from L'ESPRIT NOUVEAU ET LES POÈTES / THE NEW SPIRIT AND THE POETS

Richard Kostelanetz translating the French of Guillaume Apollinaire (1917-1918) (b. Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki)

Translator's Note

      L'esprit nouveau qui dominera le monde entier ne s'est fait jour dans la poésie nulle part comme en France. La forte discipline intellectuelle que se sont imposée de tout temps les Français leur permet, à eux et à ceux qui leur appartiennent spirituellement, d'avoir une conception de la vie, des Arts et des Lettres qui, sans être la simple constatation de l'Antiquité, ne soit pas non plus un pendant du beau décor romantique.
   The New Spirit that will dominate world poetry has emerged in French poetry as nowhere else. The strong intellectual discipline so customarily French allows certain French poets, as well as their spiritual allies, to have a heightened sense of Arts and Letters, all without echoing antiquity or the currently prevailing sentiments for romantic beauty.
    The New Spirit soon to dominate world poetry has emerged in France as in poetry nowhere else. The strong intellectual discipline indigenously French has allowed certain French poets, as well as their literary allies, to have a heightened sense of Arts and Letters, all without echoing antiquity or recent ideals of romantic beauty.

     L'esprit nouveau qui s'annonce prétend avant tout hériter des classiques un solide bon sens, un esprit critique assuré, des vues d'ensemble sur l'univers et dans l'âme humaine, et le sens du devoir qui dépouille les sentiments et en limite ou plutôt en contient les manifestations.
    This New Spirit claims primarily to inherit from the classics some sound common sense, critical thinking, a universe perspective, the human soul, and a sense of duty that reveals our feelings and limits (or rather contains) their examples.

       Il prétend encore hériter des romantiques une curiosité qui le pousse à explorer tous les domaines propres à fournir une matière littéraire qui permette d'exalter la vie sous quelque forme qu'elle se présente.
     It still claims to inherit romantic curiosity that drives him to explore all the areas likely to provide a literary material that allows to exalt life in whatever form it presents itself.
    From romantic curiosity comes the drive to explore anything likely to provide literary inspiration and therefore to exalt life in unfamiliar ways.
 
    Explorer la vérité, la chercher, aussi bien dans le domaine ethnique, par exemple, que dans celui de l'imagination, voilà les principaux caractères de cet esprit nouveau.
    To explore the truth, seeking more in the ethnic domain than in the imagination, become the main characters of this New Spirit.

      Cette tendance du reste a toujours eu ses représentants audacieux qui l'ignoraient; il y a longtemps qu'elle se forme, qu'elle est en marche.
    This trend remains has always had its bold representatives who did not know, and there has long it is formed, it is running.
    This persisting trend has always had its bold advocates who, though previously unaware of it, discovered that it was long developing.

      Cependant, c'est la première fois qu'elle se présente consciente d'elle-même. C'est que, jusqu'à maintenant, le domaine littéraire était circonscrit dans d'étroites limites. On écrivait en prose ou l'on écrivait en vers. En ce qui concerne la prose, des règles grammaticales en fixaient la forme.
     However, this is the first time she has conscient itself. Is that, until now, the literary field was confined within narrow limits. They wrote in prose or verse you wrote. Regarding the prose, grammatical rules staring form.
     However, not until now has this New Spirit become fully conscious of itself. Until now, the literary world was stuck within narrow limits where an author wrote in prose or verse. Especially in the writing of prose, grammatical rules ruled.

      Pour ce qui est de la Poésie, la versification rimée en était la loi unique, qui subissait des assauts périodiques, mais que rien n'entamait.
    In terms of poetry, rhymed verse was the only law which suffered periodic attacks, but nothing was beginning.
   Within the world of poetry, only rhymed verse suffered periodic attacks, though it was never vulnerable.

    Le vers libre donna un libre essor au lyrisme; mais il n'était qu'une étape des explorations qu'on pouvait faire dans le domaine de la forme.
    Free verse gave free rein to lyricism, but it was only one step explorations could be done in the field of the form.
    While free verse liberated lyricism, this was only one direction toward exploring new possibilities of form.

      Les recherches dans la forme ont repris désormais une grande importance. Elle est légitime.
      Research in the form have now taken a great importance. It is legitimate.
      Poetic investigations into alternatives have become more important and legitimate.

Comment cette recherche n'intéresserait-elle pas le poète, elle qui peut déterminer de nouvelles découvertes dans la pensée et dans le lyrisme?
    How this research it not interest the poet, she can determine new discoveries in thought and lyricism?
    How can such investigations not interest poets predisposed to new discoveries in thought and lyrical expression?


Individual entries on Richard Kostelanetz’s work in several fields appear in various editions of Readers Guide to Twentieth-Century Writers, Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature, Contemporary Poets, Contemporary Novelists, Postmodern Fiction, Webster's Dictionary of American Writers, The HarperCollins Reader’s Encyclopedia of American Literature, Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Directory of American Scholars, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in American Art, NNDB.com, Wikipedia.com, and Britannica.com, among other distinguished directories. Otherwise, he survives in New York, where he was born, unemployed and thus overworked.