Activity 2 - Jeudi 4 Octobre 1877

Activity 2 - Jeudi 4 octobre 1877
La journée est vite passée quand on va dessiner de huit à midi et de une à cinq heures. Le
trajet seul mange presque une heure et demie, et puis j’ai été un peu en retard de sorte qu’il
n’y eut que six heures de travail. Quand je pense aux années, des années entières, que j’ai
perdues! De colère on est tenté de tout envoyer au diable … mais ce serait encore pis.
Allons, fille misérable, abominable, sois contente d’être enfin arrivée à commencer … À mon
âge! Dix-neuf ans dans un mois! À treize ans j’aurais pu commencer! Cinq ans! […]
Enfin je travaille avec des artistes, de vrais artistes qui ont exposé au Salon et dont
on paye les tableaux et les portraits, qui donnent même des leçons.
Julian est content de mon début. « À la fin de l’hiver vous pourrez faire de très beaux
portraits » m’a-t-il dit.
Il dit que ses élèves femmes sont quelquefois aussi fortes que ses élèves hommes.
J’aurais travaillé avec des derniers, mais ils fument, et d’ailleurs, il n’y a pas de différence. Il
y en avait lorsque les femmes n’avaient que le modèle habillé, mais du moment qu’elles font
l’académie, l’homme nu, c’est la même chose.
 Context and vocabulary
 envoyer au diable: to send to hell / to send packing / to pack in
 le Salon: a major state-sponsored art exhibition which was held in Paris every year.
Both new and established artists could apply to exhibit their recent work; particularly
revolutionary or controversial artwork, like that of the Impressionists in the 1870s,
was often refused. Bashkirtseff had her first painting exhibited at the Salon in 1880.
 le modèle habillé / l’homme nu: Bashkirtseff is referring to the artistic practice of life
drawing, or drawing from a nude model (faire l’académie or l’homme nu). Men and
women were taught separately at the Académie Julian; Bashkirtseff makes the point
that this division was unfair to women when they were only allowed to draw from a
clothed model (le modèle habillé) (for the sake of propriety!). Now this rule has been
overturned, however, gender separation is less objectionable to Bashkirtseff.
 Comprehension and reflection
 How would you describe the mood and tone of this entry? Is it consistent or shifting?
What does the use of punctuation and exclamation in the first paragraph, and the
sentence lengths, suggest to us about the diarist’s state of mind and what she wants
to express?

Why do you think Bashkirtseff places so much emphasis on lost time in this passage,
whether the hour and a half taken up by travelling to the studio each day or the
teenage years she devoted to singing instead of drawing?

What does the last paragraph tell us about nineteenth-century views of women and
their place in the professional sphere, and about equality between the sexes at this
time?
 Language

This entry is more complex than the previous one and Bashkirtseff uses a wide range
of tenses to look backwards and forwards in time. Fill in the below table, listing the
examples of verbs in each tense (using the infinitive form); a few are done for you as
examples.
A number of these tenses may be new to you. Don’t worry about forming ones you
haven’t yet been taught. The important thing at this stage is to start to recognise
them.
Tense
Present
Verbs in infinitive
manger / penser
Passé composé
Near future (aller + infinitive)
Conditional
* Past conditional
pouvoir (j’aurais pu)
Simple future
Imperfect
* Imperative
* Past conditional. Refer to the below website for an explanation of this tense and
some exercises:
https://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/tac2.html
* Imperative. Refer to the below website for an explanation of this tense – or mood –
and some exercises:
https://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/tai1.html
 Translation
Translating is a challenging but fun activity which allows you to think creatively both in the
source language (French in this case) and target language (English). It’s also a useful
exercise for language-learners because when you translate you really have to get grips with
what the original text is saying, and it allows you to see just how differently the two
languages work. It throws up a lot of questions which it’s worth thinking about before you
start, e.g.:



What do you think the definition of a good translation is – one that is as accurate as
possible to the original source text, or one that reads naturally in the target
language?
Should the translation be written in contemporary English or English that reflects the
period of the original text (i.e. nineteenth century / Victorian in this case)?
Is accuracy a question of vocabulary and grammar – or of overall tone and effect?
Your task is to have a go at translating as much of the above entry as you can. When you
work on your translation, try and do it without a dictionary first, and then use one to look up
the words or constructions you are unsure about. And when you translate, think about how
you would instinctively express what Bashkirtseff is trying to say in English, rather than
worrying about translating word-for-word all the time. You could translate fairly literally at
first, if you like, and then go through the passage again, altering passages and expressions
so that they read more naturally in English.

Remember to think about the style of the original extract. Given that this is a diary
entry, it is relatively informal (the use of the near future tense indicates this, for
example – it’s often used in spoken French –, as well as the use of colloquial
expressions like envoyer au diable). In many ways, it is close to spoken French, as if
Bashkirtseff was talking aloud to herself (or us?). Try to recreate this informality in
your own version.
You may want to pay particular attention to the following phrases:

Le trajet seul mange presque une heure et demie: the verb manger is being used
here in a figurative (i.e. non-literal) sense. How could you convey this expression in
English?

De colère on est tenté de tout envoyer au diable: If you’re struggling with this
sentence, think about differences in syntax (i.e. the word order in a sentence)
between French and English. In French, for example, adverbial phrases can be
placed at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis, but this isn’t something which
often happens in English and can sound unnatural. So feel free to change the word
order when you do your translation.

À treize ans j’aurais pu commencer: As above. For more on syntax in French, consult
a French textbook, e.g. Chapter 30, ‘Word Order’, in French Grammar in Context by
Margaret Jubb and Annie Rouxeville (Routledge), or whatever you have available.

[…] de vrais artistes qui ont exposé au Salon et dont on paye les tableaux et les
portraits, qui donnent même des leçons: the English equivalent of the pronoun dont
in this case is ‘whose’. See: https://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/pror3.html
Once you’ve completed your English version, you could show it to someone and see if they
can tell it’s a translation. A translation is provided on the answers page for you to compare
yours with, but it’s just one version, and not necessarily the ‘right’ one…