Stuart Gilbert
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| - | ''[[African Trio]]'' (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979) is a collection of three English translations of '[[romans durs]]' by Simenon. They comprise ''Talatala, Tropic Moon'' and ''Aboard the Aquitaine'', translations of respectively of ''[[Le Blanc a lunettes]]'', ''[[Coup de lune]]'' and ''[[45° a l'ombre]]''. | ||
| - | ''Talatala'' and ''Tropic Moon'' have been translated by [[Stuart Gilbert]] and ''Aboard the Aquitaine'' by [[Paul Auster]] and [[Lydia Davis]]. | + | '''Arthur Stuart Ahluwalia Stronge Gilbert''' (25 October 1883 – 5 January 1969) was an English literary scholar and translator. Among his translations into English are works by [[Alexis de Tocqueville]], [[Édouard Dujardin]], [[André Malraux]], [[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]], [[Georges Simenon]], [[Jean Cocteau]], [[Albert Camus]], and [[Jean-Paul Sartre]]. He also assisted in the translation of [[James Joyce]]'s ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]'' into French. |
| + | He was born at [[Kelvedon Hatch]], [[Essex]], on 25 October 1883, the only son of a retired army officer, Arthur Stronge Gilbert, and Melvina, daughter of [[Randhir Singh of Kapurthala|Randhir Singh]], the [[Raja]] of [[Kapurthala State|Kapurthala]]. He attended Cheltenham and [[Hertford College, Oxford|Hertford College]], [[University of Oxford|Oxford]], taking a first in Classical Moderations. He joined the [[Indian Civil Service]] in 1907 and, after military service in the [[First World War]], served as a judge in [[Burma]] until 1925. He then retired, settling in France with his French-born wife Moune (née Marie Douin). He remained there for the rest of his life, except for some time spent in Wales during the Second World War. | ||
| + | Gilbert was one of the first Joycean scholars. He first read ''Ulysses'' while he was in Burma and admired it greatly. According to his wife, she and Gilbert were taking a walk in the [[Latin Quarter]] of Paris when they passed [[Shakespeare and Company (bookshop)|Shakespeare and Company]], and saw some typescript pages of a French translation of ''Ulysses'' by [[Auguste Morel]] and [[Valery Larbaud]] displayed in the window. Gilbert noted several serious errors in the French rendering and introduced himself to [[Sylvia Beach]], who was impressed by his criticisms of the translation. She took his name and telephone number, and suggested that Joyce, who was assisting in the translation, would contact him. This began many years of friendship between Joyce and Gilbert. He published ''James Joyce's Ulysses: A Study'' in 1930 (revised edition 1950); contributed an important chapter, "Prolegomena to Work in Progress," to ''[[Our Exagmination Round His Factification for Incamination of Work in Progress]]'' (1929), a collection of perspectives on the fragments of Joyce's "work in progress," later completed as ''[[Finnegans Wake]]'' (1939); and published a collection of Joyce's letters in 1957. | ||
| - | Eventful 1936 novel about a lost era of ships plying fixed routes with mail, cargo and different classes of passengers, between half a dozen European powers and their colonies in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. The long outward voyage by officials, entrepreneurs, black sheep, etc and the return trip highlighting the career men and/or their student-age children, the fabulously rich, the failed and the crazy, has spawned a rich literary genre, not only in Europe: “[[The Cat’s Table]]” (2011) by Canadian author Michael Ondaatje is a recent addition. | + | One of Gilbert's major projects was the translation from French of [[Roger Martin du Gard]]'s [[novel sequence]] ''[[Les Thibault]]''. Running to nearly 1,900 pages in translation, it was published by the Viking Press in the United States in two volumes, ''The Thibaults'' (1939) and ''Summer 1914'' (1941). |
| - | Here, Georges Simenon describes the return voyage of [[SS Aquitaine]] (25.000 MT) to its home port Bordeaux. On its first leg it damaged in Dakar, Senegal its propeller. Leaving its final destination Matadi, Congo, rocks hidden beneath the swirling rapids of the Congo River rip apart one of its ballast tanks, causing the ship to list. In another minor FR colonial port of call, it takes on board 300 ‘[[Annamese]]’ contract workers returning to Vietnam via France. Kept separate, they cook, fight and gamble on their deck and hold. Soon, one of them dies. Was it dysentery or worse, yellow fever? The man describing everything is Dr. Donadieu (“gift to God”), the ship’s doctor. He is about 40, passive, but with an all-seeing eye and understanding. He has seen it all before, never disembarks during stops, soothes himself at night with opium. Once again, he sees how the suffocating, endless heat will prompt the first class passengers to excess drinking, irritations, minor incidents turning bad, and wives behaving out of character… | + | |
| - | Donadieu often contemplates the concept of [[Fate]]. Is everyone really predestined or do some individuals escape certain doom? After all, most people are eaten, only a few thrive by eating others. When young Huret, his distraught wife and moribund baby board ship, he spotted in Huret a soul marked for disaster, a man he decides to follow and possibly, like God himself, to save him… Otherwise, spot-on re context and characters like the horrible colonist Lachaux, glib purser Neuville and various women. Another Vietnamese dies, then another. Will the underpowered, listing ship survive the Bay of Biscay’s high waves and will every first class passenger live to endure this ordeal? | + | |
| - | Short psychological novel, addictive as opium, good finish, not to be missed! | + | |
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Arthur Stuart Ahluwalia Stronge Gilbert (25 October 1883 – 5 January 1969) was an English literary scholar and translator. Among his translations into English are works by Alexis de Tocqueville, Édouard Dujardin, André Malraux, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Georges Simenon, Jean Cocteau, Albert Camus, and Jean-Paul Sartre. He also assisted in the translation of James Joyce's Ulysses into French.
He was born at Kelvedon Hatch, Essex, on 25 October 1883, the only son of a retired army officer, Arthur Stronge Gilbert, and Melvina, daughter of Randhir Singh, the Raja of Kapurthala. He attended Cheltenham and Hertford College, Oxford, taking a first in Classical Moderations. He joined the Indian Civil Service in 1907 and, after military service in the First World War, served as a judge in Burma until 1925. He then retired, settling in France with his French-born wife Moune (née Marie Douin). He remained there for the rest of his life, except for some time spent in Wales during the Second World War.
Gilbert was one of the first Joycean scholars. He first read Ulysses while he was in Burma and admired it greatly. According to his wife, she and Gilbert were taking a walk in the Latin Quarter of Paris when they passed Shakespeare and Company, and saw some typescript pages of a French translation of Ulysses by Auguste Morel and Valery Larbaud displayed in the window. Gilbert noted several serious errors in the French rendering and introduced himself to Sylvia Beach, who was impressed by his criticisms of the translation. She took his name and telephone number, and suggested that Joyce, who was assisting in the translation, would contact him. This began many years of friendship between Joyce and Gilbert. He published James Joyce's Ulysses: A Study in 1930 (revised edition 1950); contributed an important chapter, "Prolegomena to Work in Progress," to Our Exagmination Round His Factification for Incamination of Work in Progress (1929), a collection of perspectives on the fragments of Joyce's "work in progress," later completed as Finnegans Wake (1939); and published a collection of Joyce's letters in 1957.
One of Gilbert's major projects was the translation from French of Roger Martin du Gard's novel sequence Les Thibault. Running to nearly 1,900 pages in translation, it was published by the Viking Press in the United States in two volumes, The Thibaults (1939) and Summer 1914 (1941).
