Saturday, February 24, 2018

Florença e Joan (Nadau)


(original en occitan)

Era s’ha hèit l’erbeta, l’erbeta, l’erbeta,
era s’ha hèit l’erbeta
au prat en verdejant.

Eth que s’a hèit dalhaire, dalhaire, dalhaire,
eth que s’ha hèit dalhaire
l’a avuda en dalhant.

[ Que son dus sus la via
i a Florença e i a Joan,
e que volan tot dia
sus un gran chivau blanc.

Mès que cau que v’at disi
jo qui èi tres mila ans
que Joan aima Florença
e Florença aima Joan. ]

Era s’a hèit la lèbe, la lèbe, la lèbe,
era s’a hèit la lèbe,
d’aceth bòsc qui ei tant gran.

Eth que s’a hèit caçaire, caçaire, caçaire,
eth que s’a hèit caçaire,
l’a avuda en caçant.

[...]

Era s’a hèit istoèra, istoèra, istoèra,
era s’a hèit istoèra
hens un líbe d’enfant.

Eth que s’a hèit contaire, contaire, contaire,
eth que s’a hèit contaire
l’a avuda en contant.

[...]

Era s’a hèit l’estela, l’estela, l’estela,
era s’a hèit l’estela
au bèth som deu lugran.

Eth que s’a hèit talòssa, talòssa, talòssa,
eth que s’a hèit talòssa
l’a avuda en l’espiant.

[...]

-----------------

(traducció al català)

Ella es féu l’herbeta,
es féu l’herbeta
del prat verdejant.

Ell, que es féu dallaire,
es féu dallaire
i la prengué dallant.

[ Son dos a la via
la Florença i el Joan,
i volten tot el dia
sobre un cavall blanc.

Jo us haig de dir,
jo que tinc tres-mil anys,
que en Joan estima la Florença,
i la Florença estima en Joan. ]

Ella es féu la llebre,
ella es féu la llebre
d’aquest bosc tant gran.

Ell, que es féu caçador,
es féu caçador,
i la prengué caçant.

[...]

Ella es féu conte,
es féu conte
dins un llibre d’infant.

Ell, que es féu rondallaire,
es féu rondallaire,
i la prengué contant.

[...]

Ella es féu l’estrella,
es féu l’estrella
del cel ben a dalt.

I ell, que es féu llambric,
es féu llambric,
i la prengué observant.

[...]

-----------------

Intent d'entendre l'occità a base de traduir. L'ús de "prendre" per "l'a avuda" no em convenç del tot (hi ha quelcom de violent en prendre). Però més discutible encara és "X es féu Y" per "X s'ha heit". Traducció heurística!

Friday, February 23, 2018

Autre epitafi

Aquí jai
un òme
que nasquèt sus la tèrra
ont s'inventèt l'amor.
Moriguèt
d'aver jamai pogut dire
a una femna
la mendra paraula d'amor
dins la lenga dels trobadors.

Autre epitafi de Bernat Lesfargas
(gràcies a Jaume Cabré per compartir)

Ёлка и свадьба

"Бакенбарды были действительно весьма хороши. Но он гладил их до того усердно, что, глядя на него, решительно можно было подумать, что сперва произведены на свет одни бакенбарды, а потом уж приставлен к ним господин, чтобы их гладит."
Ёлка и свадьба, Фёдор Достоевский
Un arbre de nadal i un casament, Fiódor Dostoievski

"Les seves patilles eren realment notables; però les acariciava amb tanta dèria que, veient-lo, un podia imaginar-les apareixent primer, i només després ajuntant-s'hi l'home amb únic propòsit d'acariciar-les."

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Janet


[...]

"Oh yes, I will marry your daughter Janet
By the truth of my right hand
Why yes, I will marry your daughter Janet
But I'll not be the lord of your land."

And he's mounted her on a milk-white steed
And himself on a dapple grey
He has made her the lady of as much land
As she shall ride in a long summer's day.

