ratsonjulia

Ummmm.... good old Isak Dinesen. I first noticed that this story whose english title is The Old Chevalier in entitled, in french, le vieux chevalier errant...
Does it mean that chevalier, in english, is usual for "knight errant"? I t seems the same mechanics are at work as in this french translation of "girl" by "showgirl"...

When grabbing the old volume on the shelter, I first opened it on the preface's page... I hope you'll be pleased reading that Marcel Schneider, author of this preface, wrote:
"I know a young man for which Seven Gothic Tales is a livre de chevet; he doesn't make his mind about important decisions without opening this book randomly, as it was once used with the Bible, in order to find an inspired answer".

Of course my copy of Seven Gothic Tales is a french one...I bet I would find interesting to read the english version: the genuine original version apparently, as I have read that the books Karen Blixen signed with the name Isak Dinesen were written by her directly in English, the ones she wrote in Danish having been first published under her real name...
It gives me an idea; so, learning some french is on your to-do list.?
For a start, let's do a little French translation exercise.
.... if you find out from which of the Seven Gothic Tales it is, it could help....

Comme je le disais, la plupart des hommes croient qu'ils auraient pu crer le monde. Allons mme plus loin. Peu de gens peuvent dclarer que, de temps en temps, ils ne se sont pas imagin que ce monde qui les entoure ne ft pas leur oeuvre propre, un produit de leur imagination.
En sommes-nous contents, alors? En sommes-nous fiers?
Oui, quelques fois. Dans les premires soires du printemps, au milieu d'enfants et de belles jeunes femmes intelligentes, j'ai parfois t content et fier de mon oeuvre. Mais il m'est aussi arriv, au milieu de gens vulgaires et grossiers, d'prouver des remords d'avoir cr ce mlange insipide et coeurant, et j'en ai eu honte.

[Edited on Feb 26, 2003]