Alert! The first excerpt from the latest book in JM Coetzee’s “creative memoir” series, Summertime, has been spotted online at the book’s Dutch publisher’s website.
It’s not much more than a fragment, but it’s certainly worth a gloss. Here we bring you both the text from the Dutch translation of the work, which is called Zomertijd, and the (rather appalling) translation of the Dutch text back into English, courtesy Google Translate assisted by Peter Bergsma:
From Zomertijd
22 augustus 1972
In de Sunday Timesvan gisteren een bericht uit Francistown in Botswana. Ergens vorige week kwam midden in de nacht een auto, een wit Amerikaans model, aanrijden bij een huis in een woonwijk. Mannen met bivakmutsen sprongen naar buiten, trapten de voordeur in en begonnen te schieten. Toen ze uitgeschoten waren staken ze het huis in brand en reden weg. De buren sleepten zeven verkoolde lichamen uit de smeulende resten: twee mannen, drie vrouwen, twee kinderen.
De moordenaars leken zwart te zijn, maar een van de buren hoorde hen onder elkaar Afrikaans spreken en was ervan overtuigd dat het blanken waren die hun gezicht zwart hadden gemaakt. De doden waren Zuid-Afrikanen, vluchtelingen die pas enkele weken eerder in het huis waren getrokken.
De Zuid-Afrikaanse minister van Buitenlandse Zaken, om commentaar gevraagd, noemt het bericht via een woordvoerder ‘ongeverifieerd’. Er zal een onderzoek worden ingesteld, zegt hij, om te bepalen of de overledenen inderdaad Zuid-Afrikaanse burgers waren. En wat het leger betreft, een niet nader genoemde bron ontkent dat de Zuid-Afrikaanse strijdkrachten iets met de zaak te maken hebben. De moorden zijn vermoedelijk een interne ANC-aangelegenheid, oppert hij, die getuigt van ‘aanhoudende spanningen’ tussen facties.
Translation of the above excerpt via Google Translate
August 22, 1972
In the Sunday Times yesterday a message from Francistown in Botswana. Sometime last week came in the middle of the night and a car, a white American model, run at a house in a residential area. Men with Balaclava jumped out, kicked the front door and started shooting. When they strike they were shot out of the house on fire and reason away. The neighbors dragged seven charred bodies from the smoldering debris, two men, three women, two children.
The killers appeared to be black, but one of the neighbors heard them speak Afrikaans among themselves, and was convinced that the whites were black their faces were made. The dead were South Africans, refugees who have just a few weeks earlier in the house were drawn. The South African Minister of Foreign Affairs, was asked to comment, called the message through a spokesman “ongeverifieerd. There will be investigated, he says, to determine whether the deceased actually South African citizens were. And what the army is concerned, an unnamed source denied that the South African armed forces something the matter with them. The killings were probably an internal ANC matter, he suggests, which reflects “continuing tensions between factions.”
(Note that Google Translate allows users to “improve” translations, for anyone out there who wants to give it a go.)
Thanks to Tom Devriendt for the tip!
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June 16th, 2009 @12:35 #
Words cannot express my horror upon reading that translation of a translation.
No. They can. This is much like saying: "I'd really like to tell you about the five-star meal they serve at my favourite restaurant, but I don't have the time, so here's a photo of the turd I produced the following morning."
Yes, I know: "If I'm so bloody smart, why don't I revise it?" But there is absolutely no way I'm going to translate an original English text by a Nobel laureate back into English from Dutch. It's madness, I tell you, Ben Williams, madness!
June 16th, 2009 @12:51 #
Woorden kunnen niet uitdrukken mijn afschuw bij lezing dat de vertaling van een vertaling.
Nee ze kunnen. Dit is veel te zeggen: "Ik zou echt graag willen vertellen over de vijf-sterren maaltijd die zij dienen op mijn favoriete restaurant, maar ik heb geen tijd, dus hier is een foto van de drol ik de volgende ochtend. "
Ja, ik weet het: "Als ik zo bloedige slim, waarom heb ik niet herzien?" Maar er is absoluut geen manier waarop ik ben gaan vertalen een origineel Engels tekst door een Nobelprijswinnaar terug naar het Engels van het Nederlands. Het is waanzin, zeg ik u, Ben Williams, waanzin!
June 16th, 2009 @12:52 #
I must admit, this translator works a lot better than when I last visited a couple of years back.
June 16th, 2009 @12:54 #
Οι λέξεις δεν μπορούν να εκφράσουν τη φρίκη μου κατά την ανάγνωση, τη μετάφραση της μετάφρασης.
Όχι Μπορούν. Αυτό είναι πολύ σαν να λέμε: "θα ήθελα πραγματικά ήθελα να σας πω σχετικά με τις πέντε αστέρων γεύμα που εξυπηρετούν το αγαπημένο μου στο εστιατόριο, αλλά δεν έχω το χρόνο, οπότε εδώ η φωτογραφία του σβουνιά Ι παράγεται το επόμενο πρωί. "
Ναι, ξέρω: "Αν είμαι τόσο έξυπνος αιματηρή, γιατί δεν μου το αναθεωρεί;" Όμως, δεν υπάρχει απολύτως κανένας τρόπος Πάω να μεταφράσει ένα πρωτότυπο αγγλικό κείμενο από ένα νομπελίστα πίσω στα αγγλικά από την ολλανδική γλώσσα. Είναι τρέλα, θέλω να σας πω, Μπεν Γουίλιαμς, τρέλα!
June 16th, 2009 @13:03 #
I think Coetzee might approve of the translation, or of the fact of the translation. One of his early claims to fame was a computer programme that generated poetry.
June 16th, 2009 @15:44 #
Words cannot express me horror upon readin dat translashun hof da translashun. no. dey can. dis iz much dig saying: "i'd fe real dig to tell yous about da five-star meal dey serve hat me wickedist restaurant, but I don't as da bells, so here's da photo hof da turd I produced da followin mornin."
Yes, I know: "if I iz so bloody smart, why don't I revise hit?" but dere iz fe real narr way I iz gonna translate an origino English text by da nobel laureate bak into English from dutch. it's madness, I tell yous, bun williams, madness! - Ali G
June 16th, 2009 @16:59 #
Wickeed, Rustum
June 16th, 2009 @17:04 #
and back again via Greek and Dutch:
"Words can not express my horror at reading the translation of the translation.
They can not. This is to say: "I really want to talk about the five-star meal at my favorite restaurant, but I do not have the time, so the picture of turd that I am the next morning."
Yes, I know: "If I am so bloody clever, why not my review?" But there is absolutely no way I'm going to translate an original English version of a Nobel Prize winner back in English of the Dutch. It is madness, I tell you, Ben Williams, madness!"
Subtle but important difference.
July 10th, 2009 @09:52 #
More fragments from Coetzee's Summertime in Dutch:
http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=0J2CDE3D&subsection=168
July 22nd, 2009 @11:03 #
An excerpt in the New York Review of Books
Volume 56, Number 12 · July 16, 2009
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22871
July 22nd, 2009 @11:20 #
Thanks, Rebecca. We linked to that in June:
http://book.co.za/duZ4
July 23rd, 2009 @23:01 #
Thanks Sophy and everybody else. I didn't know Coetzee has a new book coming up. I read the excerpt, brilliant as expected. Already made enquiries at Exclusive Books before I realised the book is due for publication later in the year.