And if by speaking badly of this author
You think you've got him by the hair,
Frightened and dismissed him,
I warn you that he, too, knows how
To be just as malicious --
In fact, he is an expert at the art!
And, although he owes
Respect to no man
In all of Italy,
Gladly would he serve
A man who is his better.
-- Machiavelli, The Mandrake Root
Scene 1.
In June and July 2007, as part of our on-going project of translating all of Guy Debord Correspondance (1957-1994) into English, we encountered, translated and posted online more than a dozen letters exchanged between Guy Debord and Jean-Pierre Baudet between 1985 and 1987. To explain: like many people before him -- like his friend and collaborator, Jean-Francois Martos, after him -- Baudet met, befriended and corresponded with Debord, but then found himself (rightly or wrongly, explicitly or silently, but always absolutely) excluded from Debord's presence. Hello, you must be going: Gil J Wolman in 1957; Alexander Trocchi in 1964; Gianfranco Sanguinetti in 1979; Baudet in 1987; Martos in 1990.
Scene 2.
Baudet and Martos had something else in common: both of them had good reasons to object to the manner in which Alice Becker-Ho (Guy Debord's widow, aka "Alice Debord") had been editing, publishing and marketing Guy Debord Correspondance. In 1997, Martos self-published his back-and-forth of letters with Debord, but he was quickly crushed in court by Librairie Artheme Fayard (the publishing house with whom Alice Debord had contracted for the publication of the "complete" collection of his husband's letters). In 1998, Martos wrote an excellent denunciation of this betrayal of Guy's legacy, which grew much worse in the following years, when it became clear that none of the seven volumes of Guy Debord Correspondance were back-and-forths (true correspondences); in fact, each volume was composed of Guy's letters, and no one else's. In 2006, Baudet wrote an excellent denunciation of what Fayard/Alice Debord were doing. In "Signed X," he also explained how -- in protest -- he had refused Fayard/Alice Debord the rights to publish letters Guy had written to him and had also forced subsequent volumes to replace all references to his name with the letter X.
Scene 1.
In mid-July 2007, after we'd translated and posted all this -- the Baudet/Debord letters, the Martos/Debord letters, the Martos denunciation and the Baudet denunciation -- we contacted Baudet through his website. (We tried to contact Martos through his website, but failed.) We directed Baudet's attention to our translations and, with him, worked on corrections to each and every one of them. We worked especially closely with him on the corrections to the text about the November 2005 riots in France, signed "Les Amis de Nemesis" (Baudet and his friend Fabrice de San Mateo).
Scene 2.
Between July and October 2007, we brought out three more translations of texts by "Les Amis de Nemesis." Baudet was busy with other matters; he recommended that we seek de San Mateo's help, which we did.
Due to our interest in the Fayard/Alice Debord thing, de San Mateo alerted us to Michel Bounan's 1. October 2007: Bounan's La vie innommable (Editions Allia, 2000). https://notbored.org/editorial-politics.html polemic against "Alice Debord" 2. 10-20 October 2007. "Revision" published as Chapter VII of The Art of Celine and His Times [Editions Allia, 1997; ne https://notbored.org/revision.html 3. 8 November 2007 Bounan's Incitement to Self-Defense y Editions Allia, 2005. First edition published in 1995. Tr https://notbored.org/incitement.html 4. 15 November 2007: Michel Bounan: The Crafty State L'Etat retors (The Crafty State) initially appeared as a preface to the definitive edition of the Dialogue in Hell between Machiavelli and Montesquieu by Maurive Joly (Editions Allia, 1992). It was published as a separate volume in 1992.
The turn comes. Starts on 18 December 2007.
18 Dec 2007 Hello Bill,Je viens de recevoir une lettre de Michel Bounan o il voque tes traductions de ses crits. Ilse demandepourquoi tu traduis un auteur dont tu dnonces "en notes, l'homophobie et l'antismitisme". Il trouve tes traductions "molassonnes et lnifiantes, tant dans ses tournures que dans[ton] vocabulaire". "Un exemple entre dix : dans la traduction d'Incitation", tu traduis "populace" (rabble) par "people". Bounan demande si tu es "idiot". Il conclue : "N'importe qui peut traduire ce qu'il veut, de la faon qui lui convient, et en crachant dessus, mais il prend le risque certain d'tre bientt dsavou et d'y perdre une rputation laquelle il lui arrive de tenir". Tu trouveras en pice jointe ses notes sur tes traductions.
