falling in line

("Revolt is a crumpled page in the waste basket," wrote Reb Tislit. "But, often, a masterpiece is born from this sacrificed page."
And Reb Ezé: "True revolt is the one inspired by the impossibility of ending. God is in perpetual revolt against God."

"In this case, I renounce the God who has sacrificed the smile," said Yukel.)

Silence envelops the city, with its buildings leaning on one another: gigantic boxes, from some of which light gleams through a haphazard opening, maybe from a blow.
He thinks of the various processions he has taken part in, parades, forced marches.
We fall into line and follow.
We do not see the face of those in front, but we know it was once ours.
It is behind this face that we age, that we let time escape, that we take leave.
"I, for my part, belong to a generation without face," said Yukel.

They were the line and the failure.

(Edmond Jabès, from The Book of Questions)

("La révolte est une page froissée dans la corbeille à papier, écrivit Reb Tislit. Mais de cette page sacrifiée, naît souvent le chef-d'oeuvre."
Et Reb Ezé: "La vrai revolte est celle que l'impossible terme anime. Dieu est un perpétuelle révolte contre Dieu."

- Alors, je renie ce Dieu, dit Yukel, qui a sacrifié le sourire.)

Le silence enveloppe la ville avec ses immeubles appuyés l'un à l'autre, énormes boîtes dont certaines brillent de l'intérieur par une ouverture de hasard; un coup reçu, peut-être.
Il songe aux différents défilés auxquels il a participé, aux parades, aux marches forcées.
Nous prenons les rangs and nous suivons.
Nous ne voyons pas le visage de ceux qui nous précèdent mais nous savons qu'il fut une fois le nôtre.
C'est derrière lui que nous vieillissons, que nous laissons échapper le temps, que nous prenons congé.
- Moi, j'appartiens à une génération sans visage, dit Yukel.

Ils étaient la ligne et l'échec.

(Edmond Jabès, Le Livre des Questions)

Comments

[David]

I'm sorry to join the enemy on this issue, Amie, but I would also go for "God is a perpetual revolt against God", because I think the circularity of this statement is striking; "God" is defined by using the word "God". (Mathematically, God is a non-well-founded set.)

[alphonsevanworden]

another compromise:

"God is perpetual revolt against God."

[David]

Since when are you into compromises, Alphonse? (I'd accept that last one though.)

[alphonsevanworden]

Oooo. Ouch.

[Amie]

O God I shoulda known this phrase would make trouble.
I rather do like the second suggestion by Alphonse: God is perpetual revolt against God.

David, yes I totally agree about the circularity of the phrase, but do you agree that it cannot be a closed circularity, that there is always one more (re)turn of the perpetual revolt? I'm trying to suggest in one of the above comments that the phrase is so vertiginous it even ruptures the punctuality of the "is" in the "God is..."

Anyway, let's hope that Alphonse, rather than God, has saved the day through a historic compromise.

[Adam Kotsko]

I would also accept Alphonse's compromise, reluctantly. I think there is some meaning in that "un" that is lost -- particularly because in French, they so often leave out the indefinite article where we would normally include it.

But the funny thing is that I was visiting this post again specifically to say that I am further along the road of accepting Amie's original translation as among the plausible possibilities, though I would still do "God is a perpetual revolt against God" were I ever called upon to translate this passage in an "official" context.

I'm sure some clever Frenchman or Frenchman wannabe has done an essay at some point in which they propose and then reject every possible translation, finally reinscribing the original text to be translated as the best translation -- then you could relate it to that Borges story where the contemporary person wants to write Don Quijote himself, and succeeds to a limited extent.

If it's not been done, though, I "call" it.

[alphonsevanworden]

haha, peacemaker me. ;^)

[Adam Kotsko]

Alphonse, Did you know that there's some blogger out there -- Colonel something -- using the same profile image as your former blog?

[alphonsevanworden]

I'm suing.