New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-09-16

LITERATURE IN FRANCE.
From Oar Own CorrespoAden.

II
PARIS, Aug %, 1853.
TIE Germans alone have act o7er in new words
the gems Of Shakespeare's thought, and preserved
nearly their frat bIihsncy. The attempts OF other
peoples in this Kind mo.tly provoke application OF
the Italian proyerb Tfeduitore trnduore; II they
be French attempts, they provoke the foregone
coneu.ion tina. they must be riiicuoasy Bad. II IS
possible tba, we Of the English tongue lack seme-
what Of modesty, not to Ray Of justice, in iuch
condemnation We are ready to believe, what we
are always say ing to each other, that the French
language offers peculiarly thin and unpropltlous
to for the transplanted products OF foreign genus
We forget two facts, or overlook them: One IT,
that no one has yet succeeded in bringing La fon-
tame, OF Berabger, or Moliere over into English,
alive; another is, that the translatioDs of English
poems into French, bad as they may be, are only
lust half ss bad as cur translation Of them back
again into English. Now, it is, for most Of US,
our retrsDslation that we laugh at, while we fancy
that We are laughing at the translation of those
others. A eeotleman's gentleman s very lmper.
feet reproduction of bis master, but his imitator
The often quoted classification of yicnsts is analo-
gous: There are those who play well, those who
play badly and those who do not play at all
DidsbuIy who pastures me that he " reads French
"as well 90 he does English, though he does not
"speak it" | ought, 10 justice to Dldsbury, say
that he does not read English WE'LL, is Dot aware
that Just because he does not speak French like
Frenchmsn he cannot read French like French
man.
A great many years. almost half my life, ago,
sat in class and followed word by word, line by
line, Professo LOngtellow's exquisitey nice oral
translation of MOleres Misanthrope. No Ofiense
to bis brother poet and successor, but doubt
whether 20 good translation has been made since.
That was twenty years sgO-Heaven help us-ho~
lite goes by A few weeks ago. sat in the orches-
ira of the Theatre Francois, French friend by
the side Of ne, listening to and watching lie Nissan
h,ope The actors enumerated every word of il so
distinctly that had no difficulty in following them
md dctonaIily and commercially, understanding
every word Of it. But it was painfully evident
from the abs, aud Ids, and cost cas- and 6itns,
and tres htns of my collateral friend that he was
hearing and seeing aquite other ManthroPe than the
one offered to ny foreign eyes and ears. Yet had
Longfellow's translation, illustrated and jllumin-
ated, 20 to speak, by the excellent actors and per-
feet mise en- scene Of the Francais
To 90 back to the starting point Of this rambling
talk the first volume of Francois Victor HueO's
" Oeurrs Completes dc H. Shakespeare" 1t con-
tains beside predatory matter and notes, version
of the First Hamlet, from the text of the quarto
copy, discovered in 1s25 and now in possession Of
the Duke Of DeyOnsbire, and of the Second Ham
lct-the Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, we all know
printed in 1904.
If the French cannot understand Shakespeare,
they deserve, at least some credit for their perse-
yerlnp study Of him. LetOurDeuT, LsrOcbe, Fran
cisaue Michel and the coaborateurs of the sOcallei
Guzot's yeI sion had already given TRANSACTIONS of
bis complete dramatic works, each OF which has
passed beyond its fret edition. Emile Deschamps,
Paul Meurice ard others had already given trans
latioDs Of one or more dramas. l say nothing OF
Ducts, who brought as much of Shakespeare IS a
French audience at the close OF the last century
could bear on the stage and really dill more with
Talmas help than LetOurneur to make him
known in France. The Shakespeare whom Lee
tpurneur dared present to the French of the
eighte,n nth century bears only as much resemblance
to the Shakespeare who presented himself at the
Globe Theater, as Feejee Islander presented at
the Court of Louis XIV, his robust proportions
ar d free movement and exuberan. gestures dis
eused and restrained by a court dress, might have
borne to Feejee Islander at home. The hrst IN
terpreter of Shakespeare was as much an aPologlst
as dragoman, and his version bas served as a sort
of model to bis successors. They have, indeed,
successfully improved upon if, but none of them
dared TO present Shakespeare in all his native,
naked barbsIism. This was not the fault Of Lee
tourneur or Laroche, or Michel or GuizOt. A lit
eral tran sat)n of Shakespeare only became possible
after the literary movement of $50, and when,
otter a severe struggle, the revolution had
tliumphed in letters HIS we'll as in politics. and
language was freed from the cd letters of clss
sicism. Ard by whom could the task of such
translation be more fifty undertaken than by the
son of the foremost chief in that literary revolution
of Victor Hugo who may be said to have fought
his WAY from the barricades to the Academy
Yourg Hugo has Lad and used several other ad-
vantages over the preceding trantlators, the Chief
of which is that, voluntary companion In bis
fathers long exile be has had opportunity of tamil-
iariaiDg himself with English habits of thought,
language, and external manners. The consequence
is that this French Hamlet bears as close likeness
to the English original as the dictionary will per
NIT, and a striking spultusl resemblance with
whchtbe dictionary has little to do. The author first
translated bimself into English conditions, and has
so been able TO bring Hamlet back with him into
French. He differs from those who have gone be-
fore him over the same ground IN this, that he
seeks to bring his cOuntrymen up to Shakespeare,
and not 70 adspt Shakespeare down to them. Con-
ecienticus fidelity TO the original Is bis rare and dis
tipguishing merit. Matter having solder claims
than mann err he devotes his first service to the for
mer; he does not attempt TO reproduce the metrica
form of the original, but by an ingenious arrange
ment Of words, that, so far as can presume to de-
eide, never degeneIatss into iDgenuosity, he in
dicates the separate lines and suggests as it were
q sort of echo of the rhy thu Of the original.
The Introductory pages of the volume cannot be
commended to an English reader. There ii. Hugo
is tout &c gu'R de Plus Francois. He persists in
calling Shakespeare William, and for short, VIII.