On multiple translations: bouffées d’affadissement
by from far, far away
How many ways, for instance, has even a single phrase (bouffées d’affadissement) from Madame Bovary been translated:
gusts of revulsion
a kind of rancid staleness
stale gusts of dreariness
waves of nausea
fumes of nausea
flavorless, sickening gusts
stagnant dreariness
whiffs of sickliness
waves of nauseous disgust
Today I read a great article by Lydia Davis on the benefit of having multiple translations. I think I am inclined to agree with her: ‘the more the better, in the end’.
