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Translation - English-French - Later people spoke to me of a new science, the...Current status Translation
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Category Thoughts - Society / People / Politics  This translation request is "Meaning only". | Later people spoke to me of a new science, the... | | Source language: English
Later people spoke to me of a new science, the science of voices or phonology, stimulated by developments in radio and methods of indirect persuasion used in advertising. Would such a science be possible? Surely. But desirable? I'm afraid not, for if the time should come when men mastered the art of the human voice, knew how to decipher it and modulate it at will, all that is left of liberty would be lost. Such men would have their hand on the hidden tiller. They would be like a latter-day Orpheus, charming the beasts and making the stones come to life. But remember that Orpheus had the right to his secret only as long as he refrained from abusing it. | Remarks about the translation | From "And There Was Light" - Jacques Lusseyran, Little, Brown & Company, 3rd printing, 1963.
As a "reviewer" of the text it is permitted to post here - Lusseyran's book describes his life, including his experience as a blind french underground leader during the second world war. |
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| Plus tard des gens m'ont parlés d'une nouvelle .... | TranslationFrench
Translated by  gamine | Target language: French
Plus tard des gens m'ont parlé d'une nouvelle science, la science des voix ou la phonologie, stimulée par l'exploitation des méthodes de persuasion indirectes à la radio et dans les publicités. Une telle science pourra-t'elle être possible? Certainement. Mais souhaitée? Je crains que non, car si le temps devait arriver ou les hommes maîtrisent l'art de la voix humaine, et savent comment la déchiffrer et la moduler à souhait, tout ce qu'il resterait de liberté serait perdu. De tels hommes pourront imposer leur loi en toute liberté. Ils ressembleraient a un Orphée des temps modernes, charmant les bêtes et donnant vie aux pierres. Mais rappelez-vous qu'Orphée n'avait droit à son secret que lorsqu'il se retenait d'en abuser. |
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22 December 2008 16:36 | | | Although I think the translation is good, the concept of "hidden tiller" in this thought of Lusseyran's is interesting. I don't think it means
control of liberty, but rather the direction in which a society or even entire civilization moves, a direction that is hidden to those not aware of it, or not influencing the direction itself.
In this sense, I think this is a close match to Adam Smith's "invisible hand". I'd like to see what the French version of the book says, I only have the English. |
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- 22 December 2008 14:51