Customer Reviews

Cyrano de Bergerac (Penguin Classics)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I currently own four different translations of Cyrano de Bergerac with another two more on the way. I am truly surprised to see how many new translations are being turned out of this wonderful classic. By far, three of the greatest are Brian Hooker's, Anthony Burgess' and Lowell Blair's. But I wanted to see what was new in the world of Cyrano. Penguin Books is known for its quality and I have seldom been let down.

In this case, I felt let down and disappointed. Carol Clark's translation just doesn't seem to have the feel for the character of Cyrano that so many of us have come to know and love. Though she is one of the few who ends the play with the word "panache'," her translation has too many spots that just don't feel the "white plume of freedom" Cyrano spoke of in rebellion to the the elite who wore their beauty, grace and flair on the outside and those who sucked up to them. Also, Carol Clark takes liberty in changing meaning in certain key places that I particularly did not care for at all. Perhaps her only true innovation is the proper gender tense he uses with regard to his sword which he regards as a "she" as in the original French. She gets too many things wrong to be commended for translating a Cyrano that will endure. I believe it is a novelty.

Let me emphasize that this is not a "bad" rendering "per se"; I feel strongly that it is just not a good rendering. It's merely AVERAGE, mediocre but as Cyrano believed in striving to be the best in everything, perhaps Carol Clark should have taken a page out of his book? I don't believe it will be any more understandable or accessable to today's reader than older translations and the reader will be losing out on so much with this rendering. I feel strongly that the Clark translation plays fast and loose in certain key areas even though she may make up for it in others. Thus she receives an "okay" three stars but I was sorely tempted to give her two.

If you are looking for a brand-new translation and are willing to let go of preconceptions, Carol Clark's Cyrano may be for you. BUT if you are new to Cyrano de Bergerac and want a truer and more faithful version to Edmond Rostand's orginal play, character and the language, I would strongly recommend avoiding this one and purchasing one of the following: any edition by Brian Hooker (his translation was behind the 1950 Jose Ferrer Academy Award winning performance of Cyrana), Lowell Blair (I've become more fond of this one with each reading) or finding one of the Anthony Burgess editions (Gerard Depardieu's Cyrano movie's English sub-titles as well as countless plays have used this edition). These three are all 5 star translations. Christopher Fry's rhyming couplet Cyrano by Oxford is good (4 star) but not up to the standard of the three authors I have listed as alternatives to Clark.

In conclusion, I would say this: Will I read this play more than once? Perhaps, but only for comparison to the other better translations of Cyrano I have but never for enjoyment as I do with my other versions. A newcomer to Cyrano might enjoy this rendering and fall in love with the character but I personally don't see how; the translator has robbed Cyrano of much of his inner panache' and the other characters of their own unique qualities. I do not believe this translation has any staying power and will quickly be swept aside for the familiar and better translations that have been around longer, having already stood the test of time. For while the authors I have cited as alternatives may have different styles, they all tap into Cyrano's inner panache', his white plume of freedom, flair and independence whereas Clark's version seems to me to be just revision for revisionist sake without any vision or pathos or the wit that has set Cyrano apart since 1897.

labeled as "used", but seems like an almost new book.

shipped in time and nice quality!

Paris, France during the mid-1600s housed the play about deception and inner beauty. Cyrano has fallen in love with his cousin Roxane but feels he is too ugly to win her affection. Cyrano must overcome self-doubt and shame resulting from his awkward appearance, his rather large nose. Overcoming his appearance is the only way for Cyrano to reveal to Roxane that he wrote the letters she had fallen in love with, Roxane was deceived and made to believe that the handsome Christian to be the author. Roxane loves Christian for his soul, the soul she is in love with belongs to Cyrano. Roxane realizes her heart belongs to the disfigured Cyrano, but is too late for Cyrano had been mortally wounded.

Overall it was pleasant to read but some of the characters were underdeveloped and hard to visualize. Cyrano's wit and unforeseen love triangle kept my interest throughout the play.