“Time and again, I have gone to bed early.”
October 14, 2015 1:03 PM Subscribe
I Have Gone to Bed Early: Translating Proust by Dan Piepenbring [The Paris Review]
Richard Howard, who turns eighty-six today, first appeared in The Paris Review in our thirteenth issue—from the summer of 1956. Since then, several of his poems and translations have found their way to these pages, and in 2004, J. D. McClatchy interviewed him for our Art of Poetry series. In our Summer 1989 issue, George Plimpton spoke with Howard about translating Proust.
“Ford Madox Ford said he would have liked to do it. He felt it was something he could have done. But as for the last volume, the actual translation … well, that’s complicated. Scott Moncrieff had died after completing the first six parts, and the seventh, Le Temps Retrouvé, was translated by Stephen Hudson (Sidney Schiff) in England, and by Frederick Blossom in America. Then this last part was translated anew by Andreas Mayor, and that’s the one in print now. It was so good that there were plans to commission Mayor to do all the preceding parts, but then he died too. Even Terence Kilmartin, who revised the Scott Moncrieff version, developed a brain tumor (which he has survived). Of course I took all this into consideration when I began the translation—I started with the last volume first. I thought that might just save me. Though the Mayor version is tough competition. I think it’s the only part of the book where my version may not show up as better. With the other volumes, I have some reason to hope that my work will hold up very well.”
Nothing about Lydia Davis?
The interview is from 1989, and Lydia Davis's translation was 14 years in the future at that point.
posted by Johnny Assay at 1:18 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
The interview is from 1989, and Lydia Davis's translation was 14 years in the future at that point.
posted by Johnny Assay at 1:18 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
RGD, speaking of Lydia Davis, she also did a wonderful translation of Madame Bovary.
posted by Fizz at 1:19 PM on October 14, 2015
posted by Fizz at 1:19 PM on October 14, 2015
The interview is from 1989, and Lydia Davis's translation was 14 years in the future at that point.
Ah! Thanks for pointing that out. Also going to check out that Madame Bovary translation.
posted by RGD at 1:21 PM on October 14, 2015
Ah! Thanks for pointing that out. Also going to check out that Madame Bovary translation.
posted by RGD at 1:21 PM on October 14, 2015
Maybe this belongs in the Paranoid Thread, but Swann's Way is right here by my chair, with that very opening sentence.
posted by Oyéah at 2:33 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Oyéah at 2:33 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
I too have gone to bed early...usually from too much to drink
posted by Postroad at 3:33 PM on October 14, 2015
posted by Postroad at 3:33 PM on October 14, 2015
“Time and again, I have gone to bed early.”
One more thing I have in common with Proust! (Also, my bedchamber is lined with cork.)
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:52 PM on October 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
One more thing I have in common with Proust! (Also, my bedchamber is lined with cork.)
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:52 PM on October 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
“Time and again, I have gone to bed early.”
Why not translate it as "I have gone to bed at a good hour" or "the right hour"? Or would that be inconsistent with the narrator's sense for it? Seems like the more literal translation in this case might also help with characterization, getting the virtuous connotations of the original phrasing in there, if that's a choice that would be more consistent with the truth as the narrator understands it. If I knew French more comfortably, I might have argued over that bit.
posted by saulgoodman at 4:21 PM on October 14, 2015
Why not translate it as "I have gone to bed at a good hour" or "the right hour"? Or would that be inconsistent with the narrator's sense for it? Seems like the more literal translation in this case might also help with characterization, getting the virtuous connotations of the original phrasing in there, if that's a choice that would be more consistent with the truth as the narrator understands it. If I knew French more comfortably, I might have argued over that bit.
posted by saulgoodman at 4:21 PM on October 14, 2015
> Why not translate it as "I have gone to bed at a good hour" or "the right hour"?
Because that's not what it means. That would be like translating "I ate a hot dog" as "j'ai mangé un chien chaud."
posted by languagehat at 5:30 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
Because that's not what it means. That would be like translating "I ate a hot dog" as "j'ai mangé un chien chaud."
posted by languagehat at 5:30 PM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
"For a long time I used to go to bed early" seems like the clear winner to me. I'm glad that's the version I read. It's just good, straightforward English. "Time was, when..." is simply awful to my ears. Similarly, "time and again" is overdoing it.
(Also, saulgoodman: I don't speak much French, but I doubt that "de bonne heure" means "at a good hour" any more than "bon marché" means "well marketed" or whatever. All three of these translators wouldn't have gotten that wrong. [Looks like languagehat just made the same observation...])
posted by uosuaq at 5:34 PM on October 14, 2015
(Also, saulgoodman: I don't speak much French, but I doubt that "de bonne heure" means "at a good hour" any more than "bon marché" means "well marketed" or whatever. All three of these translators wouldn't have gotten that wrong. [Looks like languagehat just made the same observation...])
posted by uosuaq at 5:34 PM on October 14, 2015
I like Proust & I'm excited to read this. I started with Lydia Davis's Swann's Way and now I'm nearly done with Recherché Deux: Swann's Revenge. I can't believe I let his rep psych me out for long — I feel like we really get each other.
posted by dame at 6:41 PM on October 14, 2015
posted by dame at 6:41 PM on October 14, 2015
From the article:
"And I had a letter from one woman, a doctor, who admitted that she had never read Proust but who insisted she could tell from the French title that I didn’t understand the book’s subject. She had not read the book, but she knew … I think that once you propose a problem or a puzzle, there are always people who want to solve it their way, and who feel you have not examined certain concepts … I must say I have given the matter a good deal of thought."
posted by Wolof at 11:10 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
"And I had a letter from one woman, a doctor, who admitted that she had never read Proust but who insisted she could tell from the French title that I didn’t understand the book’s subject. She had not read the book, but she knew … I think that once you propose a problem or a puzzle, there are always people who want to solve it their way, and who feel you have not examined certain concepts … I must say I have given the matter a good deal of thought."
posted by Wolof at 11:10 PM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
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What about Lydia Davis: "For a long time, I went to bed early."
posted by RGD at 1:14 PM on October 14, 2015