Short Stories in French
Page 23
13. Orphée: Orpheus, son of Apollo, married Eurydice, who died from a snakebite. He went down to Hades to bring her back, and her return to life was granted on the condition that he walk ahead of her, without looking back. He broke his promise and Eurydice was irretrievably lost. Orpheus was such a good player of the lyre that wild animals were calmed by his music.
14. daguerréotypes: Early photographic prints, called after the inventor of the technique for producing them, Jacques Daguerre (1787–1851). The first daguerreotypes date from 1838.
15. les fleurs du mâle: A reference to a collection of poems by Charles Baudelaire (1821–67) that was first published in 1857. Les Fleurs du Mal records the search by man for an ideal that he can never attain, and which therefore plunges him into isolation and despair.
SELF-DESTRUCTION (Belletto)
1. maison d’un étage: The étage refers to the first, not the ground, floor.
2. présent An Anglicism. The more usual word is cadeau.
3. Robinson Crusoe: This is a fictional account, based on what actually happened to Alexander Selkirk, of a shipwrecked sailor on a desert island. It was written in 1719 by Daniel Defoe (1660–1731).
4. Fe me précipite … j’ouvre: The French text of the story is written almost entirely in the present tense, using the historic present to give greater actuality to the narrative. It seemed appropriate to use the present tense until this point, when the English past gives greater effect and speed. The interpretation of this is the translator’s dilemma and the result is based on a purely personal judgement.
YOU NEVER DIE (Gerber)
1. Laurentides: An area of outstanding natural beauty some sixty miles north of Montreal. In winter there is an abundance of skiing; in summer a wide variety of water sports.
Acknowledgements
For permission to reprint the French stories in this collection the publisher would like to thank the following: Éditions de la Table Ronde for ‘Apprendre à vivre’ and ‘Tous feux éteints’ from La Lorette hallucinée (1996); Éditions Gallimard for ‘David’ from La Ronde et autres faits divers (1982), © Éditions Gallimard, 1982; and ‘Le Café des Chasseurs’ from Les Feux du tour de ville, Collection Folio (1983), © Éditions Gallimard, 1983; Éditions de Minuit for ‘L’Occupation des sols’ (1988); L’instant même for ‘Le Navet’ from L’Oeil de verre: nouvelles (1993), © L’instant même, 1993, and ‘Les Cahiers maudits’ from La Déconvenue (1993), © L’instant même, 1993; Éditions de l’Hexagone for ‘L’Objet d’art’ from Nouvelles de Montréal (1992); Sylvie Germain for ‘Héloïse’, © Sylvie Germain, 1999; Éditions du Boréal for ‘Le Personnage’ from Les Eaux de la mémoire (1994), © Éditions du Boréal, Montreal, 1994; Éditions Librio for ‘Autodestruction’ from La Vie rêvée et autres nouvelles (1994); Éditions du Rocher for ‘On ne meurt jamais’ from Ce qu’on voit dans les yeux d’Iliyna Karopt (1996).
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Published in 1999
Introduction, notes, this collection and translations copyright © Richard Coward, 1999
Copyright in the original stories remains with the authors, unless stated otherwise in the Acknowledgements
The moral right of the editor has been asserted
All rights reserved
ISBN: 978-0-141-91637-8