by Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818 - 1883)
Translation by Constance Clara Garnett (1861 - 1946)
Довольный человек
Language: Russian (Русский)
По улице столицы мчится вприпрыжку молодой ещё человек. Его движенья веселы, бойки; глаза сияют, ухмыляются губы, приятно алеет умилённое лицо… Он весь — довольство и радость. Что с ним случилось? Досталось ли ему наследство? Повысили ли его чином? Спешит ли он на любовное свиданье? Или просто он хорошо позавтракал, и чувство здоровья, чувство сытой силы взыграло во всех его членах? Уж не возложили ли на его шею твой красивый осьмиугольный крест, о польский король Станислав! Нет. Он сочинил клевету на знакомого, распространил её тщательно, услышал её, эту самую клевету, из уст другого знакомого — и сам ей поверил. О, как доволен, как даже добр в эту минуту этот милый, многообещающий молодой человек!
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Note on TransliterationsText Authorship:
- by Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818 - 1883), "Довольный человек", written 1878, appears in Стихотворения в прозе (Stikhotvorenija v proze) [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Alexander Nikolayevich Tcherepnin (1899 - 1977), "Довольный человек", published 1918 [ bass and piano ], also set in German and English [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Constance Clara Garnett) , "A contented man", appears in Dream Tales and Prose Poems, first published 1897
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-04-12
Line count: 17
Word count: 112
A contented man
Language: English after the Russian (Русский)
A young man goes skipping and bounding along a street in the capital. His movements are gay and alert; there is a sparkle in his eyes, a smirk on his lips, a pleasing flush on his beaming face.... He is all contentment and delight. What has happened to him? Has he come in for a legacy? Has he been promoted? Is he hastening to meet his beloved? Or is it simply he has had a good breakfast, and the sense of health, the sense of well-fed prosperity, is at work in all his limbs? Surely they have not put on his neck thy lovely, eight-pointed cross, O Polish king, Stanislas? No. He has hatched a scandal against a friend, has sedulously sown it abroad, has heard it, this same slander, from the lips of another friend, and -- has himself believed it! Oh, how contented! how kind indeed at this minute is this amiable, promising young man!
Text Authorship:
- by Constance Clara Garnett (1861 - 1946), "A contented man", appears in Dream Tales and Prose Poems, first published 1897 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Russian (Русский) by Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818 - 1883), "Довольный человек", written 1878, appears in Стихотворения в прозе (Stikhotvorenija v proze)
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-04-12
Line count: 17
Word count: 152