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Bonjour John !
Thanks for your quote and for our French
speaking/reading list members, I'm happy to give it in French
!
Il en est des plaisirs comme des photographies. Ce
qu'on prend en présence de l'être aimé n'est qu'un cliché négatif, on le
développe plus tard, une fois chez soi, quand on a retrouvé à sa disposition
cette chambre noire intérieure dont l'entrée est "condamnée" tant qu'on voit du
monde.
A l'ombre des jeunes filles en
fleurs
And despite all my respect due to
Richard Howard , I would add my 2 pence about the translation...
Here are my comments
1) very strangely, he
condensed Proust's 2 distinct sentences into a single phrase. this seems so
strange because, most often differences between English and French texts go
exacty the other way : we, french, are known to love long and complex sentences
(and Marcel Proust is known to be one of the best exemples of this style !) when
English / american writers generally prefer more factual sentences, closer to
reality and less abstract.
2) Marcel Proust's text
is based on a specific "jeu de mots" using the verb "prendre"
: in French we both say "je prends des photographies" et "je prends du
plaisir" (= I take photographs and I take pleasure)
3) In Proust's text, the
separation into 2 sentences allows the writer to develop his idea in a more
abstract level than in English : where Howard uses the plural ("those")thus
diminishing the idea of "pleasure,s", Proust comes back to a more intellectual
singular, which adds to the restrictive (no more than..) meaning of the sentence
and to the sense of intimacy brought by the "interior darkroom". So that,
in my opinion, we lose some density of Marcel Proust's text in this
translation.
4) translation of
"condamnée" by "condemned" seems strange since this figurative meaning of
"condamner" in French (applied to rooms, doors, windows, etc.) has noithing to
do with a (moral) condemnation .
With no idea of competition with Richard
Howard but rather by respect for the dense feelings that brought to me the
complete reading of Proust's works, my modest translation would be
:
Pleasures are similar to photographs .What one
takes in the beloved's presence is no more than a negative ; one will develop it
later, once back at home, when is regained the availability of one's inner
darkroom whose entrance is "locked up"as long as one sees other
people.
Going further than translation problems,
this book by photographer Brassaî is very interesting in the way he shows the
very close relations between photography and Proust's writings, especially in
the field of the importance of "memory" in Marcel Proust's
works.
Brassaî, who was a very special guy had very
intimate relations with the Paris world of artists and writers and had numerous
collaborations with writers and poets: Henry de Montherlant, jacques Prévert,
paul Morand (very famous collection book Paris de nuit"), and above all
Henry Miller. He has also been very close to Picasso, for whom he shot a lot of
pictures.
Thanks John for the opportunity you gave us
to think about the "pleasure of photography" !
Cheers from france
Jean
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2008 12:43
PM
Subject: ON TOPIC. Brassai and
Proust
Bonjour tout le monde,
''Proust in the Power of Photography'' by
Brassai.
from
''Marcel Proust sous l' emprise de la
photographie.''
Translated by Richard Howard ( 2001
)
......................
It may not be generally known that
Marcel Proust was a writer whilst Brassai was a photographer and
journalist.
''Pleasures are like photographs: those
taken in the beloved's presence no more than negatives, to be developed
later, once you are home, having regained the use of that interior
darkroom, access to which is ''condemned ''as long as you are seeing other
people'' ''
-- WITHIN A BUDDING GROVE
Sorry, my French is not good enough to do
this quote justice.
John - Photographist - London -
UK
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