A Reading in the Translations of Charles Baudelaire’s “L’Invitation au voyage” : An applied study to deduce the Translation problems of western poetry

Anwar, Sidad

	A Reading in the Translations of Charles Baudelaire’s “L’Invitation au voyage” : An applied study to deduce the Translation problems of western poetry
Al-Adab Journal
Article 1, Volume 0, Issue 120, 2018, Pages 459-474
Author
Sidad Anwar
Abstract
The research is a reading in two translations of the poem L’Invitation au voyage by the French poet Charles Baudelaire. The first is by Dr. Abdul Ghaffar Makawy which appeared in the chapter dedicated to Baudelaire in his book French Poetry Revolution. The second is the translation of Khalil al-Khouri who translated the entire collection of Baudelaire : Flowers of Evil. The problem of the research lies in the way of reception of this poem by the Arabic reader. In addition to the everlasting problem of translating poetry, the text depends totally on visions, imagination and the significant things ; expressed by Baudelaire in using short meters and internal music which shows the beauty of the country which he invites us to. The study consists of three basic sections. The first gives a detailed study of the poem L’Invitation au voyage in terms of form and content, which helps us to pose the problem of the research. The second section displays the two translations and to match with the French text and illustrate our observations about both translations. The third section is critical reading of the two translations in terms of vocabulary, grammar and sound effects: feet, rhyme and rhythm. The conclusion of the research shows that the translation of the poem L’Invitation au voyage has been effected literally, by coping and imitation. The two translators replaced French vocabulary with Arabic without taking into account the rules of the Arabic language in most cases. In spite of the fact that al-Khouri is a poet, he did not convey the text in poetry, but by dividing it in to shorter feet, and this is what translator’s do when translating western poetry, which referred to the poet Nazik Al-Malaika in her book of Contemporary Poetry Issues on the subject of Western poetry translation. Dr. Sidad Anwar is a lecturer in French literature at the University of Baghdad. She has done many works in French and comparative literature. She is the author of a book about the reception of Jacques Prévert in Iraq.
Keywords
translation of poetry; criticism; Charles Baudelaire; issues of contemporary poetry; French literature

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