Ольга Морисовна

今夜、「オリガ・モリソヴナの反語法」（米原万里）を読了した。どこまでが真実に基づいているのか、もちろん不明だが、チェコスロバキアやロシアでの実体験なしに書ける話ではなく、万里さんにとってプラハのソビエト学校での経験がどれほど強烈だったのかをあらためて感じさせた。また、「Sophie’s Choice」を思い出したりもした。以下は本題に大きく関係しないが、「あっ」と思った個所。

「…今は少女時代に親しんだロシア語を生かして翻訳者をしている。翻訳家ではない。文芸書を訳すような文才はないし、研究書を訳すほどの学識素養もない。それに、どちらも収入には結びつかないどころか持ち出しになる。…商社がロシア向けに売り込む機械の説明書や、契約書の翻訳が主な仕事だ」（48ページ）

プロレス技とレスラー名、それから来日したアメリカの野球チームと選手の名前以外に少年時代に外国語に親しんだ覚えはないが、翻訳家ではなく翻訳者というのも仕事の内容も、日頃考えていることとピッタリではないか。

「亜紀バレエ団で、藻刈富代が凡庸な才能とバレエには全く不向きな股関節の持ち主であるにも拘わらずプリンシパルの座を射止めたのは、藻刈の父親が団長の亜紀雅美に都内一等地のリハーサルスタジオをプレゼントした見返りだというのは、すでに日本バレエ界の常識になっていた」（147-148ページ）

誰のこと？あまりに実在する団体と人名に近い。

「…とにかく、台帳がないものだから、パスポート（日本のように外国へ渡航する際だけでなく常時身分証明書として携帯している）を持って行きさえすれば、台帳を新たに作ってもらえた」（468ページ）

数年前に見たロシア映画（Прогулка）でも国内を移動するのにパスポートを携帯していることを確認する場面があった。

From Leo Tolstoy to Yonehara Mari

This late afternoon at the Coffee Bean outlet of T.B. Plaza, I finished reading The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories. I can’t say I was able to understand the works on soldiers’ life well enough as probably happens with many Japanese people of the post-war generation and started 「オリガ・モリソヴナの反語法」 by Yonehara Mari  right there.  I should thank an engineer with whom I have worked with for six weeks for rekindling my interest in things Russian though he himself is not Russian but from Belarus.

Though for so long my Russian has been stuck on the level of “спасибо,” “пожалуйста,” and “хорошо,” it was “очень хорошо” to work with him, who also enjoyed his initiation to Japanese chicken “шашлык.” He even tried and liked raw chicken liver!

Comfort Taxi Drivers Make Me Feel Terribly Uncomfortable

Some work at MBS today. I decided to go to the Promenade MRT station by taxi to go home by MRT from there as it should be convenient.

The first “Comfort” driver didn’t know where the station is and couldn’t pronounce “promenade.” “Near where?” said he, passing his road map to ask me to find the station. I refused to take the map.  I asked if he is Singaporean, and he said, “From Malaysia. I’m new.” I don’t care. After a few meters, I got out of the taxi, saying, “I’ll report you to your company.” Shaking my head, I returned to the taxi stand.

Because there was a long line of taxies, I had no problem finding another one. My second one, “Comfort” again, had no idea about “Promenade MRT” either. He also couldn’t pronounce the word. I told him to go to the nearest MRT station.” He suggested City Hall, which I believe is not the nearest. He insisted on making City Hall my destination and then I said, “You are not the one who decides. I decide.” I really didn’t understand what this Singaporean guy was saying in English (was it English?) to explain why he didn’t know the place.  When I found an MRT station sign, I asked him to stop. He said it was not possible and drove on. After about half a minute, I had to ask, “Where are you going?” He only mumbled and perhaps after another half a minute he stopped at an MRT station, which without his knowledge was Promenade. As I was getting out, I said to him, "I'll report you to your company."

*

I finished a second reading of The Painted Veil I don’t remember when and I got and started Collected Short Stories Volume 3 of Maugham right away. This also done, I’m now reading The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy.

*

Newt Gingrich: "Remember there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman empire… I think that we've had an invented Palestinian people who are in fact Arabs and who were historically part of the Arab community. And they had a chance to go many places, and for a variety of political reasons we have sustained this war against Israel now since the 1940s, and it's tragic… Somebody ought to have the courage to tell the truth. These people are terrorists."