Arthur Stuart Ahluwalia Stronge Gilbert (25 October 1883 – 5 January 1969) was an English literary scholar and translator. Among his translations into English are works by

Alexis de Tocqueville Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (29 July 180516 April 1859), was a French Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, diplomat, political philosopher, and historian. He is best known for his works ''Democracy in America'' (appearing in t ...

Édouard Dujardin Édouard Dujardin (; 10 November 1861 – 31 October 1949) was a French writer, one of the early users of the stream of consciousness literary technique, exemplified by his 1888 novel '' Les Lauriers sont coupés.'' Biography Édouard Émile Lo ...

André Malraux Georges André Malraux ( ; ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (''Man's Fate'') (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed ...

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, vicomte de Saint-Exupéry (29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), known simply as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ), was a French writer, poet, journalist and aviator. Born in Lyon to an French nobility, aristocratic ...

Georges Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 12/13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer who created the fictional detective Jules Maigret. One of the most prolific and successful authors of the 20th century, he published around 400 ...

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...

Albert Camus Albert Camus ( ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, journalist, world federalist, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the s ...

, and

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism, literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th ...

, among others. He also assisted in the translation of

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

's ''

Ulysses Ulysses is the Latin name for Odysseus, a legendary Greek hero recognized for his intelligence and cunning. He is famous for his long, adventurous journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, as narrated in Homer's Odyssey. Ulysses may also refer ...

'' into French.

Biography

Personal life

Gilbert was born at

Kelvedon Hatch Kelvedon Hatch is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Brentwood in south Essex, England. It is situated just north of Pilgrims Hatch, approximately to the north of Brentwood and is surrounded by Metropolitan Green Belt. In 2019 the ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, on 25 October 1883, the only son of a retired army officer, Arthur Stronge Gilbert (1839-1913), and Melvina Kundiher Singh (1860-1913), the daughter of Randhir Singh, the

Raja Raja (; from , IAST ') is a noble or royal Sanskrit title historically used by some Indian subcontinent, Indian rulers and monarchs and highest-ranking nobles. The title was historically used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. T ...

Kapurthala Kapurthala () is a city in Punjab state of India. It is the administrative headquarters of Kapurthala District. It was the capital of the Kapurthala State, a princely state in British India. The aesthetic mix of the city with its prominent b ...

, and of Rajkumari Bibiji (née Henrietta Hodges and later Henrietta Melvina Oliver) (c. 1843-1893). Gilbert's mother was also known as "Melvina Kaur Sahiba (Princess Melvina Rundheer Singh Ahloowalia)". He attended Cheltenham and

Hertford College Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The colle ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, taking a first in Classical Moderations. Gilbert joined the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British Raj, British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 3 ...

in 1907. After military service in the First World War, he served as a judge in

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

until 1925. He then retired, settling in France with his French-born wife Marie Agnès Mathilde "Moune" Douin, a French citizen and the co-author (with François Pujol, Pierre Andrieu and Louis Audoubert) of ''Promenades et excursions dans les montagnes du Biros et du Castillonnais'' (1979). The couple had one daughter, Madeleine Gilbert, who became a translator and whose published work included "Théâtre" by W.B. Yeats (Paris: Éditions Denoël, 1954; reprinted: Paris: Éditions Rombaldi, 1970 and Paris: Les Presses du compagnonnage, 1970.) Gilbert remained in France for the rest of his life, except for some time spent in exile in Wales during the Second World War. Gilbert died at his home at 7 rue Jean du Bellay, Paris on 5 January 5 1969. His wife died on 19 May 1992.

Literary work

Gilbert was one of the first Joycean scholars. He first read ''Ulysses'' while he was in Burma and admired it greatly. According to his wife, she and Gilbert were taking a walk in the

Latin Quarter The Latin Quarter of Paris (, ) is an urban university campus in the 5th and the 6th arrondissements of Paris. It is situated on the left bank of the Seine, around the Sorbonne. Known for its student life, lively atmosphere, and bistros, t ...

of Paris when they passed Shakespeare and Company, and saw some typescript pages of a French translation of ''Ulysses'' by Auguste Morel and

Valery Larbaud Valery Larbaud (29 August 1881 – 2 February 1957) was a French writer and poet. Life He was born in Vichy, the only child of a pharmacist Nicolas Larbaud and Isabelle Bureau des Étivaux. His father died when he was 8, and he was brought up ...

displayed in the window. Gilbert noted several serious errors in the French rendering and introduced himself to

Sylvia Beach Sylvia Beach (14 March 1887 – 5 October 1962), born Nancy Woodbridge Beach, was an American-born bookseller and publisher who lived most of her life in Paris, where she was one of the leading expatriate figures between World War I and World W ...

