Monica Manolachi - Translation Cafe - CTITC - Centre for the translation and interpretation of the contemporary text - Centrul pentru traducerea si interpretarea textului contemporan

CTITC

CENTRE FOR THE TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETATION OF THE CONTEMPORARY TEXT
CENTRUL PENTRU TRADUCEREA SI INTERPRETAREA TEXTULUI CONTEMPORAN

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TRANSLATION CAFÉ

MTTLC
MA Programme for the

TRANSLATION OF THE CONTEMPORARY LITERARY TEXT

Review of Contemporary Texts in Translation and E-Learning

Parallel translations

RUTH FAINLIGHT

A Fairy Story

The princess in the fairy story
Discovered that a happy ending
Had unexpected consequences.
The castle in the wood concealed
A certain chamber. Her knight revealed
A taste for flagellation. And when
He tired of protests and capitulation,
He rode away - until another kingdom,
Dragon, maiden who could not be won
By any simpler method, was stumbled on.

He then would stay, enter the lists.
He loved the risk, the praise, that combat
Or the guessing game where death
Remained the final forfeit. He loved
A distraught princess, never could resist.
Their fear attracted, their wavering spirit.

Once upon a time, their taming was
The reason for his quest, but now exhaustion,
Boredom, made him pleased his dragon-
Surrogate could test them first.
If they survived the monster's ardent breath
That smoky taint made them delicious.

The rescued princesses compared
Sad stories, boasted of their sufferings,
Exaggerating the ordeal.
They dressed each others' hair, changed
Robes and jewels, waited impatiently
To see the girl who next would join them.

One day, outside the crumbling walls
Of some obscure and unimportant
Principality, the knight was bested.
The dragon fled, dragging bruised coils
Through hedges, across muddy plough-land.
The princess would not follow him,
But turned her back and went inside the town.
The watchers were not more nonplussed.

The knight rode home, sent messages
To all his friends. They drank and sang,
Tortured his wives - they had a ball.
Next day he bade farewell to each
Blood-brother, each noble companion,
Vowed the remaining years to penance
Somewhere far from this vile shambles.

But first, before he set off with his squire
Down that faint narrow path which lured
Deep into the misty forest,
A splendid tomb must be constructed:
Memorial to those princesses,
Obedient victims of his destiny.
The monument still stands, although
The castle fell to ruins long ago.
The knight died on a battlefield.
Their legend: fatalistic, gory,
Fit matter for a fairy story.

©Ruth Fainlight
Published with the author's permission

RUTH FAINLIGHT

O poveste

Printesa din poveste
A aflat ca un happy-end
Continua cum nici nu te asteptai.
In castelul din padure era mereu
O camera tainuita. Lui Fat Frumos
Ii placea sa dea cu biciul. Iar cand
Se plictisea de proteste si renuntari,
Pornea calare - pana ce gasea
Un alt regat, un alt balaur, o alta fecioara
Nu chiar asa usor de cucerit.

Acolo ramanea, intra in batalie.
Ce-i mai placeau si riscul, si gloria, inclestarea
Si jocul pe ghicite in care viata
E cea din urma plata!... Iubea nespus
Printese aflate la stramtoare, murea dupa ele.
Sperioase, sovaielnice - il aprindeau nevoie.

Ce mult vroia sa le-mblanzeasca
Alta data! insa acum, de osteneala,
Sau de plictiseala, se multumea
Sa le incerce c-un balaur.
De invingeau suflarea lui parjolitoare,
Erau cu mult mai delicioase afumate.

Printesele ce supravietuiau se intreceau in
Tristele peripetii, se laudau cu tot ce-au indurat,
Ce mai? Faceau din tantar armasar.
Se pieptanau una pe alta, isi imprumutau
Straiele, giuvaerurile, asteptau nerabdatoare
S-o vada pe urmatoarea fata.

Intr-o buna zi, dincolo de ruinatii muri
Ai unui principat neinsemnat si
Necunoscut, Fat Frumos a fost dovedit.
Balaurul a dat bir cu fugitii, incolacindu-se ranit
Printre tufisuri, peste ogoare pline de noroaie.
Printesa nici vorba sa-l urmeze,
I-a intors spatele si a intrat in cetate.
Dintre toti, el a ramas cel mai nedumerit.

Asa ca s-a intors acasa, a trimis veste
Tovarasilor lui. Au baut si-au cantat,
I-au torturat nevestele - a fost un bal pe cinste.
A doua zi si-a luat ramas bun de la
Fratii de cruce, de la fiecare dintre nobili,
Si-a inchinat tot restul anilor caintei,
Departe de viata aceasta ordinara.

Dar, inainte de-a porni cu scutierul
Pe calea aceea stramta si subtire,
Spre negura ispititoare a padurii,
Trebuia ridicat un mormant grandios
In cinstea numeroaselor printese,
Jertfite victime cuminti pentru destinul lui.
Monumentul e inca acolo, dupa ce
Castelul s-a naruit de hat, de veacuri.
Fat Frumos a cazut pe campul de lupta.
Istoria lor ursita cruzimii
Azi nu mai este decat o poveste.

Traducere: Monica Manolachi (MTTLC present student)

LICENTA LUCRARI DE DIPLOMA DOCTORATE TRANSLATION CAFÉ THE JOI JOY GRUP DE DISCUTII Translation in high school CONTACT

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Lidia Vianu - Director of CTITC (CENTRE FOR THE TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETATION OF THE CONTEMPORARY TEXT), Bucharest University, Professor of Contemporary British Literature at the English Department of Bucharest University, Member of the Writers’ Union, Romania.




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