The Discourse of Igor’’s Campaign. Una versione inedita di Vladimir Nabokov dello Slovo o polku Igoreve

The article analyzes a hitherto unpublished English version of Slovo o polku Igoreve (The Discourse of Igor’’s Campaign) by Vladimir Nabokov. A copy of this early translation is preserved in the private archive of the renowned Harvard Slavist and comparatist Renato Poggioli (1907-1963), a friend and correspondent of the Russian writer. Through a comparison with Nabokov’s subsequently published ver¬sion (The Song of Igor’s Campaign, New York 1960), the early translation is analyzed from a literary perspective. The examination primarily focuses on the evol¬ut¬ion of the writer’s choices across the different phases of the work’s devel¬op¬ment. Finally, the study explores the possibility of a mutual influence between Nabokov’s translation and Poggioli’s own version, which appeared around the same time (Cantare della gesta di Igor, Turin 1954). The complete edition of the analyzed text follows the study.