Translation and Analysis of The Commitments by Roddy

Translation and Analysis of The Commitments by Roddy

MASARYK UNIVERSITY
Faculty of Education
Department of English Language and Literature
Translation and Analysis of The Commitments
by Roddy Doyle
Bachelor Thesis
Brno 2009
Supervised by
Written by
Mgr. Martin Němec
Zuzana Pilátová
Declaration
I hereby declare that this bachelor thesis is my own work and that the information I used has
been acknowledged in the text and included in the reference list. I agree with putting the thesis
on public display at Masaryk University for study purposes.
Prohlášení
Prohlašuji, že jsem tuto bakalářskou práci zpracovala samostatně a že informace, které jsem při
vypracování používala, řádně cituji s uvedením úplného odkazu na příslušný zdroj. Dávám
svolení k tomu, aby byla tato bakalářská práce zpřístupněna na Masarykově univerzitě ke
studijním účelům.
…………………………………
Zuzana Pilátová
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Acknowledgements
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Mgr. Martin Němec for his
constant encouragement, expert advice and insightful comments on the text as well as
recommending literature.
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Annotation
This bachelor thesis is concerned with the translation and subsequent analysis of an extract from
the comic novel The Commitments by a leading Irish author Roddy Doyle. Its main goal is to
suggest contemporary Czech lexical equivalents to predominantly colloquial expressions typical
of the slang of Northside in Dublin in order to preserve Doyle’s authentic and imaginative
dialogue. The work consists of two parts. The first is practical, containing the translation itself.
The second, theoretical part analyses the style of the original text as well as the author’s
application of basic translation principles to various translation difficulties.
Anotace
Tato bakalářská práce se zabývá překladem a následnou analýzou úryvku z humorného románu
‚The Commitments‘ předního irského autora Roddyho Doyla. Hlavním cílem práce je
navrhnout současné české ekvivalenty k převážně hovorovým výrazům typickým pro slang
severního Dublinu a zachovat Doylův autentický a nápaditý dialog. Práce zahrnuje dvě části.
Praktická obsahuje samotný překlad. Teoretická analyzuje styl původního textu a také autorčino
využití základních překladatelských principů při překonávání překladatelských těžkostí.
Key Words
The Commitments, Roddy Doyle, translation, translation analysis, equivalence
Klíčová slova
The Commitments, Roddy Doyle, překlad, analýza překladu, ekvivalence
Contents
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1. INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................6
1.1. Thrill of Translation...........................................................................................6
1.2. Motives and Intentions.......................................................................................6
1.3. Outline of the Thesis..........................................................................................7
2. RODDY DOYLE..............................................................................................................8
3. THE COMMITMENTS..................................................................................................10
4. PRACTICAL PART.......................................................................................................11
5. THEORETICAL PART..................................................................................................51
5.1. Process of Translation......................................................................................51
5.1.1. Understanding...................................................................................51
5.1.2 Interpretation......................................................................................52
5.1.2.1. Language............................................................................52
5.1.2.2. Personal and Geographical Names....................................53
5.1.2.3. Music Matters....................................................................54
5.1.2.4. Polysemous Words............................................................55
5.1.2.5. Title....................................................................................56
5.1.3. Rewriting...........................................................................................58
5.2. Equivalence in Practice....................................................................................59
5.2.1. Stylistic Differences..........................................................................60
5.2.1.1. Reporting Verbs.................................................................60
5.2.1.2 Emotive Expressions..........................................................62
5.2.1.3. Collocations.......................................................................62
5.2.1.4. Cohesion............................................................................64
5.2.2. Pragmatic Differences......................................................................65
5.2.3. Grammatical Differences..................................................................69
5.2.4. Compensation...................................................................................72
6. CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................75
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY...........................................................................................................76
8. INTERNET SOURCES..................................................................................................77
1.
INTRODUCTION
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Thrill of Translation
This bachelor thesis deals with the translation and subsequent analysis of an extract from the
short novel The Commitments. The reason why I have chosen practical translation and analysis
as a topic of my work were the translation seminars which I was attending and thoroughly
enjoying. There I discovered that translation is like a rollercoaster ride, so thrilling and
sensational. It brings not only boundless joy, excitement and satisfaction, but also frustration,
gloom and despair.
Undoubtedly, translators experience the first when their own text and the original merge into
one, when they are like soul mates operating on the same wavelength. However, translators
sometimes get stuck in an often apparently uncomplicated expression or phrase. Then the latter
comes. Overcoming the problem certainly takes some time. Once you solve it, you are raring to
get into a car, fasten your seatbelt and take another breathtaking round.
Motives and Intentions
The book I have chosen for the translation is one by a contemporary Irish author Roddy Doyle
which has not been translated into the Czech language so far. I came across this book in the
early 1990s after having seen a feature film by Alan Parker that was based on it. I was
overwhelmed with its life and energy. Truly, it filled me with a desire to be one of the heroes
and the next logical step was to reach for the book since I was eager to learn more about each
character. Finding out it was not on the market at bookshops at that time, my disappointment
was vast. Luckily, I obtained an English version of the book and it has been one of my
favourites since.
Reading it for the first time, I struggled with a transcription of Irish slang. To be frank, it took
me a long time to wade through. Neverthless I have returned many times and finally appreciated
the humour, style, mood and even rhythm of the speech which the book offers.
The novel seems to be extremely challenging for translators all over the world because at least
half of the book is “the eccentrically rendered dialogue, full of constant profanity and raucous,
repetitive slang of North Dublin speech, and therefore it contains many delightful Irish turns of
English phrases.” (Peach 131).
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In my own translation, I try to do my best to preserve all the features (including the graphic
arrangement of the novel) which make the book so specific and easily recognisable. An idea has
struck my mind that the expressions significant for North Dublin slang could be translated by
Brno slang phrases while transferring all the colloquial speech into Czech could be done by the
means of using word endings of the variety about which a linguist Naughton (2005 2) writes:
People may refer to this variety as hovorová čeština ‘colloquial Czech’; the term has
sometimes been used for a slightly relaxed version of the standard language, avoiding more
literary or ‘bookish’ features, but still more or less standard in phonetics and grammar.
Outline of the Thesis
The following pages of the thesis will be devoted to Roddy Doyle, the author of the book, as
well as to the novel itself. Then the practical part will follow, the content of which is my own
solution to the translation. Finally, in the theoretical part I will fix my attention to the theoretical
principles of translation and their application in the previous part. There will be a section based
predominantly on Levý’s publication Umění překladu where I will try to indicate how the
process of translation itself developed from the very basics to the final version taking into
account the majority of Levý’s recommendations he sets down. Another part dedicated to the
examination of equivalence will be relied on Knittlová’s work K teorii i praxi překladu.
Basically, its aim is to provide examples whereby it is possible to demonstrate that the theory
applies to the translation.
2. RODDY DOYLE
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Martin Wallace (1999: 109) in his collection of brief
biographies of the great men and women of Ireland writes
that Roddy Doyle, who was born on 8 May 1958, worked
as an English and Geography teacher at Greendale
Community School in Northside Dublin, in an area known
as Kilbarrack which later became the Barrytown of his
novels.
Roddy Doyle’s literary debut The Commitment, the first
Fig. 1 Roddy Doyle
novel of The Barrytown Trilogy published in 1987,
chronicles the rise and fall of an Irish Soul band founded by
Jimmy Rabbitte. The story of the Rabbitte family continues in two following novels The
Snapper (1990) and The Van (1991). The first one deals with the unexpected pregnancy of
Jimmy Rabbitte’s young unmarried sister Sharon. Sharon refuses to name the father and
becomes the talk of the town. This is not much of surprise in Ireland “which had not wholly
shed its Catholic Puritanism.” (Wallace 109). Having lost his job, The Van’s hero, Jimmy
Rabbitte Senior, sets up in business as a take-away food seller. This character is often indicated
as “one of the most memorable figures in modern Irish fiction.” (Wallace 109).
Although The Van was nominated for the Booker Prize, the book which actually won this
prestigious prize in 1993 was Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. The novel is situated in the Barrytown
of the late sixties and it studies how the breakdown of marriage influences a ten-year-old child.
It certainly concerns darker matters than the previous works and this tendency develops in
further writings such The Woman Who Walked into the Doors (1996), A Star Called Henry
(1999), Oh, Play That Thing! (2004), Paula Spencer (2006), Chicago Blues (2006) and The
Deportees and Other Stories (2008).
Apart from writing for adult readers, Doyle is also a successful author of several children’s
books, one of which, The Wilderness, Jill Murphy (2008) highly recommends saying that, “A
gorgeous family drama split between an ice safari in Finland and a mother-daughter reunion in
Dublin. Doyle's perfect ear for dialogue and unerring ability to tap into emotional dynamics lift
this book far above most of the competition.”
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Except modifying his novels to screenplays, Doyle has produced two dramas so far. “His plays
Brownbread (1987) and War (1989) were successes for the Dublin-based theatre company
Passion Machine.” (Wallace 109).
Undoubtedly, Roddy Doyle is a popular author. Although he is sometimes criticized for “his
‘unflattering’ depiction of modern Ireland” (McCarthy 2003), he belongs, as Caramine White
(2001 1) states, “to the brightest stars on the Irish literary scene today for his innovative use of
language; his manipulation of his audience's reaction via comedy and humour; the role,
however slight, of religion and politics; and his overall social vision.”
