SEA Globe, Nov. 3, 2020
Absurdist novel The Outsider has been republished in Khmer for the first time since 1973, introducing a new generation of Cambodians to Albert Camus' work. Meet the Phnom Penh publishing house behind this initiative returning classic literature to the Kingdom.
Maman or Mother? When it comes to the correct translation of Albert Camus’ 1942 novel L’Étranger, the devil is in the details.
The debate surrounding semantics begins with the book’s very first line. “Aujourd’hui, maman est morte” reads the famously emotionless opening declaration by Meursault, the book’s French-Algerian protagonist.
Attempting to smooth its transition, the first translators of the English-language version of the book (which would be known as The Stranger or The Outsider) interpreted the line as – “Mother died today”.
But to Christophe Macquet, those four (or three) words are deserving of more consideration. A co-translator on the first Khmer-language translation of L’Étranger for almost five decades, he explained how crucial this first line is for how the reader perceives Meursault and the subsequent story,
In full: https://southeastasiaglobe.com/the-outsider-camus-khmer/
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