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TRANSLATION -- ADAPTATION -- IMITATION
TRANSLATION is often believed to be a simple substitution of words, but this is not true even for "everyday" translation, because every language is a system on its own -- a system of notions allocated to sounds giving words and expressions, a system of relationships allocated to structures giving grammar and phrases. There probably is not even one single word that has an exact match in any other language. One might think the French word maison is the equivalent of the English word house, but à la maison means at home. You might say I am means je suis in French, but I am 40 years old will have to be translated as j'ai 40 ans. So translation as what is often called simple translation is widely underestimated. This introductory remark seems necessary especially with regard to the translation of poetry and lyrics, because in poems words do not only convey contents, but they tend to represent themselves as well. Poetry is always structural reflection of and on the language itself.
This is one of the reasons why Georges Brassens is largely
unknown in the non French-speaking parts of the world. His poetry is deeply
rooted in the French language and culture, his images and analogies emanate
from language itself. TRANSLATION as a process solely focused on contents
is not sufficient for rendering foreign poetry. As poetry means to use and
select words BOTH for their contents AND for their form, the same is absolutely
necessary for the target language. This is what I call linguistic ADAPTATION -- the selection
of equivalent means. Only contents can be translated, form needs to be adapted.
IMITATION in this linguistic context does not mean to make believe, but to take up the structure of a verse as closely as possible to the original poem.
I am speaking here about the theoretical background to avoid the general
temptation to translate one's own personal interpretation. The chansons of
Georges Brassens have such a wide scope and profound depth that every attempt
to restrict them to precise views will imply the risk to make the songs more
vulgar than they actually are in French or to remove the suggestive vagueness
of the original verses. What is important is to identify the author who remains
visible regardless of whether a song evokes the French catholic and rural
tradition of the humble and modest (Les sabots d'Hélène,
Pauvre Martin, Le joueur de flûteau) or the traditional rebellious
spirit of barricading (Boulevard du Temps qui passe, Tempête dans
un bénitier) -- to find the linking elements between Hécatombe
and L'épave or between L'ancêtre and La messe
au pendu.
These linking elements are the stylistic, aesthetic and poetic means
used by Georges Brassens. You find a brief outline in my French summary (Traduire Brassens), which is far from being exhaustive.
The challenge of the translator is to use an equivalent style while TRANSLATING
the original contents, because a second temptation could be to use the author's
style without respecting the original scope and depth of contents. I know
that the word ADAPTATION is widely used to describe the whole process of
translating poetry, but this is largely due to the underestimation and misunderstanding
of what is generally called TRANSLATION. In my view, TRANSLATION and LINGUISTIC
ADAPTATION give no freedom, but are linked to unavoidable restraints!
As my translations are in German, I will just refer to some aspects
of translation and adaptation of cultural aspects. For the linguistic and
stylistic means, you should read Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, who uses
a similar style.
The songs of Georges Brassens are full of allusions to French culture
and history. The translation approaches vary according to the particular song.
Personally, I did not change direct references to litterature such as the
following :
Que le brave Prévert et ses escargots veuillent |
(Le 22 septembre) |
Tout à fait dignes du panier |
(Bécassine) |
C'étaient pas des amis choisis |
(Les copains d'abord) |
Mais se touchant le crâne en criant: « J'ai trouvé ! » |
(Le grand Pan) |
The latter example makes reference to a French comic strip (bande dessinée)
and so the word bande (band, gang, bunch) is an obvious allusion to
that and has not been chosen accidentally. This is a typical example for
how Brassens uses the French language ( I call it CONTEXTUAL
LINK in my French summary). I still have not
made my mind up whether to use Nimbus or to opt for an alternative German
translation, where I replace Nimbus by Doktor Allwissend (Doctor
Know-All), not only because the Nimbus reference in itself is less important
than its meaning for the train of thought, but because a German audience
would understand nimbus ONLY as an allusion or -- what is worse --
even reference to rain clouds. The following example may be better to illustrate
this:
C'est pas seulement à Paris |
(L'assassinat) |
In this example, the reference to Paris is a reference to the French capital.
In favour of the song, it is not desirable to stick to Paris in the German
translation, because Paris would be understood as a cosmopolitan city in
a foreign country so that the very idea of the first strophe (contrast between
crime in the capital and in the village) would not work out. It would of
course be possible to use the name of the German capital, but I decided to
generalize and replace the name of Paris by the German word for capital.
This is what I would call GENERALIZING ADAPTATION.
This is adaptation by translating a cultural reference or allusion according
to its function in the particular context. This approach is of course not
possible for songs like Ricochets or Le vieux Léon. I
even did the contrary for the latter chanson, where I introduced the words
Paris and Montparnasse by replacing the allusion to the town
of bridges
and the detailed street names:
Il a coulé |
(Le vieux Léon) |
Sometimes, the decision is not so easy. In the song Hécatombe, I replaced the name of the town of Brive-la-Gaillarde by a reference to a non-existing (provincial and narrow-minded) town known from old German folk songs. It is important to know that XIXth century dictionaries indicate Brive-la-Gaillarde as symbolic for provincial and narrow-minded behaviour. This use is no longer true, but Brassens confirms in an interview with Philippe Nemo that he did not have in mind the actual town (which has nevertheless renamed its market square Georges Brassens, if I'm well informed).
So every song offers its own restraints to the translator. Let's take
the example of Les quat'z'arts, which I like very much. The references
to the French bal des carabins and bal des quat'z'arts will
not be understood by foreign people and are even not very well known to everyone
in France. But again, the reference itself is less important than the train
of thought developed by Brassens in this song, which leads to the final fatalistic
statement:
Nous n'irons plus danser au grand-bal des quat'z'arts.
