Le traducteur rimbaldien: voleur ou voyant ?

[摘要] English: Translating poetry from French to Afrikaans is not really a new concept in Afrikaans literature. The beginning of the twentieth century (around 1919 / 1920) already saw the publication of translations by Jan Celliers (1865 �?950) of the works of, amongst others, French writers Henri Bordeaux and Prosper Mérimée. Although on a humble scale,thistraditionwassustainedbypoetslikeUysKrige,ElizabethEybersand manyothers.Poetrytranslationisindeedoneofthewaysinwhichaforeign languageentersthecanonofatargetlanguage(inthiscase,Afrikaans)andby which the canon is not only enlarged, but also enriched.In thesearch for Afrikaans translations of the works of the well-known French poet, ArthurRimbaud(1854 �?891),onlyonetranslationoftheprosepoem'Aube' (Daybreak)couldbefound.ThistranslationbyUysKrigewasalreadypublishedin 1950. Yet, there are various translations of Rimbaud poems in other languages and thequestionarosewhythiswasnotthecasewithAfrikaans.Althoughpoetry translation can pose many linguistic and other obstacles, it has a history of success inworldliterature.Therefore,thestancewastakenthatitshouldbepossibleto translate Rimbaud in Afrikaans after all. AsapoetduringthetransitionperiodfrommainlyRomantismtoSymbolism, Rimbaud brought about several innovations inthe French poetry of the time. In this vein, his poetry was sonorous with much synaesthesia:he changed French form and rhythm to such an extent that he made a total transition to prose poetry around 1873. In his own words he wanted to attain a language accessible to all the senses and he considered it only possible if he could be a 'voyant ('seer). But is it possible for the translator of Rimbaud poems to also be a 'voyant or is he only a 'voleur ('thief) whostealsfromthepoet?Thiswasthemainquestionthatwouldbeinvestigated empirically in the research. In order to commence the translation of four poems ('Morts de quatre-vingt-douze, 'Mabohème,'Voyellesand'Bonnepenséedumatin)andthreeprosepoems ('L'éclair, 'Matin en 'Aube), the various poems were contextualised in turn. The contextismadeupofthebiographyofthepoetandtheliterarytendenciesofthe time, amongst other factors. The next step was to analyse and discuss the poems so that the translation could be approached with insight.Eachpoempresenteditsuniquetranslationchallenges.Inthisvein,itwasnot always possible to reproduce French rhythm in the translations, yet it was endeavouredtomaintainafairlyregularrhythm.Whileitwasdecidedtodoaway withtherhymescheme,duetoitslimitingnature,alliterationandassonancewere oftenreconstructedbymeansofothersounds,butwiththeaimtorecreatethe feelingintheFrench poem.Sincethesetranslationsconstitutea firstencounterfor AfrikaansspeakerswithRimbaudpoetry,thepoeticcontentswererecreatedas faithfullyaspossible.Thedifferencesbetweentheoriginalpoemandtheeventual translatedpoemwerealsodiscussedandexplained.Fromthisresearchitbecame clear that the translator has to make many compromises in order to bring the French poemhomeintheAfrikaanscanon.Inhisendeavourheis,toacertainextent,a thief: indeed he steals words and techniques from the original poet, but at the same time he is a 'voyant who uses words, sounds and techniques in a creative way to facilitateaneasytransitionbetweenthesourcelanguage(French)andthetarget language (Afrikaans). The conclusion can thus be drawnthat it is indeed possible to translate Rimbaud in Afrikaans and that the translator as 'Voleur and 'Voyant makes a contribution in a creative way to enlarge and enrich the Afrikaans canon.

[发布机构] University of the Free State