The sun., 1910-11-20
FORMULATING FLsCRERT.

J ths formidable. almost insluctabls diffi-
cult les offered To the ambit ious translator.
Among them ~ a translat ion said to have
been attempted by lsfcadio Hssrn. Of all
men writing in English the mos, qualified,
81 IL ss-ni- q us. for the task. That trans
lation has Recently appeared wit IN An int ro-
duction by Elizabeth Bi@land. the sympa-
thetic biogra ph.r Of H-arn. She tells us
hat he began translating The Tempta-
ton at some period bet wcen Is75 and 1919
when he was still cub reporter on a daily
paper IN Cincinnati" The original had
only appeared in 1874. Hearn was from
he tirst u ferven, Flaubertian.
But hs must have sweated blood over
! this work. French prose even at its most
mediocre does not bear translation int o
any other tong,ie: at it, best il is hopelessly
unit ntranslatahle. Some French authors.
poet ~ being beside the present question /.
are easier to render into English than
others, notably Balzac or Zola. il COM
pared To Flanbert or Goncourt. The al
most drastic CONCESSION Of Alaupassant
is not as difficult to paraphrase as the
chirping iiOritura Of Daudet-not as pure
n prosateur a. the pcssimistio Guy. or
the exotic glory OF Gautisr we may catch
more than q glimpse in Hsarn's remark
able version Of One of Cleopat "a 9
Nights II WAS that mastery transla-
tion that filed us with hope when We heard
! OF The Temptation Naturally enough
the book in English sxcitss curiosity. a
curiosity that will be soon salts fed: while
It is the best translsii ion made thus far.
, 1t Is not altogether satisfactory. How
could it be?
The chiefsst difficulty is not the tran
scription OF the golden vocables. OF the
color OF the verbal harmonies. bnt lies
! in the rhythms that Flaubsrt showers
| with such magnificent prodigality. Lat Us.
so as to make our meaning clearer. quote
Arthur Symons Compare tho style OF
Fiaubert.' says Mr.. Symons. in each OF
his books. and you will find that each
book has its own rhythm. perfectly appro-
PIRATE to the subject matter That style.
which has every merit and hardly fault
becomes what it IL by a process very diff
| fersnt from that Of most writers careful
OF form. Read Chatesubriand, Gautier,
even Raudelaire. and you will find tha,
the aim Of these writers has been to con-
struct a Style which shall bs adaptable
to every occasion. but without structural
change; ths cadence is always the same.
But Flaubert is 10 difficult to
translate because he has no fixed rhyth hm;
his prose keeps step with no regular
ma rch music. He invsnts the rhythm Of
every ssnt sncs. he changes his cadencs
| with every mood or for tho convenience
NJ every fact He has no theory OF bsauty
| in form apart from what IL expresses.
For him form il a living thing. the physi-
1 ...k q. IL =
| interpr~ts
To leave gensralizatio ions for the par
ticular example let us consider the elo-
Qusnt speech nf De.Ih in the famous
colloquy OF Lust and Death. Hesrns
version runs thus: Mine irony dspass-
sth all ot hcrs! There are convulsions of
| delight NJ the funeral of kings. a. the ex-
termination of a whole peopls: and wa
is made with music. with plume~. with
harness Of gold The only other English
! translation We have encountered We
believe there ~ a third. was made in
London in 1905 by u. +. Hannigan. Il
In fruitful To compare the two. My
irony snrpasses that of all other things.
There are convulslons OF JOY nj the funeral
of kings and AT the sxtsrminai ion Of
I peoples; and they make war with music
plumss, aags. golden harnesses.
Flsubsrt Who unren,itt ingiy studied he
English Bible and Shakespeare for their
superb prose- as-onancs- and rhyt INNS &.
! who could quot. by tho hour and from
memory tn. orstorical b.sutis- Of Bos-
suet wro>- the final sen; anc. of the boy =
/ IN this unGpproachabls style TT on
fsit Ia gIerre avec de Ia m'rsiuu.. dies
; panRches. d.s drapeaux dss harnais
dor Chatslubriand could have done
no better
Nor ~ th's a solitary example nf the
stumbling blocks met with by a con-
' scientious translator. Every page Of
The Terap, alton" abounds with them.
I And It must - reneTnl cred thai Hcarn
I WAS something ei-- resides consc;en' !ous
II ud"nt Of French: ha Was a man Of genius.
. TO whom that langusg Sc appealed a. never
did his mo h.r tong,is 90 English could
! he called tho mother tongue II n half
Greak hrlf lrishman'. Helrn was more
IN sympathy with Gaut ier. and naturally
: His own gossamcrliks. exquisite prose il
nsarcr akin 10 Pierre Lofts than to tho
good ThTophile's: vet tn. lafters exotic
richness and solidity " structure must
have attracted him because Of rho dif-
/ f.r.nC" In The Temptation" he IL
J fairly successful IN rendering the Queen
b II Sh"ba "pisod-. with it, sparkling
; maiisu.. and Cppu"trI IRONY. Tho dia-
logue of in. Sphinx and ths Chirnera
does not ring so clearly ana both tc trans
, Iaror and the editor have s.-n fit to- make
| import mt omissions "n the score q too
Gallo freedom in ths original. A note
| informs the RAIDER 81 that fact ana he
il referred TO Flauberi en hloc. Vow We
respectfully submit that "a tran>!at tor's
I first duty il toward TIN. validity of his
text IL il all very well TO say that the
omissions ars no; essential We beg to
differ Every line Of Fla,ib.rt IL esSsn-
! tiai, especially in tins last draft II -rne
Temptation. Perhaps the snt rance Of
tho MINOR solign Roman god may he
| missed. though hs makes a real figure in
, the Procession Of the doomed d.it los;
| but thor. are other changes. notably in
I the scene where Hiiarion shows the Saint
the pract ICES of moribund rsli gious cul-
/ turss. and the agap" " the "arly Chris
l hs.ra