The World in Labels: Analyzing the Translation of American Psycho
American Psycho, published in 1991 and written by Bret Easton Ellis, is one of the highly praised and critically debated novels of the late 20th century. The story follows Patrick Bateman, a Wall Street businessman and yuppie, throughout his extravagant lifestyle and violent crimes, and consequently, his mental downfall.
The novel serves as an exemplary work within the genre of social satire and psychological horror.
In this post, we are going to analyze the text from the point of view of a translator and examine the translation challenges using the French translation by Alain Defossé.
In this novel, which was once almost banned, Ellis attempts to portray the America of that specific period of time: a place devoid of compassion and a highly materialistic, wealth-fixated environment. In order to demonstrate the result of such extreme consumerism and self-destruction, the novel uses extreme scenes of violence in detailed descriptions. Thus, translating this piece of work can prove to be challenging due to the specific clinical, toneless voice of the character as he narrates his life and gruesome crimes, as well as the highly descriptive texts which include brand names for clothing and facial products.
Analysing Translation
Consumerism Patrick Bateman is excessively materialisti,the kind of person whose coatrack and clothes hangers are even designer (Alex Leob). For him, people are essentially walking advertisements for designer clothes. Consequently, in his narration, he meticulously names the brands of everything people are wearing from head to toe. These brands include famous French labels like Chanel and Hermès, but also American brands that might be unfamiliar to the French public. This presents a unique challenge for the translator: how to keep the target text as engaging and immersive as possible for the reader without confusing them with an overwhelmingly long list of designers, some of whom may be entirely unknown in the French context.
Source Text:
One is wearing a shirt dress in dog-faced wool by Calvin Klein, another is wearing a wool knit dress and jacket with silk faille bonding by Geoffrey Beene, another wearing a symmetrical skirt of pleated tulle and an an embroidered velvet bustier by, I think, Christian Lacroix plus high-heeled shoes by Sidonie Larizzi, and the last one is wearing a black strapless sequined gown under a wool crepe tailored jacket by Bill Blass.
Target Text :
l'une d'elles porte une robe-chemise réversible en laine, Calvin Klein, une autre une robe de tricot de laine avec des liens de faille de soie, Geoffrey Beene, une autre porte une jupe symétrique de tulle plissé avec un bustier de velours brodé, Christian Lacroix, je pense, et des escarpins à talons hauts Sidonie Larizzi, et la dernière a une robe-bustier pailletée, sous une veste cintrée en crêpe de laine, Bill Blass.
Source Text:
On weekends or before a date I prefer Natural Revitalizing Shampoo, the conditioner and the Nutrient Complex. These are formulas that contain D-panthenol, a vitamin B-complex factor; polysorbate 80, a cleansing agent for the scalp; and natural herbs. Over the weekend I plan to go to Bloomingdale's or Bergdorf's and on Evelyn's advice pick up a Foltene European Supplement and Shampoo for thinning hair which contains complex carbohydrates that penetrate the hair shafts for improved strength and shine. Also the Vivagen Hair Enrichment Treatment, a new Redken product that prevents mineral deposits and prolongs the life cycle of hair. Luis Carruthers recommended the Aramis Nutriplexx system, a nutrient complex that helps increase circulation.
Target Text:
Le week-end, ou lorsque j'ai un rendez-vous prévu, j'utilise plus volontiers le Greune Natural Revitalizing Shampoo, l'après-shampooing et le Nutrient Complex. Ces produits contiennent du D-panthénol, un agent multi-vitaminé B, du polysorbate 80, un agent lavant pour le cuir chevelu, et des herbes naturelles. Le week-end prochain, j'ai l'intention de faire quelques courses chez Bloomingdale ou chez Bergdorf et, sur les conseils d'Evelyn, d'essayer le Soin et Shampooing Foltène pour prévenir la chute des cheveux, car il contient un complexe carbohydratant qui pénètre au cœur du cheveu, lui donnant vigueur et brillance. Je prendrai aussi le Vivagen Hair Enrichment Treatment, un nouveau produit de Redken, destiné à prévenir la formation d'une couche minérale sur le cheveu, ce qui prolonge son cycle de vie. Luis Carruthers m'a recommandé le Nutriplex System d'Aramis, un complexe nutritif qui aide à favoriser la circulation du cuir chevelu.
The translation of this book shows the translator chose Fidelity/Foreignization over Domestication. While French brand names did not pose much complication, when confronted with Italian, American brand names, etc., the translator keeps them in his translation.
Depiction of Violence and Tone
The book is filled with violence and Patrick's description of his murders and tortures. He narrates each crime in a toneless, clinical, and detailed manner, which can be overwhelming for readers at times. Regarding the translation of this subject matter, the translator is faced with a critical choice:
- The translator could choose to consider the mentality of the target readers and soften the language's crudeness. However, in this specific case, the target text would fail to successfully transmit the intended fear and feeling of horror as it was intended for the source readers.
