Working Translations

The Sex Question

Jeanne Marie, “On Woman” (1849)

August 19, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
[The articles by “Jeanne Marie” in l’Opinion des Femmes have been attributed to a number of people, including Jeanne Deroin and Jeanne-Marie-Fabienne Poinsard, aka Jenny d’Hericourt, but the most likely identification seems to be Jeanne-Marie Monniot.] On Woman In 1622, Marie Le Jars de Gournay, adoptive daughter of Montaigne, published a work entitled On the Equality of the Sexes, where by a tight reasoning, and an irresistible logic, she proved that at all times God had desired that equality. A bit later, around 1673, a learned doctor at the Sorbonne, Poulain de la Barre, also wrote a spiritual and victorious […]
fourierism

Edouard Silberling, Entries from the Dictionary Of Phalansterian Sociology

August 9, 2012
[ezcol_2third] Entries from the DICTIONARY OF PHALANSTERIAN SOCIOLOGY ABANDONMENT.—The abandonment of the weak, of children and of the elderly is one of the characteristics that civilization has borrowedfrom savagery. New Industrial World.109, 407, 424.—The civilized order can only produce eviland hypocrisy. It is powerless to ensure the effective protection of the weak. Supportfor children quickly degenerates intoexploitation, under the mask of charity, and assistance for the infirmand elderly degenerates into abuse. BEE.—The beehive and the hornets’ nest depict the two political orders of harmony and civilization. Q. 429.—The hive depicts the three functions of unitary industry: production, distribution, consumption. III. […]
fiction

Jenny P. d’Hericourt (as Félix Lamb), “The Valain Family” (1847)

August 1, 2012
The Valain Family. It was January 7; the winter was cold and foggy; the icy north wind roared around the ancient buildings of old Paris blew off the snow, which, like a white shroud, covered their dome. The inhabitant of the sumptuous hotel, dressed in silk, cashmere andfur, stretched idly on the duvet, and a warm and fragrant atmosphere, watched the sparks that outlined the rich mantelpiece of his fireplace twinkle, all while savoring the exquisite wines and delicate dishes served in their fancy dishes. He waited in a sweet indolence for the night to bring his the pleasures of […]
The Sex Question

Jeanne Deroin, “To the members of the commission of the banquet of socialist priests” (1849)

August 1, 2012
To the members of the commission of the banquet of socialist priests. Citizens, I come to your banquet because women are also priests, and they must have a place in the temple, as in the State and in the family. I come to ask to speak to you, because women are also apostles. Jesus Christ himself called them to apostleship, saying of Mary, who listened to his teaching, to Martha, who criticized her: Mary has chosen the better part. And if Christ, who did not want the light to be hidden under a bushel, allowed women to listen to his […]
fiction

Han Ryner, “The Paradox” (1913)

July 21, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
ORIGINAL THE PARADOX By Han Ryner I know a country in which the inhabitants are always clothed. Beside the woman in labor, the priest and magistrate wait and, as soon as the child appears, seizing it, they enclose it entirely, hands and face included, in an elastic material which conforms to the contours of the body and which grows with it. Perhaps, despite its elasticity, the cloth resists, opposing itself to the growth, for the people of that country remain singularly small. The strange garment has holes corresponding to the eyes, nostrils, AND mouth. But it folds a bit, with […]
fiction

Han Ryner, “The Little Exile” (1920)

July 19, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
ORIGINAL The Little Exile By Han Ryner On this heavy, stormy summer Sunday, how did I let myself be led to these noisy celebrations? Under a scorching sun, that my companions declared “almost southern,” I had stopped with the crowd at various points of the town of Sceaux and, in front of some minuscule busts, I listened to the buzz of interminable talk. Through the torpor that wove heat and rhetoric around me, some words, doubtless more often repeated, alone reached my mind. But, in the confused speeches of the orators who succeeded and resembled one another like shrill brothers, […]
Beyond the Labyrinth

A Voyage from Pole to Pole by way of the Center of the Earth (1721)

July 16, 2012
An Account of a Voyage from the Arctic to the Antarctic Pole by way of the Center of the Earth. With the description of that perilous Passage, & of the marvelous & astonishing things that were discovered beneath the Antarctic Pole. WITH FIGURES.   Amsterdam M. DCC. XXI   TABLE OF CHAPTERS. I. Departure of the Author from Amsterdam for Greenland; how the Author & his Companions began to realize that they were nearing the dreadful maelstrom which is under the Arctic Pole; description of the maelstrom. II. How the Vessel was swallowed up at the center of the maelstrom; […]
Proudhon Library

Society for the Mutual Education of Women, “Response to Satan on the Subject of Mr. Proudhon”

July 4, 2012
[When George Dairnvaell attacked Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in 1848, an anonymous member of the Society for the Mutual Education of Women, an organization founded by Jeanne Deroin and Désirée Gay Gay, came to his defense] [Note: In l’Opinion des Femmes, the author of this pamphlet is identified as Jeanne Deroin.] Society for the Mutual Education of Women. RESPONSE TO SATAN ON THE SUBJECT OF MR. PROUDHON BY THE ARCHANGEL SAINT-MICHEL How long, O Satan, do you hope to persecute with impunity the children of the true God? You have assumed every form in order to establish your empire on the earth; […]
Proudhon Library

“Satan,” “The History of Mr. Proudhon and His Doctrines” (1849)

July 4, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
  THE HISTORY OF MR. PROUDHON AND HIS DOCTRINES BY SATAN [GEORGES DAIRNVAELL] I have been, for an entire month, delivered to the “jackals of the press and the owls of the gallery. Never has a man, neither in the past or in the present, been the object of as much execration as I have become, simply because I make war on the cannibals.” P. J. Proudhon No, citizen Proudhon, you will not persuade me that there are still cannibals among us in France. As for the owls of the gallery and the jackals of the press, they have attacked […]
Working Translations

Louise Michel, “The New Era” (1887)

July 2, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur
[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] THE NEW ERA Louise Michel I Like sap in April, the blood rises in a secular revival in the old human tree (the old tree of poverty ). Under the humus of the errors which fall and pile up like dead leaves, there are snowdrops and golden daffodils, and the old tree quivers in the vernal breezes. In the lovely woods the red flowers emerge bloody from the branches; the swollen buds burst. There are new leaves and flowers. It is a stage of nature. This will become the deep shrubbery […]