Curious and disappointing it is that Roddy Doyle’s works, internationally famous though, have
been almost ignored by Czech publihers, with three exceptions: Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, Yeats
is Dead! (a novel written by fifteen leading Irish authors together), and Speaking of the Angel (a
collection of short stories by various authors compiled by Nick Hornby).
3. THE COMMITMENTS
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The book takes place in a fictitious part of Dublin, called
Barrytown, in the 1980s Ireland, a country which Emma Brocks
(2006: 6) describes as “violent, impoverished, and flattened by the
church.” It suffers from political instability, corruption as well as
economic problems causing high unemployment and mass
emigration. Most Barrytown inhabitants cannot face their grim
fate and seek their comfort in heavy drinking or sometimes
perpetrate a crime to cater their needs.
However, Jimmy Rabbitte, the main character, knows a better way
Fig. 2 The cover of the first edition
to escape from everyday misery. “Obsessed with James Brown,
Percy Sledge and other rhythm-and-blues greats from across the ocean, he organizes the
‘world's hardest working band,’ made up of fellow Dubliners, and sets out to teach the town a
lesson about soul.” (Publishers Weekly 1989). “The band slowly becomes more and more
musically competent and draws bigger and more enthusiastic audiences. But after a concert the
band falls apart when a fight ensues – all while Jimmy is negotiating to record the band's first
single with an independent label.” (McCarthy 53).
At first sight, the novel, which “depends heavily on the foulmouthed conversation of its
working class Dubliners” (Wallace 109), seems to be nothing more than a great comedy but
after a detailed inspection, you can reveal other layers, such as the characters’ hope for better
tomorrows, their search for identity or desire to excel.
Not only the book but also the film and its soundtrack were all massively popular in the 1990s.
Of course, there are some differences between the book and film, “the most obvious being that
the novel was composed mostly of dialogue, with hardly any physical description; the movie
concentrated much more on the collapse of Dublin's inner city.” (White 61). Roddy Doyle
mocks the success of the Commitments stating that, “It's a big con job. We have sold the myth
of Dublin as a sexy place incredibly well; because it is a dreary little dump most of the time.”
(Brocks 6).
4. PRACTICAL PART
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THE COMMITMENTS
THE COMMITMENTS - kapela, co mohla
– We’ll ask Jimmy, said Outspan. –
změnit svět
– Zeptáme se Jimmyho, řekl Outspan. –
Jimmy’ll know.
Jimmy Rabbitte knew his music. He knew
Jimmy se vyzná.
Jimmy Rabbitte se v muzice vyznal. Vyznal
his stuff alright. You’d never see Jimmy
se v ní dost dobře. Nikdy byste ho nezahlídli,
coming home from town without a new
jak jde domů z města bez novýho elpíčka
album or a 12-inch or at least a 7-inch
nebo aspoň singlu. Každej tejden zhltnul
single. Jimmy ate Melody Maker and the
hudební časáky Melody Maker a New
NME every week and Hot Press every two
Musical Express a každej druhej Hot Press.
weeks. He listened to Dave Fanning and
Poslouchal v rádiu Davea Fanninga a Johna
John Peel. He even read his sisters’ Jackie
Peela. Dokonce, když se nikdo nedíval,
when there was no one looking. So Jimmy
přelouskl Bravo pro dívky, který četly ségry.
knew his stuff.
The last time Outspan had flicked through
Takže Jimmy se fakticky vyznal.
Když se Outspan naposledy probíral
Jimmy’s records he’d seen names like
Jimmyho sbírkou desek, natrefil na jména
Microdisney, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Otis
jako Microdisney, Eddie and the Hot Rods,
Redding, The Screaming Blue Messiahs,
Otis Redding, Screaming Blue Messiahs,
Scraping Foetus off the Wheel (– Foetus,
Scraping Foetus off the Wheel (– Foetus,
said Outspan. – That’s the little young fella
zamyslel se Outspan. – To je ten mrňous
inside the woman, isn’t it?
– Yeah, said Jimmy.
uvnitř ženskýho břicha, že? Je to z latiny, ne?
– Jasně, přikývl Jimmy.
– Aah, that’s fuckin’ horrible, tha’ is.);
– Fuj, to je fakt děsný jméno.); byly to
groups Outspan had never heard of, never
kapely, o kterých Outspan v životě neslyšel,
mind heard. Jimmy even had albums by
natož aby je slyšel hrát. Jimmy měl dokonce
Frank Sinatra and The Monkees.
So when Outspan and Derek decided,
alba Franka Sinatry a Monkees.
Když byl Ray na pánech, Outspan
while Ray was out in the jacks, that their
s Derekem se shodli, že kapela potřebuje
group needed a new direction they both
novej směr. Oba dva přitom pomysleli na
thought of Jimmy. Jimmy knew what was
Jimmyho. Jimmy věděl, co a jak. Věděl, co je
what. Jimmy knew what was new, what was
nový. Věděl, co je nový, ale mít dlouhýho
new but wouldn’t be for long and what was
trvání, a taky, co nový bude. Jimmy měl singl
going to be new. Jimmy had Relax before
Buď v klidu dávno předtím, než kdokoliv
anyone had heard of Frankie Goes to
slyšel o Frankie Goes to Hollywood a začal je
Hollywood and he’d started slagging them
zatracovat dřív, než si lidi uvědomili, že stojej
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months before anyone realized that they
za starou belu. Jimmy se v muzice vyznal.
were no good. Jimmy knew his music.
Outspan, Derek and Ray’s group, And
Kapela AAA, jejíž členové byli Outspan,
And And, was three days old; Ray on the
Derek a Ray, byla tři dny stará; Ray hrál
Casio and his little sister’s glockenspiel,
na klávesy Casio a xylofon mladší ségry,
Outspan on his brother’s acoustic guitar,
Outspan na bráchovu akustickou kytaru a
Derek on nothing yet but the bass guitar as
Derek zatím na nic, ale basovku si pořídí
soon as he’d the money saved.
hned, jak našetří nějaký prašule.
– Will we tell Ray? Derek asked.
– Řeknem to Rayovi? zeptal se Derek.
– Abou’ Jimmy? Outspan asked back.
– Jako o Jimmym? odpověděl otázkou
– Yeah.
Outspan.
– Jo.
––––– Better not.
Outspan was trying to work his thumb in
–––––– Radši ne.
Outspan se snažil palcem odstranit nálepku
under a sticker, This Guitar Kills Fascists,
s nápisem ,Tato kytara zabíjí fašisty‘, kterou
his brother, an awful hippy, had put on it.
mu na ni nalepil brácha, ten otravnej hipík.
– There’s the flush, he said. – He’s comin’
back. We’ll see Jimmy later.
They were in Derek’s bedroom.
– Slyším, jak splachuje, řekl. – Už se vrací.
Sejdem se s Jimmym pozdějc.
Byli v Derekově pokoji.
Ray came back in.
Ray se vrátil.
– I was thinkin’ there, he said. – I think
– Trochu sem tam přemýšlel, řekl. –
maybe we should have an exclamation
Myslím, že bysme možná měli dát do jména
mark, yeh know, after the second And in the
vykřičník za druhý A.
name.
– Wha?
– Co?
– It’d be And And exclamation mark,
righ’, And. It’d look deadly on posters.
Outspan said nothing while he imagined it.
– What’s an exclamation mark? said
– Bylo by to AA vykřičník A, jasný?
Plakáty by vypadaly brutálně.
Outspan si je v duchu mlčky představil.
– Co je to vykřičník? nechápal Derek.
Derek.
– Yeh know, said Ray.
– Ale to víš, přesvědčoval ho Ray.
He drew a big one in the air.
– Oh, yeah, said Derek. – An’ where d’yeh
want to put it again?
A namaloval velikánskej vykřičník
do vzduchu.
– Aha, pochopil Derek. – A kamže
ho chceš dát?
– And And,
– A A,
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He drew a big one in the air.
Znovu namaloval vykřičník do vzduchu.
– And.
– A.
– Is it not supposed to go at the end?
– Neměl by ho spíš strčit na konec?
– It should go up his arse, said Outspan,
– Ať si ho strčí třeba do prdele, zabručel
picking away at the sticker.
* * *
Jimmy was already there when Outspan
Outspan a dál odlupoval nálepku.
* * *
Jimmy už čekal v hospodě, když tam
and Derek got to the Pub.
dorazili Outspan s Derekem.
– How’s it goin’, said Jimmy.
– Čau, pozdravil Jimmy.
– Howyeh, Jim, said Outspan.
– Zdarec, Jime, opáčil Outspan.
– Howayeh, said Derek.
– Čus, nezůstal pozadu Derek.
They got stools and formed a little
Postavili si stoličky u baru do půlkruhu.
semicircle at the bar.
– Been ridin’ anythin’ since I seen yis
last? Jimmy asked them.
– Tak co, vojeli jste někoho od posledně?
zeptal se jich Jimmy.
– No way, said Outspan. – We’ve been
– Ani náhodou, prohlásil Outspan. –
much too busy for tha’ sort o’ thing. Isn’t
Nemáme na takový voloviny vůbec čas, no
tha’ right?
– Yeah, that’s righ’, said Derek.
ne?
– Jo, to je fakt, souhlasil Derek.
– Puttin’ the finishin’ touches to your
– Pilovali ste album? provokoval je Jimmy.
album? said Jimmy.
– Puttin’ finishin’ touches to our name,
– Pilovali sme jméno kapely, zamumlal
Outspan.
said Outspan.
– A jak se teda menujete?
– Wha’ are yis now?
– And And exclamation mark, righ’? ––––
– A A vykřičník, je to tak, že? –––– A,
ujišťoval se Derek.
