French edition of 'Shakespere' - censored? (1 Viewer)

Is the French edition of 'Shakespeare Never Did This' a little censored?

I just discovered a review about the French translation of it, titled 'Shakespeare n'a jamais fait ça'.


Unfortunately, my French is non-existent, but from what I gather, it seems, concerning the Apostrophes-incident, the editors of the French book let him descripe the TV-show, but simply cut-out the part where he leaves the stage.

In the review they write:
"Pas un mot sur son éviction. Le lendemain, il a tout oublié."
(which, methinks, translates like: "Not a single word about his eviction. The next day he doesn't remember anything.")

I don't have this edition and can neither verify nor falsify the claim (or find if I simply got the whole statement wrong). Our French-speaking members may be able to help and I hope they will.


The guy who wrote the review also claimes, that for years, there was no French translation of the book at all ("Le livre avait paru à deux reprises aux États-Unis, en 1977, puis en 1995, dans une version augmentée, mais n’avait pas été traduit en français"). If that's true, it could have been because of the 'Apostrophes'-incident, being too offending for Frenchies. This could also be the case with this small part of the translation.
 
Does this help:

"Not a word on his eviction. The next day he has forgotten everything." (the title I did myself :) the text I just used the translate function).

Most of you were too young or not even born, and many of us had never read the texts of Charles Bukowski when the September 22, 1978, shortly before 22 hours, became known in the French public leaving nilly and dead drunk the plateau of "Apostrophes". He had come to present the Memoirs of a Dirty Old Man, Tales and New Tales of Ordinary Madness. He started well stand, then, two or three bottles of dry white finished the neck, he stood a little less. He gently touched the knee Catherine Paysan which focused all the sex appeal of the company. His lack of aggressiveness and a vague humming monologue and not translated into more than annoyed, Cavanna told him "Shut up, Bukowski! "Pivot" Shut up! "Ferdière and Gaston, who boasted of his modesty and unlikely to have been subjected to electroshock Artaud, glared at the smirking an unbearable contempt. In short, when Buk rose, unsteady on his back, pushed it all out with a hometown relief: they also had books for sale. It seems that behind the scenes he took a knife and had it under control.

Bukowski says that scene in Shakespeare never did this, and it is true that our knowledge of Shakespeare never did this. The book was published twice in the United States in 1977 and in 1995 in an expanded version, but had not been translated into French. The case of "Apostrophes" is set in a page and a half. Buk understands that 50 or 60 million French people watched the show, he said that Bernard Pivot he refused to appoint a small glass of white wine to calm his nerves, and then: "A woman spoke. I had quite a lock and I do not really understand what she wrote, but I think it was something about animals, she wrote stories about animals. I told her that if she lifted her skirt a little to show me her legs, I know maybe if it was or was not a good writer. She did not. The psychiatrist who had administered electric shocks to Artaud kept scrutinizing me. Someone else began to speak. A French writer on motorcycle handlebar mustache. He said nothing, though he did not stop talking. "Not a word about his ouster. The next day he has forgotten everything.

Charles Bukowski is in Europe at the expense of its French and German publishers, and this book tells the story of the journey is a command wave, or rather a project of his friend photographer Michael Montfort, born like him in Germany. The book is published with eighty photographs Montfort eighty portraits of Bukowski taken during this trip and poorly rendered by a low resolution print on paper best suited to the text. Nevertheless, these photographs emanate a strange tenderness, lightness, and even a photogenic beauty Bukowski is denied. He travels with Linda Lee, he 58, she 33, they love each other like cats and dogs, and alcohol keeps their association, they married in 1985.

Bukowski went to Hamburg where he should be against the silver and wine a public reading of his poems. He hates public readings and prefers Mannheim, the most beautiful city in the world Los Angeles. And then there is this book he will write back: "They had asked me for a book on our trip, I said yes and it was a hell of a job for a guy who hates to travel. "This is not his best book, but it never change: a Bukowski Bukowski remains a sincere cynicism, almost childlike, natural in the provocation, a vital despair, the pellet shy, the complete absence of illusions about the human race, starting with self confidence and made some. This way of exhibiting the intimate beyond any modesty or immodesty, as innocence. And malice of his way to arrange the vanity of things to make literature and poetry. The dirty old man is a tender writer, he returned to the house, wondering if her cat is fine, if it has not been broken, if the car will start183.

