Worlding Sei Shônagon: The Pillow Book in Translation

André Beaujard (1934) French

André Beaujard Les Notes de Chevet de Séi Shônagon’, dame d’honneur au palais de Kyôto (Essai de traduction). Thèse complémentaire présentée à la Faculté des Lettres de l’Université de Paris Paris: Librairie Orientale et Américaine, G.-P. Maisonneuve, 1934 Beaujard (dates unknown) received a doctorate from the Sorbonne in 1934 for his research on Sei Shônagon, supervised by Michel Revon. The thesis comprises two volumes: one the complete and annotated translation cited above, and the other titled Séi Shônagon’ : Son temps et son oeuvre (Une femme de lettres de l’ancien Japon) [Séi Shônagon’: Her Time and Her Work (A Woman of Letters in Ancient Japan)], to which he frequently refers the reader in his footnotes. Ivan Morris and others have quite mercilessly mocked the awkward system by which Beaujard sought to indicate within square brackets any elements not part of the Japanese original , such as definite and indefinite articles. (A glance through the versions collected here will, however, reveal that the French translator was not alone in employing this technique. Further, readers will note that the later edition, published and frequently reprinted as of 1966 under the auspices of UNESCO, does away with these brackets to produce a more readable text.) In any case, Beaujard is to be credited with André Beaujard (1934) 106 producing the first complete translation of The Pillow Book into any Western language, over thirty years before a comprehensive English rendition would become available. Beaujard’s primary concern is to deal ethically with what he sees as the vagueness of the Japanese language: “it suggests far more than it states, while French, on the contrary, demands more precision than any other language” (vii-viii; my translation). He continues: “Generally speaking, in fact, it is no more possible to translate a passage of written Japanese than it is in algebra to give ‘the’ root of nine” (viii-ix). Also, Beaujard demonstrates full awareness of the fact that his translation will (and should) be read against other versions : “I believe that any student, or even any French reader interested in Japanese literature, must already own Mr. Revon’s Anthology, and so whenever two translations for the same passage seemed equally plausible, I have opted to give whichever was not in that work, since it can always be consulted ” (xii). A contemporary review lauds Beaujard’s comprehensive work as superior to the more restricted versions of his predecessors: “The parts which the Western scholars had thought dull and repetitive in the present translation become thoroughly alive with historical interest, and his notes are invaluable for the students of ancient Japanese literature” (Sakanishi, 132). Beaujard would go on to publish only one other book, Le Théâtre comique des Japonais (1937), about kyôgen theatre. It is interesting that although Beaujard is careful to set off je (I) in square brackets each of the five times he makes use of that pronoun, he nonetheless allows the objective form me (me) to appear unbracketed. One might also ask why he did not make more extensive use of the impersonal on (one), which does appear here three times. french 107 Au printemps, c’est l’aurore… Au printemps, [c’est] l’aurore [que je préfère]1. La cime des monts devient peu à peu distincte et s’éclaire faiblement. Des nuages violacés s’allongent en minces traînées. En été, c’est la nuit. [J’admire,] naturellement, le clair de lune ; mais [j’aime] aussi l’obscurité où volent en se croisant les lucioles. Même s’il pleut, la nuit d’été me charme. En automne, c’est le soir. Le soleil couchant darde ses brillants rayons et s’approche de la crête des montagnes2. Alors les corbeaux s’en vont dormir, et en les voyant passer, par trois, par quatre, par deux, on se sent délicieusement triste. Et quand les longues files d’oies sauvages paraissent toutes petites ! c’est encore plus joli. Puis, après que le soleil a disparu, le bruit du vent et la musique des insectes ont une mélancolie3 qui me 1 Voir S. [Séi Shônagon’ : son temps et son œuvre], p. 208, n. 8. [Ed. The reference in question reads as follows: “… L’emploi de … onomatopées est fréquent en japonais, de même que celui de phrases, comme...