Potential Source Versions of Claude Gueux

1.3 Potential Source Versions Consulted in the Present Dissertation

1.3.1 Potential Source Versions of Claude Gueux

Of the nine Chinese texts discussed by the present dissertation, Zhou Zuoren's Guer Ji and Xue Sheng's Leixie Mengxin stem from the story of Claude Gueux. In Hugo's original construction, the work is composed of two parts: the main text and an epilogue. The story is narrated in the straight matter portion, followed by the Epilogue which criticizes the injustice of the social system in France. Both of the Chinese versions deal with the major body text, i.e., the story, only, with little, if any, reference to the critical epilogue. This reflects the previously mentioned general tendency of translators of the time to orient their renditions primarily to plot.

Apart from the French original, there are quite a few English versions preceding the two Chinese renditions. Some of them are complete translations; some are partial.

The unabridged versions consulted by the present dissertation include those translated by Duncombe Pyrke, jr. (1869), George Burnham Ives (1894), Eugenia de B. (1895), and Arabella Ward (1896) respectively. The bowdlerized translations presented in the present dissertation are Gilbert Campbell's rendition (ca. 1886) and Nottingham Society's version (1907). What is remarkable about the partial translations is that they are abridged in almost the identical way, though the translated texts may be diversified.

Among the different truncated versions, what is deleted and what is modified are almost the same. To illustrate this, this study juxtaposes the two aforementioned simplified versions with a complete English translation and the French original text for comparison and contrast. We may first look at an example where deletion is involved.²²

²¹ An example of such a radically reduced text can be found in a later version: Herbert D. Laube, ed., The Story of Jean Valjean: Extracted from Les Misérables, By Victor Hugo (Geneva, N.Y.: P of W. F.

Humphrey, 1928).

²² In order to pave the way for easier comparison and contrast, most of the juxtaposed texts in the present dissertation are put in tables.

French (Victor Hugo) English (Duncombe Pyrke, jr.) Il y a sept ou huit ans, un homme

nommé Claude Gueux, pauvre ouvrier, vivait à Paris. Il avait avec lui une fille qui était sa maîtresse, et un enfant de cette fille. Je dis les choses comme elles sont, laissant le lecteur ramasser les moralités à mesure que les faits les sèment sur leur chemin. L'ouvrier était capable, habile, intelligent, fort maltraité par l'éducation, fort bien traité par la nature, ne sachant pas lire et sachant penser. Un hiver, l'ouvrage manqua. Pas de feu ni de pain dans le galetas.

L'homme, la fille et l'enfant eurent froid et faim. L'homme vola. Je ne sais ce qu'il vola, je ne sais où il vola. Ce que je sais, c'est que de ce vol il résulta trois jours de pain et de feu pour la femme et pour l'enfant, et cinq ans de prison pour l'homme. (CG 355)

Seven or eight years ago, a man named Claude Gueux, a poor workman, lived at Paris. With him lived a young woman who was his mistress, and her child. I relate things as they are, leaving the reader to gather the moral lessons which the facts present on the way. The workman was capable, clever, intelligent, very badly treated by education, very well treated by nature, not knowing how to read and knowing how to think. One winter, work was not to be had. There was neither fire nor bread in the garret.

The man, the girl, and the child were cold and hungry. The man committed a theft. I know not what he stole or where he stole; what I know is, that the result of this theft was three days' food and fire for the woman and child, and five years' imprisonment for the man. (23)

English (Gilbert Campbell) English (Nottingham Society) Claude Gueux was a poor workman,

living in Paris about eight years ago, with his mistress and child. Although his education had been neglected, and he could not even read, the man was naturally clever and intelligent, and thought deeply over matters. Winter came with its attendant miseries—want of work, want of food, want of fuel.