- The translator can choose to remain loyal to the original text and, if required by the limitations of the target language, intensify certain terms to convey the intended concept of absolute horror and violence. This approach ensures the maintenance of the author's intended effect of clinical detachment and shock upon the reader, preserving the integrity of the source text's tone and message.
Source Text:
"But, typically, the pain returns—it's too intense not to—and she passes out again and vomits, while unconscious, and I have to hold her head up so she doesn't choke on it and then I Mace her again. The fingers I haven't nailed I try to bite off, almost succeeding on her left thumb which I manage to chew all the flesh off of, leaving the bone exposed, and then I Mace her, needlessly, once more."
Target Text:
Mais, évidemment, la douleur réapparaît bientôt—et de nouveau elle s'évanouit, puis vomit, toujours inconsciente, et je suis contraint de lui soulever la tête pour qu'elle ne s'étouffe pas, après quoi je lui redonne un petit coup de gaz asphyxiant. Je tente d'arracher avec mes dents les doigts que je n'ai pas cloués, y parvenant presque avec son pouce gauche, dont je réussis à ôter toute la chair, laissant l'os à nu. Encore un petit coup de gaz asphyxiant, juste comme ça. 'Mace' is translated as 'gaz asphyxiant' (asphyxiating gas), which is more specific and perhaps more formal than the brand name. The addition of 'un petit coup' (a small hit/blow) is a tonal choice by the translator.
Source Text :
Since most of the blood is coming from her feet, she slips, manages to get up, and I strike out at her with the already wet butcher knife that I'm gripping in my right hand, clumsily, slashing her neck from behind, severing some veins. When I strike out a second time while she's trying escape, heading for the door, blood shoots even into the living room, across the apartment, splattering against the tempered glass and the laminated oak panels in the kitchen.
Target Text :
Comme l'essentiel du sang vient de ses pieds, elle dérape, parvient à se relever, et je brandis vers elle le couteau de boucher déjà humide que je tiens serré dans ma main droite, lui tailladant maladroitement le cou par-derrière, coupant quelque chose, des veines peut-être. Comme je la frappe une deuxième fois tandis qu'elle tente de s'échapper, filant vers la porte, le sang gicle jusque dans le salon, à l'autre bout de l'appartement, éclaboussant les panneaux de verre armé et placage de chêne, dans la cuisine.
While the English is definitive: "severing some veins," the French "coupant quelque chose" instead of directly saying des veines is perhaps to make the tone less medical and add uncertainty to the rushed action of the character. "Gicle," meaning to gush, to jet out, to spray, or to spurt, perfectly captures the intensity of "blood shoots." 'Tempered glass' is translated as 'verre armé' (wired/reinforced glass). While related in function(strength/safety), they are not the same thing. 'Laminated oak panels' is translated as 'placage de chêne' (oak veneer/facing). 'Laminated' implies a specific process; 'placage' is the material result. The overall sense of the surfaces being hit remains, but the exact material terms are slightly adjusted. The French translation is generally excellent and retains the horrifying immediacy and sensory detail of the source text.
Untranslatability and Wordplay
While reading, I am consistently drawn to the challenge of untranslatability—the friction between the author’s unique stylistic fingerprint and the culture-bound terms that resist simple linguistic transfer. This is a core focus of my interest in translation theory and practice. Most of the cases that I personally found interesting in this book were fun wordplays (specifically, mishearing/malapropism) which were among the most crucial stylistic elements. They perfectly illustrate the profound narcissism and self-referentiality of the Manhattan finance culture, showing how the characters' minds are so dominated by business vernacular that they cannot truly listen or comprehend anything outside of their own egocentric worldview.
Source Text :
“Oh god,” I moan, loosening my tie, the august sun beating down on me, “ what do you say, you dumb bitch?” “ Not Bice, Patrick. The reservation is at Melrose. Not Bice.”
