David Coward
Translator
2012
The Phantom of the Opera (Oxford World's Classics) buy here ⚜⚜
Different covers and Translations
Translations and Errors
The Phantom of the Opera (Oxford World's Classics) buy here ⚜⚜
Different covers and Translations
Translations and Errors
Chapter Titles
FOREWORD In which the author of this strange tale tells the reader how he
came to be absolutely convinced that there truly was a Phantom of the
Opera
1 Was it the Ghost?
2 The New Marguerite
3 In which Messrs Debienne and Poligny, for the first time, secretly make
the Opera’s new Directors, Messrs Armand Moncharmin and Firmin
Richard, party to their real, hidden reason for resigning from the National
Academy of Music
4 Box 5
5 Box 5 (Continued)
6 The Magic Violin
7 A Visit to Box 5
8 In which Messrs Firmin Richard and Armand Moncharmin have the
audacity to stage Faust in an ill-fated theatre with catastrophic results
9 The Mysterious Carriage
10 The Masked Ball
11 Forget the Name of the Man with the Voice
12 Above the Traps
13 Apollo’s Lyre
14 A Masterstroke from the King of Traps
15 A Strange Request for a Safety Pin
16 ‘Christine! Christine!’
17 Mme Giry’s amazing revelations of her personal dealings with the
Phantom of the Opera
18 More about the Strange Request for a Safety Pin
19 The Police Inspector, the Viscount and the Persian
20 The Viscount and the Persian
21 In the Belly of the Opera
22 Concerning the interesting and instructive ordeals undergone by the
Persian in the belly of the Opera
23 Inside the Torture Chamber
24 The Torture Begins
25 ‘Any old barrels!… Barrels!… Any old barrels for sale?’
26 Scorpion or Grasshopper? Which is it to be?
27 The End of the Phantom’s Love Story
EPILOGUE
FOREWORD In which the author of this strange tale tells the reader how he
came to be absolutely convinced that there truly was a Phantom of the
Opera
1 Was it the Ghost?
2 The New Marguerite
3 In which Messrs Debienne and Poligny, for the first time, secretly make
the Opera’s new Directors, Messrs Armand Moncharmin and Firmin
Richard, party to their real, hidden reason for resigning from the National
Academy of Music
4 Box 5
5 Box 5 (Continued)
6 The Magic Violin
7 A Visit to Box 5
8 In which Messrs Firmin Richard and Armand Moncharmin have the
audacity to stage Faust in an ill-fated theatre with catastrophic results
9 The Mysterious Carriage
10 The Masked Ball
11 Forget the Name of the Man with the Voice
12 Above the Traps
13 Apollo’s Lyre
14 A Masterstroke from the King of Traps
15 A Strange Request for a Safety Pin
16 ‘Christine! Christine!’
17 Mme Giry’s amazing revelations of her personal dealings with the
Phantom of the Opera
18 More about the Strange Request for a Safety Pin
19 The Police Inspector, the Viscount and the Persian
20 The Viscount and the Persian
21 In the Belly of the Opera
22 Concerning the interesting and instructive ordeals undergone by the
Persian in the belly of the Opera
23 Inside the Torture Chamber
24 The Torture Begins
25 ‘Any old barrels!… Barrels!… Any old barrels for sale?’
26 Scorpion or Grasshopper? Which is it to be?
27 The End of the Phantom’s Love Story
EPILOGUE
Differences
Which Translation do you have?
A good way to tell is the opening paragraph of the book
A good way to tell is the opening paragraph of the book
Gaston Leroux
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Coward
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Le fantôme de l’Opéra a existé. Ce ne fut point, comme on l’a cru longtemps, une inspiration d’artistes, une superstition de directeurs, la création falote des cervelles excitées de ces demoiselles du corps de ballet, de leurs mères, des ouvreuses, des employés du vestiaire et de la concierge.
Oui, il a existé, en chair et en os, bien qu’il se donnât toutes les apparences d’un vrai fantôme, c’est-à-dire d’une ombre. |
"THERE truly was a Phantom of the Opera. He was not, as was long thought, a figment of the imagination of artists, the product of the superstitious minds of theatre managements, or some fanciful will-o’-the-wisp created by the empty heads of the young ladies of the corps de ballet, their mothers, assorted box-attendants cloakroom girls and the stage-door keeper. Oh yes! He existed all right, a creature of flesh and blood, though he strove hard to give the impression that he was a genuine phantom, in other words a ghost."
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The “fantôme de l’Opéra” did really exist. He was not, as was long believed, an invention of the performer’s imaginations, a superstition of the managing directors, or a creation from the easily excited and impressionable minds of the young ladies of the Corps de Ballet, or of their mothers, the box keepers, ushers, the cloakroom attendants, or the concierge.