The man, the woman, the child, were

Claude Gueux was a poor workman, living in Paris about eight years ago, with his mistress and child. Although his education had been neglected, and he could not even read, the man was naturally clever and intelligent, and thought deeply over matters. Winter came with its attendant miseries,—want of work, want of food, want of fuel. The man, the woman, and the child were

frozen and famished. The man turned thief. I know not what he stole. What signifies, as the result was the same: to the woman and child it gave three days' bread and firing; to the man five years' imprisonment. (309)

frozen and famished. The man turned thief. I know not what he stole. What signifies, as the result was the same: to the woman and child it gave three days' bread and warmth; to the man, five years' imprisonment. (319)

In this instance, what is to be noted is that right after introducing the protagonist and his mistress and her child, the complete versions present an authorial remark which is absent in the shortened versions:

Je dis les choses comme elles sont, laissant le lecteur ramasser les moralités à mesure que les faits les sèment sur leur chemin. (Hugo)

I relate things as they are, leaving the reader to gather the moral lessons which the facts present on the way. (Pyrke)

The versions by Campbell and Nottingham Society both omit this authorial voice. In fact, the abridged texts not only delete in the same way, but also narrate in the same way. In the remaining parts of the quoted passages, similar messages are conveyed, including the hero's natural good quality, the harshness in a certain winter, and the consequence of the hero's theft. What is remarkable is that in terms of narration, the truncated versions are in agreement with each other but in distinction from the complete texts.

Je ne sais ce qu'il vola, je ne sais où il vola. Ce que je sais, c'est que de ce vol il résulta trois jours de pain et de feu pour la femme et pour l'enfant, et cinq ans de prison pour l'homme. (Hugo)

I know not what he stole or where he stole; what I know is, that the result of this theft was three days' food and fire for the woman and child, and five years' imprisonment for the man. (Pyrke)

I know not what he stole. What signifies, as the result was the same: to the woman and child it gave three days' bread and firing; to the man five years' imprisonment. (Campbell)

I know not what he stole. What signifies, as the result was the same: to the woman and child it gave three days' bread and warmth; to the man, five years' imprisonment. (Nottingham Society)

In the complete narration, the narrator mentions "what he stole" ("qu'il vola") and

"where he stole" ("où il vola"), whereas the abridged texts both go without "where he

stole." Then, in stating the result of the protagonist's theft, the complete versions adopt the plain and direct expression "the result of this theft was . . ." ("de ce vol il résulta . . ."). By contrast, the abridged versions employ a different rhetorical strategy, a less lucid and less direct way of expressing the result: "What signifies, as the result was the same: . . ." The homogeneity between the two simplified versions is underscored by the fact that here in this paragraph Nottingham Society's text is identical to Campbell's except for one word: toward the end of the paragraph, instead of Campbell's "bread and firing," Nottingham Society offers "bread and warmth."

Similar instances are too numerous to account here. Suffice it to provide one more example to demonstrate a significant transformation done by the shortened texts.

French (Victor Hugo) English (Duncombe Pyrke, jr.) Claude Gueux était grand mangeur.

C'était une des particularités de son organisation. Il avait l'estomac fait de telle sorte que la nourriture de deux hommes ordinaires suffisait à peine à sa journée. M. de Cotadilla avait un de ces appétits-là, et en riait; mais ce qui est une occasion de gaieté pour un duc grand d'Espagne qui a cinq cent mille moutons est une charge pour un ouvrier, et un malheur pour un prisonnier. (359)

Claude Gueux was a large eater. It was a pecularity of his organization. He had a stomach of such a nature, that the food which was sufficient for two ordinary men barely sufficed him for the day. M.

de Cotadilla had one of these appetites, and made a joke of it; but what is a laughing matter for a duke, a grandee of Spain, the possessor of five hundred thousand sheep, is a burden for a workman, and a misfortune for a prisoner. (28-29)

English (Gilbert Campbell) English (Nottingham Society) . . . Such popularity ever has its

attendant hatred, and though beloved by the prisoners, Claude was detested by the gaolers. To him two men's rations would have been scarcely sufficient. The inspector laughed at this, as his own appetite was large; but what would be mirth to a duke, to a prisoner would be a

