This book is the record of an apprenticeship in translating Baudelaire, and in translating poetry more generally. Re-assessing the translator's task and art, Clive Scott explores various theoretical approaches as he goes in search of his own style of translation. In the course of the book, versions of seventeen of Baudelaire's poems are offered, with detailed evaluations of the poems and the translations.
Translating Baudelaire considers two neglected questions: What form should the criticism of translation take, if the critic is to do justice to the translator's 'project'? How can a translator persuade readers to respond to a translation as a text with its own creative dynamic and expressive ambitions?
Clive Scott is Professor of European Literature, University of East Anglia and Fellow of the British Academy. His most recent books include The Poetics of French Verse: Studies in Reading (Clarendon Press, 1998) and The Spoken Image: Photography and Language (Reaktion Books, 1999).
Introduction
Chapter One: A Defence of Foreignizing Translation
Chapter Two: Translating Rhythm
Chapter Three: The Dead Language of Translation
Chapter Four: Translating and Co-authoring
Chapter Five: Translation and Transformation
Chapter Six: 'Shot' and 'Reverse Shot' Translation
Chapter Seven: The Route through Prose
Chapter Eight: The Criticisms of Translation
Chapter Nine: Translation and Intercutting
Conclusion
Appendix I: 'Translations' of translations of 'La Cloche fêlée'
Appendix II: Texts of Verlaine's 'Nevermore', Elliot's 'Nevermore' and Baudelaire's 'Le Balcon'
Appendix III: Text of Baudelaire's 'Assommons les pauvres!'
Appendix IV: Text of Baudelaire's 'Le Voyage'
Bibliography
Index
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