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[vriad_lee]

Anywhere Out of the World by Charles Baudelaire


This life is a hospital where every patient is possessed with the desire to change beds; one man would like to
suffer in front of the stove, and another believes that he would recover his health beside the window.
It always seems to me that I should feel well in the place where I am not, and this question of removal is one
which I discuss incessantly with my soul.
'Tell me, my soul, poor chilled soul, what do you think of going to live in Lisbon? It must be warm there, and there
you would invigorate yourself like a lizard. This city is on the sea-shore; they say that it is built of marble
and that the people there have such a hatred of vegetation that they uproot all the trees. There you have a landscape
that corresponds to your taste! a landscape made of light and mineral, and liquid to reflect them!'
My soul does not reply.
'Since you are so fond of stillness, coupled with the show of movement, would you like to settle in Holland,
that beatifying country? Perhaps you would find some diversion in that land whose image you have so often admired
in the art galleries. What do you think of Rotterdam, you who love forests of masts, and ships moored at the foot of
houses?'
My soul remains silent.
'Perhaps Batavia attracts you more? There we should find, amongst other things, the spirit of Europe
married to tropical beauty.'
Not a word. Could my soul be dead?
'Is it then that you have reached such a degree of lethargy that you acquiesce in your sickness? If so, let us
flee to lands that are analogues of death. I see how it is, poor soul! We shall pack our trunks for Tornio. Let us go
farther still to the extreme end of the Baltic; or farther still from life, if that is possible; let us settle at the Pole. There
the sun only grazes the earth obliquely, and the slow alternation of light and darkness suppresses variety and
increases monotony, that half-nothingness. There we shall be able to take long baths of darkness, while for our
amusement the aurora borealis shall send us its rose-coloured rays that are like the reflection of Hell's own
fireworks!'
At last my soul explodes, and wisely cries out to me: 'No matter where! No matter where! As long as it's out
of the world!'

Comments

[sylys.livejournal.com]

[¤ (http://baudelaire.litteratura.com/?rub=oeuvre&srub=pop&id=186&tt=1)]

You goddam hérétique !

[vriad-lee.livejournal.com]

you know when i realized that those were translations? when i went to wikipedia and pasted 'Charles Baudelaire' in the search box - and then only i heard some bells ring, because weird how it may seem, i don't read an author's name properly, until i decide to specifically make a not of it, which happens after like three good poems. also, i though it was a modern writer when i read this poem, he sounds very different from 19th century english poets - maybe it's a modern translation?

[sylys.livejournal.com]

Yeah, i get what you mean - i do that with book's characters very often. Some which look way to odd to be read i only remember graphically. Raskolnikov probably gve me a hard time, and i can't even remember the others' names !

[vriad-lee.livejournal.com]

well, i don't know how you read dostoyevsky then, because he's exactly the sort to mention a name in passing on page 5 and then to refer to it on page 234 as if you were supposed to remember. his readers used to be complainting about that, i read it in some of his letters/articles

[sylys.livejournal.com]

Amusingly my graphic recognition got screwed up numerous times because of recurent patern in russian names those -novitch, -nova and -novna. Once i realised it just wasn't possible there was only one -novna girl doing pretty much everything mentionned in the book, things got a bit clearer. =)

And yeah, having 3 names and using them at will to confuse the reader even more is nice as well.

[vriad-lee.livejournal.com]

-novitch is the ending for russian patronymics, male form

-nova is a typical russian surname ending, female form

-novna - is the ending for russian patronymics, female form

[vriad-lee.livejournal.com]

cette question de déménagement en est une que je discute sans cesse avec mon âme

what does 'en' do here?

[sylys.livejournal.com]

Aw... tough stuff, am hardly able to explain it..

Je veux une voiture. | I want a car.

J'en veux une. | I want one (of/amongst them)

The en specifies the set of things we're talking about. Je veux une is incorrect as it doesn't say what it is you want one of.

Similarly,
~ this question of removal is one [question] which I discuss incessantly
~ cette question de déménagement est une question que je discute sans cesse
~ cette question de déménagement en est une que je discute sans cesse

[vriad-lee.livejournal.com]

oh, i think i see it now. it's so weird though! because i don't see how 'en' could be put before 'est' in that sentence, it seems so illogical. it would never-ever occur to me that it was connected to 'une que je discute'!

[vriad-lee.livejournal.com]

En es-tu donc venue à ce point d'engourdissement que tu ne te plaises que dans ton mal

again, i don't see why 'en' is there at all

[sylys.livejournal.com]

Discussing french with foreigners, the same old conclusion always hits me sooner or later: God how i'd hate to have to learn that devious language again !

Now i'm only praying you don't find a "y" in there !

(Je n'y peux rien - I can't do anything about it)

[vriad-lee.livejournal.com]

oh, everything should be easy once you get the hang of it (well, once you do). i don't have problems with 'y' somehow, i always seem to understand what it does in a sentense, but 'en' is the one that really tries my patience!

[sylys.livejournal.com]

Uh uh, decyphering them should be rather doable, it's pertinently using them which could potentialy turn into absolute nightmare (strangely it doesn't, but i can't figure out the rules really).

Je n'en peux plus, je n'y peux rien.

[vriad-lee.livejournal.com]

oh, i'm not even talking about constructing sentences with those horrible particles! although, theoretically, that should start working automatically after you have seen so many examples.

eh wait. i can't do more, i can't do nothing about that?

[sylys.livejournal.com]

Je n'en peux plus is literally I can't do more of that,
it's a common form to say: I'm tired, or I can't handle it anymore.
Usual formule for suicide notes as well.

[vriad-lee.livejournal.com]

i still don't see why it couldn't be just 'es-tu donc venue à ce point d'engourdissement que tu ne te plaises que dans ton mal'!


did you then reach the point of numbness where you like nothing but your sickness

[sylys.livejournal.com]

The "ne" there should look strange to you as well by the way, non ?

*

To simplify that one en a bit, let's put things straight in affirmative form.
J'en suis venu à me dire que je serais célibataire toute ma vie.

The en there denotes the point de départ, or the cheminement, the origin, the process and the accumulation of things which have led you to that situation.

Similarly,
Je reviens de Moscou.
J'en reviens.

[vriad-lee.livejournal.com]

so ehhh.. then basically 'en' means 'by this moment?' in this case:

'En es-tu donc venue à ce point d'engourdissement que tu ne te plaises que dans ton mal'?

no, 'ne' looks okay: 'tu ne te plaises que' = 'you don't like but', almost like in english, right?

[sylys.livejournal.com]

en = as a result of what happened before

En es-tu donc venue à ce point d'engourdissement que tu ne te plaises que dans ton mal ?

Have you reached such a stage of lethargy that you can only appreciate your sickness ?

Strange negation in french, none in english.
Though it'd also be possible to put it without the negation in french (but that'd be oh-so-less sophisticated): que tu te plaises uniquement dans ton mal ?

[vriad-lee.livejournal.com]

oh, ok, thanks. i think i got a very rough idea now. although it's fucking crazy!