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Special Report
At Last, the Real Madame Bovary
Flaubert’s famous novel enjoys a greater following in the U.S. these days than in France.
(Page 2 of 2)
Many translators besides Hopkins and Steegmuller have added their own layers of style and meaning, and several have toned down the references to illicit sex.
One edition, however, a Penguin paperback of 1992, actually spiced up a steamy scene describing eye contact (yes, that was also pushing it in 1857) between Emma and her future lover Leon. Flaubert daintily describes their excited thoughts as comme deux poitrines palpitantes. Mrs. Davis soberly renders this as “like two trembling hearts.” The Penguin translator, Geoffrey Wall, also a Flaubert biographer, went considerably further and made it “like two tremulously naked bodies.” In another passage, Flaubert uses the English word “Yes” in a passage of dialogue. Wall renders it as “Jawohl.”
Ms. Calabria remains perplexed by all the American fuss over Madame Bovary. French literature of the 19th century, she notes, is a rich pool of talent, including Balzac, Baudelaire, Maupassant, Victor Hugo and Stendhal. “We still read them all, so we could never devote the time you do to Madame Bovary.”
“Why do you keep translating it?” she wonders.
Lydia Davis’s “definitive” version just might bring about a pause in the translation frenzy.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (22) | Leave a comment
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Tim*| 10.27.10 @ 7:58AM
"Her heart was like the soles of those shoes. Wealth and luxury had rubbed against it and left upon it something that would never wear away."
- Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Ch. 8
Uh Oh, Horse Poop !
Bob K.| 10.27.10 @ 8:36AM
Fair is fair.
The French are bigger fans of Edgar Allen Poe than we are.
Bob K.| 10.27.10 @ 8:39AM
I wonder how he translates into French?
Anthony| 10.27.10 @ 9:44AM
They also thought Jerry Lewis was a comic genius. Go figure.
Joseph Harriss| 10.27.10 @ 9:05AM
This is a really fine job of describing the intricacies and frustrations of translation, as well as the different ways Americans and French appreciate, or don't, Madame Bovary. Thanks, Mr. Johnson.
Thomas James| 10.27.10 @ 9:27AM
The French, in fact, say this: "Translations are like wives. They are either faithful or beautiful, but seldom both."
JD| 10.27.10 @ 10:43AM
> French literature of the 19th century, she notes, is a rich pool of talent, including Balzac, Baudelaire, Maupassant, Victor Hugo and Stendhal. "We still read them all, so we could never devote the time you do to Madame Bovary." <<br />
We still read them all, too, and yet manage to read "Bovary", plus a whole bunch of 19th century writers of English prose. Maybe we just read faster than the French?
Hannibal| 10.27.10 @ 10:53AM
Ms.Bovery--that's me!
Ken (Old Texican)| 10.27.10 @ 12:48PM
Here we are.
America faces the most crucial election of my lifetime, and this dork, (Johnson), is blabbing about France?
Editors,
I wish you would feature Booger instead. He is hilariously relevant. France is not since they killed their best in 1914.
Mr. Johnson,
You sir are so effete, that it makes my teeth hurt.
Al Adab| 10.27.10 @ 12:58PM
Ken, Ken,
Just because the French never learned to spell good Latin and of course they don't know beans about baseball... Let's see. The great French national heros are Charlemange( a german) Joan of Arc (14 years old) and Napoleon (an Italian) They did provide a navy for the Revolution on our behalf. At least we owe them that.
A. C. Santore| 10.27.10 @ 3:33PM
...which arrived after the war had been won, if I'm not mistaken.
Al Adab| 10.27.10 @ 4:02PM
Well, the fleet did prevent the British from evacuating or reinforcing Yorktown. And after all Lafayette did help and became like a son to Washington. However, that was more a personal assistance than one of French design.
I think it was Robert Novak who had the best approach to this issue. He overheard a Frenchman castigating America for being ignorant, arrogant etc. and asked the Frenchman if he spoke German. Naturally the Frenchman smugly replied, "of course not." Whereupon Novak simply said, "you're welcome." After all those American cemetaries in Normandy speak volumes don't they?
Fred| 10.27.10 @ 1:24PM
Mark Twain makes the point about difficulty of translation in one of the most hilarious things I have ever read. He reprinted "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" into French, then re-translated it literally into English. The re-translated title is "The Celebrated Frog Jumping of the County of Calaveras." It's worth the price of admission just for the line "I no saw not that that frog had nothing of better than each frog," a translation of the line "I don't see no pints about that frog that's any better'n any other frog."
Ken, I have a feeling there's a lot we would agree on but you, sir, are such a philistine it makes my heart ache.
Ken (Old Texican)| 10.27.10 @ 1:52PM
Fred,
I thank you deeply for that compliment in this context.
If giggling about France becoming irrelevant makes me a philistine, then I am delighted with same.
Fred| 10.27.10 @ 3:51PM
Ken,
Giggling about the current political, economic, and military irrelevance of the French. . . understandable. Giggling about the literary irrelevance of a culture that produced Rabalais, Racine, Moliere, Voltaire, Dumas, Hugo, Balzac, Flaubert, Beaudelaire, Gautier, Proust, Robbe-Grillet, Sartre, Camus. . .Sorry dude, can't follow you there.
Al Adab| 10.27.10 @ 3:57PM
Voltaire is worth the time as are Dumas and Hugo. But, to include Sarte and Camus? Can't follow you there dude.
PJ| 10.27.10 @ 7:05PM
Don't forget Edmund Rostand. Shakespeare is the greatest playwright, but Rostand wrote the greatest lines for the character, Cyrano de Bergerac. Everytime I read Cyrano's monologues describing his love for Roxanne or his impending death---------- it just takes my breath away!!
Tom| 10.28.10 @ 3:31AM
Thanks to Michael Johnson for this article about the admirable craftsmanship of Flaubert translator Davis. Johnson's contribution is a welcome diversion in this political season of "poitrines palpitantes" -- in the out-of-control sense that the translator adopts, not in the original measured sense of Flaubert.
Lydia Davis, the translator of Johnson's review may have badly misread Flaubert at the worst possible juncture. With the simile of two people embracing to become one, even unto their racing heartbeats, Flaubert depicted the outcome of a snap transition that aligns Emma and Leon. A compelling look at each other displaces in an instant the irresolute, noise-infested, opportunistic thoughts of Emma and Leon with new, urgently aligned intent":
CriticalIntelligence| 10.28.10 @ 3:21PM
Surely the interior of Ken (Old Texican)’s mind must be as dank as a crumbling double-wide without electricity. Bill Buckley showed us there was nothing to fear in education or intellectual breadth. Old Texican’s idea of “an intellectual pursuit” must still be chasing the brainy kids across the playground and beating them.
Curmudgeon| 10.28.10 @ 3:56PM
To Bob K: Edgar Allan Poe was translated into French by none other than the great poet Baudelaire. As a Frenchman, I must admit I find Madame Bovary pretty boring.