Dans ces conditions, je crois qu'il est prfrable que tu renonces tes projets de traduction concernant d'autres livres de Bounan. Mais si tu choisis de prendre tout de mme l'initiative de ces nouvelles traductions,il est inutile que tu medemandes mes conseils. En effet, comme tu le sais, j'tais dj trs rserv sur certaines de tes notes. Mais, aprs la lettre de Bounan, je ne vois pas pourquoi j'encouragerais, mme indirectement, un projet que le principal intress dsavoue. Afin de lever toute ambiguit ce sujet, je prfre ne pas t'envoyer les trois livres de Bounan que je devais te poster aujourd'hui.
Salutations, Fabrice Hello Fabrice: (Forgive me if I respond to you in English, not French. I do not want to say anything that might be misunderstood.) It is with surprise, disappointment and sadness that I have read your letter. My responses follow. 1) I am sorry you will not be sending me any more books by Bounan. I was looking forward to reading them. 2) Of course I will not translate any more of Bounan's writings into English. 3) I have been unable to read the first page from Bounan that you sent me: it is too small. Can you re-send it to me in a larger size? I would like to make any changes that are mentioned in it. (I have been able to read the third page and have made the corrections indicated in it, except for the remarks concerning footnote #8.) 4) I have not accused Bounan of homophobia or anti-semitism. I have simply expressed my discomfort with some (only a few) of his remarks. a) It seems to me that Bounan only knows homosexual people (men and/or women) in a theoretical way, from afar, and that he does not know any homosexuals personally. But I do know a great many homosexuals of both genders, and none of them agree with Bounan's assertion that homosexuality is purely a question of environment. My bet is that they know about their own sexual orientation better than anyone else. b) Bounan's references to "castration" indicate to me that either he has not read Deleuze and Guattari's critiques of Freud and Lacan, or he has read them and has simply dismissed them. While I do not like Deleuze and Guattari's politics, I find their critique of "castration" to be accurate and quite convincing. c) I simply asked a question about Bounan's remark about the "Jewish malignancy." Malignancy is certain not a word that "pro-Semites" would ever use! If Bounan does not want people to question his attitudes towards Jews, he might want to consider not using a word like "malignancy." 5) I am obviously not an idiot, and you know this well yourself: I am a good translator, with a very good knowledge of the subjects, and I am willing to accept changes (changes to the translations themselves and changes to the translator's notes, some of which I removed in response to your explanations). 6) The heart of the matter is this: it seems to me that Bounan would like to have a translator who does not question him or disagree with him. There are real problems in his texts (there are only a few of them, but they are real problems nevertheless) and only someone who possesses an unconditional loyalty to the author's infallibility would let them pass without comment or objection. He lacks the ability to be critical of himself if he believes only "idiots" (or "disinformers") question some of his remarks. I wish Bounan luck trying to find a translator that is to his liking; it is very unlikely that he will find him or her. Translators are not mere instruments of the author's intentions: they are (unavoidably) collaborators with the author. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so. 7) I note with sadness that your tone towards me has turned cold. I have translated enough texts to know that the idea "It is better to change friends than to change ideas" has wide currency. It is my sincere hope that Bounan's dissatisfaction with my translations -- which were undertaken as a labor of love, not to win money, a publishing contract nor a "reputation" -- does not interfere with the relationship you and I have established over the last few months. Most sincerely Bill 19 dec 2007 Fabrice DE SAN MATEOtome show details12/19/07 Reply Hello Bill, Excuse-moi mon tour de t'crire en franais, mais c'est pour la mme raison que toi tu m'cris en anglais! Je vais te renvoyer la premire page en esprant qu'elle sera plus lisible. Je ne pense pas non plus que tu aies accus Bounan d'homophobie ou d'antismitisme, mme si, comme tu le sais,je ne suis pas d'accord avec tes critiques sur ces sujets. Je ne suis pas davantage convaincu par le point de vue de tes amis homosexuels (je te rassure, j'en ai aussi). Je le suis beaucoup plus par ce que Malinowski a pu observer ce sujet en Ocanie (l'homosexualit se dveloppant l et seulement l o la rpression sexuelle s'installe). Je suis entirement d'accord avec la critique de Bounan sur ta note au sujet de l'I.S., du proltariat et de la conscience. Je pourrais te citer des dizaines d'exemples dans l'I.S,, dansEnragsou dansLa vritable scissionprouvant qu'il a incontestablement raison