question for translator mavens
 

I'm publishing a Headmistress Press book of translations of A French Poet (1877-1909). Do I have any copyright concerns? Thanks for any clues.

The original is no longer under copyright, so you're good to go (assuming the translations don't infringe other translations that are under copyright).

And thanks to Google, I'm guessing the poet is Renée Vivien.

I agree with Roger, except be careful if you're using facing French--someone may have copyrighted their version of conflicting manuscripts.

Looks like you have your answer already, but this thread from a few years back might be worth a scrolling: http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=18160.

Thanks, guys. If you have a chance, I have a couple more questions.

Roger - how would one translation infringe on another translation?

Mike - it took me a while to decipher your message. In other words, if our book has both French and English versions on facing pages, and some French poems had several versions, and a translator selected certain parts of different versions, and copyrighted it, then those French versions would require permision?

Andrew - how complicated can it get! Lots of helpful info there, especially that post from Janice with the links.

The poet is indeed Renée Vivien, and I'm very excited about this book. The translator stayed true to Vivien's formalism. Her translations are superb.

Do you prefer a book of translations that includes the poems in the original language?

Very complicated!

Yes, a lot.

I would second having both French and English on opposing pages, a lot of literati read French.

Yes, exactly. I am not sure that's what copyright was intended for, but I don't make the rules.

I have some vague recollection it was an issue for a while with Emily Dickinson since her work was scrawled on scraps of paper--I believe deciphering and ordering was considered enough intellectual effort to support a copyright. I may be misremembering, though.

Usually, though, that's not an issue.

Let's say you took someone else's translation and copied it word for word, for example. That would be an infringement of the copyright on the translation even if the original poem is in the public domain. The original poem and the translation each have a separate copyright. So a single poem in French may have a dozen different translations, each with its own copyright.

Since French is a language that many people can read somewhat, I suppose I agree that it makes sense to put the original on a facing page. But I would also consider putting the originals into an appendix instead of facing pages. I find that having the original right there in your face tends to detract attention from the translation as a worthy poem in English, reminding the reader that it is just a translation while encouraging the reader to use it merely as a crutch or a tool to access the original. For me, that often detracts from the experience, since I lose faith in the English while not truly entering the world of the original.

Anyone who is truly comfortable with the French doesn't need the translations at all. And anyone who has zero ability to read French doesn't need the original at all. So the whole idea of facing pages is to indulge those who know a bit of French but not all that much, and who wish to use the translations as a sort of extended footnote to help them read the French. The cost of doing so, however, is to force those without any French to keep looking at the French nonetheless.