When the Poet Died: on translating remembrance
Alexander Anichkin’s blog post, When the Poet Died, was written a few months ago (June 2011) but makes timely reading today, Remembrance Sunday.
Alexander’s post starts from his translation of Gilbert Bécaud’s song “Quand il est mort, le poète” (lyrics by Louis Amade). So it gives us an insight to the challenges faced by translators in translating songs (or poetry), and the creative ways in which they resolve them.
But it’s interesting on other levels too. The song itself has an anti-war message and touches on the symbolism of remembrance: red poppies here in Britain, blue cornflowers in France. The video Alexander has chosen for his post shows Gilbert Bécaud performing the song for (and teaching it to) a German audience.
[dailymotion id=xawqvk]
Alexander’s comment:
Whatever difficulties united Europe is going through, Franco-German rapprochement has been one of its greatest achievements.
could hardly be more topical.
The Italian President, Giorgio Napolitano, has become a front-page name outside Italy in view of his role in guiding the country’s change of leadership. Like his predecessor, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Napolitano belongs to the generation that lived through the Second World War and saw a united Europe as much more than just an economic community. In a speech last month at the Collège d’Europe in Bruges, President Napolitano said:
We need to cast some light on the progress made in the audacious project announced on 9 May 1950. This is especially true nowadays, since my generation is the last one to have lived through the tragedy that the Second World War unleashed on our countries, already battered by the First, Great War. Mine is the last generation to preserve a keen memory of the fatal divisions and destruction from which we had to raise ourselves up once again.
For President Napolitano, and President Ciampi before him, the European Union was and is a way to ensure that European countries never again go to war (with each other). It’s maybe hard for those of us who didn’t live through World War II to fully grasp that sentiment, but it’s worth remembering that “Europe” is based on more than just markets and economic interests. Isn’t it?
By the way: Gilbert Bécaud, Giorgio Napolitano and Carlo Azeglio Ciampi all took part in their countries’ resistance movements.
Alexander Anichkin says:
Marian, thanks for the mention. That’s exactly what I had in mind when I mentioned the Franco-German reconciliation.
By the way, Romano Prodi, the former president of the European commission and Italian president, who is of the post-war generation also said that preventing war between European nations was the main motive behind the creation of the EU – and its greatest achievement. I think it was a Radio 4 interview.
Thanks, Alexander. I loved your post on “When the Poet Died” – it was interesting on so many levels.
Like you, I think that we need to keep sight of the ideals behind the creation of the EU. I live in Scotland but spent over 20 years in Italy and at any given moment feel British, European, Glaswegian and Scottish, in more or less that order.
Ruth Webber says:
Thanks for another great blog Marian. It’s uplifting on a Monday morning. I really enjoyed the video too, not sad and mournful as I had expected.
Thanks, Ruth – glad I brightened up your Monday morning! I’ve been humming the song all weekend…