And, said Derek.
Jimmy grinned a sneer.
Jimmy se ušklíbl.
– Fuck, fuck, exclamation mark, me. I bet
I know who thought of tha’.
– Vyhul, vyhul, vykřičník, mě. Vsadím se,
že vím, kdo tohle vymyslel.
– There’ll be a little face on the dot, righ’,
Outspan explained.
– Na tečce bude obličejík, víš? vysvětloval
Outspan.
– An’ yeh know the line on the top of it?
That’s the dot’s fringe.
– A ta čárka nad tečkou bude jakoby ofina
toho ksichtu.
– Black an’ whi’e or colour?
– Bude to černobílý nebo v barvě?
– Don’t know.
– Nevíme.
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– It’s been done before, Jimmy was happy
– To už tady bylo. Jimmyho těšilo, že jim
to tell them. – Ska. Madness, The Specials.
může udělat přednášku. – Hudební žánr ska.
Little black an’ whi’e men. ––––
Kapely Madness, Specials. Chlápci v
I told yis, he hasn’t a clue.
černobílým. ––––– Říkám vám, že neví, co
–––––– Yeah, said Outspan.
žvaní.
––––––– Asi ne, přitakal Outspan.
– He owns the synth though, said Derek.
– Ale má přece synťáky, namítl Derek.
– Does he call tha’ fuckin’ yoke a synth?
– Říká tomu bazmeku synťáky? zamrkal
said Jimmy.
překvapeně Jimmy.
– Annyway, no one uses them anymore.
It’s back to basics.
– Dneska už je stejně nikdo nepoužívá.
Návrat ke kořenům, ten je teď in.
– Just as well, said Outspan. – Cos we’ve
fuck all else.
– Ještě že tak, oddechl si Outspan. – Protože
my kurva nic jinýho nemáme.
– Wha’ tracks are yis doin’? Jimmy asked.
– Jaký songy dáváte? ptal se Jimmy.
– Tha’ one, Masters and Servants.
– No tamto, Masters and Servants.
– Depeche Mode?
– Depeche Mode?
– Yeah.
Outspan was embarrased. He didn’t know
– No jo.
Outspan se cítil trapně. Nevěděl proč. Ta
why. He didn’t mind the song. But Jimmy
písnička mu nevadila, ale Jimmy se na něho
has a face on him.
jen nevěřícně podíval.
– It’s good, tha’, said Derek. – The words
are good, yeh know –––– good.
– Vždyť je dobrá, prohlásil Derek. – Slova
jsou schopný, no prostě –––– schopný.
– It’s just fuckin’ art school stuff, said
– Je to jen matroš z umělecký školy, řekl
Jimmy.
That was the killer argument, Outspan
Jimmy.
Tak přes tenhle argument nejel vlak.
knew, although he didn’t know what it
Outspan to věděl, i když netušil, co znamená.
meant.
- 14 -
Derek did.
Ale Derek byl v obraze.
– Hang on, Jimmy, he said. – That’s not
– Moment, Jimmy, spustil. – Tohle není fér.
fair now. The Beatles went to art school.
Na uměleckou školu chodili i Beatlesáci.
– That’s different.
– To je něco jinýho.
– Me hole it is, said Derek. – An’ Roxy
– No jasně! A já sem tvoje babička,
Music went to art school an’ you have all
rozhořčil se Derek. – A taky Roxy Music
their albums, so yeh can fuck off with
chodili na uměleckou a ty máš všechny jejich
yourself.
Jimmy was fighting back a redner.
desky, takže se můžeš jít vycpat.
Jimmy se úporně snažil, aby nezrudl
– I didn’t mean it like tha’, he said. – It’s
ponížením.
– Takhle jsem to nemyslel, vytáčel se. – To,
not the fact tha’ they went to fuckin’ art
že chodili do posraný umělecký školy, není
school that’ wrong with them. It’s – (Jimmy
blbý. Spíš – (Jimmy horkotěžko hledal
was struggling.) – more to do with – (Now
správný slova.) – spíš to má co dělat – (Teď
he had something.) –––– the way their stuff,
už něco měl.) –––– s tím, že jejich věci, jejich
their songs like, are aimed at gits like
songy, sou zaměřený na stejný kretény, jako
themselves. Wankers with funny haircuts.
sou voni sami. Vypatlaní vocasi, co maj
An’ rich das. –––– An’ fuck all else to do all
směšný vlasy. A bohatý tatíky. –––– A celý
day ‘cept prickin’ around with synths.
dny nic jinýho na práci kromě poflakování se
– Tha’ sounds like me arse, said Outspan.
– But I’m sure you’re righ'.
u synťáků.
– To by se jeden poblil, řekl Outspan. – Ale
určitě máš recht.
– Wha’ else d’yis do?
– Co ještě dáváte?
– Nothin’ yet really, said Derek. – Ray
– Už nic, fakt, řekl Derek. – Ray chce dělat
wants to do tha’ one, Louise. It’s easy.
tamtu, Louisu. Není těžká.
– Human League?
– Od Human League?
– Yeah.
– Jo.
Jimmy pushed his eyebrows up and
Jimmy obrátil oči v sloup a hvízdnul.
whistled.
They agreed with him.
Tak v tomhle byli zajedno.
Jimmy spoke. – Why exactly –––– d’yis
want to be in a group?
Jimmy si vzal slovo. – Proč vlastně chcete
hrát v kapele?
– Wha’ d’yeh mean? Outspan asked.
He approved of Jimmy’s question though.
It was getting to what was bothering him,
– Proč se ptáš? zeptal se Outspan, i když tu
otázku schvaloval. Mířila na to, co ho
znepokojovalo a Dereka pravděpodobně taky.
- 15 -
and probably Derek too.
– Why are yis doin’ it, buyin’ the gear,
– Tak proč to děláte? Proč kupujete
rehearsin’? Why did yis form the group?
vybavení? Proč zkoušíte? Proč zakládáte
– Well ––––
kapelu?
– No –––––
– Money?
– Chechtáky?
– No, said Outspan. – I mean, it’d be nice.
– Ne, řekl Outspan. – Teda nebyly by
But I’m not in it for the money.
marný, ale nedělám to pro prachy.
– I amn’t either, said Derek.
– Já taky ne, přidal se Derek.
– The chicks?
– Buchty?
– Jaysis, Jimmy!
– Ježiši, Jimmy!
– The brassers, yeh know wha’ I mean.
– Štětule přece, však víte, co myslím.
The gee. Is tha’ why?
Kundičky. Tak proto?
–––– No, said Derek.
––––– Ne, odporoval Derek.
– The odd ride now an’ again would be
– I když by bylo super si sem tam zašukat,
alrigh’ though wouldn’t it? said Outspan.
ne? poznamenal Outspan.
– Ah yeah, said Derek. – But wha’
– Jo, to jo, přitakal Derek. – Ale Jimmy se
Jimmy’s askin’ is is tha’ the reason we got
ptá, jestli tohle je důvod, proč sme dali kapelu
the group together. To get our hole.
– No way, said Outspan.
dohromady. Zasunout do díry.
– Ani náhodou, řekl Outspan.
– Yis want to be different, isn’t tha’ it? Yis
want to do somethin’ with yourselves, isn’t
– Chcete se lišit, je to tak? Chcete se sebou
něco udělat, že jo?
tha’ it?
– Sort of, said Outspan.
– Tak něco, souhlasil Outspan.
– Yis don’t want to end up like (he nodded
– Nechcete skončit jako (pohodil hlavou
his head back) – these tossers here. Amn’t I
dozadu) – tamti vykradení ubožáci. Nemám
righ’?
pravdu?
Jimmy was getting passionate now. The
lads enjoying watching him.
– Yis want to get up there an’ shout I’m
Outspan fuckin’ Foster.
He looked at Derek.
Jimmy se pěkně rozparádil. Kluci ho se
zájmem pozorovali.
– Chceš přece vstát a zařvat: Já sem Outspan
Foster, do prdele.
Koukl na Dereka.
– An’ I’m Derek fuckin’ Scully, an’ I’m
– A já sem, do prdele, Derek Scully a
not a tosser. Isn’t that righ’? That’s why
nejsem žádnej ubožák. Je to tak? Tak proto to
yis’re doin’ it. Amn’t I righ’?
děláte? Mám recht?
- 16 -
– I s’pose yeh are, said Outspan.
– Jo, asi máš, řekl Outspan.
– Fuckin’ sure I am.
– To si kurva piš.
– With the odd ride thrown in, said Derek.
– Jo a taky kvůli příležitostný šoustačce,
They laughed.
připomněl Derek.
Rozesmáli se.
Then Jimmy was back on his track again.
A Jimmy byl zase na koni.
– So if yis want to be different what’re yis
– Takže když chcete vyniknout, nemůžete
doin’ doin’ bad versions of other people’s
hrát špatný verze stupidních songů od jinejch
poxy songs?
lidí.
That was it. He was right, bang on the nail.
To bylo ono. Měl pravdu, trefil hřebík
They were very impressed. So was Jimmy.
– Wha’ should we be doin’ then? Outspan
na hlavičku. Jimmy je ohromil. A sebe taky.
– A co bysme teda měli hrát? zeptal se
asked.
– It’s not the other people’s songs so
Outspan.
– Ani tak nevadí, že hrajete songy jinejch,
much, said Jimmy. – It’s which ones yis do.
zamyslel se Jimmy. – Záleží na tom, který
– What’s tha’ mean?
hrajete.
