Latgalistikys kongresu materiali, III. 2011. - Latvijas Universitāte

about which the author chose a much more neutral version, that is to say:
‘Who has a squint...’. In the same passage, two terms can be picked on
which, in Walloon, have relatively many meanings. The first one, clatcheû,
means both ‘braggart, boaster’, but also ‘inveterate liar, storyteller’. The
second one, man´dây, designates an odd-job man, an unskilled apprentice,
but also an incompetent and a person who is no good at anything. The
author has chosen ‘boaster’ and ‘dirty pig’, two perfectly correct translations
that nevertheless do not render neither the first nor the derived
meanings of such words which, in Walloon, have moreover a very strong
emotive power.
This is obviously by no means exceptional and it can be found in any
form of literary translation.
5. The treated themes
We have already explained that the main theme of the whole anthology
is the “Warum Krieg?”, the ‘Why war?’ that underlies the whole.
The author’s captivity in a Stalag is only referred to in the anthology
through a few allusions to food or clothes; such allusions enable him each
time to evoke his family or his country, and they are sometimes pleasant.
The recalling of a happy past that it seems the author wants to remember
appears to be more important than the vicissitudes of the present.
This is certainly an attitude which allowed the prisoner to endure better the
said vicissitudes. The following three examples bear witness to this.
Dji vike pus´ du solia qui d’ôte chôse / Mins dji don’reu sins babyî /
Mi plène samwène di pwin gris, / Di sôcisson, d’ maquéye, di marmèlâde, /
Di Knackelbrot sètch come du strin / Pou ène après din.nér dins l’ bos d’
Tchèss’lèt, / Avou m’n-èfant èyèt m’ feume / Minme s’i ploût.
‘I’m living more on sun than on something else / But I would give
readily / My whole weekly ration of stale bread, / Of sausage, of fromage
blanc, of jam, / of Knackelbrot as dry as hay / To spend an afternoon in the
Châtelet wood, / In company with my child and my wife / Even if it is
raining.’ (“Dji don’reu” ‘I would give’, p. 16)
Avou m’ capote di Polonès, / M’ djaquète di Tchèque, mi culote di
Francès, / Dji n’ sâré pus qwè dîre adon.
‘With my Pole’s greatcoat, / My Czech’s jacket, my Frenchman’s
trousers, / I shall not be able then to say anything.’
(“Toudis pus tôrd” ‘Always later’, p. 24)
Pa d’zeûs l’ ronde tâbe dèl grande cûjène, / Pou l’ dîsième côp dispûs l’
matin, / Gaston asprouve ène rèyussite, / Camile, wèspiyant, s’abîye come
èn-èsquimô, / Pour li ralér an Bèljique.
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