Clochemerle is a tricky read in the original French ... lots of obscure colloquialisms, loads of slangy and/or obscure words ... but well worth the effort.
So ... having it in English too is a big help. You can sort out some of the things you can't find out anywhere else.... and you can have fun trying to spot the "duffer" attempts at "Englishing" various bits. Oh yes.
Here's the two English versions I've got....... I got the one on the right first ... and a week or so ago I found the one on the left .. the Penguin version ... in a bookshop. I thought it would be good to have two versions.
And the Penguin version fits in your pocket better. And mine. Aha !
But .... there's a dinky problem towards the end of the English version ...
Get ready to be confused.....
That one on the right ... the one I've had for a while... well, it's absolutely fine until... wait for it .... until you get to chapter 14 !! Crumbs !
It's entitled " A Wave of Madness" which is more or less what happens.
That's "Un vente de folie" in French.
For some reason known only to him, the translator, Jocelyn Godefroi, starts messing about with the sequencing. And not only the sequencing.
This means that, from chapter 14 onwards, it's tricky find any particular passage in the English version.
Chapter 14 of the English Version actually starts off with a passage that I haven't yet found anywhere in the French version ! It must be there somewhere I suppose.... but after a few pages it then suddenly gets back into the realms of reality with a chunk from the start of chapter 15 of the French version .. why, I've no idea !
Conversely, the start of chapter 14 in the French version I can't find anywhere in the English version.... I haven't looked everywhere, but I've had a good search, and it seems to have vanished. It's a very noticeable few pages, with some fine invective exchanges ... so where is it ?
Chapter 15 in the English version is chapter 16 in the French, the English chapter 16 is ch. 18 in the original ... well, you're starting to see the true madness of it all. I haven't worked out all the bog-ups yet ... it's too much like hard work.
If you can find any of those things, or if you know why this has happened, I'd love to know. Maybe there's a translation that leaves the text as it is, with no mucking around. That would be good ...
You can email your findings at [email protected]
..... or as a comment of course.
I'm beginning to wonder if there's flaws before chapter 14 ... I know that most of it is OK, but I haven't done a paragraph-by-paragraph check. Life, well, mine anyway ... is too short.
Also ... are translators allowed to muck about with a text like this?
I simply don't know.
Here's an afterthought ... maybe the translator ... it's the same one in both of those English versions up there, by the way ... is working from a later, slightly different version of Clochemerle. One that I don't know about and haven't got. That would explain the anomalies.
Back to sanity now with Antoine Chance ... " Fou" ... how appropriate !!!!
Sentimental
Tu m' rends tellement dingue que j' crains pour ma
Santé mentale
Quelle folie m'a pris de me mettre
à t'aimer
Comment diable ai je pu me laisser
Aliener
J'ignore jusqu'ou finira par me mener
Cette inclinaison
Je perds la raison
Sache que tu me rends
Fouou
ça d'vient delirant
Tu m' rends completement
Fouou
Fouououou ououou
Fou d'amour fou furieux fou de toi ma jolie
Fouououou ououou
FouDroye par la melancolie
Combien de temps va durer ce moment
D'egarement
Je croise mon regard dans le miroir
C'est ce qui te
Dement
J'ai interet à me resaisir sinon
Je suis bon
Pour le cabanon
Tu me rends
Fouououou ououou
Fou d'amour fou furieux fou de toi ma jolie
Fouououou ououou
FouDroye par la melancolie
Il y a un prix pour l'amour
Fouou
Bien entendu c'est toujours
Un prix fou
Il y a un prix pour l'amour
Fouou
Evidemment c'est toujours
Un prix fou
Il y a un prix pour l'amour
Fouou
Bien entendu c'est toujours
Un prix fou
Il y a un prix pour l'amour
Fouou
Bien sur c'eeeest
Toujours
Un prix fou