From French Verse to English: Behn's Version of Tallemant's Le Voyage De L'isle D'amour (1663)

Abstract

Although Behn's versatility as a writer is widely recognized, relatively little attention has been paid to her work as a translator. This is a mistake, not only because of the high quality of her translations and imitations, but also because translation was not regarded as a second-order activity at the period when she was writing, and should not be so regarded now. The article begins with a reminder of Dryden's distinctions between metaphrase, paraphrase and imitation, pointing out that Behn always preferred the greater creative freedom of the third. Then, after identifying briefly the key differences between early-modern English and French prosody, it analyses several short examples that show how Behn met the challenge of rendering Abbé Paul Tallemant's Le Voyage de l'isle d'amour (1663), which is a composite of prose and verse, into a long poem interspersing narrative passages mainly in iambic pentameter couplets with lyrical passages of greater intricacy. The essay ends by suggesting that comparison between the original French and Behn's imitation is not only of interest in its own right, but also throws into relief a fundamental difference in aesthetic and cultural practice.