That Mad Ache - grappling with passion, love and commitment

August 2009

Discussion will include an assessment of how translation can benefit or lessen works of art

A light holiday read with some thinking behind it, That Mad Ache by Françoise Sagan and translated by Douglas R. Hofstadter will be introduced by Stephen Bowler, and followed by a musical finale with Rachel Shearn on guitar and vocals - listen to a sample at http://morfablog.com/09/05/northern_sea.mp3.

That Mad Ache is a translation of the 1965 French novel La Chamade, which is, apparently, a rather untranslatable title. It won't be possible to discuss this novel without discussing the translation, for reasons that will become apparent. It's not often when reading a novel that's been translated into English, that the translator is considered very much - and in general, they're very much in the background, where most of them prefer to be. While reading That Mad Ache, you are swept up by Sagan's distinctive prose and style - only to feel almost cheated after reading the translator's words afterwards.

This is one of those lovely, breezy novels, light on plot and almost totally preoccupied with exploring human nature: human foibles, human vanity, human fears, human love. With a distinctly Parisian flair and some quite lovely prose, That Mad Ache reads like a movie where you are drawn into the characters' lives intensely for a few hours, where they come distinctly alive and pulsing in your hands, only to drift away at the end and leave you bereft and nostalgic.

Additional reading around the subject

Review on GoodReads - http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/58046839

The Historical Novel by Georg Lukacs, published by Merlin in English Translation 1962. ISBN 0 85036 378 0.

Stephen Bowler has a PhD in political theory and is currently researching a book on the pathology that is 'healthy living'. His most recent publication is a book chapter on biomedicine and Cartesian dualism.