sur ce point. Il y adeux rserves que tu as mises que je peux partager. Elles concernent Manchette, qui n'est sans doute pas l'un des frres Georges, et le tremblement de terre en Armnie. Je n'ai aucune information ce sujet permettant d'accrditer la thse d'un sisme provoqu par une bombe atomique. Je me demande d'ailleurs qui a pu affirmer cela. Je ne sais rien non plus au sujet d'articles parus dans la presse qui ressembleraient des rapports de police dguiss. Je ne dis pas que ce tremblement de terre n'a pas t provoqu. Je dis seulement que, dfaut d'informations supplmentaires ce sujet, il est permis de s'interroger sur cette thse. Je ne pense pas que tu sois un idiot. Je ne pense pas non plus que tu sois un mauvais traducteur. J'en profite pour te dire que je regrette seulement ta mthode. Je trouve que tu publies trop vite tes traductions. Tenir compte des conseils est une qualit rare. Tu la possdes. Mais tenir compte des conseils ou, parfois,des avis contradictoires avant, serait encore plus remarquable que de corriger sans cesse les traductions dj publies. Hier, je t'ai seulement crit que je ne voulais plus m'occuper avec toi des traductions de Bounan.Quoi que je puisse penser de sa raction,ce sontseslivres, pas les miens.C'est donc par respect pour lui que je ne souhaite plus m'en mler (c'est aussi pourquoi , dans ce contexte, je ne pense pas que ce soit une bonne ide que ce soit moi qui t'envoie ces livres). Je ragirai de la mme faonavec n'importe qui d'autre.N'en dduis rien de plus gnral. Par ailleurs, je prfrerais que tu continues cette discussion avec Bounan plutt qu'avec moi. Rien ne t'empche, si tu le souhaites, de lui crire via les ditions Allia. Regards, Fabrice Toulouse, 21 dcembre 2007, Bill, Je constate que, en dpit des notes deBounan que je t'ai transmises, tu n'as tenu compte, pour ta traduction d'Incitation l'autodfense,que d'une seule remarque relative une erreur de date et que tu persistes: 1. prsenterBounan comme un "mdecin homopathe" et non comme un "mdecin" dans ta brve introduction Incitation l'autodfense("he is known as a homeopathic physician"). Les raisons qu'ils donnent sont parfaitement convaincantes, a fortiori dans le contexte amricain. Conserver ta formulation pourrait le faire passer pour un charlatan. 2. le dsigner plusieurs reprises comme le "Dr. Bounan", alors qu'il prend soin de rappeler queLe temps du sidan'est pas "un ouvrage technique" et qu'il trouverait "plus correct d'crire "Michel Bounan"". L encore, je ne peux que lui donner raison. 3. conserver telle quelle ta note1 du chapitre III ("for Bounan, "the homosexual is male; either there are no lesbians or they simply do not merit discussion") alors que Bounanprcise dans sesremarquesqu'il avait l'esprit l'homosexualit masculine et fminine. Ilajoute qu'il n'voque pas dans ce passage "une castration "gnitale", au sens freudien". Mais tu n'en tiens pas compte non plus ("The limits of this extremely reductive Freudian analysis"). Enfin, Bounan ajoute que "les mots les plus importants de cette phrase sont: "comme les autres"". L encore, alors que l'auteur rappelle qu'il voque ici la castration des homosexuels aussi bien que celle des htrosexuels, tu ne te corriges pas. Enfin,last but not least, tu as commisun contre-sensgravedans la note5 de ta traduction deL'Etat retors, propos de la "malignit juive" ("Ajouter qu'il s'agit d'un "faux" et d'une "mystification" permet d'innocenter, avec soulagement ou regret, la malignit juive"). Dans cette phrase, Bounan n'exprime videmmentpas son opinion mais celle d'un courant d'opinion antismite une poque donne. Il faut le comprendre comme une formulation ironique. Or ta note 5 laisse entendre que Bounan pourrait ventuellement formuler ici une opinion personnelle ("We are not sure what Bounan means hereor if this is as anti-Jewish as it seems" [c'est moi qui souligne]). Ds lors, on comprend mieuxqu'il estime que tu l'accuses d'antismitisme ("Pourquoi, en outre, traduire un auteur, dont on dnonce, en notes, l'homophobie et l'antismitisme?").Pour ma part, j'avais seulement survol ta traduction deL'Etat retors, ne prtant pas attention cette note. Aprs examen plus attentif,j'estime quela conserver reviendrait soutenir une calomnie l'encontre de Bounan. Je ne serai pas complice de ces procds. Je te demande donc de supprimertousles remerciements que tu m'as adresss pour les traductions de Bounan. Sincrement, Fabrice Copie Michel Bounan. Reply Forward Bill NOT BORED!toFabrice, bcc:kim show details12/21/07 Reply > Bill, > > Je constate que, en dpit des notes de Bounan que je t'ai transmises, tu > n'as tenu compte, pour ta traduction d'Incitation l'autodfense, que d'une > seule remarque relative une erreur de date et que tu persistes: Yes, that's right, Fabrice. I made a quick correction and then was interrupted. I did not immediately return to my work because these translations (and my website in general) take on a secondary importance to my family and loved ones at this time of year. I am sure you can understand this. I will make these further corrections