Mr. Bentley commissioned a translation of Racine. He did not get one. Instead, he received a variation on the theme of Phèdre, a poetic analogue, often brilliant, but rarely concordant with either the spirit or letter of Racine. The argument from “untranslatability” is disingenuous. All good translations are, in part, miracle. Would anyone have thought it was possible to translate Valéry into German before Rilke did it? Could one have guessed that the mannered style of Petronius could be rendered into English so completely and brilliantly as it has been by William Arrowsmith? After the fact one sees the thing can be done. Mr. Bentley himself should know that: when he commissioned Roy Campbell to translate into verse Cervantes’ Seige of Numantia, he was given what he presumably hoped for: loyal, perceptive translation that is also poetry.
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