Abstract
Saint-John Perse’s poem Amers (1956) was translated into English by the American translator and literary scholar Wallace Fowlie in 1957. The manuscripts of this translation, which present the main focus of this paper, are conserved in the archive of the Saint-John Perse Foundation in Aix-en-Provence (France), and reveal the genesis of a collaborative translation: Wallace Fowlie’s manuscript is paralleled by the work of an unofficial translator, John Marshall, whose manuscript appears to be the closest to the final version. Both manuscripts show the hand-written suggestions, corrections, and variants of the poet himself.Spanning the various stages of the writing process from which the generation of this collaborative translation progressively emerges, the two manuscripts show a fascinating interaction. Saint-John Perse constantly confronts the versions of his two translators, sculpting them according to his poetic art. He also creates numerous columns of variants in the margins that display the semantic treasure of the original expression.The reader approaching this translation from a genetic standpoint can discover the sinuous gestation of the translation process, as well as the semantic and phonetic laws that govern the poet’s choices. He can also make good hermeneutic use of the poet’s variants, revealing an unexpected interpretative key. Consequently, through analysis of these avant-textual discoveries, many metaphors in absentia can become metaphors in praesentia, leading to a better understanding both of the original poem and its translation.
Highlights
Abstract his study aims to analyse the creative process of literary collaboration and, more speciically, of collaborative translation from the theoretical and methodological perspective of genetic criticism applied to translation studies
Attempting to establish a “microhistory of translation”,5 our analysis of the collaborative translation process of Amers / Seamarks will follow the method of genetic criticism, according to the recent emergence of a new ield of research located at the intersection of genetic criticism and translation studies: genetic translation studies6. he purpose of this new transdisciplinary approach is to analyse the practices of the “working translator and the evolution, or genesis, of the translated text by studying translators’ manuscripts, drats and other working documents.”7 At the same time, as Sergio Romanelli puts it, “such analysis examines translation manuscripts in order to expound the creative process of the translator seen as a true authoring process that serves to demystify deeply rooted stereotypes about the work of the translator.“8
Since the sole reading of the published text of these translations would never have disclosed such an invisible artistic collaboration between SaintJohn Perse and his translators, this article aims to explore the sinuous gestation of a threefold artistic collaboration through a genetic study of the English translation of Saint-John Perse’s poem Amers (1956)
Summary
Abstract his study aims to analyse the creative process of literary collaboration and, more speciically, of collaborative translation from the theoretical and methodological perspective of genetic criticism applied to translation studies (genetic translation studies). We can make good semantic use of the poet’s variants, which reveal an unexpected interpretative key, since SaintJohn Perse’s self-translation process shows the underpinnings of his poetics, both in the French text and in the English translation.
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