French lyrical poetry in Goran’s translation

Abstract

The role of French literature in the work of Ivan Goran Kovačić has been mentioned only at random so far, although it deserves a special attention, since among all foreign languages and literatures it was the French language that he knew best. The author of the article writes first about the poet’s knowledge of the French language, then she gives a survey of his translations from French literature and his attitudes concerning the problems of translation. The emphasis of the work is put pm the translations of French lyrical poetry and on Goran’s handling of the problem, basing her analysis on the translation of the poetry by Baudelaire ("Abel el Cain"), Gautier ("La Source-«) and Rimbaud ("Le Dormeur du Val« »Ophélie« "Bonheur«), The author concludes that Goran’s translations from French are not of such an importance in the translations into Croatian as his later translations of English lyrical poetry. However, in studying the original creative work of Ivan Goran Kovačić they are more important than the renderings from English, since he chose to translate those French poets that appealed in his inner affinity, and almost all of those translations can be used as an indication to get a better knowledge and understanding of his own lyrical poetry.