Collaborative Ulysse(s): Joycean Scholarship & the French translations

Résumé En

As it was admirably demonstrated in the section dedicated to France in Geert Lernout and Wim Van Mierlo’s The Reception of James Joyce in Europe, the French translations of Ulysses hold a special place within the long reception of the book, because the first fragments of translation appeared in 1921 as part of a campaign for the publication of the original, but also because both attempts at translating the whole book into French are extremely interesting in terms of the development of, and collaboration with, Joycean scholarship. Collaborative translations by definition, both integral French versions of Ulysses were produced by the joined efforts of several translators, furthermore involving Joyce himself, his editors, as well as academics and experts. Studying the involvement of major figures such as Valery Larbaud, Stuart Gilbert, or Jacques Aubert, shows that authority in the translation process was increasingly vested in scholars or repositories of knowledge on Ulysses, paralleling otherwise the growing production of Joycean criticism over the course of the century. In that respect, the publication of the 1995 critical edition of Ulysse in Gallimard’s “Pléiade” collection proved pivotal in the history of the French translations, and in part shaped future attempts. Analyzing the specific set-ups of the French translations of Ulysses and drawing examples from their genetic dossiers, this paper will explore the involvement of Joyce scholars in the collaborative translations of Ulysses into French, from the earliest attempts in 1921 to the new translation of ‘Oxen of the Sun’ by Auxeméry published this year.