Honoré de Balzac - Sarrasine: Bilingual Edition (English – French)

Honor de Balzac

translated by
Clara Bell

SARRASINE

SARRASINE

I was buried in one of those profound reveries to which everybody, even a frivolous man, is subject in the midst of the most uproarious festivities.
The clock on the Elysee-Bourbon had just struck midnight. Seated in a window recess and concealed behind the undulating folds of a curtain of watered silk, I was able to contemplate at my leisure the garden of the mansion at which I was passing the evening.

J'tais plong dans une de ces rveries profondes qui saisissent tout le monde, mme un homme frivole, au sein des ftes les plus tumultueuses.
Minuit venait de sonner l'horloge de l'lyse-Bourbon. Assis dans l'embrasure d'une fentre, et cach sous les plis onduleux d'un rideau de moire, je pouvais contempler mon aise le jardin de l'htel o je passais la soire.

The trees, being partly covered with snow, were outlined indistinctly against the grayish background formed by a cloudy sky, barely whitened by the moon. Seen through the medium of that strange atmosphere, they bore a vague resemblance to spectres carelessly enveloped in their shrouds, a gigantic image of the famous Dance of Death. Then, turning in the other direction, I could gaze admiringly upon the dance of the living!

Les arbres, imparfaitement couverts de neige, se dtachaient faiblement du fond gristre que formait un ciel nuageux, peine blanchi par la lune. Vus au sein de cette atmosphre fantastique, ils ressemblaient vaguement des spectres mal envelopps de leurs linceuls, image gigantesque de la fameuse Danse des morts. Puis, en me retournant de l'autre ct, je pouvais admirer la danse des vivants!

a magnificent salon, with walls of silver and gold, with gleaming chandeliers, and bright with the light of many candles. There the loveliest, the wealthiest women in Paris, bearers of the proudest titles, moved hither and thither, fluttered from room to room in swarms, stately and gorgeous, dazzling with diamonds; flowers on their heads and breasts, in their hair, scattered over their dresses or lying in garlands at their feet.

un salon splendide, aux parois d'argent et d'or, aux lustres tincelants, brillant de bougies. L, fourmillaient, s'agitaient et papillonnaient les plus jolies femmes de Paris, les plus riches, les mieux titres, clatantes, pompeuses, blouissantes de diamants! des fleurs sur la tte, sur le sein, dans les cheveux, semes sur les robes, ou en guirlandes leurs pieds.

Light quiverings of the body, voluptuous movements, made the laces and gauzes and silks swirl about their graceful figures.

C'tait de lgers frmissements de joie, des pas voluptueux qui faisaient rouler les dentelles, les blondes, la mousseline autour de leurs flancs dlicats.

Sparkling glances here and there eclipsed the lights and the blaze of the diamonds, and fanned the flame of hearts already burning too brightly. I detected also significant nods of the head for lovers and repellent attitudes for husbands. The exclamation of the card-players at every unexpected coup, the jingle of gold, mingled with music and the murmur of conversation; and to put the finishing touch to the vertigo of that multitude, intoxicated by all the seductions the world can offer, a perfume-laden atmosphere and general exaltation acted upon their over-wrought imaginations.

Quelques regards trop vifs peraient et l, clipsaient les lumires, le feu des diamants, et animaient encore des curs trop ardents. On surprenait aussi des airs de tte significatifs pour les amants, et des attitudes ngatives pour les maris. Les clats de voix des joueurs, chaque coup imprvu, le retentissement de l'or se mlaient la musique, au murmure des conversations; pour achever d'tourdir cette foule enivre par tout ce que le monde peut offrir de sductions, une vapeur de parfums et l'ivresse gnrale agissaient sur les imaginations affoles.

Thus, at my right was the depressing, silent image of death;

Ainsi ma droite la sombre et silencieuse image de la mort;

at my left the decorous bacchanalia of life; on the one side nature, cold and gloomy, and in mourning garb; on the other side, man on pleasure bent.

ma gauche, les dcentes bacchanales de la vie: ici, la nature froide, morne, en deuil; l, les hommes en joie.

And, standing on the borderland of those two incongruous pictures, which repeated thousands of times in diverse ways, make Paris the most entertaining and most philosophical city in the world, I played a mental macedoine, half jesting, half funereal. With my left foot I kept time to the music, and the other felt as if it were in a tomb. My leg was, in fact, frozen by one of those draughts which congeal one half of the body while the other suffers from the intense heat of the salonsa state of things not unusual at balls.

Moi, sur la frontire de ces deux tableaux si disparates, qui, mille fois rpts de diverses manires, rendent Paris la ville la plus amusante du monde et la plus philosophique, je faisais une macdoine morale, moiti plaisante, moiti funbre. Du pied gauche je marquais la mesure, et je croyais avoir l'autre dans un cercueil. Ma jambe tait en effet glace par un de ces vents coulis qui vous glent une moiti du corps tandis que l'autre prouve la chaleur moite des salons, accident assez frquent au bal.

Monsieur de Lanty has not owned this house very long, has he?
Oh, yes! It is nearly ten years since the Marechal de Carigliano sold it to him.
Ah!

Il n'y a pas fort long-temps que monsieur de Lanty possde cet htel?
Si fait. Voici bientt dix ans que le marchal de Carigliano le lui a vendu
Ah!

These people must have an enormous fortune.
They surely must.
What a magnificent party! It is almost insolent in its splendor.
Do you imagine they are as rich as Monsieur de Nucingen or Monsieur de Gondreville?
Why, don't you know?
I leaned forward and recognized the two persons who were talking as members of that inquisitive genus which, in Paris, busies itself exclusively with the Whys and Hows. Where does he come from?

Ces gens-l doivent avoir une fortune immense?
Mais il le faut bien.
Quelle fte! Elle est d'un luxe insolent.
Les croyez-vous aussi riches que le sont monsieur de Nucingen ou monsieur de Gondreville?
Mais vous ne savez donc pas?
J'avanai la tte et reconnus les deux interlocuteurs pour appartenir cette gent curieuse qui, Paris, s'occupe exclusivement des Pourquoi? des Comment? D'o vient-il?

Who are they? What's the matter with him? What has she done? They lowered their voices and walked away in order to talk more at their ease on some retired couch. Never was a more promising mine laid open to seekers after mysteries. No one knew from what country the Lanty family came, nor to what sourcecommerce, extortion, piracy, or inheritancethey owed a fortune estimated at several millions. All the members of the family spoke Italian, French, Spanish, English, and German, with sufficient fluency to lead one to suppose that they had lived long among those different peoples.

Qui sont-ils? Qu'y a-t-il? Qu'a-t-elle fait? Ils se mirent parler bas, et s'loignrent pour aller causer plus l'aise sur quelque canap solitaire. Jamais mine plus fconde ne s'tait ouverte aux chercheurs de mystres. Personne ne savait de quel pays venait la famille de Lanty, ni de quel commerce, de quelle spoliation, de quelle piraterie ou de quel hritage provenait une fortune estime plusieurs millions. Tous les membres de cette famille parlaient l'italien, le franais, l'espagnol, l'anglais et l'allemand, avec assez de perfection pour faire supposer qu'ils avaient d long-temps sjourner parmi ces diffrents peuples.

Were they gypsies? were they buccaneers?
Suppose they're the devil himself, said divers young politicians, they entertain mighty well.