Translation Review - The University of Texas at Dallas

a rotten and ungrateful bunch!”
Sometimes when Labou Tansi uses a word of
his own creation or a word from an African language,
he cushions their meaning in the course of
the narrative. For instance, when Colonel Pedro
Gazani refuses the drink offered by Warrant Officer
Benoît Goldmann, he produces his own drink and
explains:
“J’appelle ça le ‘kabronahata’: une invention
de mes méninges. Ça pisse moins fort que
votre gnôle. Et c’est dur comme du métal.”
(123)
In this example, the word “kabronahata” presents
no difficulty, because the author provides an
explanation:
“I call this ‘kabronahata’: my brain-child. You
piss less often than your hooch. And it is as
strong as metal.”
Like other African writers, Labou Tansi makes
use of proverbs or sayings to explain and to illustrate
speech. The translator has to recognize these
sayings and render them in an appropriate manner.
For instance when the mayor pays a visit to the
giant, he starts their deliberations with a local
proverb. And, as is often the case in such situations,
the reply from the giant is also couched in the form
of a proverb:
- Nos ancêtres disaient qu’on n’as pas le droit
de renvoyer un étranger, dit le maire en proposant
un cigare à l’homme.
- Vous avez eu des ancêtres intelligents, dit le
colosse qui refusa le cigare. Mes ancêtres à
moi ont dit qu’on ne doit pas aller sous l’eau
les yeux grands ouverts. (65)
To be adequate, the English translation must
capture the structure and tone of the African sayings:
“Our ancestors say that no one has the right
to send a stranger away,” said the mayor as he
offered the man a cigar.
“Your ancestors were very intelligent,” said
the giant, who refused the cigar. “My ancestors
say that one must not go under water
with one’s eyes wide open.”
Although the last sentence could be translated as
“my ancestors say that you must look before you
leap,” doing so will destroy the primacy of the
African idiom that the author establishes in the
narrative.
Aside from the difficulty in finding the appropriate
English words for the individual words that
Labou Tansi uses, the greatest problem that faces the
translator of Labou Tansi’s work is the task of transferring
the quality of his language, the ways in
which he manipulates the alien and potentially alienating
French language into an adequate and appropriate
English medium. A good number of the passages
in Les yeux du volcan point to this assertion.
There are instances of what may be called “francongolais,”
that is, the use of French in a Congolese
context whose “equivalent” in English is very difficult
to determine. Let us look at the following sentences
contained in the admonition of Jean-Paul II to
the authorities of Hondo-Norte: “Foutez la merde
que vous pouvez, tuez qui vous voulez dans votre
enclos.... Foutez la viande que vous voulez! Laissez
la lumière en paix, messieurs” (17). I translated this
as “Screw up everything, you can kill whoever you
want in your little corner... Kill all the flesh that you
damn well please! But gentlemen, leave the light
alone.” Let us look at this turn of phrase the author
uses to describe a sleepless night: “Quelle cuite
d’enculé nous nous sommes donnée la nuit dernière!
Nous n’avons pas fermé l’oeil avant la troisième
rigolade de Lydie” (58), which I translated as “What
a terrible night we had last night! We didn’t sleep a
wink before Lydie’s third laugh.” I have to admit
that my English translation of these sentences is not
as forceful as the French. One really gets the
impression that something is missing, even though
the translation is still an attempt to capture Labou
Tansi’s unique style and meaning.
Another problem that confronts the translator
of Labou Tansi’s text is finding appropriate English
Translation Review 71