– Jak to myslíš?
– Yeh don’t choose the songs cos they’re
– Nevybíráte si songy, protože jsou lehký a
easy. Because fuckin’ Ray can play them
protože je ten ichtyl Ray zahraje dvěma
with two fingers.
– Wha’ then? Derek asked?
prstama.
– A jaký teda? chtěl vědět Derek.
Jimmy ignored him.
Jimmy ho ignoroval.
– All tha’ mushy shite abou’ love an’
– Dneska už neletí všechny ty přeslazený
fields an’ meetin’ mots in supermarkets an’
hovadiny o lásce a o tom, jak se se svou
McDonald’s is gone, ou’ the fuckin’
kočkou scházíš v obchoďáku nebo mekáču.
window. It’s dishonest, said Jimmy. – It’s
To je dávná historie. A taky samej podraz,
bourgeois.
– Fuckin’ hell!
kázal Jimmy. – Je to buržoazní.
– No, to mě poser!
– Tha’ shite’s ou’. Thank Jaysis.
– Tyhle sračky jsou pryč. Díky bohu.
– What’s in then? Outspan asked him.
– A co teda letí? zeptal se ho Outspan.
– I’ll tell yeh, said Jimmy. – Sex an’
– To vám hned prozradím, řekl Jimmy. –
politics.
Sex a politika.
– WHA’?
– CO?
– Real sex. Not mushy I’ll hold your hand
– Skutečnej sex. Ne sentimentální kraviny
till the end o’ time stuff. –––– Ridin’.
typu ,budu tě držet za ruku do skonání světa‘.
Fuckin’. D’yeh know wha’ I mean?
––––– Šoustání. Šukání. Snad víte, o čem
- 17 -
– I think so.
mluvím, ne?
– Asi jo.
– Yeh couldn’t say Fuckin’ in a song, said
Derek.
– Nemůžeš mít v písničce slovo šukat,
ohradil se Derek. – A ani kurva nemůžeš říct.
– Where does the fuckin’ politics come
into it? Outspan asked.
– A jak tam dostaneme tu podělanou
politiku? byl zvědavý Outspan.
– Yeh’d never get away with it.
– To ti nikdy neprojde.
– Real politics, said Jimmy.
– Opravdickou politiku, trval na svém
– Not in Ireland annyway, said Derek. –
Jimmy.
– V Irsku nikdy, prohlásil Derek. – Možná v
Maybe England. But they’d never let us on
Anglii. Ale do Top of the Pops nás stejně
Top o’ the Pops.
nikdy nepozvou.
– Who the fuck wants to be on Top o’ the
Pops? said Jimmy.
– Kurva, kdo by chtěl vystupovat v Top
of the Pops? vybuchl Jimmy.
Jimmy always got genuinely angry
Jimmy se pokaždý vážně rozčílil, když
whenever Top of the Pops was mentioned
někdo zmínil hitparádu Top of the Pops.
although he never missed it.
Nikdy se však nezapomněl dívat.
– I never heard anyone say it on The Tube
either, said Derek.
– I did, said Outspan. – Your man from
– Ani jsem neslyšel, že by to někdo řekl
v Tube, poznamenal Derek. A to je větší
vodvaz.
– To já jo, řekl Outspan. – Jeden chlap,
what’s their name said it tha’ time the mike
z těch, jak se jenom menujou, to řek, když ho
hit him on the head.
mikrák trefil do palice.
Derek seemed happier.
Derek vypadal šťastnějc.
Jimmy continued. He went back to sex.
Jimmy vysvětloval dál. Znovu mluvil
o sexu.
- 18 -
– Believe me, he said. – Holdin’ hands is
– Věřte mně, řekl. – Držení za ruce je
ou’. Lookin’ at the moon, tha’ sort o’ shite.
v tahu. Čumění na měsíc a jiný srance.
It’s the real thing now.
Realita, ta teď frčí.
He looked at Derek.
Podíval se na Dereka.
– Even in Ireland. –––––– Look, Frankie
– Dokonce i v Irsku. –––––– Hele, Frankie
Goes To me arse were shite, righ’?
Goes to Hulivůd stáli za hovno, že jo?
They nodded.
Přikývli.
– But Jaysis, at the least they called a blow
– Ale ježiši, aspoň nazvali kuřbu kuřbou a
job a blow job an’ look at all the units they
koukejte, co vydali vinylů.
shifted?
– The wha’?
– Čeho?
– Records.
– Desek.
They drank.
Napili se.
Then Jimmy spoke. – Rock an’ roll is all
Pak Jimmy zase spustil. – Celej rokenrol je
abou’ ridin’. That’s wha’ rock an’ roll
o šukání. Tohle rokenrol znamená. Věděli ste
means. Did yis know tha’? (They didn’t.) –
to? (Nevěděli.) – No, tak tomu kdysi říkali
Yeah, that’s wha’ the blackies in America
černoši v Americe. Takže teď je ta pravá
used to call it. So the time has come to put
chvíle na návrat šoustačky do rokenrolu.
the ridin’ back into rock an’ roll. Tongues,
Jazyky, dírky, frndy, samotná klepačka.
gooters, boxes, the works. The market’s
Výběr je širokej.
huge.
– Wha’ abou’ this politics?
– A co ta politika?
– Yeah, politics. –––– Not songs abou’
– No jo, politika. –––– Žádný songy
Fianna fuckin’ Fail or annythin’ like tha’.
o zkurvený republikánský armádě nebo něco
Real politics. (They weren’t with him.) –
takovýho. Skutečná politika. (Nechytali se.) –
Where are yis from? (He answered the
Odkud ste? (Odpověděl si sám.) –
question himself.) – Dublin. (He asked
Z Dublinu. (Ptal se dál.) Z který části
another one.) – Wha’ part o’ Dublin?
Dublinu? Z Barrytownu. Do který třídy
Barrytown. Wha’ class are yis? Workin’
patříte? Dělnický. Ste na to pyšný? Jasně, že
class. Are yis proud of it? Yeah, yis are.
ste. (Pak následovala praktická otázka.) – Kdo
(Then a practical question.) – Who buys the
kupuje nejvíc desek? Dělnická třída. Chápete?
most records? The workin’ class. Are yis
(Ne tak docela.) – Vaše hudba by měla bejt o
with me? (Not really.) – Your music should
tom, odkud pocházíte a jací ste. –––––– Tak
be abou’ where you’re from an’ the sort o’
jen to řekni, zařvi z plnejch plic,
- 19 -
people yeh come from. –––––– Say it once,
sem černej a hrdej na svůj lid.
say it loud, I’m black an’ I’m proud.
They looked at him.
Nechápavě se na něho podívali.
– James Brown. Did yis know ––––––
– James Brown. Znáte –––––– nevadí. On
never mind. He sang tha’. –––––– An’ he
to zpíval. –––––––A byla to fakt bomba.
made a fuckin’ bomb.
They were stunned by what came next.
To, co přišlo pak, je dorazilo.
– The Irish are the niggers of Europe, lads.
They nearly gasped: it was so true.
– Iři sou negři Evropy, pánové.
Skoro vyjekli překvapením: to byla velká
– An’ Dubliners are the niggers of Ireland.
pravda.
– A Dubliňáci sou negři Irska. Lonťáci maj
The culchies have fuckin’ everythin’. An’
kurva všechno. A ti ze severního Dublinu sou
the northside Dubliners are the niggers o’
negři Dublinu. –––––– Zařvi z plnejch plic,
Dublin. –––––– Say it loud, I’m black an’
sem černej a hrdej na svůj lid.
I’m proud.
He grinned. He’d impressed himself again.
He’d won them. They couldn’t say
Vítězoslavně se usmál. Zase ohromil sám
sebe.
anything.
Měl je v hrsti. Na to se nedalo nic říct.
– Yis don’t want to be called And And
exclamation mark And, do yis? Jimmy
– Už se nechcete menovat AA vykřičník A,
co? otestoval je Jimmy.
asked.
– No way, said Outspan.
– Ani náhodou, pospíšil si Outspan.
– Will yeh manage us, Jimmy? said Derek.
– Yeah, said Jimmy. – I will.
– Budeš náš manažer, Jimmy? poprosil
Derek.
They all smiled.
– Jo, odpověděl Jimmy. Jo, budu.
– Am I in charge? Jimmy asked them.
Všichni se zakřenili.
– Yeah.
– Takže sem šéf? zeptal se jich Jimmy.
– Righ’ then, said Jimmy. – Ray isn’t in
– Jasně.
the group annymore.
This was a shock.
– Tak fajn, prohlásil Jimmy. – Ray už není v
kapele.
To byl šok.
– Why not?
– Proč ne?
– Well, first we don’t need a synth. An’
– Zaprvý nepotřebujem synťáky. A zadruhý
second, I don’t like the cunt.
nemám toho kripla rád.
They laughed.
Zachechtali se.
- 20 -
– I never have liked him. I fuckin’ hate
him to be honest with yis.
– Nikdy sem ho neměl rád. Abych byl
upřímnej, fakt ho nesnáším.
–––––– I don’t like him much meself, said
Outspan.
–––––– Já ho taky moc nemusím, připojil se
Outspan.
– He’s gone so?
– Takže má padáka?
He was gone.
– Wha’ sort o’stuff will we be doin’?
Měl padáka.
– A jakou muziku budem teda dělat? zeptal
Derek asked.
se Derek.
– Wha’ sort o’music has sex an’ politics?
Jimmy asked.
