Alexander Pushkin 's biographer. Henri Troyat ,- wrote:
'Translation of Pushkin is treason.' But a number of people have tried, notably Vladimir Nabokov , who produced an unrhymed English version of the Russian writer s poetic novel.
Then, a few months ago, a new, privately printed translation appeared, written in the same iambic tetrameters as Pushkin's original, and it was enthusiastically acclaimed by virtually all its reviewers.
It was by a retired diplomat, Sir Charles Johnston. who discusses the difficulties of his task and the ways in which he tried to resolve them
The illustrations from Pushkin's original are read by GEORGE VASILCHIKOV