later today. > prsenter Bounan comme un "mdecin homopathe" et non comme un "mdecin" > dans ta brve introduction Incitation l'autodfense ("he is known as a > homeopathic physician"). Les raisons qu'ils donnent sont parfaitement > convaincantes, a fortiori dans le contexte amricain. Conserver ta > formulation pourrait le faire passer pour un charlatan. I got this description from Editions Allia, which states on its website the following information: Auteur: Bounan Michel (Paris, 1942) Biographie: Michel Bounan est mdecin homopathe et crivain. Ses ouvrages, tous parus chez Allia, mettent en exergue des questions de socit en s'appuyant sur les diverses perturbations qui rgissent le monde actuel et en soulignant la notion de dsastre tant sur le plan social, cologique qu'affectif. Aussi met-il ses connaissances scientifiques contribution pour analyser les forces en puissance de ce processus : les Etats, la logique marchande, les mdias. I am happy to make this correction, just as I am sure Bounan has also required Editions Allia (his publisher) to make the same correction. But I would never assume or deduce from the fact that Bounan's own publisher has made the same mistake that Editions Allia is engaging in deliberate distortions of the facts. > le dsigner plusieurs reprises comme le "Dr. Bounan", alors qu'il prend > soin de rappeler que Le temps du sida n'est pas "un ouvrage technique" et > qu'il trouverait "plus correct d'crire "Michel Bounan"". L encore, je ne > peux que lui donner raison. I am of course happy to make such a change, but I must say that, in this instance, someone is "making a mountain out of a mole hill." The use of the word "Doctor" is a term of respect in English, not a term that implies "technical expertise." > conserver telle quelle ta note 1 du chapitre III ("for Bounan, "the > homosexual is male; either there are no lesbians or they simply do not merit > discussion") alors que Bounan prcise dans ses remarques qu'il avait > l'esprit l'homosexualit masculine et fminine. Il ajoute qu'il n'voque pas > dans ce passage "une castration "gnitale", au sens freudien". Mais tu n'en > tiens pas compte non plus ("The limits of this extremely reductive Freudian > analysis"). Enfin, Bounan ajoute que "les mots les plus importants de cette > phrase sont: "comme les autres"". L encore, alors que l'auteur rappelle > qu'il voque ici la castration des homosexuels aussi bien que celle des > htrosexuels, tu ne te corriges pas. Four points are relevant here: 1) These are my opinions and I am entitled to them. 2) Precisely because these explanations have been necessary -- in a supplmentary and unofficial text -- Bounan has demonstrated that his original text is not clear on these points. 3) Because of #2, I am fully justified in making my opinions known. > Enfin, last but not least, tu as commis un contre-sens grave dans la note 5 > de ta traduction de L'Etat retors, propos de la "malignit juive" > ("Ajouter qu'il s'agit d'un "faux" et d'une "mystification" permet > d'innocenter, avec soulagement ou regret, la malignit juive"). Dans cette > phrase, Bounan n'exprime videmment pas son opinion mais celle d'un courant > d'opinion antismite une poque donne. Il faut le comprendre comme une > formulation ironique. Or ta note 5 laisse entendre que Bounan pourrait > ventuellement formuler ici une opinion personnelle ("We are not sure what > Bounan means here or if this is as anti-Jewish as it seems" [c'est moi qui > souligne]). Ds lors, on comprend mieux qu'il estime que tu l'accuses > d'antismitisme ("Pourquoi, en outre, traduire un auteur, dont on dnonce, > en notes, l'homophobie et l'antismitisme?"). Pour ma part, j'avais > seulement survol ta traduction de L'Etat retors, ne prtant pas attention > cette note. Aprs examen plus attentif, j'estime que la conserver > reviendrait soutenir une calomnie l'encontre de Bounan. Two points here: 1) A calumny?! No, not at all. Calmunies are not made in the form of questions, but in the form of statements, in the form of positive assertions. I have simply asked a question about a questionable phrase. 2) In my opinion, irony is not suited for such a serious subject: I would think that an author, any author, would go out of his way to avoid any confusion that might caused by the use of an "ironic" tone. 3) If Bounan has not seen fit to prevent such a misunderstanding, then he cannot protest that someone (anyone) has raised their eyebrows. > Je ne serai pas complice de ces procds. Je te demande donc de supprimer > tous les remerciements que tu m'as adresss pour les traductions de Bounan. As you wish. You did not ask for them; I only provided them as a courtesy. And now I will remove them, again as a courtesy to you. Bill Scene 1: Corrections are made, not all Scene 2: FDSM presents my work to Bounan Scene 3: Bounan breaks with me, orders FDSM to do the same Scene 4; FDSM breaks with meScene 1: Interchange between me and Baudet.
Scene 2: Hello, You Must Be Going.
Scene 3: Narrator's farewell.
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