It seems the majority of what I’ve done so far for this project is read. Last cycle I read about translation. This cycle I read a little bit about Saint-Exupery and France in 1943. But the most exciting thing I read was the book that my project is actually focusing on!
Le Petit Prince was written by Saint-Exupery while the world was engulfed in World War II. He wrote when he fled to the U.S. after France was invaded by Germany. The message of appreciating the small beauties and wonders of life is much more poignant when considered in context. In 1943 no one was sure what was going to happen to France, it’s people and it’s culture, and this book seems to me to serve as a reminder as well as a beacon of beauty and hope. This is something I have to keep in mind when translating because since I’m supposed to be creating in the readers of my English translation the same emotional response as the French readers, this may affect the style and word choice that I use. (Yes, there is a point to, even minimal, background research.)
Interesting fact about Antoine de Saint-Exupery: he was an aviator who flew in the French Air Force during the war, but before that he flew around the Sahara desert, delivering mail to isolated settlements. That would explain why Le Petit Prince takes place in the Sahara and the narrator is a pilot. (If you don’t know the story, it is about a pilot who crashes in the middle of the Sahara desert, stranded with a broken airplane and only enough water for eight days. He meets and befriends a little prince from another planet who tells him about his travels across the universe before coming to earth.) Another interesting fact: after writing Le Petit Prince and other works, Saint-Exupery took a flying mission for France in North Africa. He left on July 31, 1944 and disappeared. He was never found (Antoine de Saint-Exupery 1). Why are there always mysteries surrounding famed artists and innovators?
So I read through the entire book! I’m happy because I understood a lot. Some chapters were more clear than others but overall I got the main ideas of the story and oh, what a story. It was really quite beautiful. And also kind of sad. It was a portrayal of life through the eyes of a child, but a child who understands things better than most adults. I didn’t stop this readthrough to look up any words, so hopefully specific details will become clear with the help of my dictionary and wordreference.com. I marked passages that were especially confusing to make sure I take enough time with them.
There are three weeks left in this project. I’m just starting to translate now, and I really don’t know how long this is going to take me. My original goal was to translate the whole book, but I’m not sure if this is realistic anymore. The book is divided into short chapters, so I’m going to translate the first one and based on the time that takes me, decide how much I’m going to do. Right now I’m thinking that I’m going to downsize my goal to the first 9 to 16 chapters. I can’t wait to get to work translating this into English. I will begin this cycle, meaning tomorrow. Finally!
Sources:
"Antoine De Saint-Exupery." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2013.
<http://www.pbs.org/kcet/chasingthesun/innovators/aexupery.html>.
Thomas, Francis-Noel. "The End Of A World." Humanities 33.4 (2012): 28 MasterFILE Premier. Web.
3 Mar. 2013 <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&sid=9e17963c-d6b4-4e91-9fe4- 451e41e8485a%40sessionmgr4&hid=118&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&A=78555478>.
Rebekah, I'm really glad you finished the book! I have read the book in both Korean and English version, and I admit that the emotions I felt were quite different, even though it was still the same content. Like you have said, the word choice is very important, since each word provokes different emotion. Whenever I tried to translate from Korean to English, or vice versa, my head would always explode because I kept on changing the tone of the sentence, even though they essentially mean the same thing. I hope you don't have to deal with those frustration. :) One question I have for you is: Are you going try to do this ENTIRELY by yourself, or will you be asking for help? (Like words that you're unsure of, sentence structure, etc.) I do think that it would be hard to translate the whole book, but somehow, I believe that you will be able to get it done. Good luck!
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