Paul and Virginia. Translated from the French of Bernardin Saint-Pierre by Helen Maria Williams
Contributions
- Helen Maria Williams
- author
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Summary (extracted citations)
p. viii: "With respect to the translation, I can only hope to deserve the humble merit of not having deformed the beauty of the original. I have indeed taken one liberty with my author, which it is I should acknowledge, that of omitting several pages of general observations, which, however excellent in themselves, would be passed over with impatience by the English reader, when they interrupt the pathetic narrative". p. xi (about her sonnets): '"The public will perhaps receive with indulgence a work written under such peculiar circumstances; not composed in the calm of literary leisure, or in pursuit of literary fame; but amidst the turbulence of the most cruel sensations, and in order to escape a-while from overwhelming misery".
Notes
In her preface, Williams explains that she translated the novel during "the horrors of Robespierre's tyranny" and paints a bleak picture of "Jacobinical despotism", wherein she was compelled to burn some of her more political writings out of fear of compromising herself. To keep herself occupied she decided to translate "'the charming little novel of Bernardin St. Pierre".
Her translation is based on a loose adaptation rather than fidelity to the text. She comments on the difference between the French and English character in order to explain that the English are bored by politics and philosophy, and require more action in their stories. Hence her removal of certain passages, including a long speech between xx and yy. She claims that references to classical writers and so on, are beyond the English sensibility.
Williams added some of her own sonnets to the translation under the soubriquet, "Mlle de la Tour".