The soul is what keeps asking us whether the soul really exists. This is one of the many witty, wise, and many times ironic quotes of Brazilian poet, jornalist and translator Mario Quintana. I met him when I was in College. He was already very sick, but was very kind to have the visit of a group of young adults passionate about his work. I thought I´d translate some other ones to share:
- The secret is not to run after the butterflies...It is to look after your garden, so they´ll come to you;
- Lavoisier´s reflection after he found out they had stolen his wallet: nothing is lost, everything changes ownership;
- It really does not matter to know if we believe in God: the important is to know whether God believes in us; -If someone asks you what you meant with a poem, ask him what God meant with this world;
-Time is eternity´s insomnia;
-The alarm clock is a traffic accident in our sleep;
- The art of being good : Be good./But to your heart/Discretion and caution provide./The one who covers himself with honey,/will end up being licked by bears.
- The worst about our problems is that no one else has anything to do with them;
- What really concerns me when I look at the apes is not that we came from them: it is that we might be turning into them again;
- To dream is to wake up inside ourselves;
-A good poem is the one that reads us;
-The most ferocius of animals is the clock on the wall. It has devoured three generations of my family already.
23 comments:
Lu, these quotes are great reminders about living life and feeling it in our hearts and feeling God within us. At this moment, this one speaks to me most: "To dream is to wake up inside ourselves." Also when I look into Mario Quintana's eyes, I see the eyes of a wise and gentle turtle whom has roamed the earth for a long time.
Rebb :)
Turtle, yes, I see that. He has the wit of Oscar Wilde but a mystical depth.
Thanks for the good selection and translation. Can one say that, without knowing the source text? I think so. I've struggled with several awkward translations lately - e.g. from French intellectuals: Albert Camus, Georges Bataille, Simone Weil.
Luciana, I love all the quotes.
I have to take care of my garden, not go after butterflies. And about the stolen wallet, it happened to my old neighbor long time ago when I was a student. The neighbor was standing on the sidewalk with an astonished look. Someone stole his brown bag and ran away. I thought his wallet was stolen. He said his bible was the only item in the bag. He said, "The guy needed it more than I do." I'm not a Christian, but we had a big laugh about it. He had a sense of humor. But it's true.
Rebb and Vincent,
A turtle! Now I see that, too. You know those people who have a smile hidden in the corner of their mouths? Quintana was like that. I remember vividly the day we met him.
Glad you liked the translation, Vincent. Poetry is not very easy to translate. You have to be able to capture the spirit of the poem and then express it in another language. I have translated many texts professionally, but I´m always reluctant to do that with poetry, although I do it for pleasure in my blog.
Camus is a hard one to translate... to capture the atmosphere he creates is a really complex task. In what sense you think those translations are awkward?
Dear Keiko,
I love your former neighbor´s sense of humor! That´s the spirit!
The texts I was referring to were not fiction but philosophical stuff. In the case of Camus, it was "The Myth of Sisyphus". I'm not quite sure if it is the translation that's at fault, or the difference between English and European notions of philosophy. I could if I were not so lazy obtain the originals in French, thus being able to determine whether it is the mindset or the translation which caused me the problems!
Luciana, wow, translate Camus?! I'm impressed.
Vincent, Hello. I'm interested to know your opinion about the difference in philosophy or traslation or whatever you feel about Camus's writing.
This is great!
Also, have you seen the Italian film "The Stranger"? I saw it long ago before 1970, and at the time, I thought the movie was as great as the book. Usually I'm disappointed with films if their original books are great. I'm curious of everyone's opinion about it.
I never saw the film, Keiko, though I read L'Etranger as one of my set books at university (modern languages: French & Italian).
I shall attempt to explain my difficulty with The Myth of Sisyphus. But first I would have to illustrate what I mean, quoting from an English translation in my possession, versus my own translation, which would require access to the original French text, which I don't have. But I'll see what can be done.
Dear Keiko, I haven´t translated Camus. There are plenty of translations in Portuguese already. I was just expressing an opinion on how hard I imagine it´d be to do that.
Vincent, if you ever get a chance (and time) to elaborate on that comparison, I´d like to read that as well. As with Keiko, you left me curious here. :-)
OK, I just a had a little go. It was very illuminating to try! I've taken an extract from the original French, followed by two translations: that of Justin O'Brien for Penguin Books, and then my own.
Camus:
Tout au bout de ce long effort mesuré par l'espace sans ciel et le temps sans profondeur, le but est atteint. Sisyphe regarde alors la pierre dévaler en quelques instants vers ce monde inférieur d'où il faudra la remonter vers les sommets. Il redescend dans la plaine.
