Cyrano de Bergerac Translation Comparison
Cyrano de Bergerac Translation Comparison
Cyrano de Bergerac Translation Comparison
9/6/09
Period C
Moyer
translations of Cyrano de Bergerac. First of all, Anthony Burgess’s version of Cyrano’s long
speech actually rhymes, which is pretty impressive considering the length of his speech and the
point he is trying to get across. Secondly, Brian Hooker’s version is much more simple and
easier to understand than Burgess’s version. And lastly, while Anthony Burgess’s poem is more
consistent with its rhymes, Brian Hooker’s version is more consistent with its word structure.
The first major difference between the two translations is Anthony Burgess’s version
actually rhymes. The entire speech Cyrano tells Le Bret is rhymed every two lines in a consistent
format. And the surprising thing is he still brings Cyrano’s point across even though Burgess
rhymed it so perfectly. This is pretty impressive given this is the translation of a book. (* Given
the original book also rhymed). No translation can maintain the original language’s rhymes, so
Burgess’s must have taken a considerable amount of time to maintain the book’s rhyme and still
get the same point across that the original French version had.
Secondly, and not to much surprise, Brian Hooker’s version is much easier to understand
in comparison to Burgess’s poem. When you try to rhyme a poem, you are very limited to which
words you can use to describe what you are trying to express. In Brian Hooker’s case though, he
did not have to worry about the limitation of rhyming, and as a result made his point much easier
for the reader to understand. He didn’t use such complex words as Anthony, and used much
Lastly, it is very apparent that the structures of the two authors writing differ greatly. As I
explained before, Burgess is very consistent with his rhymes in a constant 2 line format. Hooker,
Eamon Barkhordarian
9/6/09
Period C
Moyer
on the other hand, structures his words better. For example, throughout Cyrano’s long speech, he
always writes “no thank you!” In Burgess’s case, he alternates from “no thank you” to “no
thanks” to “thank you, no.” Although this difference doesn’t seem too big in the comparison, it is
In the end, I would definitely choose Hooker’s translation more than Burgess’s version.
Although his speech is not as entertaining with the rhymes and symbolism, it definitely is a lot
easier to understand. I believe I would have difficulty understanding Burgess’s translation had I
not had the guidance of Hooker’s version prior to reading Burgess’s version. I would choose to
understand a book more than to enjoy it, because you can’t enjoy a book you don’t understand it