translations Archives - Page 5 of 10 - The Libertarian Labyrinth

Coeurderoy and Vauthier, “The Barrier of the Combat” (1852)

March 11, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’ve posted a working translation of The Barrier of the Combat, by Ernest Coeurderoy and Octave Vauthier. For some explanation of the title, see my earlier post on La Barrière du Combat. The essay, which is aimed at squabbling socialist exiles, ends with Coeurderoy’s famous argument that liberty in Europe could only be made possible if a Cossack invasion first wiped away civilization. Of the early anarchists, Coeurderoy was probably the most accomplished and literary writer, which posed a slightly different set of translation problems than I faced with Bellegarrigue and Déjacque. I’ve learned a number of things about the […]

Bellegarrigue’s “To the Point! To Action!!” and “Le Commanditaire”

March 3, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

I’ve posted a revised translation of Anselme Bellegarrigue’s “To the Point! To Action!!” (“Au Fait! Au Fait!!”) It is considerably more finished than the first version, though I reserve the right to come back and tinker with it some more one of these days. I find Bellegarrigue’s prose challenging, but I’ve grown rather fond of his style. He has a lot of the youthful brashness of Déjacque and Coeurderoy, but also a no-nonsense, bottom-line focus which means he often delivers his largely mutualist message in the voice of a jaded trader, and the result is often as entertaining as it […]

Contr'un

Working Translation revisions

February 28, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

As I’ve mentioned, I’m in the midst of a thorough revision of all my working translations. I’ll be making announcements of the major milestones, but I’ve also been marking the links in the side column here in bold as I complete the work. I’ve signed onto a couple of big, exciting translation projects (about which more soon) and turned a couple of important corners in my own work, and want to square away all of this exploratory material, as I start to tackle material in a considerably more systematic manner. And the revised translations will make up the heart of […]

Pierre Leroux on Joseph Déjacque

February 12, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

“… one day Déjacque harangued the crowd in the Faubourg Saint-Honore, where he lived, claiming to be a new reincarnation of Christ…” — from an account of Déjacque last days, before he died “mad from poverty.” The biographical details on Joseph Déjacque are scattered, though slowly but surely they’re coming together. And they have surfaced in some interesting places. One of the most interesting, especially for me, is Pierre Leroux’s The Beach at Samarez: A Philosophical Poem, a two-volume work combining a philosophical poem with reminiscences of life among the French exiles in the colony on the isle of Jersey. […]

Anselme Bellegarrigue’s Revolution

February 9, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Anselme Bellegarrigue published two issues of Anarchy: A Journal of Order. The first issue, the “Manifesto,” is relatively well-known, thanks to a partial translation in Benjamin R. Tucker’s Liberty and a more recent full translation by Paul Sharkey, which was published by the Kate Sharpley Library. Those familiar with that work will not be surprised by the relentless anti-governmentalism in the second issue, “The Revolution,” but they may be somewhat taken aback by his identification of “The Revolution” with the flux of interests, and his claim that “the Revolution is purely and simply a matter of business.” I started working […]

Anselme Bellegarrigue, “The Revolution” (4 of 4)

February 9, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Anarchy: A Journal of Order Anselme Bellegarrigue Issue Two [continued from Part 3] XII Now when, instead of a single store of money, the country possesses, for the sale of that merchandise, as many shops as there are capitalists, that metallic commodity cannot fail to be cheap. Woolen cloth is not expensive in France thanks to the expansion which free commerce has given to its sale! If it came to be monopolized, as money is at present, the frock coat would become a rare distinction. Capital being freed, it is labor which is stimulated. Capital and labor are one and […]

Anselme Bellegarrigue, “The Revolution” (3 of 4)

February 8, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Anarchy: A Journal of Order Anselme Bellegarrigue Issue Two [continued from Part 2] VIII The Revolution is the emancipation of the individual or it is nothing; it is the end of the political and social tutelage, or it means nothing. In this I am, and indeed must be, in agreement with everyone, even with those we are accustomed to call reactionaries and who are, after all, only minors promised to the tutelage of the self-styled democrats, as the democrats are today minors under the tutelage of the so-called reactionaries. From a national point of view, the names of the parties […]

Anselme Bellegarrigue, “The Revolution” (2 of 4)

February 8, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Anarchy: A Journal of Order Anselme Bellegarrigue Issue Two [continued from Part 1] IV February 24, at two o’clock in the afternoon, the Tuileries, the legislative palace, the ministerial hotels, the Hôtel de Ville, and the Prefecture of police were all deserted; the official hierarchy was eclipsed. Authority had physically disappeared, and the people were free. And understand well what that word people means, coming from my pen: when I make use of that word, I mean to designate everyone, smocks and coats, patent leather shoes and hobnailed boots. On February 24, I say, the people were free, that is […]

Anselme Bellegarrigue, “The Revolution” (1 of 4)

February 8, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Anarchy: A Journal of Order Anselme Bellegarrigue Issue Two Foreward The editor of Anarchy, tackling head-on a word which the politicians have used to intimidate the population and hold it for ransom, has proposed two things: First, to prove that order is a popular and anti-governmental element. The best argument that can be furnished in support of this thesis is that the monarchist papers openly greet the civil war as a Providence. Second, to establish that the Revolution is purely and simply a matter of business. The indifference and political skepticism to which the people abandon themselves more and more, […]

Paule Mink, “Poor Old Man” (1894)

February 6, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

Panting, along the gray road, which lost itself in the distance in a damp autumn fog, an old man walked, doubled over. Feet bare in worn-out shoes, trousers ragged and dirty, dressed in a thin shirt of blue cloth which covered him without protecting him from the bitter north wind that blew, a cheap cap pulled down over his eyes, an empty beggar’s bag on his back, and in his hand a gnarled stick which he supported his tottering only with great difficulty: his whole aspect inspired a distressing sadness.

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