Nov 1, 2006 20:14
18 yrs ago
2 viewers *
French term

°Fanaux dans la nuit du sens°

French to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature Andre Breton
Would anyone know what the official translation of this is?

Thanks very much in advance.

Discussion

Martin Cassell Nov 2, 2006:
... However to do full justice to the source would require at least reading some of the original passage for context: I believe this is from Fata Morgana, but as Breton is still in copyright you would need someone with access to a copy (the speaker?)
Martin Cassell Nov 2, 2006:
My feeling is that you can do a serviceable job by, as you suggest, including the original quotation and following it with a basic translation, perhaps skewed towards the context of the speech ...
Irene (Renata) Liapis (asker) Nov 2, 2006:
This is a quote in a speech someone is giving - he is talking about the coincidence involved in finding rare artifacts and uses this quote to highlight this aspect.
Martin Cassell Nov 2, 2006:
Surrealism upon surrealism! Google asks "Did you mean to search for: Animaux dans la nuit du sens"
But more seriously, are you translating this phrase as an isolated reference/quote in another text?
Irene (Renata) Liapis (asker) Nov 2, 2006:
Not to worry - I'm not offended (and I'm kidding a bit too!). I do wish I could find the quote in English though. I guess the next question is-how do you handle it if you don't? Put in the French and and approximate translation in brackets?
Martin Cassell Nov 2, 2006:
Please don't apologize! I'm sure neither Richard nor I were being 100% serious.
Irene (Renata) Liapis (asker) Nov 2, 2006:
Yes Martin, it would certainly do considerable damage! Sorry I meant published not official (but I will admit to being tired AND influenced by the EU when I said official instead). I am beginning to doubt whether it was translated and published in English though, as my search did not turn up anything specific and though the answers I have received below are quite creative, none seem to be from a published source.
Martin Cassell Nov 2, 2006:
I suspect official translation would be the death of poetry.
Imagine what the EU translation process could do to, say, Rimbaud.
Richard Benham Nov 2, 2006:
What's an official translation of poetry?

Proposed translations

+5
52 mins
Selected

beacons in the dark night of the mind

poetry's not truly my métier but this literal-ish version ought to have pretty similar resonances -- do you have a wider context to guide us in to port a little more surely?

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Note added at 53 mins (2006-11-01 21:08:47 GMT)
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and i don't know an "official" version, either.

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Note added at 13 hrs (2006-11-02 09:52:06 GMT)
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Renata, I understood you to mean published, that's why I put official in (semi-ironic) quotation marks.
Note from asker:
Sorry - I meant a published translation - not an "official"one
Peer comment(s):

agree Sandra C. : very nicely said :-)
11 mins
thank you, Sandra
agree Julie Barber : beacon is nice too
26 mins
ça irait aussi : dépendra de l'ensemble du contexte
agree Assimina Vavoula
52 mins
thanks
agree Ingeborg Gowans (X) : I knew spomebody could do better than I did, thanks
4 hrs
agree Cervin : It fits nicely with finding artefacts. You rootle about everywhere trying to find them when suddenly, lo& behold, you come across one just like a beacon on a dark night!
22 hrs
Something went wrong...
2 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks to everyone for your help- I still haven't found the actual published translation but your input was still very helpful "
34 mins

an example

Not the right poem but I liked it so I thought I'd post it on this dark night :-)

I'll keep looking for the right one!

On the road to San Romano (1948) (translated)

Poetry is made in a bed like love. It's rumpled sheets are the dawn of things. Poetry is made in the woods.It has the space it needsNot this one but the other one whose form is lent it by.The eye of the kite. The dew on a horsetail. The memory of a bottle frosted over on a silver tray. A tail rod of tourmaline on the sea. And the road of the mental adventure. That climbs abruptly. One halt and it's overgrown. That isn't to be shouted on the rooftops. It's improper to leave the door open. Or to summon witnesses. The shoals of fish the hedges of titmice. The rails at the entrance of the great station. The reflections of both riverbanks. The crevices in the bread. The bubbles in the stream. The days of the calendar. The Saint-John's wort. The act of love and the act of poetry. Are incompatible. With reading the paper out loud. The meaning of the sunbeam. The blue light between the hatchet blows. The bat's thread shaped like a a heart or a hoopnet. The beaver tails beating in time. The diligence of the flesh. The casting of candy from the old stairs. The avalanche. The room of marvels. No good Sirs it isn't the eighth Tribunal Chamber. Nor the vapours of the roomful some Sunday evening. The figures danced transparent above the pools.The outline of the wall of a woman's body at daggerthrow. The bright spirals of smoke. The curls of your hair. The curve of the Philippine sponge. The swaying of the coral snake. The ivy entrance in the ruins. It has all the time ahead . The embrace of poetry like that of the flesh. As long as it lasts. Shuts out any glimpse of the misery of the world
http://surrealists.classifieds4u.co.uk/Breton/bretongallery....
Peer comment(s):

neutral Richard Benham : That's "its".
4 hrs
I couldn't resist is my only line of defence Mr B
neutral Martin Cassell : i think it's from Fata Morgana
15 hrs
well never mind, as it wasn't a serious answer dear, although I learnt a new word with Fata Morgana...:)
Something went wrong...
+1
39 mins

a shaft of light in the darkness of one's senses

http://www.dicocitations.com/resultatauteurs.php?id=698

obviously a quote by Andre Breton (1896-1966) which you probably knew already
listed as "veritable coiincidence"
the translation is most likely not too elegant, so I'll leave it to my esteemed colleagues to improve on it
Note from asker:
You are all right - of course there's no "official" translation - what I meant was "published" - sorry (it was rather late!)
Peer comment(s):

agree Julie Barber : a guiding light? http://www.wordreference.com/enfr/navigation
10 mins
Iopted for beacon in the end see below
Something went wrong...
10 hrs

visions of light within the sanctuary of the soul

something from a subjective experience.

Something went wrong...
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