– Která muzika má v sobě sex i politiku?
zkoušel je Jimmy.
– Reggae, said Derek.
– Reggae, odpověděl Derek.
– No, not tha’.
– Ne, to dělat nebudem.
– It does.
– Ale má to v sobě.
– Yeah, but we won’t be doin’ it. We’ll
– No tak má, ale dělat ho nebudem.
leave the reggae to the skinheads an’ the
Necháme reggae skinheadům a huličům.
spacers.
– Wha’ then?
– A co teda?
– Soul.
– Soul.
– Soul?
– Soul?
– Soul?
– Soul?
– Soul. Dublin soul.
– Soul. Dublinskej soul.
Outspan laughed. Dublin soul sounded
Oustpan se zasmál. Dublinskej soul, to bylo
great.
– Another thing, said Jimmy. – Yis aren’t
něco.
– A další věc, řekl Jimmy. – Už se
And And And annymore.
nemenujete AAA.
This was a relief.
To byla úleva.
– What are we Jimmy?
– A jaký máme jméno, Jimmy?
– The Commitments.
– The Commitments.
Outspan laughed again.
Outspan se znovu zasmál.
– That’s a rapid name, said Derek.
– To je senzační jméno, nadchl se Derek.
– Good, old-fashioned THE, said Jimmy.
– Starý, dobrý THE, podotkl Jimmy.
– Dublin soul, said Outspan.
– Dublinskej soul, řekl Outspan.
He laughed again.
Zase se zasmál.
– Fuckin’ deadly.
* * *
– K posrání skvělý.
* * *
- 21 -
The day after formation of The
Den potom, co se dali The Commitments
Commitments Jimmy sent an ad into the Hot
dohromady, Jimmy poslal do časopisu Hot
Press classifieds:
Press inzerát:
– Have you got soul? If yes, The World’s
– Máte soul v duši? Jestliže ano, pak
Hardest Working Band is looking for you.
nejpracovitější kapela světa hledá právě vás.
Contact J. Rabbitte, 118, Chestnut Ave.,
Kontaktujte J. Rabbitta, Kaštanová tř. 118,
Dublin 21. Rednecks and southsiders need
Dublin 21. Venkovští burani a snobi z jižního
not apply.
* * *
There was a young guy who worked in the
Dublinu nejsou vítáni.
* * *
Ve stejným obchodě jako Jimmy makal jeden
same shop as Jimmy. Declan Cuffe was his
kluk. Jmenoval se Declan Cuffe. Vypadal
name. He seemed like a right prick, although
na pěknýho vola, ale Jimmy ho zas tak dobře
Jimmy didn’t know him that well. Jimmy
neznal. Slyšel ho zpívat vloni na vánočním
had heard him singing at the last year’s
večírku. I když zrovna venku zvracel, přesto
Christmas Do. Jimmy had just been out
si Declanův hlas pamatoval. Pěkně hlubokej
puking but still remembered it, Declan
chraplák, kterej cestou ven drásal hrdlo i
Cuffe’s voice, a real deep growl that scraped
jazyk. Jimmy by dal kdovíco za to, aby měl
against the throat and tongue on its way out.
takovej hlas.
Jimmy would have loved a voice like it.
Jimmy was going to see if he could recruit
Rozhodl se, že se pokusí Declana
Declan Cuffe. He took his tray and went
naverbovat. Vzal si podnos s jídlem a šel
over to where he was sitting.
k místu, kde seděl.
– Sorry, eh –––– Declan, said Jimmy. – Is
there annyone sittin’here?
– Soráč –––– Declane, začal Jimmy. – Sedí
tady někdo?
Declan Cuffe leaned over the table and
studied the chair.
Declan se nahnul přes stůl a prostudoval
židli.
Then he said: – It doesn’t look like it.
Potom prohlásil: – Vypadá to, že ne.
Normally Jimmy would have upended the
Za normálních okolností by mu Jimmy tu
slop on the tray over him (or at least would
šlichtu z podnosu vyklopil na hlavu (nebo by
have wanted to) but this was business.
ho to určitě lákalo), ale tohle byl byznys.
He sat down.
Posadil se.
– What’s the soup like? he asked.
– Jaká je polívka? zeptal se.
– Cuntish.
– Na zblití.
– As usual, wha’.
– Jako vždycky, co?
- 22 -
There wasn’t an answer. Jimmy tried a
different angle.
Nedočkal se odpovědi, tak to Jimmy zkusil
jinak.
– What’s the curry like?
– Jaký je kari?
– Cuntish.
Jimmy changed tactics.
– Na zblití.
Jimmy změnil taktiku.
– I’d say yeh did Honours English in
– Tys, myslím, chodil do studijní třídy se
school, did yeh?
zaměřením na anglinu, co?
Declan Cuffe stared across at Jimmy while
he sent his cigarette to the side of his mouth.
Declan Cuffe na Jimmyho upřeně zíral a
přitom si vsunul cigaretu do koutku úst.
– You startin’ somethin’? he said.
– Chceš se porvat? zavrčel.
The woman from the Information Desk at
Ženská z informací, co seděla u stolu
the table beside them started talking louder.
vedle, začala mluvit hlasitějc.
– Ah, cop on, said Jimmy. – I was only
messin’.
– Ále buď v klidu, konejšil ho Jimmy. – Jen
sem tě pokoušel.
He shoved the bowl away and slid the
Odstrčil misku a přisunul si talíř blíž k sobě.
plate nearer to him.
– You were righ’ abou’ the soup.
– S tou polívkou měls pravdu.
He searched the chicken curry.
Prozkoumával kuřecí kari.
– Tell us an’annyway. Are yeh in a group
– Řekni. Nejseš teď náhodou v nějaký
these days?
kapele?
– Am I wha’?
– Jestli nejsem kde?
– In a group.
– V kapele.
– Doin’ what?
– A co bych tam jako dělal?
– Singin’.
– Zpíval přece.
– Me! Singin’? Fuck off, will yeh.
– Já a zpíval, jo? Běž někam!
– I heard yeh singin’, said Jimmy. – You
– Slyšel sem tě zpívat, řekl mu Jimmy. –
were fuckin’ great.
Byls fakt boží.
– When did you hear me singin’?
– Kdys mě slyšel zpívat?
– Christmas.
– O vánocích.
– Did I sing? At the dinner dance?
– Zpíval jsem? Na tom večírku?
– Yeah.
– Jasně.
– Fuck, said Declan Cuffe. – No one told
– Do hajzlu, zaklel. – Nikdo mně to neřek.
me.
– You were deadly.
– Byls bombastickej.
- 23 -
– I was fuckin’ locked, said Declan Cuffe.
– Rum an’ blacks, yeh know.
– Byl sem navátej jak pytel, řekl Declan
Cuffe. – Víš, chlastal sem guinness s rumem.
Jimmy nodded. – I was locked meself.
– I must have had abou’ twenty o’ them.
Jimmy chápavě přikývl. – Sám sem byl
nadranej.
– Musel sem jich vyzunknout aspoň dvacet.
Your woman, Frances, from the Toys, yeh
Jedna baba z oddělení hraček, Frances, znáš
know her? She was all over me. –––– Dirty
ji? Jela po mně jak slepice po flusu. ––––
bitch. She’s fuckin’ married. –––––– I sang
Blbá kráva. Vždyť je kurva vdaná. ––––––
then?
Takže sem zpíval, jo?
– Yeah. It was great.
– Jo a bylo to super.
– I was fuckin’ locked.
– Byl sem našrot.
– D’yeh want to be in a group?
– Chtěl bys do kapely?
– Singin’?
– Jako zpívat?
– Yeah.
– Jasně.
– Are yeh serious?
– Neděláš si prdel?
– Yeah.
– Jasně, že ne.
–––– Okay. –––––– Serious now?
–––– Tak jo. –––––– Není to teda prdel?
– Yeah.
– Jasně, že není.
– Okay.
– Tak jo.
* * *
The next night Jimmy brought Declan Cuffe
* * *
Další večer si Jimmy přivedl Declana Cuffea
(by now he was Deco) home from work
(teď si už si říkal Deco) z práce domů. Deco
with him. Deco had a big fry cooked by
si dal pořádnou porci masový směsi, co
Jimmy, five slices of bread, two cups of tea,
Jimmy připravil na pánvičce, pět krajíců
and he fell in love with Sharon, Jimmy’s
chleba, dva čaje a taky se stačil zamilovat
sister, when she came in from work.
do Jimmyho sestry Sharon, hned jak přišla
– What age is Sharon? Deco asked Jimmy.
z práce.
– Kolik má Sharon roků? zeptal se Deco
They were up in Jimmy’s bedroom. Deco
Jimmyho.
was lying on the bottom bunk.
– You’re wastin’ your time.
Byli v Jimmyho pokoji. Deco ležel
na spodní palandě.
– What age is she?
– Jen marníš čas.
– Twenty, said Jimmy. – But you’re
– Kolik má?
wastin’ your time.
– I wonder would she fancy goin’ out with
– Dvacet, odpověděl Jimmy. – Ale ztrácíš
čas.
- 24 -
a pop star.
The door opened. It was the rest of the
– Jen mě zajímá, jestli by nechtěla randit
s popovou hvězdou.
Otevřely se dveře. Vešel zbytek kapely,
group, Outspan and Derek. They smiled
Outspan a Derek. Uviděli Deca, jak se
when they got in and saw Deco on the bunk.
povaluje na posteli a začali se naculovat.
Jimmy had told them about him.
Jimmy jim o něm už vyprávěl.
