Sandra Smith, author of Penguin's latest version of The Outsider, answers questions about how she took L'Etranger into English
Sandra Smith, the translator of the latest Penguin Classics edition of The Outsider and a fellow of Robinson College, Cambridge, answers questions about Camus and translation. Most of these questions emerged from readers' discussions of this month's book
I know that you were keen to translate The Outsider for a long time before you were asked to do the Penguin translation. Why is this particular book so important to you?
I had taught the book for many years, sometimes in the original French and sometimes using the English translation(s), depending on the level of French of my students. The new translation was actually my idea as I had found the previous translations lacking in certain key respects. So I put a proposal in to Penguin and it was approved, to my enormous delight.
Why do you think Camus endures so well?
Camus endures for several reasons. Firstly, he writes beautifully, mixing literary skill and philosophical ideas seamlessly. People can relate to his work on so many levels. He is very human and his politics are the politics of peace. There is a little-known work by him called "Lettres à un ami allemand" (Letters to a German Friend) written during the Occupation which are a brilliant mixture of history, sociology, politics and literature. Camus demonstrates his love for life in all his works, despite the Absurd and all the negative aspects of this world. He has faith in the basic goodness of people. He is an optimist – whereas Sartre was such a pessimist!
When did you first read The Outsider, and how did it strike you then? Following on from that, what happened to your opinions of the book as you worked on the translation? Did they alter at all?
I read L'Etranger many years ago as a student and immediately wanted to know more about Camus, so read more. He was my idol! I just loved the way he wrote. As I translated the book, I appreciated even more the enormous skill that went into it. The language is simple in the extreme but the symbolism and underlying philosophical ideas quite complex.
And afterwards?
My opinion did not change as to the importance of the book and its relevance. It is, and deserves to be, a classic. However, "La Peste" (The Plague) and "La Chute" (The Fall) are also brilliant.
You listened to a recording of Camus reading The Outsider as well as working with the text while you worked on the translation. What difference did this make?
I was very excited when I discovered that the Librairie sonore in Paris had released a recording of Camus reading the entire book on French radio so immediately ordered the CDs. I listened to his reading and tried to translate with his intonation, pauses, breath, emphases, et cetera in mind. It was very helpful.
In relation to this idea, a contributor called Daveportivo also asked:
"In literature or any writing, I feel maintaining and manipulating a pace is crucial to an author's tone and also the way readers will react to a whole range of revelations or actions. I love the way well-constructed pieces can have you singing to the author's tune or dancing to his rhythm, and it leads me to wonder how you maintain or reflect this in a translation. Meaning can vary dramatically enough when translating, but with syntactical differences and (I imagine) considerable variation in syllable count I imagine it must be very difficult to echo Camus' flow. To use my school French as an example, Bonsoir and Good Evening have very different feels both on the tongue and within a sentence. Anyway, The Outsider (this version) had a very particular sense of flow and I'm always curious whether the content/meaning of the sentences simply serves to define Camus' style and the rhythm of the narrator's voice, or whether switching the nuts and bolts of one language for another turns this on its head."
Sandra Smith answered:
You have put your finger on the main issue of translation! There is no one answer, unfortunately, but I can say that I feel that translation is basically a subjective process. When I read something, my personal response to it influences how I translate. In this work, I listened to Camus' reading and also tried to imitate the terse style of Meursault that contrasted to the lyrical style used when describing nature. Also, the style of Part II is very different from Part I, with much more analysis and longer sentences, so it was important to transpose that into English.
Can you explain your Maman/Mother strategy to our readers? There's been a lot of debate about how to translate the famous first sentence and Mersault's subsequent references to Maman in the reading group this month.
When I first got the contract and told people, the first thing everyone asked was "How will you translate the first sentence?" It was a real challenge because most translators used "Mother", which I found did not get across the close relationship that "maman" implies in French. One translator left the word in French, which didn't really tell the reader anything about the connotation. I chose "My mother" because I thought about how someone would tell another person that his mother had died. Meursault is speaking to the reader directly. "My mother died today" seemed to me the way it would work, and also implied the closeness of "maman" you get in the French. Afterwards, I used "mama", partly because it sounds like "maman" and partly because I was aware that a British audience would probably prefer "Mum" and an American reader "Mom" so I needed something that worked on both sides of the Atlantic.
Related to this question, Derekenfrance also wrote:
"I've a question for Ms. Smith about how she has translated the opening sentence of L'Étranger. In the French, one reads "Aujourd'hui, maman est morte." She has chosen to translate this as "My mother died today." While much of the commentary about this sentence has focused on Ms Smith's decision to include the possessive pronoun "My", I'd like to focus on the placement of the word "today". She has followed the majority of the translators (if not all?) by putting "today" at the end of the sentence, even though in the French it is found as the first word of the book. I'm sure she made this decision consciously, and I'd like to ask why."
Sandra Smith answered:
In French, the emphasis often comes at the end of the sentence while in English it is at the beginning. I felt that "Today my mother died" sounded awkward and did not give the proper stress.
A follow up question also came from CamusScoiety, who asked "why the narrator chose to start off with an announcement that his mother died today (or today his mother died) only to immediately cast doubt on this fact."
Sandra Smith answered:
The doubt indicates he is not in constant contact with his mother and also that the old people's home chose to send him an impersonal telegram to announce her death. I feel Meursault is quite shocked when he reads this.
How guilty is Mersault and what of?
He is guilty of killing the Arab, and he never denies this. He is prepared to go to jail for it. He is not guilty of premeditation, which the jury does not believe. According to society, as symbolised by the legal system and religion, he is guilty of being different: unrepentant, an atheist, someone who threatens society's values. The examining magistrate who brandishes the cross in front of him actually says that if Meursault does not believe in God then his (the magistrate's) life has no meaning.
What do you make of Camus' famous suggestion that Mersault is "the only Christ that we deserve"?
When Camus said that Meursault is the only Christ we deserve, he continued to explain that he meant no disrespect to anyone religious. What he meant was that, like Jesus, Meursault refused to lie and was prepared to take the consequences of not pretending to feel or be something he wasn't.
Do you think that attitudes towards colonialism have clouded Camus' reputation. (And if you do, do you think that's fair? Or is he misunderstood?)
I think Camus had very mixed feelings about the Algerian situation and had he lived longer, it would have been interesting to see what he wrote about it as events evolved. I don't think it has clouded his reputation. Camus was a pacifist and once said "Je ne déteste que les bourreaux" – "I only hate butchers." (Letters to a German Friend.)
Finally, can you tell us what you make of the famous final paragraph? Why does Mersault hope that there would be many spectators on his day of execution and that they should greet him "with cries of hatred."
In my Introduction, I explain the Biblical reference in the French, which I tried to get across in the translation. I think the last sentence goes back to what Camus said about Meursault being the only Christ we deserve. Like Christ, Meursault is willing to suffer and take on the "sins" of others through his death. Society is guilty of condemning him for being different, for who he is rather than what he has done. Also, at the end, Meursault affirms the value of life, so to my mind, he accepts that killing the Arab was wrong and he deserves
to be condemned for that.
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