Emanuel Schongut - Tobermory
Illustration pour la nouvelle de Saki, publiée dans The Literary Cat, ed. J. C. Suares and Seymour Chwast, Push Pin Press, 1977. © Emanuel Schongut (Via real funny lady)
«...Tobermory entered the room and made his way with velvet tread and studied unconcern across the group seated round the tea-table.
A sudden hush of awkwardness and constraint fell on the company. Somehow there seemed an element of embarrassment in addressing on equal terms a domestic cat of acknowledged dental ability.
"Will you have some milk, Tobermory?" asked Lady Blemley in a rather strained voice.
"I don't mind if I do," was the response, couched in a tone of even indifference. A shiver of suppressed excitement went through the listeners, and Lady Blemley might be excused for pouring out the saucerful of milk rather unsteadily.
"I'm afraid I've spilt a good deal of it," she said apologetically.
"After all, it's not my Axminster," was Tobermory's rejoinder.
Another silence fell on the group, and then Miss Resker, in her best district-visitor manner, asked if the human language had been difficult to learn. Tobermory looked squarely at her for a moment and then fixed his gaze serenely on the middle distance. It was obvious that boring questions lay outside his scheme of life.
"What do you think of human intelligence?" asked Mavis Pellington lamely.
"Of whose intelligence in particular?" asked Tobermory coldly.
"Oh, well, mine for instance," said Mavis with a feeble laugh.»
A sudden hush of awkwardness and constraint fell on the company. Somehow there seemed an element of embarrassment in addressing on equal terms a domestic cat of acknowledged dental ability.
"Will you have some milk, Tobermory?" asked Lady Blemley in a rather strained voice.
"I don't mind if I do," was the response, couched in a tone of even indifference. A shiver of suppressed excitement went through the listeners, and Lady Blemley might be excused for pouring out the saucerful of milk rather unsteadily.
"I'm afraid I've spilt a good deal of it," she said apologetically.
"After all, it's not my Axminster," was Tobermory's rejoinder.
Another silence fell on the group, and then Miss Resker, in her best district-visitor manner, asked if the human language had been difficult to learn. Tobermory looked squarely at her for a moment and then fixed his gaze serenely on the middle distance. It was obvious that boring questions lay outside his scheme of life.
"What do you think of human intelligence?" asked Mavis Pellington lamely.
"Of whose intelligence in particular?" asked Tobermory coldly.
"Oh, well, mine for instance," said Mavis with a feeble laugh.»
Saki (H. H. Munro) - Tobermory
(The chronicles of Clovis, 1911)
Tobermory raconte la courte vie du superchat qui avait appris à parler mais pas à se taire, et c'est une des histoires de chat les plus drôles que je connaisse. Ceux qui veulent savoir ce que le chat pense de l'intelligence de Mavis Pellington pourront lire la nouvelle dans son intégralité, ici, mais en V.O.
"It's not my Axminster" se traduit par "ce n'est pas mon tapis". La ville d'Axminster (Devon, 5626 âmes) était et est toujours réputée pour sa fabrication de tapis industriels de qualité, auxquels elle a donné son nom.
H. H. Munro (1870-1916) c'est l'homme qui a écrit Sredni Vashtar et émis des sentences aussi définitives que "les huîtres sont plus belles que n'importe quelle religion... Dès qu'elles arrivent sur la table du dîner, elles sont visiblement prêtes à aller au fond des choses. Que ce soit le Christianisme ou le Bouddhisme, rien de tout cela n'arrive vraiment à la hauteur du don de soi désintéressé d'une huître".
Saki perd beaucoup à la traduction - le post de demain sera lui aussi dédié à ceux qui, comme les chats, ont besoin de rafraîchir leur anglais, de temps à autre.
Et le site d'Emanuel Schongut est ici.
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