Claes7:
I intend to get to more French writers. But the only ones I knew going in were Jules Verne and Camus. I took a swing at The Stranger but I know how that ends and found it depressing to go through it in French.
The English books I read are on my sacred shelf of books which I found meaningful enough to read more than twice.
So reading the French translations in slow motion is a delight. I notice things I didn’t notice in English. They give me a boost in finding my way through the French. I have learned much about how difficult translation is and how unreliable they often are.
I do know the French lyrics to many songs by Françoise Hardy, France Gall, Pomme, and Jean-Jacques Goldman. Also poets such as Rimbaud, Breton, Reverdy, Follain.
…il pêchait dans la flaque de boue qu’avait laissé la pluie. Cette eau, venue du ciel, était pleine d’étoiles.
–Pierre Reverdy, “Chacun sa part”