From jswortham@hotmail.com Sun Feb 24 11:56:00 2002 Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 12:49:19 -0500 From: Joe Wortham To: jwortham@usd.edu Subject: ingenuous Ingenuous or Ingenious Don Quixote (1)(or is it Don Quijote?)
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Ingenuous or Ingenious Don Quixote (or is it Don Quijote?)

The role of translators in making foreign works available and enjoyable to the reading public has never been easy. The simplest of words when given a literal translation often loses the intent of the author. Nowhere is this more obvious as in the many translations of Miguel Cervantes' classic, Don Quixote.

If the substance of the translation isn't enough of a problem, they have difficulty in the most simple of interpretations. Even the title of the book has been a problem, and once beyond this hurdle, description of our Don, became ever more difficult.

Seems clear enough that the book is about the exploits of Don Quixote de la Mancha. But in providing a title as Cervantes did, the understanding of exactly who Don Quixote (aka Alonso Quijano, the Good) was and what exploits were to be detailed in this offering becomes too large a gnat to swallow.

So, Don Quixote became (in the books titles), "the Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha" in the translation by Samuel Putnam. However, he also in his translation, uses the "Second Part of the Exploits of Don Quixote de la Mancha" (pp987, Modern Library). [See Putnam's discussion in the introduction pp xix] He points out that the problem arises in translation of the word ingenioso. This having been translated as ingenious, visionary and imaginative, is considered by Putnam as being closer to the meaning of Cervantes in his Spanish of the time.

Thomas Shelton's translation, embellishes the Don in the title of his book by adding the adjective, "most" to ingenious gentleman. He calls it a delightful history. That's "editorial license".

In Peter Motteux's rendition, the book is; The Adventures of the Ingenious Gentleman, Don Quixote de la Mancha. And begins, "The Life and Achievements of Don Quixote de la Mancha, part the first. From a reader's viewpoint, Motteux provides the story in a time warp which is much appreciated in comparison to today's "make everything current" philosophy. [A similar viewpoint can be had in comparing the various versions of the Bible.] Modern English just doesn't cut it.

Ormsby attempted to avoid controversy by simply ignoring some of the color (or flavor if you like) that earlier translators infused their manuscripts with. As example, when the Don dies, and writers were to be accused of extending his life and times, using the term "exploits" to describe his activities, Ormsby translates, "achievements". How lacking.

Smollet's translation is simply, "The History and Adventures of the Renowned Don Quixote."

In an old printing of Don Quixote in Spanish in 1719, the title is; "Vida y hechos del ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha" Which I translate to mean: Events in the life of the ingenuous nobleman, Don Quixote of Mancha.

One need only look to our extensive books on synonyms; Crabb's Synonymes, Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms, etc., or Thesaurus without number to see that unfortunately, President William Jefferson Clinton, is (what is the meaning of is?) right. Selection of the proper term can become a search for the impossible. Well not quite. The term Ingenious used by all the translators that I have reviewed seems out of touch with what Cervantes was attempting to display in his vigorous portrayal of the Don as he sought to correct wrong-doings. Don Quixote was ingenuous.

Crabb says it best (pp 432, Crabb's Synonymes, Harper and Brothers, New York, 1849)

It would not have been necessary to point out the distinction between these two words (Ingenuous, Ingenious), if they had not been confounded in writing, as well as in speaking. Ingenuous, in Latin ingeuus, and ingenious, in both derived from ingigno to be inborn; but the former respects the freedom of the station, and consequent nobleness of the character which is inborn; the latter respects the genius or mental powers which are inborn. Truth is coupled with freedom or nobility of birth; the ingenuous, therefore, bespeaks the inborn freedom, by asserting the noblest right, and following the noblest impulse, of human nature, namely, that of speaking the truth; genius is altogether a natural endowment, that is born with us, independent of external circumstances; the ingenious man, therefore, displays his powers as occasion may offer. We love the ingenuous character, on account of the qualities of his heart; we admire the ingenious man on account of the endowments of his mind. One is ingenuous as a man, or ingenious as an author; a man confesses an action ingenuously, he defends it ingeniously; "Compare the ingenuous pliableness to virtuous counsels which is in youth, tho the confirmed obstinacy in an old sinner."

In today's writings, Webster's Synonyms provides a simpler distinction, but no less correct: Ingenious - Cunning, clever, adroit.
Analogous words: Inventing or inventive, creating or creative, discovering, dexterous,
feat, handy, deft,; skillful, adept, skilled, expert, proficient.
Ingenuous - Natural, simple, naive, unsophisticated, artless.
Analogous words: open, frank, candid, plain; transparent, clear, childlike, childish,
straightforward, above board, sincere, unfeigned.
Webster warns: Do not confuse ingenious with ingenuous.

Alas, our good translators do just that. The Good man, Alonzo, was the Ingenuous Man of La Mancha, and squire, Sancho, was certainly ingenious.

Edward Lear wrote:
It is a virtue in ingenuous youth,
To leave off lying and return to truth.
For well it's known that all religious morals,
Are caused by Bass's Ale and South Atlantic Corals.

But how do we describe the gentleman from la Mancha? Ingenuous, but of course.

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(1) NB Sergio Le Roux has commented on whether Cervantes intended ingenious or ingenuous: "Ingenioso in the context of El Quijote, was first used by Cervantes' contemporary (?) Juan Haurte, who used it for "extravagante" or "extravagant" (which is also a correct definition, and maybe it simply escapes translation... "ingenioso" can be used to mean a lot of things, like "funny", "imaginative", for instance.) It was this meaning that was used by Cervantes.

You can argue that the man was also very naive, but that doesn't mean that the author meant "ingenuo" when he wrote "ingenioso". Part of what makes Cervantes such a good writer is that he's so clever with his writing. As can be seen in most of the bok, he uses irony a lot.

I could also say "I don't think he meant ingenious, I think he meant crazy... So I'll write "the crazy gentleman" and build from there.."

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My reply: "Did Cervantes really mean for the reader to see Don Quixote as cunning, clever and adroit? Certainly ingenuous is more descriptive of the Don's actions.

But there is another thought in play on this as well. The person who sets type dictates what the reader sees, not the writer. Whether it be the intention of the typesetter to change the word from ingenuous to ingenious will never be known."

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Ingenious is the word used exclusively in all the different translations I have had occasion to see as well as the edition in Spanish published in 1973 by Libros editados para Distribuciones Editoriales, Padilla, 323, interior Barcelona. So use ingenious if you like, I prefer to think of the Don as ingenuous.

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