{"id":3376,"date":"2013-07-13T01:47:54","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3376"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:47:54","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:47:54","slug":"05-the-mothers-french-translation-vol-08-on-the-new-edition-of-savitri-furthur-explanationspart-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/01-savitri\/08-on-the-new-edition-of-savitri-furthur-explanationspart-two\/05-the-mothers-french-translation-vol-08-on-the-new-edition-of-savitri-furthur-explanationspart-two","title":{"rendered":"-05_The Mother^s French Translation.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\n
\nThe Mother’s French Translation <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe Mother translated about two thousand lines of Savitri
\n<\/i>into French. She used the edition that was available in the
\n1960s, when she did this work. This was the 1954 edition.
\nShe usually translated according to what was printed in that
\nedition. But sometimes, as we will see, her translation differs
\nfrom the edition she used and agrees with the 1993 edition. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Mother’s translation of the first three cantos of Book
\nTen is complete according to the edition from which she translated, except for one or two missing lines in each canto. The
\ntranslation of Book Ten, Canto Four breaks off at the point
\nwhere she stopped on 1 July 1970. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nApart from Book Ten, the passages translated by the
\nMother were selected by others. She described some of these
\nselections as "made intelligently" (30.1.63). But at one point
\n(26.7.69), she remarked: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut now I’ve come to notice that they cut these quotations, they leave out two lines in the middle\u2014suddenly I’ll
\nsay to myself, "But it doesn’t hang together!" <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Mother’s intention of revising the translation, or having someone else revise it, is mentioned in the "Note de
\n1’editeur" to Savitri: Passages traduits par la M\u00e8re<\/i> and in her
\ntalk of 26 July 1969. In the talk, she said: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI’ve done it "like that"; I can’t say I am attached to my
\ntranslation, not at all…. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIn her last reference to the translation, on 6 October 1971,
\nshe went so far as to dismiss it as having no value. ("Elle ne
\nvaut rien!") It would be a mistake to take this modest assessment <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 15<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nliterally. In spite of its incompleteness, the translation
\nundoubtedly has a great value for French-speaking people.
\nBut it is evident that the Mother herself did not consider it to
\nbe the final word on Savitri.<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe spirit in which the Mother did this work can be seen
\nfrom her talk of 18 September 1962, where she first spoke of
\nher idea of translating parts of Savitri into<\/i> French. It was meant
\nto be largely for her own benefit and as a chance to be alone
\nwith Sri Aurobindo: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI am not doing it to show it to people or to have anyone
\nread it, but to remain in the atmosphere of Savitri,<\/i> for I
\nlove that atmosphere. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nHer reason for concentrating on Book Ten is clear from a remark of hers on 20 April 1963, "As for me, I am debating
\nwith Death." <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nThe Mother’s Translation and the Centenary Edition <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe relationship of the Mother’s translation to the Centenary
\nedition needs to be clarified. The Mother translated Savitri
\n<\/i>mostly from 1963 to 1966; the Centenary edition came out in
\n1970. For the most part, her French version follows the 1954
\nedition, which was then the most recent available. It differs in
\nsome places from the Centenary edition. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nFor example, these lines appear in the editions of 1951
\nand 1954: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nFor I the Woman am the force of God, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nHe the Eternal’s delegate sole in man. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIn the Centenary edition, "sole" was emended to "soul". It
\nwas found that these lines were dictated. The editors assumed
\nthat Sri Aurobindo had not spelled this word out to his scribe,
\nwho had written "sole" when Sri Aurobindo must have meant
\n"soul".<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 16<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThis emendation made the sentence consistent with other
\npassages, as when the godhead says <\/b> to Savitri in Book Eleven: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n"You are my Force…. He is my soul…."* But when the Mother
\ntranslated the lines in Book Ten, she accepted the wording of
\nthe edition she used; "seul" in her French version means
\n"alone" and corresponds to "sole": <\/font><\/p>\n

