of
poetry,
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin.
Note: A dissertation
by [ex=bare]Гулиус Наталья Сергеевна | Gulius Natalya
Sergeevna[/ex] notes that this story is part of Bitov’s Teacher of
Symmetry Cycle, which consisted of a series of avant-garde stories purportedly
written by an obscure Englishman named [ex=bare]Э. Тайрд-Боффин | A.
Tired-Boffin[/ex] and loosely translated to Russian by Bitov. The English version of
“Fotografiya Pushkin (1799–2099)” was said to have been called “Shakespeare’s
Photograph” (or possibly “Stern’s Laughter” or “Swift’s Pill”), and
presumably it was about Shakespeare rather than Pushkin.
Sergeevna explains that all
this artistic mystification was part of an extensive footnote to “Fotografiya Pushkin
(1799–2099),” but up in the ITTDB Citadel, we’ve yet to track down the footnote.
Perhaps it was part of the 1987 publication in [ex=bare]Знамя ||
Znamia[/ex], or maybe it did not appear until the story was published along with
the rest of the cycle in Bitov’s 1988 collection, [ex=bare]Человек в пейзаже
| Man in the landscape | Chelovek v peyzazhe[/ex]. It is not listed in the
table of contents of [ex=bare]Преподаватель
симметрии ] | | Prepodavatelʹ simmetrii[/ex](2008), which was
translated to English as Symmetry Teacher (2014).
— Michael Main
. . . мы сможем в будущем, и не таком,
господа-товарищи, далеком, заснять всю жизнь
Пушкина скрытой камерой, записать его гол
. . . представляете, какое это будет
счастье, когда каждый школьник сможет услышать,
как Пушкин читает собственные стихи!
. . . we will be able in the future, and,
gentlemen-comrades, not such a distant one, to photograph Pushkin’s entire life
with a hidden camera, record his voice . . .
imagine how wonderful it will be when every schoolboy will be able to hear Pushkin
read his own poetry!
English