I have previously posted a short excerpt from Louise Michel’s novel, The Imperial Bastard, which featured Bakunin as a main character. Michel also adapted some elements from that novel in dramatic form as Nadine, a political tragedy set in the Polish rebellions of 1846. I’ve posted a working translation of that play now at the Working Translations blog. As with all of these new translations, there are some rough spots to smooth, but in this case it’s mostly a case of making sense of the details of the stage directions, and I think all the charm of Michel’s Bakunin comes through.
Bakunin Library
Louise Michel, “Nadine”
A Corvus Edition [pdf] NADINE by Louise Michel CHARACTERS Michel Bakunin. The Prince. Serge, his aide de camp. The Count Toscof, exile, father of Serge. Patelski. Belly. Miérolowski. Jacques Széla, patriot. Alexander Herzen. Count Wodzicki. […]
Working Translations
Louise Michel, “Old Abraël” (1888)
LE VIEIL ABRAEL LEGENDE DU VINGTIEME SIECLE Le vingtième siècle allait finir. Les nations, à l’étroit dans le froide Europe, avaient largement essaimé sur le globe. Partout s’élevaient de nouvelles villes, grandissaient de jeunes peuples, […]
Anarchist Beginnings
Louise Michel, “Why I Am an Anarchist” (1896)
I am an Anarchist because Anarchy alone, by means of liberty and justice based on equal rights, will make humanity happy, and because Anarchy is the sublimest idea conceivable by man. It is, today, the […]