More than ten years later, Jean-Pierre Aoustin is still thinking about it. No, definitely A girl, dancingthe title chosen to translate the novel The Sense of an Ending (2011) by British writer Julian Barnes, was wrong. A big trouble, the solution he had suggested, corresponded more to this hazy story, where a sixty-year-old remembers the suicide of a high school friend. But the publisher – in this case Le Mercure de France – had the last word…
The example bears witness to the pangs of translating foreign titles. Beneath simple appearances, an exercise in high precision when word for word is not necessary. Between imperative of fidelity to the spirit of the original text and concern to intrigue the reader, how to place the cursor? The difficulties are multiple, starting with the grammar. “In Japanese, there are a lot of verbal groups, whereas in French we like nouns,” notes translator Alice Hureau. AT What you are looking for in the librarya literal transcription of a novel by Michiko Aoyama, she thus preferred The Library of Secret Dreams (Nami editions), more idiomatic.
But we must also strive to bridge the cultural distance between two languages. Render shades of Should We Stay of Should We Go, title of the latest novel by American Lionel Shriver, whose story takes place in the United Kingdom, is a challenge. The publisher, Belfond, opted for Take it or leave it, at the risk of evacuating the reference to the Clash song and the allusion to Brexit. As if that were not enough, some titles are unusable for legal reasons. “It is not because a title is free in its original version that it is in French for the French market, explains Joachim Schnerf, head of foreign literature at Grasset. If the translation of a title of a foreign language to French takes up an existing, protected title, it must be changed.”
But the complexity of the exercise paradoxically contributes to its appeal. Joachim Schnerf summarizes: “The translation of a title is a compromise between the legal aspect, the specificities of the French market, the intentions of the author and the will of the publisher. It’s very exciting. You have to make compromise, and sometimes there are disappointments.”
meticulousness
This real puzzle has its fashions and its fads. A few decades ago, a wind of freedom blew over the titles of the Série Noire collection: The dead tree gives no shelter, by Virgil Scott became in French in Up to the left (1949), Mrs. Gallaghan Comes to Grief, by James Hadley Chase turned into Beware, girls (1949), and The Switch by Elmore Leonard in The Joyful Kidnapped (1979)…
For twenty or thirty years, the desire to be faithful to the source text has dominated. To the point that publishers sometimes decide to keep the original title. Rare in Italian and Spanish (The Malnata, by Beatrice Salvioni, Albin Michel), the phenomenon is more frequent in English, as evidenced by age of vice, by Deepti Kapoor (Robert Laffont), Blackwater, by Michael McDowell (Monsieur Toussaint Louverture), and soon Feel Free, by Zadie Smith (Gallimard)… Laudable demand for authenticity or facility? “If we translate, it’s still for people who don’t know the language well; we can’t imagine a Chinese, Turkish or German title left as it is…”, grins Jean-Pierre Aoustin.
And the authors, the first concerned by the question, what do they think? The subject does not torment Michel Bussi, translated into thirty languages abroad. “I have no contact with my translators. And it is difficult to go against the advice of a foreign publisher: a priori, he knows his readership.” Julian Barnes, he claims to follow the process with interest, but admits: “I know French and its nuances less well than my translators. And I’m not a publisher, so I don’t know which title is the most attractive for the French market. I agree to let myself be guided. Ultimately, it’s the publisher who decides, even if I’m asked for my approval.” For his part, this fervent Francophile liked A girl, dancing, “a title both surprising and intriguing”. In fact, if the author has a say, the translator is not the decision-maker, as the example of Jean-Pierre Aoustin suggests.
Considerations that would almost make us forget the crucial question: does the title of a book, the first contact with the reader, really play a decisive role in its commercial success? Despite the regrets of Jean-Pierre Aoustin, A girl, dancing in any case conquered the French public. Like what, maybe the translators would do better to spare themselves this torment…