What’s the best translation of The Plague by Camus?

Who Was Stuart Gilbert?

He was an English literary scholar, a fan and friend of James Joyce, and a translator into English of some well-known French authors.

It seems twenty-first century readers find fault with his translations for being insufficiently modern and too loose. That we’re fussier about accuracy than we used to be and we don’t talk like we did decades ago is hardly Gilbert’s fault, but it may mean we read his work less, now that we have alternatives.

About the Gilbert translation of The Plague

• The New York Times, “The pleasures and perils of creative translation”
  A meditation on the experience of reading several works translated from French to English, including examples of artistic license in Gilbert’s version of The Stranger by Camus. “Translators take fewer liberties nowadays.”
  
• Translation Review, “Stuart Gilbert’s The Plague: Paraphrase or Translation?”
  This journal article concludes that it’s a paraphrase. And these days, not necessarily a very readable paraphrase.
• London Review of Books, “Pointing the Finger”
  This article and several rounds of responses highlight the issues one encounters when trying to create or critique a translation. Mentions translations by both Gilbert and Buss.
• Bibliomane Blog, “The Plague, by Albert Camus: A Review”
  Bill Bibliomane (who has some French skills) says “there were many instances where I felt let down by the Gilbert translation.”

Extract from the Gilbert translation of The Plague:

Who was Robin Buss?

He was a British writer, film critic, polyglot, and translator with a PhD in French Literature. His translations from French include:

• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
• Under Fire by Henri Barbusse
• The Fall by Albert Camus
• Therese Raquin by Emile Zola
• The Princesse de Cleves by Madame de La Fayette
• On Suicide by Emile Durkheim
• Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac

You might want to read his 2006 obituary in The Independent.

About the Buss translation of The Plague

• There isn’t much said in favor of the Robin Buss translation, which is surprising; where it’s mentioned at all it is quoted to point out the shortcomings of the Gilbert translation.
• An edited version of an introduction by Tony Judt (which appeared in my copy as an afterword) is online at The Guardian, “A hero for our times”.
• I have posted a Review of The Plague by Camus (translated by Robin Buss).

Extract from the Buss translation of The Plague:

“Who is Laura Marris?”

She is an American writer, poet, and translator. She teaches creative writing at the University of Buffalo. She has a website where you can learn more about her work.

She was already working on her translation of The Plague when the pandemic hit. Now she is working on a book of essays titled States of Plague: Reading Albert Camus in a Pandemic.

Extract from the Marris translation of The Plague

The Best Translation of The Plague by Camus

I know some French—but not, like, a lot—and I haven’t read both the existing English translations. Still, you asked, so here’s my answer.

I recommend the Buss / Penguin translation of The Plague.

• It’s the one I read. I also read the Robin Buss translation of The Count of Monte Cristo. No complaints.
  
• The Buss / Penguin edition of The Plague has a nice afterword by Tony Judt; as far as I know, the Gilbert / Vintage edition doesn’t have any special frontmatter or backmatter.
• Various sources indicate that the Gilbert translation, being older, paraphrases more than the Buss translation.

Will the Marris translation supersede the previous translations?

• No translation is perfect; presumably the Marris translation will be said to have made corrections and improvements. Otherwise why would there be a new translation?
• Some people cling to whichever translation they read first because that translator’s voice sounds like the author’s voice to them, even though it’s not; some find that a more recent translation makes the text much more readable and enjoyable than it had been previously.

Psst! It’s not just a book about an epidemic…

The book can be read on the surface level as the story about a town in lockdown, but while the depiction is convincing, I’m pretty sure the author meant his readers to look deeper. The afterword by Tony Judt in my copy of The Plague says the book is a subtle but unmistakable allegory of wartime German occupation of France.

However, the specific danger that the characters face and the historical context in which the book’s audience originally read it don’t matter so much. What matters is the quiet, inner struggle of souls grappling with the eternal Problem of Evil. Why do bad things happen to good people, and how should we react?

A book review from 1948 says “The argument extends beyond the physical impact of the plague into metaphysical terrain” and calls the novel “a work of considerable significance and stature.”

In other words, like any good novel, The Plague has something to say to all people in all times and places.