Campbell, Roy | R J Dent

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On Translating Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal into English – by R J Dent

January 10, 2015

One of the frustrations, the challenges, the problems – and probably the joys – of translating Baudelaire’s poetry is choosing the correct idiom to translate into.

Taking the words, sentences, phrases, lines, from the language of one country and translating them into the corresponding or equivalent language of another country is the type of work that can be done by almost anyone.

However, choosing the absolutely perfect cultural, social, geographical, spatial, historical, temporal and linguistic framework to put the translated words onto is another matter entirely, and will very much depend on the translator’s intentions and the receptive vocabulary of the proposed readership.

And when it’s poetry that is being translated, the task becomes even more complicated; the problems suddenly multiply. Read more…

R J Dent says: ‘I found translating Charles Baudelaire’s influential poetry collection Les Fleurs du Mal from French into modern English to be a rewarding, but challenging experience. This essay outlines some of the challenges and joys of the translation process.’

R J Dent’s English translation of The Flowers of Evil is available at:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Flowers-Evil-Artificial-Paradise-Nocturnal/dp/0979984777/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

On Translating Baudelaire

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Tags:Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du Mal, On translating Baudelaire, R J Dent, R J Dent's essays, R J Dent's non-fiction, R J Dent's translations, The Flowers of Evil
Posted in Baudelaire, Charles, Campbell, Roy, European Literature, Flowers of Evil, Flowers of Evil, The, French Literature, French poetry, influential books, Les Fleurs du Mal, Other Writers, Paris, R J Dent's books, R J Dent's translations, Redon, Odilon, Reed, Jeremy | Leave a Comment »

Violence and Exquisite Beauty in Roy Campbell’s Poetry by R J Dent

March 15, 2009

Many of the biographical details of Roy Campbell’s life have contributed to his exquisitely beautiful poetry being willfully ignored by most of the publishing world.

In her introduction to Campbell’s translations of the poems of St John of the Cross, Campbell’s wife, Mary states:

‘The violent side of his character was used as a cloak for a vulnerable, contemplative soul. The tough soldier, the crack shot, the jouster, the convivial story-teller were all so many masks covering the retiring, gentle, creative spirit from a too brutal contact with everyday life.’

This claim is in some way confirmed by a close look at Campbell’s poetry and translations, rather than by reading any of the available biographies. Read more…

R J Dent says: ‘In my opinion, Roy Campbell’s poetry deserves much wider recognition that it currently receives. Campbell is a gifted poet, and a sensitive translator of the work of others, especially Baudelaire, Lorca and St. John of the Cross.’