Such popularity ever has its attendant hatred; and though beloved by the prisoners, Claude was detested by the jailers. To him two men's rations would have been scarcely sufficient. The inspector laughed at this, as his own appetite was large; but what would be mirth to a duke, to a prisoner would be a

great misfortune. . . . (311) great misfortune. . . . (321)

Here attention is drawn to the narration of the hero's capacity for eating. In the complete texts, allusion is made to a Spanish duke who jokes about his own great appetite. However, the abridged versions make no mention of the Spanish aristocrat but in its place put forward the prison inspector and turn the self-joking of the duke to a laughing done by the inspector at the protagonist. It is significant that the same deviation from the original is shared by the two shortened versions; it is even more striking that here in the cited passages Campbell and Nottingham Society present the exact same translated text except for two insignificant variations in format: the punctuation difference of "attendant hatred" followed by a comma (Campbell) versus

"attendant hatred" followed by a semicolon (Nottingham Society); and the spelling alternative of "gaolers" (Campbell) versus "jailers" (Nottingham Society).

All in all, the distinction between complete texts and abridged texts of Claude Gueux in the English translations is useful to the present research in that if in terms of plot narration one truncated version is disqualified by my intertextual comparing and contrasting, then all the other truncated versions can also be ruled out from further consideration. This saves a lot of energy and time in screening the potential texts.

Claude Gueux was translated not only into English, but also into Japanese, before the emergence of the Chinese versions. In the pre-May-Fourth period covered by the present dissertation, there existed one Japanese version of Claude Gueux, titled

"Claude" クラウド , which was translated by Morita Shiken 森田思軒 (1861−1897).²³ This work is included in the memorial collection of Morita's Japanese translations of Hugo's works, with the Japanese heading Hugo Shouhin ユーゴー小 品.²⁴ Published in 1898, a year after Morita's death, the compilation contains several translated short pieces from Hugo's Choses Vues as well as a Japanese version of Claude Gueux. The table of contents shows the time each translation was done, and from here we know that the Japanese Claude Gueux was finished in 1890. There is no doubt about the fact that the Japanese "Claude" was rendered from English rather than from French, because Morita did not read French but English:

故思軒氏の文學者として、半生の事業は、ユーゴーを我國の讀書界に紹介するにありき。彼は佛語を解せず、故にユーゴーの文を譯す

²³ Throughout the dissertation, Japanese names are in "family name first" order, in accordance with the usage in Japanese, as distinct from the order in the English appellation.

²⁴ Literally, "Short Pieces of Hugo"

るや、之を英文よりせざる可らざるの不便ありき。²⁵ (Tokutomi 1) Morita's dependence on English for rendition of Hugo's Claude Gueux makes one wonder which English version he employed in his translating process. In this regard, Kawato Michiaki 川戸道昭 has given us the answer. In his "Meiji Jidai no Victor Hugo: Morita Shiken no Houyaku o Megutte,"²⁶ Kawato establishes that the specific source text used by Morita in his rendition is Gilbert Campbell's [ca. 1886]²⁷ English translation (420-22). One of the pieces of evidence proposed by the Japanese critic is that with the exception of a few minor changes probably done by the translator on purpose, Morita's text is a close rendition of Campbell's English version. Later in the next chapter, both texts shall be subjected to intertextual juxtaposition and comparison.

1.3.2 Potential Source Versions of "L'Origine de Fantine"

After the previous briefing on the possible source texts for the Chinese versions of Claude Gueux, it is time now to continue with "L'Origine de Fantine." Of the nine Chinese versions addressed in the present dissertation, only Lu Xun's "Aichen" is based on the episode of "L'Origine de Fantine." The source for Lu Xun's Chinese rendition has been known previously. As Kudo Takamasa 工藤貴正 points out, rather than translating from French or English, Lu Xun modeled his Chinese version on Morita Shiken's Japanese text of "Fantine no Moto" ("Cong Benshijichu Xiou Wenxue de Yijie Kan Dangshi de Zhongri Wenxue Jiaoliu" 56). Like the Japanese "Claude," the Japanese "Fantine no Moto" is among the short pieces compiled in the 1898 posthumous collection of Hugo Shouhin, translated by Morita, and the Japanese rendition of "Fantine no Moto" was finished in 1888, a year after Hugo's original

