Customer Reviews

Cheri (Dual-Language) (Dover Dual Language French)

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I am of two minds about this dual language edition of Colette's masterpiece "Cheri." The translation is almost literal in many places, making it easy to follow the French, on the left page and the translation in English on the right. But Appelbaum's translation unaccountably drifts from the literal into some vagaries that cause the wonderful humor to be lost; example:

When Madame Peloux and her cronies are meeting for tea and cards, the underaged and definitely stupid Prince Ceste discusses his family's anger at his affair with the seventy-year old Lili. He states "My family wants to shut me up in a convent (couvent)" Couvent is convent, and Ceste is plainly a bit mixed up, but Appelbaum changes the sentences indicate a monastery and explain "Like shutting up a girl in a convent." The humor of Prince Ceste's mistake is lost. The beauty of the language, with its subtle jokes is lost time and again--another example, where Lea wonders who fathered Cheri. In French, she wonders where Madame Peloux fished, to bring up such a magnificent specimen, but the English is completely dull and boring, missing the fishing metaphor entirely.

If you want a lovely translation, look for the one by Antonia White. If you want a side by side French/English version in ADDITION to White's amusing English version, I can recommend this edition. However, if you've never read "Cheri" in English, I'd suggest starting with White. And is it worth to read "Cheri"? Definitely. Why this hasn't been filmed, I'll never know. It reads like a screenplay and it is set in the last of Paris just after fin de siecle and pre-WWI, when Europe changed forever. It's charming, and a wonderful novel.

Interesting love story between Lea and Cheri who is 29 years her junior. Vocabulary challenging but engaging and useful for the French learner.