Zilele acestea, la editura americană Egretta Press, condusă de George Sipos, a apărut versiunea engleză a romanului „Așteptând ceasul de apoi” de Dinu Pillat. Traducerea, semnată de James Christian Brown, este o remarcabilă reușită și pune în circulația unei limbi internaționale o carte greu încercată, pentru care autorul ei, în anii dictaturii comuniste a fost condamnat la închisoare pe viață.
În introducerea sa, George Sipos subliniază actualitatea acestui roman ale cărui personaje cad victime extremismului. Redăm mai jos fragmente din impresiile editorului și ale traducătorului.
In the Shadow of the Apocalypse
George Sipos from Introduction:
Read today, almost seven decades after its completion, in the midst of another war – perhaps yet another continuation of that same war that started back when the plot of Pillat’s novel takes place -„In the Shadow of the Apocalypse” is strikingly relevant.The same sentiments that animated the characters in Pillat’s pages and triggered their violence are now present again all around the world.
James Brown from ‘Translator’s Note’:
Dinu Pillat’s text is one in which it is clear that words have been chosen and deployed with care, often with a concision in expression that is hard to reproduce în translation. Though nuances of style may elude transfer to another language, I have tried as far as possible in this English version to preserve as much as possible of the stylistic character and expresive effect of the original. While working in the translation, I came to the conclusion that „In the Shadow of the Apocalypse” would more effectively render in English the real meaning of the Romanian title ( „Așteptând ceasul de apoi”)
Congratulations for preparing the publication of this book, in which the unders(l)ide of the long Romanian interwar period meets with the lively English of the native speaker discovering it! What could be done to make the translation available… in the source country?