Notes Toward a Translation of L'Étranger

In April, 1946, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., published Stuart Gilbert's translation of Albert Camus's L'tranger. Gilbert's work is still the only version of Camus's masterpiece available in the English language in the United States. Like many Americans, I can trace the beginning of my serious affection for Camus to Gilbert's text, but an examination of Camus's writing in his own language has led me to consider some of the limitations of Gilbert's work, and then to attempt to capture the style and spirit of L'tranger in relatively contemporary American English. For me, the primary difficulty of Gilbert's version is that he has chosen to present the voice and mind of Meursault in a kind of midTwentieth Century British English. The language with which Meursault thus presents his life is often inappropriate for a French Algerian living in the Mediterranean sun. The vocabulary Gilbert uses locates both the logistical and psychological action of the book in a milieu that does not correspond to the cultural framework of Camus's basic conception. As a typical example, one might consider Gilbert's translation of "repondais toujours a c6te" with the locution "shilly-shallied"; or his translation of "si elle le voulait" with the colloquial "if she was keen on it."' The conclusion of Part I of L'Jtranger is Meursault's passionate reflection on the moment that shattered the structure of his life. Camus presents Meursault's thoughts in a kind of "continuous past" tense that converts the experience of the past into an ongoing narrative present.