A long time lurker of these dark waters. . .

12/11/2014

Been a while since we’ve done one of these… Everything is dull around us now. 

British actor Alan Rickman poses during the 14th Marrakech International Film Festival in Marrakech . AFP PHOTO /FADEL SENNA Dec 09, 2014

Welcome to the 34th installment of 15 Weeks of Phantom, where I post all 68 installments of Le Fantôme de l’Opéra, as they were first printed in Le Gaulois newspaper 105 yeas ago.

We are now at the halfway point of the Gaulois publication!

In today’s installment, we have Part II of Chapter 14, “La lyre d’Apollon” (“Apollo’s Lyre”).

This section was first printed on Monday, 15 November, 1909.

For anyone following along in David Coward’s translation, the text starts in Chapter 13 at Christine’s line, “I heard him for three months before I saw him,” and goes to Raoul’s line, “Why did it take you so long to wake from your horrifying nightmare?”

There are some differences between the standard 1st Edition text and the Gaulois text. In this section, these include (highlighted in red above):

1) Chapter 14 in the Gaulois text is Chapter 13 in the 1st Edition, etc.

2) In the Gaulois text, this sentence appeared:

"Ce furent des leçons célestes." ("These lessons were celestial.")

In the 1st Edition, that sentence was removed, and the following text was added:

Vous dire quelles furent ces leçons ! Vous-même, qui avez entendu la voix, ne pouvez vous en faire une idée.

– Évidemment, non ! je ne puis m’en faire une idée, affirma le jeune homme. Avec quoi vous accompagniez-vous ?

– Avec une musique que j’ignore, qui était derrière le mur et qui était d’une justesse incomparable.

(“How can I describe those lessons to you! Even you, who have heard the voice, can have no idea.”

“Obviously not! How could I?” agreed the young man. “How were you accompanied?”

“By a music that I did not recognize, which came from behind the wall and was perfectly tuned.”)

3) Compare the Gaulois text:

“De telle sorte que me rappelant ou plutôt, mon organe se rappelant toutes les leçons passées…” (“In this way, since I remembered, or rather my voice remembered, all of my past lessons…”)

To the 1st Edition:

"… et ainsi, me rappelant ou, plutôt, mon organe se rappelant toutes les leçons passées…” (“…and thus, since I remembered, or rather my voice remembered, all of my past lessons…”

4) Compare the Gaulois text:

"à mes cotés"

To the 1st Edition:

"à mon côté"

Both mean “at my side.”

5) In the Gaulois text, this line was included, but was omitted from the 1st Edition (highlighted in bold):

"C’est assez ! fis-je à la Voix irritée ; demain, je dois aller à Perros, sur la tombe de mon père ; je prierai M. Raoul de Chagny de m’y accompagner. Peut-être jugerez-vous alors qu’il m’est indifférent.”

(“‘That’s enough!’ I said to the petulant Voice. ‘Tomorrow, I must go to Perros, to visit my father’s grave; I shall entreat Monsieur Raoul de Chagny to accompany me there. Perhaps then you shall determine that he is of no importance to me.’”)

6) Compare the Gaulois text:

"À votre aise, répondit l’Ange de la musique" (“‘As you please,’ replied the Angel of Music”)

To the 1st Edition:

"À votre aise, répondit-elle" (“‘As you please,’ it replied” [i.e. the Voice])

7) Minor differences in punctuation.