Again about P. Bien's translation of "Report to Greco"
- Thread starter altan
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Hi, Altan.
Peter Bien's rendering is syntactically correct here; it's the priest who wagered, although I had to read the original passage twice to get the meaning right. This sentence should have been a quote in the original, within quotation marks, since the meaning shows that Kazantzakis changes from an indirect narrative to a direct quotation:
Author: Είπα πως η συντρόφισσά μου είναι κόρη κι αυτή παπά σ' ένα μακρινό νησί καταπράσινο, κι ήθελε να δει, λέει, την Κρήτη ολάκερη από την κορφή του Ψηλορείτη. Ήρθε η παπαδιά, έστρωσε το τραπέζι, φάγαμε, καθίσαμε στον καναπέ, πιάσαμε την ψιλή κουβέντα. Μιλήσαμε πρώτα για τις μεγάλες δυνάμεις, την Αγγλία, τη Γαλλία, την Αμερική, το Μόσκοβο· ύστερα για τ' αμπέλια και τις ελιές· ύστερα μίλησε ο παπάς και για το Χριστό, που είναι ορθόδοξος και δε φραγκεύει αυτός ό,τι και να του κάνουν.
The priest: «Κι αν ήταν ο πατέρας της κοπέλας μαζί σας, στοίχημα βάζω πως σε μια νύχτα θα τον έκανα ορθόδοξο.»
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Author: Afterwards the priest spoke of Christ, who he said was Orthodox and would never turn Protestant no matter what was done to him.
The priest: "If the girl's father had been with you [you two: the author and the girl], I wager I would have converted him to Orthodoxy in just one night."
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And he [the priest] wagered that if the girl's father had been with us, he would have converted him to Orthodoxy in one night.
Anyway, the author would have no reason or wish to convert the Catholic —as Catholic as they come: an Irish priest— to Orthodoxy; the priest would, since he believes that Christ was Orthodox and would never turn "Protestant".
What bothers me is that "turn Protestant" for the verb φραγκεύω, particularly in connection with an Irishman:
φραγκεύω: (παρωχ.) ασπάζομαι τον καθολικισμό, γίνομαι καθολικός: Aπαρνήθηκε την ορθοδοξία και φράγκεψε. || προσηλυτίζω κπ. στον καθολικισμό. [Φράγκ(ος) -εύω]
It should have been rendered as "turn Catholic", obviously. I guess it's an unconscious slip of the pen, perhaps measuring other people's dogma by one's own —supposing Bien is Protestant.
Hi, Altan.
Peter Bien's rendering is syntactically correct here; it's the priest who wagered, although I had to read the original passage twice to get the meaning right. This sentence should have been a quote in the original, within quotation marks, since the meaning shows that Kazantzakis changes from an indirect narrative to a direct quotation:
Author: Είπα πως η συντρόφισσά μου είναι κόρη κι αυτή παπά σ' ένα μακρινό νησί καταπράσινο, κι ήθελε να δει, λέει, την Κρήτη ολάκερη από την κορφή του Ψηλορείτη. Ήρθε η παπαδιά, έστρωσε το τραπέζι, φάγαμε, καθίσαμε στον καναπέ, πιάσαμε την ψιλή κουβέντα. Μιλήσαμε πρώτα για τις μεγάλες δυνάμεις, την Αγγλία, τη Γαλλία, την Αμερική, το Μόσκοβο· ύστερα για τ' αμπέλια και τις ελιές· ύστερα μίλησε ο παπάς και για το Χριστό, που είναι ορθόδοξος και δε φραγκεύει αυτός ό,τι και να του κάνουν.
The priest: «Κι αν ήταν ο πατέρας της κοπέλας μαζί σας, στοίχημα βάζω πως σε μια νύχτα θα τον έκανα ορθόδοξο.»
>
Author: Afterwards the priest spoke of Christ, who he said was Orthodox and would never turn Protestant no matter what was done to him.
The priest: "If the girl's father had been with you [you two: the author and the girl], I wager I would have converted him to Orthodoxy in just one night."
>
And he [the priest] wagered that if the girl's father had been with us, he would have converted him to Orthodoxy in one night.
Anyway, the author would have no reason or wish to convert the Catholic —as Catholic as they come: an Irish priest— to Orthodoxy; the priest would, since he believes that Christ was Orthodox and would never turn "Protestant".
What bothers me is that "turn Protestant" for the verb φραγκεύω, particularly in connection with an Irishman:
φραγκεύω: (παρωχ.) ασπάζομαι τον καθολικισμό, γίνομαι καθολικός: Aπαρνήθηκε την ορθοδοξία και φράγκεψε. || προσηλυτίζω κπ. στον καθολικισμό. [Φράγκ(ος) -εύω]
It should have been rendered as "turn Catholic", obviously. I guess it's an unconscious slip of the pen, perhaps measuring other people's dogma by one's own —supposing Bien is Protestant.