Can I say “yuck!”?

So we have a manuscript in unknown language, but possibly Russian, first published as an English Translation, then published in Russian translated from the English translation, then published in English translated from the Russian translation of the first English translation.

                                                                                Steve McDonald

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From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Yang Wang
Sent: Thursday, April 4, 2019 2:32 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PCCLIST] Unknown preferred title?

Thanks for pointing it out, Anne!

The first LC record has “[Translation from the original Russian by Natalia Heseltine.]” So I thought, if it was a literal translation of the original Russian title, the second LC record might have given us a hint as to whether it could be  original Russian title.

I suspect that these might be two different expressions of the same work.

Yang

From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Anna Slawek
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2019 2:14 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PCCLIST] Unknown preferred title?

I believe that the Russian at https://lccn.loc.gov/200937564 is actually translated from an English original.  I sent this message to Yang directly in error instead of here.

cheers,

Anna Slawek

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Date sent:                  Thu, 4 Apr 2019 16:39:18 +0000

Send reply to:             Program for Cooperative Cataloging <[log in to unmask]>

From:                         Yang Wang <[log in to unmask]>

Subject:                     Re: [PCCLIST] Unknown preferred title?

To:                            <[log in to unmask]>

Stephanie,

Unless she wrote 2 autobiographies, there seems to be an another translation of her autobiography by a different translator and published in a different year (https://lccn.loc.gov/73010564 ) . It was translated from the Russian original. Here’s the Russian original: https://lccn.loc.gov/2009375648 .

It’s worth investigating.

Yang

From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Stephanie Fell
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2019 10:54 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [PCCLIST] Unknown preferred title?

I have a question about what to do when a preferred title is unknown/undiscoverable. The specific example I have is a translation of a work into English but the title in the original language is not given on the piece. I have done research looking for the original language, but have not found anything.

The book I’m cataloging is: Life in two worlds / Marevna Vorobev ; translated by Benet Nash.  Vorobev was Russian but also lived for years in France (as well as England), so the original language was her manuscript could potentially have been in Russian or French.

The preface states: “The manuscript which my old friend Marevna forwarded to me proved to be memoirs of her long life …”

I’m wondering if it’s necessary to establish a provisional authorized access point for: Life in two worlds. $l English

Or whether it’s reasonable to consider the preferred title to be the English language title and establish the AAP as such?

Thank you in advance,

Stephanie

Stephanie Fell

Rare Materials Project Cataloger

David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Duke University

919.660.0919

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https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/

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