En longeant les quais de la Seine

In this small selection from his book, Pierre Nozière, Anatole France describes the famous banks of the Seine River in the heart of Paris, here in Sténographie Gregg transcribed by me.

Attachment: en-longeant-les-quais-de-la-seine-anniv.pdf

Attachment: en-longeant-les-quais-de-la-seine-simpl.pdf


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  1. Hello, Carlos!

    First, many thanks for this new text in French. It wasn't a fairy tale (although stones spoke to him) but it had some difficulties (I didn't know what a 'mascaron' was… I don't live in Paris…)

    It mustn't obvious to juggle the different versions, so I understand the complexity. I remarked few points, if you allow me:

    – line 10: …dès l'enfance, respirer… it's an infinitive, so no ending;

    – line 11: …vieux livres… 'livre' has no 'r' at the end in Sénécal;

    – line 22 to 24: it sounds quite odd, maybe it's Anatole France's style: qui, où du Palais-Bourbon à Notre-Dame entendre les pierres conter…

    – line 41: I first read sur ses toits, it's on Simplified I read sur ses arches

    – line 61: I can only read studieux loisirs, it's a bit odd but 'studieux' is written differently anyway in 'Études Graduées…' in the text 264…

    – line 63: I read ingénieux amour but could it be ingénu amour?

    – line 64: m'apparait makes sens but the 'p' looks like more like a 's'…

    – line 66: 'fois' is just 'f';

    – line 70: 'e-l-o-k'…Could it be pierres héroïques and 'e-r-o-k'?

    – line 70 to 71: I'm rather puzzled: le sentiment que manquera jamais à sa vocation. Maybe it's something I didn't understand but something feels missing.

    Well, I hope that you won't stop posting French texts. I like it and I know Aymeric does too. 🙂

    1. Oops, too… One correction doesn't apply:

      line 10: il a, dès l'enfance, respiré… Not infinitive, past participle… You're right, Carlos. 🙂

  2. I certainly do 🙂

    Christine, I’m not sure if all your corrections apply, because apparently Carlos has written this in simplified Gregg (not in Anniversary). Most of what you have noted may simply relate to that.

    I must say I find this text very challenging, unlike the previous ones you’ve posted in simplified, most of this one escapes me. I’ll try to transcribe it in another message…

    1. Oops sorry Christine, I’m seeing only now that the two versions are available! I had only noticed the simplified one on my tiny phone screen…

  3. Bon j’essaye :

    Anatole France est né quai Malaquais [I had to look this up], à quelque pas de l’Institut [why not left s?] de France et du Pont Age (?), sur la rive qui fait face au Palais du Louvre et et à l’Église Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois. C’est un vrai Parisien, fils de Parisien, établi libraire.

    Dans la boutique de son père, il a dès l’enfance respiré l’odeur des vieux livres dont(?) les bouquinistes offraient tant d’autres(?) exemplaires aux flâneurs érudits. Mais surtout il a eu sous les yeux le spectacle unique au monde des quais de la Seine. Il y a senti frémir l’âme même de Paris.