Yes, he existed in flesh and blood, although he did take on the persona of a real ghost; that is to say, a of kind spectral shadow spirit. |
Noteworthy Changes
NOTES: From Apollo's Lyre see the differences. Compare same section to de Mattos, Bair, Wolf, Ribiere or Coward.
Gaston Leroux
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Coward
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Gaston Leroux
« Ce soir-là, nous n’échangeâmes plus une parole… Il avait saisi une harpe et il commença de me chanter, lui, voix d’homme, voix d’ange, la romance de Desdémone. Le souvenir que j’en avais de l’avoir chantée moi-même me rendait honteuse. Mon ami, il y a une vertu dans la musique qui fait que rien n’existe plus du monde extérieur en dehors de ces sons qui vous viennent frapper le coeur. Mon extravagante aventure fut oubliée. Seule revivait la voix et je la suivais enivrée dans son voyage harmonieux ; je faisais partie du troupeau d’Orphée ! Elle me promena dans la douleur, et dans la joie, dans le martyre, dans le désespoir, dans l’allégresse, dans la mort et dans les triomphants hyménées… j’écoutais… Elle chantait… Elle me chanta des morceaux inconnus… et me fit entendre une musique nouvelle qui me causa une étrange impression de douceur, de langueur, de repos… une musique qui, après avoir soulevé mon âme, l’apaisa peu à peu, et la conduisit jusqu’au seuil du rêve. Je m’endormis. . . . . . « Quand je me réveillai, j’étais seule, sur une chaise longue, dans une petite chambre |
‘And I listened… and I stayed!
‘That evening we did not say one word to each other… He took up a harp and began to sing Desdemona’s Willow Song* in his manangel’s voice. The memory of it, which I had from having sung it myself, made me ashamed. Raoul, there is a power in music which makes you forget everything outside those sounds which go straight to the heart. My appalling predicament was forgotten. There was only the Voice which lived once more. Entranced, I followed its harmonies wherever they led and became one of the flock of Orpheus!* He took me through pain and pleasure, martyrdom, despair and joy to death and ecstatic, star-blessed love… I listened… He went on singing… He sang melodies unknown to me… He introduced me to a new kind of music which left me with strange feelings of calm, stillness and peace… music which raised up my soul, gently let it down and drew it into the land of dreams. . . . . . . . ‘I must have fallen asleep. When I woke I was alone on an ottoman in a small, simply appointed room. |
My Translation
... And I listen to him ... and I stayed! . “That evening, we did not exchange a word... He had taken up a harp. ‘It’... the man’s voice, the voice of an angel began to sing to me, ‘The Romance of Desdemona’ The memory I had, of singing it myself, made me ashamed. My friend, music has a quality that makes one forget the outside world, apart from those sounds that impress upon the heart. My wild adventure was all but forgotten. Only the voice and I existed. Intoxicated, I followed where ever its harmony led me. It was as though suddenly, I became part of Orpheus’s flock! It’s triumphant hymns, walked me through sorrow then on to ecstasy, down the path of martyrdom and through the pain of despair, to the highs of elation, and then finally to death... I listened ... and the voice than sang to me, an unfamiliar pieces ... and I heard music like nothing I had ever heard before. It caused in me an unusual feeling, a sweet euphoria washed over me, a kind of languishing. The soft music lifted my soul, soothed it as it wrapped it in sound, and I was brought to the threshold of dreams. That is when I fell asleep.” “When I awoke, I was alone, laying on a chaise lounge in a small simple room |
NOTES: Interesting and Instructive Tribulations of a Persian in the Underground of the Opera: (notice the difference through out all the translations
de Mattos
“My duty, you great booby!...It is my wish... my wish to let her go |
Gaston Leroux
– Mon devoir, immense niais ! – (textuel). – C’est ma volonté… ma volonté de la laisser partir, |
PT Translation
‘My duty, immense ninny! - (verbatim). - It is my desire... my wish to let her go, |
Wolf
"'My duty, you stupid ninny. It's what I want. I want to let her go-- |
Lowell Bair
“My duty, you immense simpleton [sic]. is my will, my will to let her leave, |
Lofficier
"My duty, you great oaf? (sic!) It is my wish-my wish to let her go. |
Ribière
'You are mistaken, you great clod! I don't have to do it, but I am only too happy to let her go! |
Coward
‘Bound by duty, you oaf? (his word) I am bound only by my will!… It is my wish that she shall leave!… |
☚ •Coward•
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