\nCar moi, la Femme, je suis la force de Dieu,<\/font><\/p>\n

\n Lui, Ie d\u00e9l\u00e9gu\u00e9 de 1’\u00c9ternel seui dans l’homme. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhen the Revised Edition was being prepared, the correction of "sole" to "soul" was confirmed by the discovery of a
\ndraft in Sri Aurobindo’s own handwriting. There we read: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nFor I, the woman, am the force of God, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nHe the Eternal’s delegate soul in man. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nHere, the Mother translated according to the 1954 edition. It was discovered only later that the word "sole" was
\nnot what Sri Aurobindo intended. But in some instances where
\nthere are errors in early editions up to the Centenary, her translation agrees not with the edition she used, but with Sri Aurobindo’s manuscripts and with the Revised Edition. This will
\nbe shown below. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nA question may naturally arise. Why does the Mother’s
\ntranslation agree with the manuscripts some of the time, but
\nnot always? Surely, it may be said, she would have known if
\nthere were mistakes in the printed text. But we should remember Sri Aurobindo’s words: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAvoid also the error of the ignorant mind’s demand on the
\nDivine Power to act always according to our crude surface notions of omniscience and omnipotence. For our
\nmind clamours to be impressed at every turn by miraculous<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n" Savitri<\/i> (1993), p. 702. The words "soul" and "delegate" also come together in the line "His soul lived as eternity’s delegate" (p. 23). <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 17<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n power and easy success and dazzling splendour; otherwise it cannot believe that here is the Divine. The Mother
\nis dealing with the Ignorance in the fields of the Ignorance; she has descended there and is not all above. Partly she
\nveils and partly she unveils her knowledge and her power,
\noften holds them back from her instruments and personalities….14
\n<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nThe Mother’s Translation and the Revised Edition <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe Mother’s French translation anticipates in several places
\nthe edition of Savitri<\/i> published in English in 1993. The agreement with the new edition is sometimes exact. Elsewhere, when
\nthe Mother encountered an incorrect word or phrase in the
\nold edition, she left it untranslated or rendered the line as a
\nwhole in a way that is close to the meaning Sri Aurobindo
\nintended. A few examples are given below. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n1. 1951, 1954 and 1970 editions<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAssumed ears of the fawn<\/u>,’* the satyr’s hoof, <\/font><\/p>\n

\n1993 edition (page 625, line 24)<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAssumed ears of the faun, the satyr’s hoof, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Mother’s translation<\/i>15
\n<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\nAssum\u00e8rent les oreilles du faune, les pieds du satyre, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThis line was dictated by Sri Aurobindo and there is no draft
\nin his own hand. The scribe wrote "fawn"; but we have seen,
\nin the case of "soul" and "sole", that he sometimes confused words that sound the same. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Mother knew that the Roman faun ("faune" <\/b> in French) is related to the Greek satyr. She took this to be what Sri Aurobindo meant. The French word for a fawn (a young deer) is "faon". <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n* Errors are underlined. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 18<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n2.1951, 1954 and 1970 editions<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nVague fields were there, vague pastures gleaned.<\/u> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nvague trees, <\/font><\/p>\n

\n1993 edition (page 602, line 15)<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nVague fields were there, vague pastures gleamed, vague <\/font><\/p>\n

\ntrees, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Mother’s translation16<\/font><\/i>
\n<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\nDes champs vagues \u00e9taient l\u00e0, de vagues p\u00e2turages, <\/font><\/p>\n

\ndes arbres vagues, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Mother did not translate "gleaned", which was a typographical error in the first edition repeated in the next two
\neditions. The correct word, "gleamed", had been printed when
\nthis canto first appeared in The Advent<\/i> in April 1951. The
\nerror in the English text was noticed after the Centenary edition came out and was corrected in the 1976 reprint. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n3.1951, 1954 and 1970 editions<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI curbed<\/u> the vacant ether into Space; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n1993 edition (page 617, line 18)<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI curved the vacant ether into Space; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Mother’s translation17<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nJ’ai courb\u00e9 l’\u00e9ther vacant en Espace; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nSri Aurobindo wrote "curved" in a handwritten draft. He dictated the final version of the passage to his scribe, who heard
\nthis word as "curbed". In the Mother’s translation, "courb\u00e9"
\nmeans "curved". <\/font><\/p>\n