Justin O’Brien:
At the very end of his long effort measured by skyless space and time without depth, the purpose is achieved. Then Sisyphus watches the stone rush down in a few moments towards that lower world whence he will have to push it up again towards the summit. He goes back down to the plain.
Vincent Mulder:
Finally, when all his effort comes to an end—a long heavy effort measured in distance, without comfort of the sky; and a long heavy effort measured in time, without comfort of a destination—he gets to the top. But then in a space of moments, Sisyphus sees the stone roll headlong back down again, towards that lower world; from where he will have to push it back up, all the way. So back he goes, down to the plain at the bottom.
Notes:
I had wished to find a more philosophical passage in the original French, but this piece will have to do, and needs no apology because it’s an excerpt from the myth itself, illustrating his central theme.
O’Brien has done a literal word-for-word translation but the English reader (this one at any rate) finds the resultant text too sparse, too lacking in poetry and rhythm to have a flow and impact that yields up the meaning without effort. It comes out as abrupt, clumsy and bare of any idiomatic friendliness to the reader.
In trying to use more expressive English I’ve fallen back on certain rhetorical tricks, bringing out the contrasts, embroidering the bareness, almost the barren foreignness of the original expression, by employing a kind of Shakespearean fullness and rhythm, or perhaps the cadences of the Bible—the King James Version. (I believe this more imaginative translation will make it more comprehensible to native English speakers as well as those who have learned English later.) In the process I had to ask myself what Camus means by certain expressions which come across abruptly in English, without cultural referents: space without sky, time without depth. I ask myself what Camus wants to say about how Sisyphus feels.
To have space without sky is to lack a certain comfort. In French ciel means heaven as well as sky. But it doesn’t make literal sense to talk of space without heaven.
To have time without depth doesn’t make clear sense in English. I was tempted to say “time without resonance of memory” but that wouldn’t be right. Sisyphus is all too aware that he’s rolled the stone up the hill many times before. The point is that he knows that he’s not getting to any destination this way.
A purist would doubtless argue that philosophy must be translated literally, as O'Brien has done (whether or not he understands the nuances of Camus' elegant French).
But I see philosophy, especially in Georges Bataille, Albert Camus and Simone Weil, as more akin to poetry, for in it the writer shares his or her deepest heart.
Vincent you´re right. O´Brien´s doesn´t allow you to get in. It is as if you tried but words start being thrown at you. You sure gave it the rhythm and the cadence it needed to welcome a reader.
I feel like that about philosophy, religion and poetry, too. A siren´s song, words that lead you to death and rebirth.
Hi Luciana, Vincent, and Keiko, Fascinating discussion. Vincent, I have now read this passage over so many times, and I see what all of you mean about literal translation word for word and missing some elements. I don't feel like "comfort" is the right word in this context. That's just my humble intuitive opinion. I read through the myth to refresh myself of it overall from his small book, and I also read Camus' short preface where he tells us what he was trying to convey. And after reading that, and reading over your wonderful translation and O'Brien's, I feel like I'm having one of those reoccurring A-ha moments, with the reminder of the constant question and search for meaning and of non-meaning and becoming aware of it and falling in and out of awareness. It truly is absurd--that large space of unknowingness without shape or time when one tosses aside the things that define us. Thanks for making me think about this. This myth has taken on all whole new meaning for me.
Rebb, you are right. Comfort is not right. How about "benefit"?---without benefit of sky or destination
Benefit sounds better.(note from a non-native speaker of English :-)
My intuition is telling me that with this particular line, a literal translation fits: “space without sky and time without depth.” Since my sense is (and again this comes from my gut) that when you read this line, it really stops you and makes you think and I feel that’s what Camus was trying to do with this line—with the whole essay. It’s so short, yet it is packed with so much.
Thank you all for a great discussion. It really gives me a new appreciation for the translation work you do, Luciana. I see how challenging it can be and the different elements that need to be considered. It makes me want to learn more languages!
Vincent,
Thank you for your thorough response. It must have been very hard to describe the subtle French-to-English translation problems. A while ago, I was reading Becket and wondered what kind of problems and benefits he encountered while writing in both languages. I searched for his comments about comparing languages, but I didn’t find any concrete examples. So I very much appreciated your effort. And I was glad to see the original text on top, O’Brien’s translation, and yours. I followed the French text several times wishing, hoping to understand it a little. I wanted to check an online dictionary for each word. Sad. I don’t know French.
But I read the three texts again and again. Yours translation flows well. Those transitional or helping words such as “finally,” “but then,” “from where,” or “so back he goes” make us readers feel we’re getting to somewhere. I read several times more and found more words I seemed to know in the French text and felt closer to it. Then I thought about it. The Camus’s text appeared to have minimal of transitional phrases and helping words to guide readers to certain destination. Am I right?