—Willy O'Winsbury, traditional

Joseph

   29 And he lifted up his eyes, and
saw his brother Benjamin, his
mother's son, and said, Is this your
younger brother, of whom ye spake
unto me? And he said, God be gra-
cious unto thee, my son.
   30 And Joseph made haste; for his
bowels did yearn upon his brother:
and he sought where to weep; and he
entered into his chamber, and wept
there.
 [...]
   34 And he took and sent messes
unto them from before him: but
Benjamin's mess was five times so
much as any of their's. And they
drank, and were merry with him.
Genesis 43:29-34

Song, To Celia


Drink to me only with thine eyes,
         And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss but in the cup,
         And I’ll not look for wine.
The thirst that from the soul doth rise
         Doth ask a drink divine;
But might I of Jove’s nectar sup,
         I would not change for thine.

I sent thee late a rosy wreath,
         Not so much honouring thee
As giving it a hope, that there
         It could not withered be.
But thou thereon didst only breathe,
         And sent’st it back to me;
Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,
         Not of itself, but thee.
 —Song. To Celia, Ben Jonson
1616

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Lying

15 Then Sarah denied, saying, I
laughed not; for she was afraid. And
he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.
Genesis 18:15

Can someone make this into an Elizabethan comedy? My skills are wanting. The following scene is also delightful: 
— Abraham: Peradventure there shall be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
  the LORD: Nay I say; If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city walls, therein I will spare all the place for their sakes.
— Abraham: [speaking unto himself] Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes, but of His patience we shall take a sip: [back to the LORD] Peradventure there shall lack forty of the fifty righteous: wilt thou then destroy all the city for lack of forty?
— the LORD: Nay again, I tell thee, thou king-to-be; If I find in Sodom but five of the righteous within the city, yea, I will spare all the place for their sakes.
— Abraham: [to himself] Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but once more: [back to the LORD] Peradventure one shall be found there.
— the LORD: I will lend it to thee this one time, that marginal returns be so minuscule... Nay, I will not destroy it for one's sake!
[exeunt the LORD]

Sunday, February 4, 2018

"Oh, such a life as he resolved to live, when he had learned it"

Yea, but we found him bald too, eyes like lead,
          Accents uncertain:
"Time to taste life," another would have said,
          "Up with the curtain!"
This man said rather, "Actual life comes next?
          Patience a moment!
Grant I have mastered learning's crabbed text,
          Still there's the comment.
Let me know all! Prate not of most or least,
          Painful or easy!
Even to the crumbs I'd fain eat up the feast,
          Ay, nor feel queasy."
Oh, such a life as he resolved to live,
          When he had learned it,
When he had gathered all books had to give!
          Sooner, he spurned it.
Image the whole, then execute the parts
          Fancy the fabric
Quite, ere you build, ere steel strike fire from quartz,
          Ere mortar dab brick! 
—A Grammarian's Funeral, Robert Browning

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Crazy Jane and Lady Chatterley

I met the Bishop on the road
And much said he and I.
`Those breasts are flat and fallen now
Those veins must soon be dry;
Live in a heavenly mansion,
Not in some foul sty.'

`Fair and foul are near of kin,
And fair needs foul,' I cried.
'My friends are gone, but that's a truth
Nor grave nor bed denied,
Learned in bodily lowliness
And in the heart's pride.

`A woman can be proud and stiff
When on love intent;
But Love has pitched his mansion in
The place of excrement;
For nothing can be sole or whole
That has not been rent.'
—Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop, W.B. Yeats
Words for music perhaps and other poems (1932)

Taken from the preface letter by Archibald MacLeish in the unabridged 1959 Grove edition of Lady Chatterley, with some other gems:
The purpose of the book is manifestly pure: pure as being the high purpose of a serious artist; pure as being the cleansing purpose of a social reformer who hates lechery and sexual morbidity as he hates the devil himself. Lawrence's purpose here is the cleansing purpose of freeing humanity from the domination, which seemed to him evil, of the abstract intellect and sterile will by a return to the natural life of the body and the senses. His enemies are hypocrisy and intellectualism and sham. His admiration is for wholeness and awareness and life. One may or may not agree with Lawrence's estimate of the saving power of the senses and of natural sex in particular, or with his judgment of the destroying power of "the life of the mind", but it is impossible to question honestly the purity of his motive.