Target Text :
Non, non, c'est bien ciel, fais-je d'une voix faible, desserrant ma cravate, accablé par le soleil d'août, « qu'est-ce que vous racontez, pauvre idiote? » « Pas au Bice, Patrick. C'est au Melrose qu'il a réservé. Pas au Bice. » Je me mets à pleurer : « Mais qu'est-ce que je vais faire? » « Où êtes-vous? Patrick? Qu'est-ce qui ne va pas? »
While reading this novel, I had both the English and French versions at hand. Sometimes I read a few chapters in French and sometimes a few chapters in English. While reading chapters in English, if I was confronted with an expression that I thought to be challenging to translate, I immediately picked up the French translation and found the text.I was sometimes satisfied with the French translation and sometimes curious about the choices. This part of the dialogue between Patrick and Jean, his secretary, was one of them. One of the first questions that came to my mind was: why “pauvre idiote”? Why not more intense insults in French like chienne, salope, or garce? As I thought about it, it became clear to me that Patrick’s intention was to belittle Jean and express his absolute contempt for her intelligence and worth. (So perhaps it is as intense as the original.) While it might not carry the same vulgarity as salope, it is still quite insulting in French, especially when combined with the condescending qualifier pauvre (poor). This is a clear case of Functional Equivalence . The translator chose the French term that produces the equivalent effect (absolute contempt and belittling) rather than a direct semantic or vulgarity match, one that carried the same level of insult but was far from the high tone of vulgarity seen in other French insulting curses. The other thing that I was curious about was to see how the translator would find an equivalent for “bitch” versus “Bice.” However, considering the differences and limitations of each language, he was not able to choose two words that sound close.
Source Text:
“I'm into, oh, murders and executions mostly. It depends.” I shrug. “Do you like it?” she asks, unfazed. “Um... It depends. Why?” I take a bite of sorbet. “Well most guys I know who work in mergers and acquisitions don’t really like it,” she says “That’s not what I said,” I say adding a forced smile finding my J&B.
Target Text :
«Je m'occupe, disons, de meurtres, d'exécutions, essentiellement. Cela dépend,» Je hausse les épaules. « Ça vous plaît? » demande-t-elle sans se troubler. « Mmm... Cela dépend des fois. Pourquoi? » Je prends une cuillerée de sorbet « Eh bien, la plupart des types de ma connaissance qui s'occupent de rachats et de fusions d'entreprises n'aiment pas vraiment leur travail,» dit-elle. «Ça n'est pas ce que je vous ai dit», fais-je avec un sourire crispé, vidant mon J&B.
This dialogue is a perfect example of a pun or double entendre in the source text. While “rachats et de fusions d'entreprises” is not a phonetic match, like the source text, it is the standard, official French equivalent for the words mergers and acquisitions. In other words, the source text relies on the phonetic/abbreviation confusion (M & A). The French translation relies on the thematic confusion between two highly violent-sounding activities: killing people and killing companies (corporate raiding/takeovers), using the correct and recognizable business term.
Source Text:
“I'll have an iced decaf au lait,” Jean tells the waiter “I'll have a decapitated coffee also,” I say absently, before catching myself. “I mean decaffeinated,” I glance over at Jean, worried, but she just smiles emptily at me.
Target Text:
«Je vais prendre un café au lait glacé, décaféiné,» dit Jean au serveur. «Moi aussi, je vais prendre un décapité», dis-je d'une voix absente, avant de me reprendre : « Je veux dire... un décaféiné . »
Perfect Pun Recreation. The English slip is: decaf(feinated) :decapitated. The French slip is: déca(féiné) :décapité. The phonetic similarity is maintained, and the word décapité (decapitated) fits perfectly with the narrator's consistent fixation on murder and execution.
Other
Source Text : our waitress is a little hardbody
typically refers to a person (often female) with a physically fit, toned. In the french text it is translated as : notre serveuse est un petit trésor .In English slang, "hardbody" It is often used objectifyingly. "Trésor" (treasure) is a complete semantic shift. Trésor is affectionate, implying the waitress is sweet, precious, or delightful, but it entirely removes the physical/sexual connotation of "hardbody."
In the book there are many instances where Patrick names the songs; the translator decided not to translate the names of the songs, such as: "A présent ce sont les Shirelles que l'on entende (Dancing in the Street).
Alors que je descends Broadway pour retrouver Jean, ma secrétaire, avec qui je vais prendre un brunch, un étudiant m'aborde devant Tower Records, et me demande quelle est la chanson plus triste que je connaisse. « You can't always get what you des Beatles » , dis-je sans hésiter.
A noticeable stylistic choice is the untranslated retention of English song lyrics in the target text. For instance, Madonna’s Tout l'été , Madonna nous a crié : « Life is a mystery , everyone must stand alone ... remains in English.
Considering Ellis’s writing style and the long descriptions and details of the book, translating this piece is certainly not an easy task. It is one that Defossé has definitely captured the specific essence of the book and transmitted the intended messages effectively. While he chose foreignization over total domestication, maintaining the suffocating consumerist atmosphere and the cultural references, his use of compensation and functional equivalence ensured that the novel's chilling core which is the toneless cruelty and dark satire,remained fully intact for the French reader. He achieved fidelity not just to the words, but to the novel's overall psychological and satirical effect.
sources:
Introduction by Irvin Welsh
Introduction by Michel Braudeau
American Psycho Picador Classic
American Psycho translation by Alain Defossé
(Pavillons : collection dirigée par Claire Do Sêrro)
Domestication and Foreignization, Lawrence Venuti