– That’s Deco, said Jimmy.
– Tohle je Deco, představil ho Jimmy.
– Howyeh, said Outspan.
– Čau, kývl na něj Outspan.
– Howyeh, said Deco.
– Zdarec, pozdravil Deco.
– Pleased to meet yeh, Deco, said Derek.
– Deco, rád tě poznávám, zahlaholil Derek.
– Yeah, –––––– righ’, said Deco.
– Jo, –––––– bezva, řekl Deco.
Deco got up and let Outspan and Derek sit
Pak vstal a Outspan s Derekem si k němu
beside him on the bunk.
– How did Ray take the news? Jimmy
přisedli na postel.
– Jak vzal Ray tu novinu? zajímal se
asked.
Jimmy.
– Not too bad, said Derek.
– Docela dobře, odpověděl Derek.
– The cunt, said Jimmy.
– Ten kripl zachcanej, řekl Jimmy.
– He wasn’t too happy with the eh, And
– Stejně prej nebyl spokojenej s tamtím, no
And And situation either. Or so he said.
– He’s goin’ solo.
se situací kolem AAA. Nebo aspoň to tak
říkal.
– Prej pojede sólo.
– He doesn’t have much of a fuckin’
choice.
– Však už mu taky kurva nic jinýho
nezbejvá.
They laughed. Deco too.
Rozchechtali se. Deco se smál taky.
– Righ’ lads, said Jimmy. – Business.
– Tak fajn, hoši, řekl Jimmy. – Deme
na obchodní záležitosti.
- 25 -
He had his notebooks out.
Vytáhl blok.
– We have the guitar, bass, vocals, righ’?
– Máme kytaru, basu, vokály, je to tak, ne?
We need drums, sax, trumpet, keyboards. I
Ještě potřebujem bicí, saxík, trubku, klávesy.
threw an ad into Hot Press. Yis owe me
Hodil sem do časopisu inzerát. Dlužíte mně
forty-five pence, each.
každej čtyřicet pět pencí.
– Ah, here!
– Tady máš.
– I’ll take American Express. ––––––
– Beru visa kartu. –––––– Tak fajn.
Now. D’yis remember your man, Jimmy
Pamatujete na jednoho kluka, Jimmyho
Clifford?
Clifforda?
– Tha’ fuckin’ drip!
– Toho poseru?
– That’s him, said Jimmy. – D’yis ––––
– Jo, to je on, přikývl Jimmy. – Tak
pamatujete ––––
– He was JAMES Clifford.
– Menoval se JAMES Clifford.
– Wha’?
– Cože?
– James. He was never Jimmy. What’s
– James. Nikdy Jimmy. Jak se jmenuješ?
your name? James Clifford, sir.
James Clifford, pane.
– Righ’, said Jimmy. – James Clifford
then. He ––––
– Fajn, připustil Jimmy. Tak teda James
Clifford. On ––––
– Tha’ bollix ratted on us, d’yis
– Ta krysa na nás bonzovala, vzpomínáš,
remember? said Derek. – When I stuck the
připomněl mu Derek. – Jak jsem strčil
compass up Tracie Quirk’s hole. – They had
kružítko do díry Tracie Quirkový. – Pozvali si
me da up. Me ma ––––
mýho taťku. Moje mamka ––––
– Derek –
– Dereku –
– Wha’?
– Co?
– Fuck up –––––– Annyway, said Jimmy,
– Nech už toho –––––– Takže, začal Jimmy,
– his ma used to make him do piano lessons,
– matka ho nutila chodit do klavíru,
remember. He was deadly at it. I met him on
pamatujete? Hrál bombasticky. Potkal jsem
the DART yesterday ––––
ho včera ve vlaku ––––
– No way, Jimmy, said Outspan.
– Ani náhodou, Jimmy, řekl Outspan.
– No, hang on, listen. He told me he got
– Ne fakt, moment, poslouchejte. Vyprávěl
fucked ou’ o’ the folk mass choir. ––––
mně, jak ho vyrazili z církevního sboru. ––––
D’yis know why? For playin’ The Chicken
A víte proč? Protože zahrál na varhany Ptačí
Song on the organ. In the fuckin’ church.
song. V posraným kostele.
– Jaysis.
– Á ježiš.
- 26 -
They laughed. This didn’t sound like the
James Clifford they’d known and hated.
Řvali smíchy. Tohle nebyl ten James
Clifford, kterýho znali a nemohli vystát.
– Just before the mass, Jimmy continued.
– Těsně před mší, pokračoval Jimmy. –
– There were oul’ ones an’ oul’ fellas
Představte si, jak staříci procházej střední
walkin’ up the middle, yeh know. An’ he
uličkou a on začne hrát ten blbej Ptačí song.
starts playin’ The fuckin’ Chicken Song.
– He sounds okay, said Deco.
– Mně se líbí, poznamenal Deco.
No one disagreed with Deco.
Nikdo nebyl proti.
– I’ll go round to his gaff an’ ask him
– Zejtra zajdu k němu do bejváku a zeptám
tomorrow, will I?
se ho, jo?
Outspan and Derek looked at each other.
Outspan a Derek se na sebe podívali.
– Okay, said Outspan.
– Tak dobře, souhlasil Outspan.
– So long as he doesn’t start rattin’ on us
– Pokud na nás nebude zas bonzovat,
again, said Derek. – When we’re all getting’
připomněl Derek. – Když si všichni budem
our hole.
hlídat svou díru.
– He’ll be getting’ his too sure, said
Outspan.
– On si rozhodně bude hlídat tu svou, suše
konstatoval Outspan.
– Oh, yeah, said Derek. – That’s righ’.
– Does he still wear tha’ jumper with the
– No, jo, rezignoval Derek. – To je fakt.
– Nosí ještě ten svetr s ovcema?
sheep on it?
– They weren’t sheep, said Derek. – They
– To nebyly ovce, řekl Derek. – Byli to
were deers.
jeleni.
– They were fuckin’ sheep, said Outspan.
– Byly to podělaný ovce, odsekl Outspan.
– No, they weren’t. –––– I should know. I
– To teda nebyly. –––– A já to musím
drew a moustache on one o’ them.
– Is he workin’? Outspan asked.
vědět, když sem jednomu namaloval knír.
– Maká? chtěl vědět Outspan.
– He’s a student, said Jimmy.
– Studuje, odpověděl Jimmy.
– Oh, fuck.
– Á do prdele.
– He’ll be grand, said Jimmy. – He’ll have
– Bude v pohodě, prohlásil Jimmy. – Bude
plenty o’ time to rehearse. –––––– Hang on.
mít spoustu času na zkoušení. –––––– Teď
Jimmy put a record on the deck. He’d
moment.
Jimmy položil desku na otáčivej talíř
brought the deck and the speakers up from
gramofonu. Už předtím si ho i s repráky
the front room. He turned to them again.
přinesl z obyváku. A zas pokračoval.
– D’yis know James Brown, do yis? he
– Znáte Jamese Browna, že jo? ujišťoval se.
- 27 -
asked.
– Was he in our class too? Outspan asked.
They laughed.
– Nechodil s náma taky do třídy? zamyslel
se Outspan.
Zatlemili se.
– The singer, said Jimmy. – Blackie. He’s
– Toho zpěváka, vysvětloval Jimmy. –
deadly. –––– Did yis see The Blues
Černocha. Je bombastickej. –––– Viděli ste
Brothers?
film Bratři Bluesovi?
Outspan and Derek had seen it. Deco
Outspan a Derek ho viděli. Deco ne.
hadn’t.
– I seen the Furey Brothers, said Deco.
– Já jsem viděl bratry Fureyovi, řekl Deco.
– Fuck off, said Jimmy. – D’yis remember
– S těma di někam, odpálil ho Jimmy. –
the big woman singer in the coffee place?
Vzpomínáte na tu macatou zpěvačku v
(They did.) – Tha’ was Aretha Franklin.
kavárně? (Vzpomněli si.) – Tak to byla
D’yis remember the blind guy in the music
Aretha Franklin. Vzpomínáte na toho slepýho
shop? (– Yeah.) Tha’ was Ray Charles.
chlápka v krámě s deskama? (– Jasně.) Ray
D’yis remember the preacher in the church?
Charles. Vzpomínáte na toho kazatele v
(– No.) – Well, th’ was James –––––– No?
kostele? (– Ne.) – No, tak to byl James
(– No.) – In the red cloak? –––––– The
Brown. –––––– Ne? (– Ne.)
black fella? (– No.) – Yeh have to. ––––
– V červeným plášti? –––––– Ten černej?
Derek?
– I don’t remember tha’ bit.
(– Ne.) – Jak to?. –––– Dereku?
– Tu scénu si nevybavuju.
–––––– Well, tha’ was James Brown, said
–––––– No, prostě to byl James Brown, řekl
Jimmy. – Hang on –––––– Rocky IV. Livin’
Jimmy. – Moment –––––– Rocky IV.
in America, remember? Tha’ was him.
Písnička Život v Americe, vzpomínáte? Tak
– Tha’ header!
to byl on.
– Ten magor!
– Yeah.
– Jasně.
– Tha’ was a shite film, said Derek.
– To byl debilní film, poznamenal Derek.
– He was good but, said Jimmy.
– On byl ale v pohodě, bránil ho Jimmy.
– Ah, yeah.
– No jasně.
– Annyway, listen to this. It’s called Get
– Tak si teda poslechněte toto. Jmenuje se to
Up, I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine.
– Hold on there, said Derek. – We can’t do
No tak už vstaň, jedu jak sexomat.
