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Crises of Memory and the Second World War

Crises of Memory and the Second World War One of the most delicate kinds of translation is the translation of a living writer. The chapter on Caws’s translations of René Char is particularly heuristic, as Char was her friend and neighbor: “[B]etween Char as poet and as interpreter of his own texts — there were already two people for me to converse with” (12). These celebrated translations “proved the most problematic,” forcing her to struggle with his preference for literalness (12). She has particularly revealing things to say about the ways in which gender issues came into play. Her translation of Char’s love poem “Le Visage nuptial” led to a kitchentable conference (and a didactic hand on the knee) during which Char identified the lover in the poem and, responding to Caws’s query about a possible contradiction in his description of a lover, reminded her of poetic license (14). Char’s intervention also made the post-coital end of the poem — “Voici le sable mort, voici le corps sauvé/La Femme respire; l’Homme se tient début”— more palatable to Caws; his “frankness” alerted her to her own “excessive psychological projection” (10). The chapter “Woolf in Translation” complements Caws’s earlier work on the reception of Woolf in France. Since http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Comparative Literature Duke University Press

Crises of Memory and the Second World War

Tidd, Ursula
Comparative Literature , Volume 60 (3) – Jan 1, 2008
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Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright 2008 by University of Oregon
ISSN
0010-4124
eISSN
1945-8517
DOI
10.1215/-60-3-295
Publisher site
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Abstract

One of the most delicate kinds of translation is the translation of a living writer. The chapter on Caws’s translations of René Char is particularly heuristic, as Char was her friend and neighbor: “[B]etween Char as poet and as interpreter of his own texts — there were already two people for me to converse with” (12). These celebrated translations “proved the most problematic,” forcing her to struggle with his preference for literalness (12). She has particularly revealing things to say about the ways in which gender issues came into play. Her translation of Char’s love poem “Le Visage nuptial” led to a kitchentable conference (and a didactic hand on the knee) during which Char identified the lover in the poem and, responding to Caws’s query about a possible contradiction in his description of a lover, reminded her of poetic license (14). Char’s intervention also made the post-coital end of the poem — “Voici le sable mort, voici le corps sauvé/La Femme respire; l’Homme se tient début”— more palatable to Caws; his “frankness” alerted her to her own “excessive psychological projection” (10). The chapter “Woolf in Translation” complements Caws’s earlier work on the reception of Woolf in France. Since

Journal

Comparative Literature – Duke University Press

Published: Jan 1, 2008

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