Recently I discovered a literary journal, inScribe, which would accept translated fiction and poems. Even better, it’s published in Australia, at Tabor College in Adelaide. I submitted my translation of a poem by Victor Hugo, first published posthumously in 1888, and was very pleased it was accepted and published in the latest issue. In French the poem title is “Le mot”, in English “The Word”.
Hugo’s poem is suitable, in a figurative way, for the theme of Issue 10, Journey. It traces the movement of a bit of gossip from a mouth that utters a “disagreeable word about some individual” as it makes its way all through the town to the ears of the victim.
About fifteen years ago I translated and presented this poem to a class as an assignment, having chosen it because of its clear reminder that words that we think are “just between you and me” can travel further than we are sometimes aware. I saw the Journey theme for Issue 10 of inScribe and thought of the trip taken by “The Word”. I polished off my translation and submitted the new improved version. It was a good day when it was accepted.
Read the poem in English by purchasing the journal from the web site www.inscribejournal.com. Or read it in French at many sites online, for example https://www.courscochetdelavene.fr/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/hugo-le-mot.pdf
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