Tailored Texts Project Proust's 'Portraits de peintres': a collaborative translation project

Welcome to this project, the aim of which is to analyse and annotate a series of rather obscure poems by Proust - undoubtedly better known for his work as a writer of prose fiction - before attempting an artistic translation into English. The final versions can be submitted to Dr Forman of the University of Bristol who will then use the 'best' ones in a presentation he will make about the poems later in 2012. He will also select an overall prize-winning translator who will win a 6-volume edition of the Penguin translation of Proust's "In Search of Lost Time" (kindly donated by the generous folk at Penguin Classics).

The instructions below might be helpful to those hoping to get involved in the project, especially to those who are new to Tailored Texts:

1) Ensure that you have spent a few minutes setting up your free account.

2) Access the text via this project page (rather than the catalogue, though this is not essential).

3) Annotate the text as you wish by highlighting parts of the text and clicking "Add Entry" (NB you can make the following 'types' of annotation: Definition; Grammar; Analysis; Wiki - instructions for each are visible once inside the text).

4) Comment on previous entries or add competing entries.

5) Write a final translation of one or all of the four poems (best in MS Word).

6) Upload your version onto Tailored Texts as a 'personal text' (by clicking on the Upload button at the top of the page) - entitle your document in the format "YOUR NAME + name of poem(s)".

7) Leave a comment on the project page announcing that your completed entry has been submitted.

8) Bear in mind that once these 'personal texts' have been uploaded, they too can be annotated in the same way, whether by the author wishing to account for various translation decisions, or by other readers.

Done!

A few additional comments:

The aim of this project is two-fold:

1) To examine the relationship between Proust's verse and the artists/work that he is praising and invoking. To this end there will be lots of links to the relevant paintings and biographies of the painters. The ideas of "ekphrasis" and "synaethesia" may crop up when discussing the process of moving between artistic forms. It will, however, be very interesting to see the discussion grow up organically, so please feel free to make any comment or share any impression left by the poems - they are all valid!

2) To produce an artistic translation - as opposed to a literal translation - which will be informed by the various discussions that have arisen from the analysis of the source text and by appreciation of the parallel works of art.

And don't forget to leave comments, queries or concerns on this page. Enjoy your reading and translating!