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Constantin Cavafis : Une nuit * Μια Νύχτα

 
Constantin Cavafis (Κωνσταντίνος Πέτρου Καβάφης, 1863-1933) est l'un des poètes les plus importants du XXe siècle en Grèce. 

 

Μια Νύχτα

Η κάμαρα ήταν πτωχική και πρόστυχη,
κρυμένη επάνω από την ύποπτη ταβέρνα.
Aπ’ το παράθυρο φαίνονταν το σοκάκι,
το ακάθαρτο και το στενό. Aπό κάτω
ήρχονταν η φωνές κάτι εργατών
που έπαιζαν χαρτιά και που γλεντούσαν.

Κ’ εκεί στο λαϊκό, το ταπεινό κρεββάτι
είχα το σώμα του έρωτος, είχα τα χείλη
τα ηδονικά και ρόδινα της μέθης —
τα ρόδινα μιας τέτοιας μέθης, που και τώρα
που γράφω, έπειτ’ από τόσα χρόνια!,
μες στο μονήρες σπίτι μου, μεθώ ξανά.

 

Une nuit

La chambre était pauvre et vulgaire,
cachée au-dessus de la taverne louche.
Par la fenêtre, on apercevait la ruelle,
étroite et sordide. D’en bas montaient
les voix de quelques ouvriers
qui jouaient aux cartes et qui s’amusaient.

Et là, sur l’humble lit plébéien,
j’ai possédé le corps de l’amour, j’ai possédé les lèvres
voluptueuses et rouges de l’ivresse —
rouges d’une telle ivresse qu’en ce moment
même où j’écris, après tant d’années !,
dans la solitude de ma maison, j’en suis de nouveau enivré.

                                                                        
Κωνσταντίνος Πέτρου Καβάφης, 1915.    Traduction de Dominique Grandmont, En attendant les barbares et autres poèmes, Gallimard.

 

 

Video : Kirkh70
Texte lu par l'actrice Elli Lambeti
Text read by the actress Έλλη Λαμπέτη

One night

The room was shabby and sordid,
concealed above the seedy tavern.
From the windo you could see the alley,
squalid and narrow. From below
came the voices of some workmen
playing cards and revelling.

And there, upon the lowly, humble bed
I had the body of love, I had the lips,
The sensuous, rosy, intoxicating lips —
The rosy lips of such sensual ecstasy that even now,
As I am wrinting, after so many years,
In my lonely home, I feel drunk again.

   
                                                                                 
Translation by Evangelos Sachperoglou, in C.P. Cavafy, The collected poems, Oxford.

 

Nikephoros Lytras (1832-1904)
Το φίλημα- Le baiser, 1878
The Kiss
Nikephoros Lytras
αναμονή, 1878
Attente

  Ces deux tableaux de Lytras sont à la Pinacothèque d'Athènes.

 

Tableau en haut de l'article/painting at the top of the article by Yannis Tsarouchis : Endymion, 1979.

 

Liens / Links :
Cavafis' website
Biographie de l'auteur
Constantin Cavafy (wikipedia)
English wikipedia
Cavafiscompupress.com (site en hommage à l'auteur avec de nombreux poèmes en Grec et traduits en Anglais)

 Quelques poèmes de Cavafis sur ce blog   

Carnet du traducteur : Michel Volkovitch a analysé les différentes traductions de ce poème.

 

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D
Merci de les lire.<br />
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L
Merci de publier ses si beaux textes
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D
Thank you so much for all these informations.<br /> I didn't create anything here, I just did copy/paste Cavafy... ;D<br /> <br /> By the way, I spend a lot of time correcting my own mistakes. Do dare to tell me if ever you see some because I can't see all of it all by myself.<br /> I don't have much time, I have a lot of work, so no movies just now, during these times, but I will, of course... during the holidays, I think.<br /> <br /> I like very much this poem of Cavafy because of (what we call in France) "réminiscence" (memory coming back thanks to tastes, odours etc.).<br /> This poem looks like an "erotic madeleine de Proust" (Marcel Proust wrote a long and sensual description about how all the past came back into his mind while he was eating a cake after putting it<br /> in his tea : it's a special taste reminding him his chilhood).<br /> <br /> Again, thank yooooou... ;* filakia
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A
hi again :) I see we feel creative on the same days. I just wrote something on my blog on the 22nd as well... LoL.<br /> <br /> Elli Lambeti was the greatest. I hope you'll find the time to watch "Kalpiki Lira" [english title: The Counterfeit Coin] the movie I sent you, where she's having an unforgettable duo with Dimitris<br /> Horn- not to mention other memorable actors of the time, like Fotopoulos and Logothetidis.<br /> <br /> When this movie came out, it was all the rage - in 1955, cinemas all over Greece had people coming in, in thousands.It made a record in the Box Office of the time, and it was also critically<br /> acclaimed. It received an award at the Venice Festival, as well as in Moscow and elsewhere.<br /> <br /> Music is by Manos Hatzidakis. Plot-wise, this film was also the first greek movie that combined different stories into one, into an episodic structure. This movie has four different segments and<br /> they all beautifully add up.
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