Wonderful translations

Wonder Tales: Six French Stories of Enchantment - Marina Warner, Sophie Herxheimer

There are thrills that you can get from reading a book. There is the thrill of a totally mind numbing, heart stopping good book. The thrill one gets from reading a beloved book yet again. Then there is a different thrill. The wow, the author likes it too thrill.That's what happened here.

 

I've read four of these tales before. My favorite French fairy tale is included in this volumne.  It's "The Great Green Wurm".  I get the book and see, to my surprise, that A.S. Byatt translated one of the stories. I start reading and get a bigger thrill that she translated, you guessed it, "The Great Green Wurm".  I love "TGGW" because it is a fairy tale about the elder princess (hence, why Byatt might hav translated it). I love the story because it is a dual "Beauty and the Beast" and a descendent of "Cupid and Pysche", except Hidessa, the heroine, is far, far cooler.  She's not stupid. She's got guts.It's so cool that Byatt translated this one. I wonder if it is her favorite French fairy tale too. I know she was influenced by it in some of her work, but this is so awesome.

 

Also included in this volumne is the wonderful "The Subtle Princess" also sometimes called "The Story of Finette" (Finessa this translation). I have read several translations of this tale, and all the translations seem to have been good. Gilbert Adair's, however, has the most life and most humor. If you haven't read "SP" before, be prepared for a princess who can handle an ax ("with which her fingers toyed as though it were as light and airy as a fan"), can make a man take responisblity for his offspring instead of the single mother having to deal with the children, and she kicks people into glass filled barrels. It's a shame that this story is not read to young girls more often. Finessa is a better role model than any of the standard fairy tale heroines.

 

"The White Cat" is the lead story, and most likely the most famous one. It is a good inversion of a Beauty and Beast story, yet the changes are interesting. The cat helps the prince, not the prince's father as in the standard girl versions of the story.I didn't like Murat's version of "Bearskin", though it has some humor. Part of the problem is that after the "SP", I kept wondering what happened to the princess' maid, for she had cunning and the princess didn't. "Starlight", as well, lacked some charm.

 

I haven't read "The Counterfeit Marquise" before. As I read it, I kept imagining Monty Python acting it out. It really works.