A Passage from ‘A Soldier’s Honour by Èmile Zola’

God! Is this my translation? Are these my choices? I can’t believe myself! How did I do it?

It was really hard to decide on which word alternatives will be chosen among lots of them and their meanings. Which one was the most befitting? That’s the point. The solution was to criticise my own writing and to read more and more as if I’m just a reader, not writer.

Besides, even though this is just one sentence; there were also lots of clauses in the sentence and connecting them fluently in the target language was really challenging for me.

Apart from all these handicaps, my translation process was also so felicific because as I feel myself competent on translation, my satisfaction level has increased.

Now, let me leave you alone with my translation 🙂

A passage from A Soldier’s Honor (or its new name Captain Burle) written in French by Émile Zola in 1883 and translated into English by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly in 1922.

Original Text:

 “This thought sufficed to occupy her mind, and under its influence she would live her whole life over again, from the birth of her son, whom she had pictured rising amid glory to the highest rank, till she came down to mean and narrow garrison life, the dull, monotonous existence of nowadays, that stranding in the post of a quartermaster, from which Burle would never rise and in which he seemed to sink more and more heavily. ”

My Translation:

“Bu düşünce zihnini işgal etmeye her daim yeterdi ve bu işgalin etkisiyle tüm hayatını bir kez daha yaşardı; şan ve şerefiyle en yüksek rütbeye yükseldiğini hayal ettiği oğlunun doğumundan, onunla birlikte maruz kaldığı bayağı ve kısıtlı karargâh hayatına, Burle’ün asla kurtulamayacağı ve gitgide daha derine battığı bir levazım subayı pozisyonunda mahsur kaldığı ‘şimdi’nin cansız ve tekdüze varlığına dek, tüm hayatını.”

Additively, here’re two images related to the original text: