Ideas of Translation

UMass Amherst graduate and Amherst College professor Constance Congdon had the challenge of adapting a literal translation of a 17th century French comedy. Let’s examine some of the challenges of this process. Here we look at four renditions of the same lines.

Below we have just a few lines from the original French text of The Imaginary Invalid. This scene comes at the end of the play when Argan is pretending to be dead in order to discover how his scheming wife, Beline, truly feels about him.

BÉLINE Le Ciel en soit loué. Me voilà délivrée d’un grand fardeau. Que tu es sotte, Toinette, de t’affliger de cette mort!

Next, let us look at a literal, word for word translation with no considerations of artistic value:
BÉLINE The Heavens be praised! I have had a great burden taken away from me. How stupid you are, Toinette, to be upset about his death!

Here is the same line from a famous adaptation of The Imaginary Invalid by John Wood, published in 1959. BÉLINE Heavens be praised for that! What a relief! Don’t be so silly Toinette. What are you crying for?

Finally, let us look at what the adapter of The Imaginary Invalid, Constance Congdon, has interpreted this line. She has taken the line and adapted it. The original intent of the line is still there, but Congdon has given it a more contemporary feel. BÉLINE Oh my – I am quite beside myself with unmitigated JOY!! JOY!! JOY!! I am delivered at last from this millstone of a man I’ve carried around my neck. How silly of you, Toinette, to be so upset. At last!!! I’m free!

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

• What are the differences between the literal translation, Wood’s translation, and Congdon’s adaptation?

• How have the two adaptations stayed true to the intent of the line yet taken some artistic license? Try it yourself. Pretend you are the “adapter” of a new production of Le Malade Imaginaire.

Below is the original French and a literal translation of the same line. How would you adapt it to make it something that you would want to hear onstage? Make sure you don’t lose the original intent of the line!

This line comes in the scene we looked at on the previous page, when Argan, after revealing that he has not died, throws Beline out of the house.

He calls after her: ARGAN, Je suis bien aise de voir votre amitié, et d’avoir entendu le beau panégyrique que vous avez fait de moi. Voilà un avis au lecteur, qui me rendra sage à l’avenir, et qui m’empêchera de faire bien des choses.

ARGAN I am very glad to see your good feeling and to have heard the fine panegyric* that you have pronounced on me. This is a wholesome advice that will make me more prudent for the future, and will prevent me from doing many things.
* A panegyric is a public speech of praise. Argan is being sarcastic because Beline, thinking him to be dead, has been busy calling him all sorts of awful names and celebrating his passing.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Here are a few questions to consider when you come and see The Imaginary Invalid.

• Why is Argan deceiving himself into believing that he is constantly ill?

• What is his self-deception causing him to miss in his own life? With his family members? With his friends? • In what ways do the characters hide their true motives or intentions?

• How are these intentions or wants pursued and discovered?

• By the end of the play, how has Argan changed? What has he discovered about himself and those around him?