Janet,
Thank you. (I think you cross-posted with my P.S.) I do know that Moncrieff was ornate and that he bowdlerized certain passages and metaphors. And that there have been textual advances since the first translations. These are issues that Enright deals with in his revisions of Moncrieff. And these revisions are more direct, plainer, dare I say more masculine, than those very first versions. Proust is at his absolute best, most moving, when utterly plain (I'm thinking in particular of the grandmother's long death scene.) I had looked forward for years to Richard Howard's announced complete translation but it was, alas, never to be.
My French is nil so I make do. The experience in English is huge enough. (And I do know of your general, and wise, distrust of translations. I just didn't know that it extended as passionately to prose, ordinarily thought of as "translatable.")
Best,
Slipp
Janet, I'll note to the Sphere that Lydia Davis is one of the Penguin tag-team and has a vested interest in distinguishing her translation from Moncrieff's (which has been revised twice). I do know that you linked her but not everyone pursues such links.
[This message has been edited by Mike Slippkauskas (edited July 29, 2008).]
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