\nElsewhere also in Savitri,<\/i> Sri Aurobindo refers to the curvature of Space formulated scientifically by Einstein’s general
\ntheory of relativity: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nUnending Space was beaten into a curve,<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnd my boundlessness cut by the curve of Space.18<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\n It is of interest to note that Nolini Kanta Gupta’s Bengali <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 19<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nversion-agrees with the Revised Edition not only m the previous instance, but here and in the next two cases as well. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n4. 3951, 1954 and 1970 editions<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nOr Mind is Nature’s <\/b>marriage of covenance
\n<\/u><\/font><\/p>\n

\n1993 edition (page 646, line 6)<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nOr Mind is Nature’s <\/b>marriage of convenance <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Mother’s translation19<\/font><\/i>
\n<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nOu le Mental est le mariage de convenance de la <\/font><\/p>\n

\nNature <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIn Sri Aurobindo’s manuscript, the last word is "convenance".
\nIt remained unchanged in the dictated version and in the typed <\/font><\/p>\n

\ncopy: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nOr Mind is Nature’s marriage of convenance <\/font><\/p>\n

\nBetween truth and falsehood, between joy and pain…. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAs in several other places in Savitri,<\/i> Sri Aurobindo here used a
\nFrench word in its French sense. The common English equivalent of manage de convenance<\/i> is "marriage of convenience".
\nSri Aurobindo kept closer to the French expression by using "convenance". <\/font><\/p>\n

\n"When Parts Two and Three were printed in 1951, the first "n" of "convenance" was omitted due to a typographical error, It became "covenance", an obsolete word meaning covenant or contract. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Mother translated these lines into French using the exact phrase, mariage de convenance,<\/i> to which Sri Aurobindo’s
\n"marriage of convenance" corresponded. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n5.1951, 1954 and 1970 editions<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nCarved put being<\/u> to prop the works of Time; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n1993 edition (page 615, line 24)<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nCarved out of being to prop the works of Time,<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 20<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe Mother’s translation20 <\/font>
\n<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nSculpt\u00e9e pour \u00e8tre l’\u00e9tai des oeuvres du Temps; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThese lines were taken down by the scribe at Sri Aurobindo’s
\ndictation: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nA solid image of reality <\/font><\/p>\n

\nCarved out of being to prop the works of Time, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nMatter on the firm earth sits strong and sure. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIn the copy of this sentence, "of" was left out before "being".
\nThe comma was changed to a semicolon in the typescript. In
\nthe first three editions, the lines were printed in this form: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nA solid image of reality
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nCarved out being to prop the works of Time; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nMatter on the firm earth sits strong and sure. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhen the Mother translated this, she saw that a "solid
\nimage" cannot be one who carves; it must be what is carved.
\nSo understood, "being" made little sense without "of", and
\nthe Mother omitted it. (The word "\u00eatre" in her translation
\ndoes not correspond to "being" in Sri Aurobindo’s line, but is
\npart of the phrase "pour \u00eatre l’\u00e9tai de", "to be the prop of",
\nwith which she rendered "to prop".) Her translation reads: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nUne solide image de la realite <\/font><\/p>\n

\nSculptee pour etre 1’etai des oeuvres du Temps; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nSur la terre ferme la matiere est assise forte et sure. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe Mother accepted the semicolon after "Time" in the edition from which she translated. But she changed a full stop to
\na comma at the end of the line before these, so that the first
\ntwo lines describe Matter, mentioned in the preceding lines.
\nThis makes the sense of her translation close to that of the
\noriginal dictated version, where these two lines were connected
\nwith "Matter" in the next line.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 21<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThus, the Mother’s translation differs here from the old
\neditions in a way that indicates her awareness of a defect in
\nthe text as then printed. Her translation is consistent with the
\nsense of these lines as they were first dictated by Sri Aurobindo and are printed in the current edition of Savitri.<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 22<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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