Camus Translation Team: Here are your assignments. (Updated)
Our volunteers Lola and wangbumaximus21 report that the Matthew Ward US translation of The Stranger is less wordy than the Stuart Gilbert version we are using. We chose the Gilbert because it’s available free online, but if you have the Ward, feel free to use that.
dindin has already submitted her pages. We hope to be able to post a substantial chunk of the Tagalog translation by tomorrow.
Let us know how your work is going and whether you’ve encountered any issues. We’re looking forward to reading Ang Estranghero.
* * * * *
Albert Camus with his publisher, Michel Gallimard. Photo from the NYRB.
Welcome to our Albert Camus birthday project. We are using the English translation by Stuart Gilbert.
Please use “Ina” for “Mother” and keep the sentences short. Be faithful to the text, but mind the whole rather than the parts. Take the Camus quote, “Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth.” The word-for-word rendering is “Ang likhang-isip ay isang kasinungalingan kung saan nagsasabi tayo ng katotohanan.” It’s a bit awkward. “Likhang-isip ang kasinungalingang ginagamit natin upang magsaad ng katotohanan” has a smoother flow.
Don’t worry if your Tagalog is not mellifluous—we’ll ask an editor to go over our complete draft. (Please note that the page numbers are at the bottom.)
Your assignments:
Part One
Chapter I, until ‘I think I dozed off for a while.’ – Lola T
Chapter I, pages 8-13 – qbeng
Chapter II – turmukoy
Chapter III – jaime
Chapter IV – messengerbagboy
Chapter V – the chronicler of boredom
Chapter VI – Chus
Part Two
Chapter I – balqis
Chapter II – wangbumaximus21
Chapter III, until ‘…suggested I should have some coffee’ – dindin
Chapter III, pages 57-61 – oberstein
Chapter IV – the boomerang kid
Chapter V, until p.70, ‘…he seemed a mild, amiable man’ – Patricia
Chapter V, pages 71 to the end – Uro
We have room for at least two more volunteers. Our goal is to post the full translation by 7 November, so please email your sections to saffron.safin@gmail.com before then (But don’t worry if you’re late, we’ll wait).
Allez.
* * * * *
Listen to The Stranger in the original French, read by Michael Lonsdale.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
