I have previously posted a short excerpt from Louise Michel’s novel, The Imperial Bastard, which featured Bakunin as a main character. Michel also adapted some elements from that novel in dramatic form as Nadine, a political tragedy set in the Polish rebellions of 1846. I’ve posted a working translation of that play now at the Working Translations blog. As with all of these new translations, there are some rough spots to smooth, but in this case it’s mostly a case of making sense of the details of the stage directions, and I think all the charm of Michel’s Bakunin comes through.
Working Translations
Louise Michel, “The Claque-Dents”
THE CLAQUE-DENTS [ Claque-dents: the chatter of teeth in unheated rooms, the wretches who live there, the hovels and brothels where they live, the vampires in human guise who keep them there in order to drain […]
Contr'un
Louise Michel and “the birds of the coming storm”
Here is a literal translation of Louise Michel’s “Les Corbeaux”, from Before the Commune, a posthumous collection of poems published in 1905. _____ THE CROWS Up there, on the fir trees, are some soft birds’ […]
Contr'un
Louise Michel, “The Claque-Dents” (IV-VI)
THE CLAQUE-DENTS [continued] IV There are two little-known islands on the coast of Morbihan. From a distance, Hœdik has the appearance of a seahorse; some bits of land, one having the appearance of bagpipes, the […]