"L'Origine de Fantine" was published posthumously in 1887. The fact that Morita, not knowing French, had to resort to English for his introduction of western works to Japan, along with the fact that the emergence of "Fantine no Moto" was antedated by the French "L'Origine de Fantine" by one year only, clearly underscores the efficiency with which Japan brought in Western thought and knowledge at the time and the

²⁵ "The late Morita Shiken as a man of letters dedicated half of his life to introducing Hugo to our literary circles. He did not know French, so he had the inconvenience of unavoidable dependence on English for translation of Hugo's works."

²⁶ The original Japanese title: "明治時代のヴィクトル‧ ユゴー：森田思軒の邦訳をめぐって"

²⁷ The publication date of this text is not available in the compilation where it appeared. However, Kawato saw in the original copy, stored as a rare book in the British Library, a stamped mark showing the date when it was received by the library as October, 1886 (See p.422 in his essay mentioned above).

In other words, Campbell's text must be dated earlier than October, 1886.

readiness with which Morita responded to western works through translation. In

"Fantine no Moto," Morita not only translates the Fantine incident, but also writes a translator's note, which is placed before the main text of the rendition. Similarly, in Lu Xun's "Aichen," attached to the straight matter of the Fantine episode is a translator's epilogue which borrows some of its content from Morita's note. It is interesting to see how the borrowing creates ambiguities regarding the identity of the translator. A full account and discussion shall be given in the section dealing with "Aichen" in the next chapter.

1.3.3 Potential Source Versions of Les Misérables

After informing the potential versions of Claude Gueux and "L'Origine de Fantine," attention is now turned to the different versions of the bulky work Les Misérables. A majority six out of the nine Chinese renditions dealt with in the present dissertation are translated from the stories in Les Misérables. Aside from Hugo's original French, there are some excerpted versions in French which are deemed possible sources for some Chinese translations. They are extracts rather than translations of Hugo's original novel. Three versions deserve particular mention here:

they are edited respectively by H. C. O. Huss (1892), F. C. de Sumichrast (1896), and Douglas Labaree Buffum (1908). The 1892 abridgment singles out from the original novel one book which the editor deems most representative of the author's language, style, and plot. The preface makes this very clear:

This extract of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables—it is Book Second of Part First—recommended itself for a separate edition partly because it stands by itself as an independent and well-rounded whole, and partly because it is unusually interesting reading, but above all, because it is strikingly characteristic of Victor Hugo's thought and style, and therefore highly instructive as a literary study. It is surprising how much these four-score pages reveal of their author, what a clear-cut profile they present of him, and how well they thus fulfill the highest requisite of representative prose.

Can this latter excellence ever be rated too highly in books destined to serve as basis for a course in literature? (Huss iii)

Out of the total of forty-eight books, the Huss's version presents only Book Two of Volume One of the French novel. The thirteen chapters in the book are presented as they are, all in the original French and without any alterations. The facts that it was

published in the United States and that an English preface and English notes to the major text were provided by the editor indicate that its target audience is directed mainly to non-native speakers of French, mostly English speakers. The notes to the text offer a good guide for anyone interested in learning the French language or studying a French literary classic through reading the most well-known part of the story. This excerpted French-language version covers the same part of the original that Su Manshu selects for his Chinese rendition, though Su's translation garbles the original text to a considerable extent. The completely overlapping segment treated by the two texts points to the likelihood that Su's translation may have been based on this French extract, or that Su's decision to select the Second Book of the novel's First Volume for rendition may have been inspired by it.

Another version of Les Misérables, published in 1896, is abridged by F. C. de Sumichrast, then assistant professor of French in Harvard University. Like the one edited by Huss, although the selected text here is in the French language rather than in English translation, its target readership is also primarily for English students of French literature, as can be discerned from the brief outline of French politics and the

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