Fun With Translation!

Day fourteen of Women in Translation Month and I've yet participate. What with car troubles, appliance breakdowns, other unforeseen expenses, and health issues (not mine), it has been a summer of distractions. All is capped by the most violent and most frequent thunderstorms I've ever experienced. The most recent passed not two hours ago.

In lieu of a review, I present something light and fun.

Published in 1974, They Won't Demolish Me! is Sheila Fischman's translation of Roch Carrier's Le deux-millième étage, which had been published the previous year. The grande dame of Canadian translators, it was her fourth translation of Carrier. Many more have followed.

Thirteen of the eighteen Sheila Fischman translations of Roch Carrier in my collection.
Floralie, Where Are You? appears twice. The first is a copy signed by the author.
The second belonged to John Glassco and bears his signature.

Le deux-millième étage isn't one of Carrier's best-known works, but I think of the translation often as it contains a nod and a wink to her friend and fellow translator John Glassco. This comes on page 68 of They Won't Demolish Me! 

The original French, which appears on page 88 of the 1973 Éditions du Jour edition reads:

Such a subtle change, one letter for another. Having written Glassco's biography and editing his selected letters, I know it was done with both great affection and a sense of fun.

How could she resist!