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britannica - americana
US General Omar Nelson BRADLEY (1893-1981), was one of the heroes
of the Second World War. He published his
Memoirs
in 1951 under
the title
A Soldier’s Story
(New York, Holt, 1951); the French translation
by Boris Vian was published by Gallimard in June 1952; Boris Vian
signed the contract on July 12, 1951.
This is undoubtedly the most monumental of Boris Vian’s translations.
According to the editor’s presentation: “The story of General Bradley is
also the story of the war in Europe, and no one was more competent
to tell it, than this beloved leader of his troops, this technician, one of
the brightest of modern times. [...] One sees glimpses in his memoirs
of the terrible responsibilities that accompany a commander-in-chief,
and one also understands why General Omar Bradley is considered
today as the first soldier of the United States”.
It was also a «terrible responsibility» for Boris Vian to carry out this
important task of translation, he the recognized antimilitarist (“Story
of an asshole”, wrote Vian to his friend Claude Léon to whom he
sent the book), who accepted to translate the work by challenge and
financial necessity. He put the greatest seriousness as shown by the
thick file of the manuscript of his translation (his wife Ursula recounts
that Vian had cramps in his hands).
The manuscript is in purple and blue inks, with abundant erasures
and corrections.