, who was impressed by his criticisms of the translation. She took his name and telephone number, and suggested that Joyce, who was assisting in the translation, would contact him. This began many years of friendship between Joyce and Gilbert. He published ''James Joyce's Ulysses: A Study'' in 1930 (revised edition 1950); contributed an important chapter, "Prolegomena to Work in Progress," to ''

Our Exagmination Round His Factification for Incamination of Work in Progress ''Our Exagmination Round His Factification for Incamination of Work in Progress'' is a 1929 collection of critical essays, and two letters, on the subject of James Joyce's book ''Finnegans Wake'', then being published in discrete sections under ...

'' (1929), a collection of perspectives on the fragments of Joyce's "work in progress," later completed as ''

Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish literature, Irish writer James Joyce. It was published in instalments starting in 1924, under the title "fragments from ''Work in Progress''". The final title was only revealed when the book was publishe ...

'' (1939); and published a collection of Joyce's letters in 1957. The

Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center The Harry Ransom Center, known as the Humanities Research Center until 1983, is an archive, library, and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe ...

at the University of Texas has archival material regarding his relationship with James Joyce and his work as a translator. This material includes correspondence, diaries, notebooks, press clippings and photographs, from the period between 1900 and 1985. Gilbert was the first English translator of two novels by

, '' The Stranger'' (translation published 1946Du Plessis, Eric H., 'The Restoration of Albert Camus' ''L'Etranger'', in English Translation'. ''Revue de Littérature Comparée'' (Paris), 66(2), pp. 205-213.(1 April 1992).) and '' The Plague'' (translation published 1948). One of Gilbert's major projects was the translation from French of

Roger Martin du Gard Roger Martin du Gard (; 23 March 1881 – 22 August 1958) was a French novelist, winner of the 1937 Nobel Prize in Literature. Biography Trained as a paleographer and archivist, he brought to his works a spirit of objectivity and a scrupulous ...

novel sequence A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their publ ...

'' Les Thibault''. Running to nearly 1,900 pages in translation, it was published by the Viking Press in the United States in two volumes, ''The Thibaults'' (1939) and ''Summer 1914'' (1941). In the last decade of his life Gilbert translated numerous texts for the Swiss art book publisher

Albert Skira Albert Skira (1904–1973) was a Swiss people, Swiss art dealer, publisher and the founder of the Skira (publisher), Skira publishing house. The Skira publishing house, Editions d'Art Albert Skira Skira founded the Skira (publisher), eponymous p ...

Bibliography

Translations

, ''Southern Mail (Courier-Sud)'', New York: Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, 1933. Translation of Saint-Exupéry's novel '' Courier sud'' (Paris: Gallimard, 1929). *

, ''Round the World Again in Eighty Days'', London: George Routledge & Sons, 1937. Translation of Cocteau's journalistic work ''Mon Premier Voyage: Tour du Monde en 80 jours'' (Paris: Gallimard, 1936). *

, ''In Two Latitudes'', London: George Routledge & Sons, 1942 (contains "The Mystery of the Polarlys" and "Tropic Moon"). Translation of Simenon's novels ''Le Passager du Polarlys'' and ''Coup de Lune''. *

, ''The Outsider'', London: Hamish Hamilton, 1946, introduction by Cyril Connolly; ''The Stranger'', New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1946. Translation of Camus's novel '' L'Étranger'' (Paris: Gallimard, 1942). *

, ''No Exit (Huis Clos): A Play in One Act, &, The Flies (Les Mouches): A Play in Three Acts... English Versions by Stuart Gilbert'', New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1947. *

, ''The Psychology of Art'', London: Zwemmer, 1949. Three volumes: 1. Museum Without Walls; 2. The Creative Act; 3. The Aftermath of the Absolute."André Malraux, The Psychology of Art"
philpapers.org. Retrieved 21 February 2023. * André Malraux, ''The Voices of Silence'', New York: Doubleday, 1953; London: Secker & Warburg, 1954. * André Malraux, ''The Metamorphosis of the Gods'', London: Secker & Warburg, 1960- . Translation of Malraux's ''La Métamorphose des dieux'' (Paris: Gallimard, 1957).

Other works

* ''James Joyce's Ulysses: A Study'', London: Faber & Faber, 1930. * ''Letters of James Joyce''. Edited by Stuart Gilbert. London: Faber & Faber, 1957; New York: Viking Press, 1957. * ''Letters of James Joyce''. Edited by Stuart Gilbert and Richard Ellmann. London: Faber & Faber, 1966; New York: Viking Press, 1966. * ''Reflections on James Joyce: Stuart Gilbert's Paris Journal'', Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1993. Edited by Thomas F. Staley and Randolph Lewis.

References

External links

* Translated Penguin Book - at
Penguin First Editions
reference site of early first edition Penguin Books. 1883 births 1969 deaths Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford British Army personnel of World War I English emigrants to France English–French translators English translators French–English translators Indian Civil Service (British India) officers James Joyce scholars 20th-century English translators {{UK-translator-stub