– Počkej, zarazil ho Derek. – Tohle
tha’. Me ma would fuckin’ kill me.
nemůžeme hrát. Mamka by mě kurva zabila.
– What’re yeh on abou’? said Outspan.
– Co to kecáš? usadil ho Outspan.
– I Feel Like a fuckin’ Sex Machine,
– Zpívá přece, že jede jak sexomat,
- 28 -
Derek explained. – She’d break me fuckin’
vysvětloval Derek. – Urvala by mně hlavu, do
head if I got up an’ sang tha’.
hajzlu, kdybych zpíval něco takovýho.
– You won’t be singin’ it, son, said Deco.
– Ty to zpívat nebudeš, synu, upozornil ho
– I will. An’ personally speakin’, I don’t
Deco. – Já to zazpívám. A za sebe říkám, že
give a fuck wha’ MY ma thinks. ––––––
mám u prdele, co si MOJE matka myslí.
Let’s hear it, Jimmy.
–––––– Poslechnem si to, Jimmy.
– We won’t be doin’ this one, Derek, said
– Tuhle dělat nebudem, Dereku, řekl
Jimmy. – I just want yis to hear it, yeh
Jimmy. – Jen chci, abyste si to poslechli.
know, just to get an idea, to get the feel o’
Abyste si udělali představu, abyste pocítili
the thing. –––––– It’s called funk.
náladu toho všeho. –––––– Říká se tomu
– Funk off, said Deco.
funk.
– Vyfunkni si, snažil se být vtipnej Deco.
Outspan hit him.
Outspan mu jednu vrazil.
Jimmy let the needle down and sat on the
Jimmy spustil jehlu a klekl si mezi
back of his legs between the speakers.
– I’m ready to get up and do my thang,
reproduktory.
– Jsem celej nadrženej to tu pořádně
said James Brown.
rozbalit, svěřil se James Brown publiku.
A chorus of men from the same part of the
world as James went: – YEAH.
Mužskej sbor ze stejnýho koutu světa,
odkud je i James Brown zaburácel: – JEĎ.
– I want to, James continued, – to get into
– Víte, chci se do toho, pokračoval James
it, you know. (– YEAH, said the lads in the
Brown, – pěkně vopřít. (– JEĎ, podpořili ho
studio with him.) – Like a, like a sex
muzikanti ve studiu.) – Chlape, vždyť jedu jak
machine, man (– YEAH, YEAH, GO
sexomat, (– JEN JEĎ, PARÁDNĚ JE
AHEAD.) – movin’, doin’ it, you know. (–
ODBOUREJ) – Vidíte, jak válím, jak se
YEAH.) – Can I count it all? (– YEAH,
svíjím? (– JEĎ.) – Tak můžu to teď
YEAH, YEAH, went the lads.) – One Two
odpočítat? (– JÓ JEN JEĎ, skandovali
Three Four.
Then the horns started, the same note
muzikanti.) – Jedna, dva, tři, čtyři.
Ozvaly se trumpety (– DA, DA, DA, DA,
repeated (– DUH, DUH, DUH, DUH, DUH,
DA, DA, DA) a sedmkrát zopakovaly tutéž
DUH, DUH) seven times and then James
notu. Pak spustil James Brown. Zpíval stejně,
Brown began to sing. He sang like he spoke,
jako mluvil. Měl silnej hlas, kterej jakoby
a great voice that he seemed to be holding
musel držet zkrátka, krotit ho. Tak byl
back, hanging onto because it was
nebezpečnej. Kluci (v Jimmyho pokoji) se
dangerous. The lads (in Jimmy’s bedroom)
na sebe usmívali. To bylo přesně ono.
smiled at each other. This was it.
- 29 -
– GET UP AH, sang James.
– NO TAK VSTAŇ, naléhal James.
A guitar clicked, like a full stop.
Cvakla kytara. Znělo to jako tečka
– GET ON UP, someone else sang, no
mean voice either.
za větou.
JENOM VSTAŇ, zazpíval někdo jinej
s neméně pronikavým hlasem.
Then the guitar again.
A zase kytara.
– GER RUP AH ––––
– NO TAK VSTAŇ ––––
Guitar.
Kytara.
– GET ON UP ––––
– JENOM VSTAŇ ––––
– STAY ON THE SCENE, sang James.
– NEBUĎ SRAB, zpíval James.
– GET ON UP ––––
– JENOM VSTAŇ ––––
James had the good lines.
James měl vynikající slova.
– LIKE A SEX MACHINE AH ––––
– JEDU JAK SEXOMAT ––––
– GET ON UP ––––
The lads bounced gently on the bunks.
– NO TAK VSTAŇ ––––
Kluci jemně bubnovali na palandy.
– YOU GOT TO HAVE THE FEELING –
– TEN POCIT UŽ ZNÁŠ ––
SURE AS YOU’RE BORN AH ––––
LÍTÁŠ JAK PTÁK ––––
RIGHT ON –
JE TO TAK –
RIGHT ON ––––
JE TO TAK ––––
GET UP AH, sang James.
NO TAK VSTAŇ, zpíval James.
– GET ON UP ––––
Then there was a piano break and at the
– JENOM VSTAŇ ––––
Následující pauzu vyplnil klavír a na jejím
end of it James went: – HUH. It was the best
konci James vypustil: – OCH. Nejlepší och,
Huh they’d ever heard. Then the piano went
který kdy slyšeli. A pak se znovu vrátil klavír.
again.
– GER RUP AH ––––
– NO TAK VSTAŇ ––––
– GET ON UP ––––
– JENOM VSTAŇ ––––
The guitar clicked away.
Kytara si cvakala dál.
And the bass was busy too, padding along.
A basa taky nezahálela, udávala rytmus.
You could actually make it out; notes. This
Vlastně se z jejího zvuku daly vyvodit noty.
worried Derek a bit. He’d chosen the bass
To Dereka mírně znepokojilo. Vybral si
because he’d thought there was nothing to it.
basovku, protože si myslel, že hrát na ni není
There was something to this one. It was
žádný umění. Tahle basa byla ale něco. Měla
busier than all the other instruments.
víc práce než ostatní nástroje.
- 30 -
The song went on. The lads bounced and
Song jel dál. Kluci bubnovali a zubili se.
grinned. Deco concentrated.
– Bobby, James called. (Bobby must have
Deco se soustředil.
– Bobby, zavolal James. (Bobby byl určitě
been the man who kept singing GET ON
ten chlápek, kterej pořád dokola zpíval
UP.) – Bobby, said James. – Shall I take
JENOM VSTAŇ.) – Bobby, křičel James. –
them to the bridge?
Mám zpívat dál?
– Go ahead, said Bobby.
– Jo, rozjeď to, řekl Bobby.
– Take’em all to the bridge.
– Všichni si přejí, abych zpíval dál?
– Take them to the bridge, said Bobby.
– Jo, všichni, řekl Bobby.
– Shall I take them to the bridge? James
– Tak mám zpívat dál? nepřestával se
asked.
vyptávat James.
– YEAH, the lads in the studio, and
–
JEĎ, netrpělivě zahoukali muzikanti
Outspan and Derek, answered.
Then the guitar changed course a bit and
ve studiu a taky Outspan a Derekem.
Potom se kytara pustila trošku jiným
stayed that way. James shouted and huh-
směrem a v tom kurzu se držela. James ještě
huhhed a while longer and then it faded out.
chvíli křičel a naříkal a potom všechno
Jimmy got up and lifted the needle.
utichlo.
Jimmy vstal a zvedl jehlu.
A roar arrived from downstairs.
Z přízemí se k nim přivalil řev.
– Turn down tha’ fuckin’ radio!
– Vypni to zasraný rádio!
– It’s the stereo, Jimmy roared at the floor.
– To je gramofon, zahulákal Jimmy
– Don’t get snotty with me, son. Just turn
na podlahu.
– Nebuď drzej, synu. Prostě to vypni.
it down.
The lads were in stitches laughing, quietly.
Hoši se potichoučku váleli smíchy.
– Stupid bollix, said Jimmy. – Wha’ did
yis think o’ tha’?
– Ksindl blbej, ulevil si Jimmy. – Tak co
tomu říkáte?
– Brilliant.
– Dokonalý.
– Fuckin’ brilliant.
– K posrání dokonalý.
– Play another one, said Outspan.
– Pusť ještě jednu, žadonil Outspan.
– Okay, said Jimmy. – I think yis’ll be
– Fajn, řekl Jimmy. – Myslím, že budeme
playin’ this one.
dělat tuhle.
- 31 -
He put on Night Train for them. It was
even more brilliant than Sex Machine.
Pustil jim písničku Noční vlak. Byla ještě
dokonalejší než Sexomat.
– We’ll change the words a bit to make it
– more Dubliny, yeh know, Jimmy told
– Kapku pozměníme slova, jo, aby to znělo
víc po dublinsku, oznámil jim Jimmy.
them.
They were really excited now.
Teď už byli v extázi.
– Fuckin’ deadly, said Derek. I’m goin’ to
get a lend o’ the odds for the bass.
– Do prdele, to je boží, rozplýval se Derek.
Někde si na tu basu a další krámy půjčím.
– Good man.
– Hodnej.
– I’d better get a proper guitar, said
– Já si radši seženu pořádnou kytaru,
Outspan. – An electric.
prohlásil Outspan. – Elektrickou.
Jimmy played It’s a Man’s Man’s World.
Jimmy přehrál Tohle je chlapskej svět.
