Honorary Fellow: Association For Scottish Literary Studies
“If we investigate only by physical and chemical means, we can only get physical and chemical answers.”
The Misanthrope
Moliere translated into Scots rhyming-
Commissioned by BBC Radio Scotland. Broadcast 1985. Director Stewart Conn.
Some years previously, this was the first of the French dramatist’s works I had read. I was disappointed. Literal translations into English, short of humour and poetic phrase as they were, did not seem useful dramatic material. Later, when I obtained a copy of the original French version, the potential for a translation into Scots seemed quite obvious.
The first essay, translating into English then translating again into Scots, was discouraging; it was taking far too long and the resulting script lacked vitality. The subsequent essay of a direct translation from old French into mainly demotic Scots was remarkably easy, quick, and allowed dramatic purposes to be further enhanced by helpful selections from other registers such as Latin, classical Scots, English, and French itself. At the time, though, there seemed little enthusiasm anywhere for a new Scots Moliere and the project was laid aside for some years.
As distinct from the Moliere plays later commissioned for theatre, Le Misanthrope required only translation, with some editing for radio.
"a close, faithful rendering .. in line and rhyme, a lively replica of the original .. the most elegant of radio” The Scotsman.
Ref: Moliere in Scotland. Noel Peacock. University of Glasgow French and German Publications. 1993. [ISBN 0 85261 392 X]
Alexander, R. Edinburgh Review. 2000.
In 2009 the radio translation was used for The Unco Guid, an adapted stage version, set to music by the 18th century Scots composer, James Oswald.