The type of customs asks page

'You do anything in life?

Writer.

Oh, and what do you write?

Hard to say. It is never the same.

Okay, that's fine. "
 
Thanks Sky.
For an automatic translation-function, this is not bad.

The part I quoted above translates here as follows (at the end of the second paragraph):
[...] Not a word about his ouster. The next day he has forgotten everything. [...]
which I think is correct, except for the word "ouster". The author is using the word "eviction", which seems to be the same word in French and this is not quite as harsh as an ouster, methinks.

But this led me to a detection:
The guy, who wrote the review is not complaining, that there wouldn't be "a single word" about Bukowskis departure before the end of the show. His complaint is, that Buk doesn't make clear, that he was "evicted". The focus of the reviewer is on the fact, that all participants WANTED Buk to leave, while Buk in the novel emphasizes, that he was leaving deliberately.

Still, I'm curious, what really is in that French translation.
 
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roni,
I haven't read Shakespeare Never Did This, so slightly in the dark here, but basically re the article; the ouster/eviction means the exact same thing, or the word expulsion could have been used - it's all the same - implying a forcible rather than voluntary departure from the stage. Obviously CB has a slightly different interpretation of events, :) him saying he was leaving anyway; before he was flung off.
Got to say, although ousted is still in common usage, haven't really come across ouster.
 
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Hi,
Well, I’m french but I haven’t read « Shakespeare never did this », so I can only help with the translation.
You’ll have to tell me if the story is different in the american edition!
The author of the review quotes Buk’s recollection of the events, then add the part « Pas un mot sur son éviction. Le lendemain, il a tout oublié. ». Your translation (« Not a word about his eviction. The next day, everything’s forgotten ») is correct.
It seems to me that, in the french edition, Bukowski (or the translator?) doesn’t write about what happened « behind the scene (or the cameras) »AFTER his eviction, which seems to be frustrating to the author of the review. Is it different in the original text?
So, obviously, I don’t know if the book is censored in any way but it’d be surprising.
The whole incident is pretty famous in France. A lot of people haven’t read anything Bukowski wrote, but have seen footage of the show.
It’s like Gainsbourg saying to a very young Whitney Houston « I want to f*ck you » live on national TV. You never know what will happen if you mix genius and alcohol. But chances are, it’s gonna be fun. It’s not considered to be super offending over here ;-)
 
But this led me to a detection:
The guy, who wrote the review is not complaining, that there wouldn't be "a single word" about Bukowskis departure before the end of the show. His complaint is, that Buk doesn't make clear, that he was "evicted". The focus of the reviewer is on the fact, that all participants WANTED Buk to leave, while Buk in the novel emphasizes, that he was leaving deliberately.

Still, I'm curious, what really is in that French translation.

Roni, I don't think that the reviewer is saying that. He is basically saying that Bukowski didn't want to be there, wanting to leave. The other guests also wanted him to leave since they were all there to sell their own books. The reviewer goes on to say that Bukowski went on mumbling. He says that the next day, all was forgotten, Bukowski had already moved on.
The reviewer speaks of Bukowski almost tenderly.
Let me know if you wish to further discuss these lines.
 
Just watched an exert from the French show on youtube and to me, it really does look as though CB has decided to leave first and causes a bit of a slight rumpus on his way, before they 'escort' him off. So if he says in Shakespeare Never Did This that he chose to leave, well I agree.
For those like me, who haven't seen it:

[This video is unavailable.]
 
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I really hope I'm not the only one thinking this, but before I saw the clip, I had this vision in my head of a very sophisticated french lady, a la Catherine Deneuve, whom CB found so irresistible, he couldn't help himself, I really wasn't expecting... Mrs Doubtfire, do all men loose the ability to discriminate when they are drunk? I mean if you're going to make a pass at a woman on national t.v...Brigitte Bardot; understandable.
 
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