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Anyway, I went to the central library of Yokohama and read the Japanese translation of Myth of Sysyphus. I haven’t finished reading it. But I thought that Camus’s style of writing itself shows his thoughts. It gives us freedom to think deeper and reread.
Also I’m used to abrupt or awkward sentences. Our culture tends to be that way such as haiku, Zen’s questions and responses, sutra, and even in our daily communication. Once, my American boss told me that my written messages to him had absolutely no transitional phrases. I replied, “Do I need it?” I wasn’t kidding. That wasn’t too long ago, may be fourteen years ago. So perhaps we Japanese have great tolerance to abrupt and awkward sentences, so I didn’t feel it in O’Brien’s translation. So I thought we perhaps feel differently looking at Camus’s sentences.
In addition, this blog made me think about comfort and limit, fate, karma and so on. Camus’s expression as “l'espace sans ciel et le temps sans profondeur” was most interesting to me. I thought western people feel comfort when there is certain limit regarding cosmic time and space. I can’t express our concepts in a few words because I didn’t learn it in school. I guess we were born with such consciousness. I don’t know. But obviously our sense of time and space is different. I don’t know how or how much, but I felt it odd when Camus said fate as one. We don’t count that.
It makes me think as though he was trying to get to the eastern philosophy, and eastern people like me are trying to get to his or yours, the western thinking. I have an image of a circle like the Korean flag. One tear-drop shape is red, and the other is blue. And they are united, back to back or front to front.
Luciana and Rebb,
Thank you for allowing me to express myself in this blog.
Keiko, I´m so glad you felt comfortable to do so. East and West...I think it´s wonderful that cyberspace makes it possible for us to meet. I love your visits to the blog and your insights!
Thanks for this Keiko. I think I could express the difficulty I was trying to illustrate more succinctly, though I don't at present have access to the French of this, the opening passage from Sisyphus:
"The pages that follow deal with an absurd sensitivity that can be found widespread in the age - and not with an absurd philosophy which our time, properly speaking, has not known."
I cannot imagine a more meaningless opening sentence. If the author went on to explain himself, all might still be well, but he just goes on, never taking the trouble to explain anything. Without the French at hand, of course, I cannot know if it is the author's fault or the translator's. I read it and conclude that the book is about x which is widespread today, and not about y which is hardly known. Algebra is fine by me, I have been computer programming for 44 years, and that is algebra. But having wrestled with the translation for a period of time, I am no nearer to guessing the value of x and y.
I've known Zen and haiku (of course in translation) for more than 44 years and have never experienced the slightest difficulty. Have effortlessly absorbed elements of those traditional parts of Japanese culture.
France is much nearer to England than Japan - at one point the channel which separates the two countries is only 22 miles. I have a degree in French and Italian, so it's merely laziness in me to depend on such frustrating translations. Or perhaps it's a cultural divide - Anglo-Saxon being more distant from Gallic than West from East!
Vincent,
I read your comment with much amusement. I was a mainframe systems programmer for many years, and I was an assembler programmer also. Your explanation of not knowing the value of x and y in an algebra formula is very appropriate! Hee hee hee.
But seriously, I was surprised that the Japanese translation was quite straightforward. The part you translated, I found it. It has two images. One is the reality of the hilltop and plain scenery. The other is heaven and hell. The writing is one but covers both images.
And it’s funny that two cultures of only 22 miles apart are not communicating well, but with Far East culture you can relate. It’s strange but wonderful! We call it 妙（myou） and it’s also a Zen word.
When I was young, I didn’t understand much about Zen, haiku or other Japanese traditional arts until I went to the U.S. and read explanations in English. They were always around me, and I took them for granted. I think in a way, Zen and haiku and other traditional Japanese arts became more valuable because intelligent foreigners praised them. Before then, many of us took for granted. Long ago, many Japanese sold their art objects very cheap to foreigners.
Luciana,
Oh, I feel completely comfortable. I'm glad that I can converse my interest and idea about languages, and don't habe to worry too much about religions. I am also intersted in all kinds of religions and how others think and feel about them. Today I found a few used books on languages, so I'm excited. I've been also reading very old Indian mythologies. I can't spell them right now, but I'm laso excited about them.
Lu and Keiko,
Ditto to Keiko's comment...I also appreciate having found your ocean with the opportunity to try to express myself and most importantly to learn from all of you.
Keiko, Your insights have been wonderful to read. Now I sit back and absorb. And how exciting that you recently bought some language books.
p.s. no worries on your funny story. Take your time...when the time is right, you will know. I smile just knowing that I can hear your giggles. :)
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