Translated for the first time in English, Venetian Angel by Hungarian writer Ferenc Molnár is a delightful escapade in the city he considered “a wonder of the world”. Confusion and angst fuel a love-triangle, with Venice being witness to a dramatic tangle of emotions and misunderstandings. Annabel Barber has beautifully captured the era in her sensitive translation, allowing us to become voyeurs to the charm of a different time. The year is 1933, and Molnár renders Venice in brilliant colors and gleaming gold, confirming the city’s eternal beauty and the realization that it is only the people that change with the centuries.
Can you explain your relationship with Venice?
I have been going to Venice, both for work and pleasure, regularly for three decades. I guess that ages me! But Venice doesn’t age. That is the wonderful thing about it, and whenever I go, I feel rejuvenated.
What inspired you to translate this charming 1933 novel by Ferenc Molnár from the original Hungarian into English?
I mentioned that I regularly visit Venice for work. Specifically, that is because I am the Editorial Director of the Blue Guides, an English-language guidebook series that focuses on history, fine art and architecture. Blue Guide Venice is now in its 10th edition. So that is what has taken me to the city, working on editing that guide. And I am based in Budapest, Hungary. So, when I discovered Ferenc Molnár’s novel, which was set in Venice in 1933 and had never appeared in English before, I thought it would be a nice little add-on for us to publish, something that visitors to Venice might like to tuck into their bags when they travel there, to read at leisure on the Lido beach or when lazing over a Spritz on a sunny roof terrace.
I wonder about the unique challenges of translating a 91-year-old work of fiction for contemporary readers. The story includes delightful colloquial expressions (like the charming ”peaches and cream” to describe living in Venice) intrinsic to their time. Did you feel you had a choice about translating these expressions in a more modern way or were you committed to keep to the author’s original text as faithfully as possible?
Good question. I mean, I wanted the translation to be authentic. The 1930s were a very particular time in the history of Europe, and specifically for Central Europe. Its attitudes and scenarios are not those of today and the characters in the book needed to speak with their true voices. I felt that in some cases more modern forms of expression would have been anachronistic and would have possibly made it more difficult for a reader to accept the views, assumptions and aspirations of the characters, and the limitations of their options and life choices. Actually, the phrase that jumped out at you, “peaches and cream”, is an example of somewhere where I had to come up with an expression that would fit the rest of the dialogue. Aurelian takes the metaphor further and talks about how life in Venice reminds him of when he was a child, and adults would reward him for good behavior by giving him sweets and candy.
In what way has your work as a translator influenced your work as an editor and author?
My work as editor, translator, and author is interesting because it puts me in a position of always needing to listen to different voices, to give them a platform and allow them to express themselves in the way they choose. And as a result, I get to see things from different points of view, as well as having to think about language and forms of expression. Sometimes I need to wrestle with turns of phrase or whole concepts which I would never have come up with myself. And translators have to translate ideas that they personally don’t agree with in a sympathetic way. I think this is important. Looking at everything from multiple viewpoints is helpful, particularly today when we seem to be retreating more and more into our own separate, vacuum-packed compartments.
In Venice, were you able to follow the novel’s locations to map out the adventures of the characters? Is there any place that existed in Molnár’s time but now no longer exists?
Yes, absolutely. It was fun following Molnár’s characters around Venice, and in fact I have included a map of the locations on the inside front cover of the book. One or two of the places (the Pensione Corti; the address of the private detective’s office) are invented, but most of the locations are real places, all of which still exist. For me, the most tantalizing—and frustrating—location was St Mark’s Basilica itself. There is a scene when the main character, Irma, goes into the church to look at a carved angel in one of the chapels on the left-hand side. I would love to go in and find this angel; I am sure Molnár had a real carving in mind, and I am sure that it is there, just as he describes it. But I have never seen it! Nowadays you can’t just wander into St Mark’s. You have to wait for a long time in line, and even when you get inside, you have to follow a prescribed route. One day I will find that angel, though. I have made it my goal!
The book includes a wonderful introduction to Ferenc Molnár by his grandson, Mátyás Sárközi. In it, he gives us the context for the novella and describes his grandfather’s love of Venice. What was Sárközi’s reaction to having his grandfather’s story translated for the first time into English?
Molnár is not completely unknown in the English-speaking world. The Rodgers and Hammerstein movie Carousel is based on one of his plays (he escaped rising Fascism in Hungary and settled in New York). But Venetian Angel has not been translated before. Mátyás Sárközi wrote to me expressing his delight that his grandfather’s work still has an audience, fulfilling the hope he expresses in his delightful Foreword.
Venetian Angel: https://www.somersetbooks.com/venetian-angel/
All photos: ©️ Blue Guides
Read more of JoAnn Locktov‘s Interviews and Articles on YtaliGlobal, and visit her website.
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