    Si j’ai jamais goûté l’éclatante douceur d’être né dans la ville des pensées(?) généreuses, c’est en me promenant(?) sur ces quais où, du Palais Bourbon à Notre Dame [???] les pires côtés une des plus belles aventures humaines, l’histoire de la France ancienne et de la France moderne. On y voit le Louvre ciselé comme un joyau; le Pont Ache (?) qui porta sur son robuste dos trois siècles et plus de Parisiens musant (?) aux bateleurs en revenant de leur travail criant : "Vive le Roi !" au passage des carrosses dorés poussant des canons [that’s a long sentence where I feel commas would have come in handy, because I’m not quite sure where to place them: who pushes the cannons, the crowd, the carts?] en acclamant la liberté au jour révolutionnaire où, s’engageant en volontaires à servir sans souliers sous le drapeau tricolore la Patrie en [??-gé]. Toute l’âme de la France a passé sur cette arche vénérable où des [?] les [?] un souriant [?] au[?] grimaçant semble exprimer les misères[?] et les gloires , les terreurs et les espérances, les haines et les amours [?][?][?] durant des siècles. On y voit la Place Dauphine avec ses maisons de briques… on y voit le vieux Palais de Justice, la flèche rétablie de la Sainte-Chapelle, l’Hôtel de Ville et les Tours[?] de Notre-Dame. C’est là qu’on sent mieux qu’ailleurs [?] les travaux des générations, les progrès des âges, la continuité d’un peuple, la sainteté du travail accompli par les aïeux à qui nous devons la liberté, et les studieux loisirs. C’est là que je sens pour mon pays le plus [?] et plus ingénieux [?] amour. C’est là que le [mazaret?] clairement que la mission de Paris est d’enseigner le monde. De ces palais de Paris qui se sont tant de fois soulevés pour la justice et la liberté, ont jailli les vérités qui consolent et délivrent [?]. Et je retrouve ici parmi ces pierres éloquentes[?] le santiment que manquera jamais à sa [?].

    Actually with a bit of guessing I think I understood more than at first sight 🙂 still a few things that I don’t get because they don’t exist in DJS I suppose…

    1. I add my stone. 🙂

      …où, du Palais Bourbon à Notre Dame [???] les pires côtés une des plus belles aventures humaines,…

      — Ahah… les pierres content (de conter, raconter) ;

      …musant (?) aux bateleurs…

      — I don't know either…

      …sous le drapeau tricolore la Patrie en [??-gé].

      en danger, always en danger la Patrie, it is well known.

      …où des [?] les [?] un souriant [?] au[?] grimaçant semble exprimer les misères[?]…

      — où des mascarons (les fameux mascarons) les uns souriant les autres grimaçant… (oui, les misères, je pense)

      … l’Hôtel de Ville et les Tours[?] de Notre-Dame.

      — I understood 'touristes de Notre-Dame', the 's' of the plural is not noted in French Gregg.

      C’est là que je sens pour mon pays le plus [?] et plus ingénieux [?] amour.

      — le plus tendre et plus… ingénieux, yes, it's curious, I feel more "ingénu"…

      C’est là que le [mazaret?] clairement que la mission de Paris est d’enseigner le monde.

      — It looks like "mazaret", doesn't it? I think, like I said, it's: "C'est là qu'il m'apparait…"

      De ces palais de Paris

      — Hum… pavés

      …pierres éloquentes[?] le santiment que manquera jamais à sa [?].

      — Like I said, I think it's "héroïques", a 'r' too long and, ho, 'santiment', Aymeric? Well, the ending is strange but 'vocation' looks like the last word.

      You understand much more than you said… no more excuses… 🙂

       

       

       

       

      1. Haha santiments, la honte ! I’m getting way too comfortable with phonetic writing 🙂

        Thanks for the other explanations. Why not éloquentes for the stones? It’s not weirder than héroïques… 🙂

        I too would have expected ingénu rather than ingénieux.

        1. After second thought… you may be right for 'éloquentes'. After all, these stones talk a lot and it would be surprising if Carlos made that mistake. 🙂

  4. C'est très amusant! I'm enjoying this. smiley

    Thank you both because I didn't realize that there was a big mistake in the last sentence of the piece, and I had left out a word at the beginning of the second plate, so I apologize for that. I also changed some outlines for clarity. But between the both of you, you can figure the rest out. And yes, those stones are very chatty …

    I can post the transcript later if you want.

    1. Wonderful, Carlos!

      Everything is clear for me, now… except the always mysterious '… Parisiens moussant aux bateleurs…'. .If you are sure that is within our reach…

      I'm glad you had as much pleasure to write French Gregg as we had to read you. 🙂

      1. Not moussant, but musant, the present participle of the rare verb muser. It's Anatole France, so expect some poetry, right? It's one of the reasons I chose this piece. It's fun. Plus, it reminded me of when I visited Paris long time ago …

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