Copyright
Will McMorran;Published On
2025-09-24Page Range
pp. 137–174Language
- English
Print Length
38 pages
3. Translating with Sade
- Will McMorran (author)
Chapter of: Sensing Violence: Reading with the Marquis de Sade(pp. 137–174)
This chapter reflects on the role of the body in both the study and practice of translation, and draws on the embodied experiences of other translators in their encounters with challenging material. After briefly surveying previous attempts to translate Sade into English, the chapter revisits my own experience as a co-translator with Thomas Wynn of The 120 Days of Sodom, an experience that provides incontrovertible evidence of the falsity of Barthes’ claim, ‘écrite, la merde ne sent pas’ [written down, shit does not smell]. This chapter accordingly explores the pungency of Sade’s text and reflects on the sensory responses I experienced in the process of translating it. Drawing also on my experience retranslating an episode of extreme violence from the novel for the purposes of this book, it reflects on the sensory, emotional and ethical challenges posed by the task of translating and editing a work of extreme and misogynistic violence.
Contributors
Will McMorran
(author)Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Queen Mary, University of London
Will McMorran is Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Queen Mary University of London. He has published several articles and book chapters on Sade and the history of his reception, and has edited and translated two of his works: 'The 120 Days of Sodom' (2016) for Penguin Classics with Thomas Wynn, which was awarded the Scott Moncrieff Prize, and The Marquise de Gange (2021) for Oxford World’s Classics. His work as a translator has also included several stories for 'The Penguin Book of French Short Stories' (2022), and Philippe Brenot’s graphic history, 'The Story of Sex' (2016).