Lately, I acquired a new literary hobby: I am trying to read authors that I usually like in other translations than the original language their books were written. Sometimes I am reading a book simultaneously with at least two other translations. It´s an experiment that I hope will help me to figure out the nuances and individual takes of a translator.
My latest experiment was the German translation of Annie Ernaux´s Le Jeune Homme/The Young Man/Der Junge Mann. A relatively short novel - 40 pages, the shortest I´ve ever read by her - translated by Sonja Finck who actually translated other works by Ernaux from French as well.
It may look as a continuation of Getting Lost, although not mentioned as such, but one may suppose that it happens afterwards, as she is already in her 50s. Sex and passionate entanglements are a distraction from writing, but this time, she is the one in charge with ending, and the passion is short-lived. Moderately facing the social prejudice about women dating younger men - between her and her lover, A., there is an age difference of 30 years - the relationship has a clear formative meaning - for her - but as it is mostly consumed in Rouen, where she studied, it trigger memories of her younger times. At certain extents, she is acting as a guide into the society for the young philosopher, but also sees similarities with her own situation.
The book may sound as a report sometimes, short and like written in a hurry to be sure that the memories are still accountable. It may sound different than the other books by Ernaux I´ve read but maybe because it is reflecting a completely different stage in her life: that ends with freedom.
The cover of the German edition - Suhrkamp - is worth mentioning from the graphic point of view. I wish though that the name of the translator is mentioned somewhere alongside the author´s.
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