Simone de Beauvoir's Translation Revisited
Last night, I was privileged to be invited by AUSIT (National Australian Translators Association) to listen to two inspiring translators: Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevalier (French translators/lecturers from Science PÔ, France, US born) at the Unversity of Queensland.
They re-translated the Second Sex (Le Deuxième Sexe).
The Second Sex was published in 1949, and was highly instrumental to what Simone & Constance call the biggest revolution of this century: the Gender Revolution.
I insist in the word «Gender» because this is the whole point, and this is what the first attempt to translate Le Deuxième Sexe missed out !!!
Beauvoir's formulation that "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman", distinguishes the terms 'sex' and 'gender', with 'gender' being a cultural aspect of identity which is "gradually acquired", as opposed to "sex" you are born with.
The first translation of the book in English in the US was marketed and sold as a book about sex, and therefore the translation is missing out the message entirely. In the context of the 50's, for the general US public, it was a chance to finally buy a socially acceptable book about sex (bemol - the book is forbidden by the Vatican).
It has been commented in wiki that the 1953 English translation of The Second Sex is poor.
The delicate vocabulary of philosophical concepts is frequently mistranslated. Sheila and Constance explained last night that it was because in 1953, the public was expecting a book about Sex, not Gender, and even less Philosophy - they added 'especially coming from a woman'. For example, the word 'authentic' in the book is a philosophical term, and in English, it was plainly translated without philosophical meaning. The verb 'se poser' had been plainly translated as 'posed' instead of 'posit' (philosophical terminology).
Some plain mistakes had to be corrected: «la jeune fille» had been translated «the young girl» (colloquialism), when it should have been translated «a girl» (in general).
The translators respected the prose which according to them «has a grammar of its own and this grammar has a logic of its own» to be respected. Duty of care at its best.
They explained they also stripped out the over political correctness of some Gender expressions in later versions. They argue that it was in order to be more faithful to the text. I would argue that this 'as well' is a trend, but never mind, it is not easy.
In addition, 15 to 20% of the text had been cut by publisher's order, including Beauvoir's accounts of more than seventy historical figures, which goes precisely against the overall book message.
Some of the text had been 'mis-rendered' during the transcription: the translators found out that some words like « Comme » instead of « Contre » had been mis-transferred from the original document (poor hand writing apparently) to the typed version.
Although the publishers had been made aware of the problems with the English text, they long insisted that there was really no need for a new translation.
Simone de Beauvoir herself explicitly requested one in a 1985 interview: "I would like very much for another translation of The Second Sex to be done, one that is much more faithful; more complete and more faithful."
Like Jean-Paul & Simone, Sheila and Constance mirrors a long intellectual friendship that bore its fruits for us all to enjoy. The two US translators met in collège, taught alongside in Sciences Pô, Paris, and have now travelled around the world to explain and present their work of humanistic scope and consequences.
They explained they TOOK CARE of spending 4 years, researching and immersing themselves in the life of the philosopher, reading what Simone de Beauvoir was reading - some of these books very obscure and hard to find nowadays, they studied and/or met the influential people of her life, all in the sole purpose to understand her reference system and make to right translation decision!!! Brilliant!
They dispelled any chance of the audience showing scepticism about such endeavour. They said: this was the most enriching experience of our life.
She says:
...to carry off this supreme victory, men and women must, among other things and beyond their natural differentiations, unequivocally affirm their brotherhood (I like the word brotherhood, and I would KEEP it).
I am also so pleased to see efforts of being 'faithful translation' rather than 'audience based translation'. It is a highly discussable subject, but thanks God there are still academics not enslaved to publishers to make it even possible.
A great evening!!! More please ...
Last night, I was privileged to be invited by AUSIT (National Australian Translators Association) to listen to two inspiring translators: Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevalier (French translators/lecturers from Science PÔ, France, US born) at the Unversity of Queensland.
They re-translated the Second Sex (Le Deuxième Sexe).
The Second Sex was published in 1949, and was highly instrumental to what Simone & Constance call the biggest revolution of this century: the Gender Revolution.
I insist in the word «Gender» because this is the whole point, and this is what the first attempt to translate Le Deuxième Sexe missed out !!!
Beauvoir's formulation that "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman", distinguishes the terms 'sex' and 'gender', with 'gender' being a cultural aspect of identity which is "gradually acquired", as opposed to "sex" you are born with.
The first translation of the book in English in the US was marketed and sold as a book about sex, and therefore the translation is missing out the message entirely. In the context of the 50's, for the general US public, it was a chance to finally buy a socially acceptable book about sex (bemol - the book is forbidden by the Vatican).
It has been commented in wiki that the 1953 English translation of The Second Sex is poor.
The delicate vocabulary of philosophical concepts is frequently mistranslated. Sheila and Constance explained last night that it was because in 1953, the public was expecting a book about Sex, not Gender, and even less Philosophy - they added 'especially coming from a woman'. For example, the word 'authentic' in the book is a philosophical term, and in English, it was plainly translated without philosophical meaning. The verb 'se poser' had been plainly translated as 'posed' instead of 'posit' (philosophical terminology).
Some plain mistakes had to be corrected: «la jeune fille» had been translated «the young girl» (colloquialism), when it should have been translated «a girl» (in general).
The translators respected the prose which according to them «has a grammar of its own and this grammar has a logic of its own» to be respected. Duty of care at its best.
They explained they also stripped out the over political correctness of some Gender expressions in later versions. They argue that it was in order to be more faithful to the text. I would argue that this 'as well' is a trend, but never mind, it is not easy.
In addition, 15 to 20% of the text had been cut by publisher's order, including Beauvoir's accounts of more than seventy historical figures, which goes precisely against the overall book message.
Some of the text had been 'mis-rendered' during the transcription: the translators found out that some words like « Comme » instead of « Contre » had been mis-transferred from the original document (poor hand writing apparently) to the typed version.
Although the publishers had been made aware of the problems with the English text, they long insisted that there was really no need for a new translation.
Simone de Beauvoir herself explicitly requested one in a 1985 interview: "I would like very much for another translation of The Second Sex to be done, one that is much more faithful; more complete and more faithful."
Like Jean-Paul & Simone, Sheila and Constance mirrors a long intellectual friendship that bore its fruits for us all to enjoy. The two US translators met in collège, taught alongside in Sciences Pô, Paris, and have now travelled around the world to explain and present their work of humanistic scope and consequences.
They explained they TOOK CARE of spending 4 years, researching and immersing themselves in the life of the philosopher, reading what Simone de Beauvoir was reading - some of these books very obscure and hard to find nowadays, they studied and/or met the influential people of her life, all in the sole purpose to understand her reference system and make to right translation decision!!! Brilliant!
They dispelled any chance of the audience showing scepticism about such endeavour. They said: this was the most enriching experience of our life.
She says:
...to carry off this supreme victory, men and women must, among other things and beyond their natural differentiations, unequivocally affirm their brotherhood (I like the word brotherhood, and I would KEEP it).
I am also so pleased to see efforts of being 'faithful translation' rather than 'audience based translation'. It is a highly discussable subject, but thanks God there are still academics not enslaved to publishers to make it even possible.
A great evening!!! More please ...
