We’re the translators of the primary full English-language version of Le Deuxième Sexe, reviewed by Toril Moi (LRB, 11 February). Towards the end of Toril Moi’s sensible and devastating critique of the new translation of Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex come a couple of sentences that baffle me (LRB, 11 February). As other translators do, we needed to make decisions primarily based on the interpretation of the French text and on ideas of translation: on this case, the alternatives had been made to convey Simone de Beauvoir’s vocabulary, voice, fashion, context and interval. The translators declare that their goal was to convey ‘into English the closest model potential of Simone de Beauvoir’s voice, expression and mind’. It appears to me that they have used the originals for fiction in English (Virginia Woolf, Katherine Mansfield and so forth), and to a sure extent revealed translations for French fiction (Colette however not all the time Balzac), and for medical literature (Stekel’s Frigidity in Woman is quoted appropriately), and typically, however not all the time, for philosophy. Despite Beauvoir’s advanced language structures, the stream in English parallels the French. As for the type and syntax of our translation, our selection, in retaining with contemporary translation practices, was to remain as near Beauvoir’s as doable.
When the reviewer says Beauvoir’s ‘long, loosely linked sentences convey pace, ardour and sheer delight’, one is incredulously led to ask if she actually ever learn Simone de Beauvoir in French. It’s normal for a lady to wear sexy undergarments or nightgowns when going to mattress to attempt to evoke passion in her mate. Or, if you’re feeling extra snug, you could possibly have him sign up for classes with a friend, or you could have your son put on his go well with to the lesson and go house to vary after the lesson. American Pie’s $235 million seems just like the change Paramount studio heads discovered in their govt-suite sofa cushions by comparison-except when one considers that the movie practically met Adam Herz’s title-page promise, costing simply $11 million to make. The obsessive literalism and numerous errors make it no more dependable, and much less readable than Parshley. Moi writes: ‘In common, far too many index entries fail to supply first names. In general, far too many index entries fail to provide first names. According to the translators, Stekel’s Frigidity in Woman was first revealed in French in 1949; in actual fact it appeared in 1937 (Sartre quotes it in 1943, in Being and Nothingness).
Also, a girl by the name of Chris “Ranger” O’Connor comes into the image. In spite of everything, to seek out out who Samivel was, all it takes is to type the title into Google. After all, to search out out who Samivel was, all it takes is to kind the name into Google.’ This would appear to imply that Samivel had a primary identify that ought to have been included in the index. His first motion on leaving school was to blow off steam by main an expedition into Central America. The reviewer did not deal with this, but moderately on a couple of mistakes that received previous us all on this first version, errors in footnotes and index entries, or misquoted citations, that will probably be corrected. There may be one entry for Johann Bachofen and one other one for a character called ‘Baschoffen’ with no first title. There is nothing in the piece to justify this. The division of human beings into ‘woman’ and ‘man’ is foundational, classes having nothing to do with other nouns. I put that right down to having grown up, and gave up on Star Wars. There was a licensed home in one of the small prairie towns, which complied with all of the rules; it had the required variety of bedrooms; its windows were unscreened; the license price was paid; the bartender was a total abstainer, and a member of the union; also said to be a man of good moral character; the proprietor usually gave twenty-five dollars a yr to the Children’s Aid, and put up a cup to be competed for by the district hockey clubs.
No surprise there are so many idiots on the earth! The reviewer’s remarks about us and our skills – her phrases and tone – are private and unwarranted. Such power in her words! He additionally created Mentor, an synthetic intelligence version of himself, to help Power live life even after his dying. But Samivel, whose real name was Paul Gayet-Tancrède, by no means used any title except Samivel in anything he ever created. The real mystery is why his identify happens in this index. I’d doubt that many individuals, together with Beauvoir, had a clue as to his real name. Clarice pulls the dagger out and wishes to kill herself, but Jeanne intervenes and calls out Jean-Pierre’s identify as he races to the rescue, and take the dagger out of Clarice’s possession. In the index, references to Balzac’s Eugénie Grandet turn out to be references to Stendhal’s Mme Grandet, a character in Lucien Leuwen. As we set out in our translators’ notice, we did not improve on, add to or delete from her textual content. We knew in regards to the stress placed on the publishers to arrange a board of consulting editors and to turn the translation into an annotated version – all to no avail.