Viens pépère, on va se ranger des corbillards.
This is a marvellous song creating a vague atmosphere of apprehension
and I would have regretted it very much not to be able to share it with a
German speaking audience, especially because the conclusion is in contrast
with many other songs and does not abolish the feeling of anxiety. Under this
aspect, it has a certain similarity with Le grand Pan. But to come
back to adaptation: The song Les quat'z'arts alludes e.g. to traditional
"smutty" songs (Saint-Éloi n'est pas mort..., Les filles de Camaret...),
to libertinage of youth... A linear translation would be incomprehensible.
Allusion is a stylistic means of Brassens, the foundation on which he builds
his songs and makes his reflections. The important thing, in my view, is
to render the reasoning of Brassens and not to explain his cultural background
(the latter could be an object for commented editions, but not for an evening
of songs). So there are two songs where I took actual liberties, but without
having this intention from the very beginning. For the songs La ronde
des jurons and La route aux quatre chansons, this approach eventually
proved to be UNAVOIDABLE. I said at the beginning that poetry always means
to reflect and mirror the language itself. The refrain of La ronde des
jurons is a collection of curses, chiefly ancient curses, as the symbolic
and emblematic expression of opposition and rebellion as a TRADITION. So
it is a look on the French language under the aspect of cursing. I was curious
and did the same for the German language and finally even had to pick out
some of them, because there was not enough space in the refrain. Once the
refrain was entirely German, it was no longer possible to sing:
Quand les Gaulois
De bon aloi
Du franc-parler suivaient la loi...
because the curses were no longer Gaul and French, but German curses.
The next step was unavoidable: I had to replace the Gauls by the Teutons.
Als der German,Since I sing the songs both in French and in German, I can compare them and dare say that my adaptation is closer to the original idea than any intermediate solution I could have tried. Georges Brassens is generally known as nonconformist or unconventional -- and so is his way to use the French language. In the case of La ronde des jurons as well as La route aux quatre chansons, the deviation from the cultural standards is more important than the cultural standards themselves. How could an audience understand or let's better say: feel unconventionality without understanding the conventions? For the Brassens translator, it is important to reproduce nonconformism as a stylistic means : by deviating from the linguistic standards of the target language. If Brassens sings:
Der Aleman',
Noch kein Blatt vor sein Mundwerk nahm...
Mais se touchant le crâne en criant: « J'ai trouvé! »
La bande au professeur Nimbus est arrivée
Qui s'est mise à frapper les cieux d'alignement
Chasser les dieux du firmament. (Le grand Pan)
It is important to trace the source : maisons frappées d'alignement
(as an administrative procedure) and the consequence: chasser les habitants
de leur maison with an unambiguous allusion to chasser Adam et Ève
du paradis (expulsion from paradise) and to find equivalent or let's say
at least similar expressions of a similar "taste". In German, it is lucky
coincidence that the Biblic equivalent of chasser as vertreiben
alludes to marketing/selling the Gods and alignment as the technical
term of construction Flucht alludes to escape. The verb chasser
could be translated by other German words (verjagen, hinauswerfen),
but as the words tend to represent themselves in their (almost) entire scope
of meaning, it is crucial to select each word very carefully and test it
for its impact on INTERPRETABILITY. This is what I mean by PRECISION and
RESTRAINT even in terms of ADAPTATION often believed to mean freedom and
liberty...
Another very important aspect is POETIC ADAPTATION.
In the case of Brassens, this means to find an adequate way for the unconventional
treatment of poetic forms against the background of the target language. So
I believe it indispensable for a faithful translation-adaptation to reproduce
the broken rhymes (within a word, as done e.g. by Edgar Allan Poe, see my
French summary) and to try to stick to the sometimes very rigorous rhyme
structures. These rhymes do not only have a poetic meaning (dividing longer
verses), but sometimes even a direct meaning in a particular song. To give
an example (Le vin):
Avant de chanter
Ma vie, de fair' des
Harangues,
Dans ma gueul' de bois,
J'ai tourné sept fois
Ma langue.
J'suis issu de gens
Qu'étai'nt pas du gen-
re sobre...
In this song, the place of the first broken rhyme (rime coupée)
is so important that I did not use a possible translation for the first six
verses, because there would have been the need to place the first broken rhyme
too early. So the rhyme here has an actual MEANING at the content level,
because the first six lines say, to put it very roughly without the original
images: "Before starting to sing/praise my life, I've thought over what I'm
saying..." It is only then that the first in-word rhyme occurs as a break
of thinking while speaking the word. The songs of Georges Brassens are a
harmonious blend of linguistic, stylistic, poetic, and musical means -- always
in close connection with the contents and the story being told.
To conclude, I'd like to point out the process of IMITATION in translation of
poetry. By the way, this is not a translatory approach, but Louis Aragon
used it as well and referred to Guillaume Apollinaire who had a notebook
where he entered the verses he liked and wanted to imitate. The same is true
for certain allusions contained in the songs of Brassens:
| La mort, la mort toujours recommencée
(Mourir pour des idées) Le plus cornard des deux n'est point
celui qu'on croit C'est le duc de Bordeaux qui s'en va,
tête basse, |
La mer, la mer toujours recommencée
(Paul Valéry -- Le cimetière marin) Le plus âne des trois n'est pas
celui qu'on pense ...De là je conclus qu'le duc
de Bordeaux |
Si tu fais ta cour, |
B'ginnst du einen Flirt, Pass auf, dass der Wirt Dich nicht fasse Und gleich unverfror'n Ein'n Satz warmer Ohr'n Dir verpasse. Stets hübsch mit der Ruh,
(Das Bistro) |
Ralf Tauchmann
French quotations : © Éditions
Musicales 57 et © Édition Intersong - Paris