Inspector, Detective, or Superintendent Maigret?
In 1950, five years after moving to the United States in 1945, Georges Simenon, having learned enough English, started paying attention to the English translations of his novels.
The first thing Simenon wanted to know was what to call his famous “commissaire”, Maigret: should it be “inspector”, as Simenon suggested, “superintendent” as his translator preferred, or should it be “detective” in the hope of satisfying both the English and the Americans? We know what was chosen – “inspector” – but this is an example of what translation is all about: choosing the right term to express the original.
The above anecdote is from Pierre Assouline’s biography, Simenon, featured below in a 1996 edition published by Folio Gallimard. (Strangely enough, the English translations of this edition are less than half the length in page numbers of the French edition.)
Marie-Soleil Frère’s Elections and the Media in Post-Conflict Africa
My translation of Marie-Soleil Frère’s Elections and the Media in Post-Conflict Africa: Votes and Voices for Peace? is forthcoming from Zed Books in early September. Marie-Soleil Frère is Research Associate at Belgium’s National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS) and teaches journalism at the University of Brussels (ULB). Her work explores the relationship between media and politics in sub-Saharan Africa. She is also the author of The Media and Conflicts in Central Africa, published by Lynne Rienner in 2007. The great photograph chosen for the cover of Elections and the Media is by Bruno Arnold.
nadine
Based in Brussels, nadine is an arts laboratory aimed at developing research focusing on transdisciplinary experiments in the fields of new media and live arts. I have translated their newsletters and other documents from Dutch and French into English.
Attitude Art: Contemporary art in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation
The 54th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale opens today, 4 June. On this occasion, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (formerly the French-speaking Community of Belgium) has published this slim volume entitled Attitude Art: From Marcel Broodthaers to Selçuk Mutlu. It gives an overview of French-speaking Belgian practitioners of attitude art, including Angel Vergara Santiago, who is representing Belgium at this year’s Biennale. I translated the introduction and all texts on attitude art.
Christian Dotremont at the Lönnström Art Museum
The exhibition “This is my chosen homeland”: Christian Dotremont and the North was held from 29 October 2010 to 9 January 2011 at the Lönnström Art Museum of Rauma, in Finland. It featured works from the collections of the French-speaking Community of Belgium. This is the cover of the catalogue, for which I translated the French text into English.
Johan Creten at the Almine Rech Gallery
Pliny’s Sorrow, an exhibition of works by the Belgian artist Johan Creten, will run from 20 May to 23 July at the Almine Rech Gallery in Brussels. I generally translate from French or Dutch into English, but I translated this press release from English into French.
Maurice Frydman exhibition at Bozar
Plasticities, an exhibition of works by Maurice Frydman, is running from 27 April to 12 June 2011 at the Bozar Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels. I translated the catalogue and the various exhibition-related texts.
PaTRiCK LeNNoN TRaNSLaTioN 