– I’m goin’ to get a really good one, said
– Koupím si nějakou kvalitní, snil dál
Outspan. – Really fuckin’ good.
Outspan. – Fakt dost dobrou.
– Let’s go, said Jimmy.
– Tak dem, zavelel Jimmy.
They were off to the Pub.
Chystali se do hospody.
Deco stood up.
Deco vstal.
He growled: – ALL ABOARD ––––
Zaburácel: – NASTUPOVAT ––––
THE NIGHT TRAIN
DO NOČNÍHO VLAKU
On the way down the stairs they met
Po cestě dolů po schodech potkali Sharon.
Sharon coming up.
– Howyeh, Gorgeous, said Deco.
– Jak je, krasavice? poškádlil ji Deco.
– Go an’ shite, said Sharon.
* * *
Jimmy spent twenty minutes looking at his
– Di se vysrat, odpálila ho Sharon.
* * *
Další čtvrtek se Jimmy dvacet minut kochal
ad in Hot Press the next Thursday. He
pohledem na inzerát v časopisu Hot Press.
touched the print. (– J. Rabbitte.) He
Dotýkal se tištěných slov. (– J. Rabbitte.)
grinned.
Others must have been looking at it too
Samolibě se zakřenil.
Určitě ho četli i jiní, protože když se vrátil
because when he got home from work his
z práce, matka ho informovala, že se na něho
mother told him that two young fellas had
vyptávali dva mladí kluci.
been looking for him.
– J. Rabbitte they said.
– Říkali, že hledají J. Rabbitta.
– That’s me alrigh’, said Jimmy.
– To jsem já, potvrdil Jimmy.
– Who d’yeh think yeh are with your J.?
– Na co si hraješ s tím J.? Jmenuješ se přece
Your name’s Jimmy.
Jimmy.
- 32 -
– It’s for business reasons, ma, said
– To je kvůli byznysu, mami, vysvětloval
Jimmy. – J. sounds better. Yeh never heard
Jimmy. J. vypadá líp. Nikdy jsem neslyšel, že
of a millionaire bein’ called Jimmy.
* * *
Thing were motoring.
by se nějakej milionář menoval Jimmy.
* * *
Věci se daly do pohybu.
James Clifford had said yes. Loads of
James Clifford na nabídku kývl. Během
people called looking for J. Rabbitte over
víkendu byla po J. Rabbitovi pěkná sháňka.
the weekend. Jimmy was interested in two
Jimmyho zaujali dva maníci, oba dva
of them: a drummer, Billy Mooney from
ze severodublinskýho předměstí: bubeník
Raheny, and Dean Fay from Coolock who
Billy Mooney z Raheny a Dean Fay
had a saxophone but admitted that he was
z Coolocku. Dean měl saxofon, ale přiznal, že
only learning how to Make It Talk. There
se teprv učí, jak ho přinutit zpívat. V pondělí
were more callers on Monday. Jimmy liked
přišli další zájemci. Jimmymu se žádnej
none of them. He took phone numbers and
nezamlouval. Vzal si jejich telefonní čísla a
threw them in the bin.
rovnou je hodil do koše.
He judged on one question: influences.
Soudil je podle jedinýho kritéria: vlivu.
– Who’re your influences?
– Kdo tě ovlivnil?
– U2.
– U2.
– Simple Minds.
– Simple Minds.
– Led Zeppelin.
– Led Zeppelin.
– No one really.
– Vlastně nikdo.
They were the most common answers.
To byly nejčastější odpovědi těch, co
They failed.
neprošli.
– Jethro Tull an’ Bachman Turner
– Jethro Tull a Bachman Turner Overdrive.
Overdrive.
Jimmy shut the door on that one without
Tomuhle zájemci Jimmy zabouchl dveře
bothering to get the phone number. He
před nosem. Ani se neobtěžoval vzít si jeho
didn’t even open the door to three of them.
číslo. Třem kandidátům ani neotevřel. Stačilo
A look out his parents’ bedroom at them
se na ně jen podívat z okna ložnice.
was enough.
– Who’re your influences? he’d asked
Billy Mooney.
– Kdo tě ovlivnil? zeptal se Billyho
Mooneyho.
– Your man, Animal from The Muppets.
– Maňásek z Muppetsových, pan Zvíře.
Dean Fay had said Clarence Clemons and
Dean Fay jmenoval Clarence Clemonse a
the guy from Madness. He didn’t have the
taky ještě chlápka ze skupiny Madness.
- 33 -
sax long. His uncle had given it to him
Nevlastnil saxík dlouho. Věnoval mu ho
because he couldn’t play it any more himself
strejda, kterej už hrát nemohl, protože mu
because one of his lungs had collapsed.
Jimmy was up in his room on Tuesday
odešla jedna plíce.
V úterý večer byl Jimmy ve svým pokoji a
night putting clean socks when Jimmy Sr.,
oblíkal si čistý ponožky, když dovnitř vrazil
the da, came in.
táta, Jimmy senior.
– Come ‘ere, you, said Jimmy Sr. – Are
you sellin’ drugs or somethin’?
– Poď sem, ty kluku, zavolal si ho Jimmy
senior. – Ty prodáváš drogy nebo co?
– I AM NOT, said Jimmy.
– NEPRODÁVÁM, ohradil se Jimmy.
– Then why are all these cunts knockin’ on
– Tak proč tady ty zkurvení hašišáci furt
the door?
klepou na dveře?
– I’m auditionin’.
– Pořádám konkurz.
– You’re wha’?
– Cože děláš?
– Aud-ish-un-in. We’re formin’ a group.
– Lidi cho-dí-na-kon-kurz. Dávám
––– A band.
dohromady skupinu. ––– Kapelu.
– You?
– Ty?
– Yeah.
– Jasně.
Jimmy Sr. laughed.
Jimmy senior jedovatě procedil mezi zuby.
– Dickie fuckin’ Rock.
He started to leave and turned at the door.
– There’s a little fucker on a scooter
– Ó bacha, velkej J. Bono Rabbitte.
Už byl na odchodu, když se u dveří obrátil.
– Dole na tebe čeká nějakej zevl na skútru.
lookin’ for yeh downstairs.
When Jimmy got down to the door he saw
Když Jimmy dorazil ke dveřím, viděl, že
that his da had been right. It was a little
táta nelhal. Stál tam takovej prcek a opíral se
fucker and he had a scooter, a wreck of a
o skútr, pěknou rachotinu.
yoke. He was leaning on it.
– Yeah? said Jimmy.
– Co je? vyhrkl Jimmy.
– God bless you, Brother J. Rabbitte. In
– Bůh ti žehnej, bratře J. Rabbitte. Co se
answer to your Hot Press query, yes, I have
týče tvé otázky v Hot Pressu, ano, já mám
got soul.
soul v duši.
– Wha’?
– Co to žvaníš?
– And I’m not a redneck or a southsider.
– A nejsem ani venkovský buran ani snob
– You’re the same age as me fuckin’ da!
z jižního Dublinu.
– Ale seš stejně starej jak můj fotr!
– You may speak the truth, Brother
– Tvá ústa asi mluví pravdu, bratře Rabbitte,
- 34 -
Rabbitte, but I’m sixteen years younger than
ale jsem o šestnáct let mladší
B.B. King. And six years younger than
než B.B. King. A o šest let mladší než James
James Brown.
Brown.
– You’ve heard o’ James Brown –
– Znáš Jamese Browna?
– I jammed with the man.
– Pěkně jsem si s ním zadžemoval.
– FUCK OFF!
– NEKECEJ!
– Leicester Mecca, ’72. Brother James
– Klub Mecca v Leicesteru, rok 1972. Bratr
called me on for Superbad. I couldn’t give it
James mě povolal na turné. I přes úpornou
my best though because I had a bit of a head
snahu jsem tam ze sebe nevydal všechno, byl
cold.
He patted the scooter.
jsem krapet nachlazený.
Pohladil svůj skútr.
– I’d ridden from Holyhead in the rain. I
– Jel jsem tam z Holyheadu v dešti. Neměl
didn’t have a helmet. I didn’t have anything.
jsem helmu. Vlastně jsem neměl nic. Jen
Just Gina.
Ginu.
– Who’s she?
– Co je to za ženskou?
– My trumpet. My mentor always advised
– To je má trumpeta. Můj učitel mi vždy
me to imagine that the mouthpiece was a
radil, abych si místo náustku představil
woman’s nipple. I chose Gina
ženskou bradavku. Vybral jsem Ginu
Lollabrigida’s. A fine woman.
Lollobrigidu. Výjímečnou ženu.
He stared at Jimmy. There wasn’t a trace
of grin on him.
Pozorně si Jimmyho prohlížel, na tváři ani
stopy po nějakým úšklebku.
– I’m sure you’ve noticed already, Brother
– Zajisté jsi si povšimnul, bratře Rabbitte,
Rabbitte, it was wild advice because if it had
že to byla značně revoluční rada. Kdyby totiž
been Gina Lollabrigida’s nipple I’d have
ta bradavka skutečně patřila Gině
been sucking it, not blowing into it.
Lollobrigidě, sál bych ji, nefoukal bych do ní.
Jimmy didn’t know what was going on
here. He tried to take control of the
Jimmy nechápal, o čem ten chlap mluví.
Snažil se převzít nad rozhovorem kontrolu.
interview.
– What’s your name, pal?
– Jak se menuješ, kámo?
– Joseph Fagan, said the man.
– Joseph Fagan, řekl ten chlap.
He was bald too, now that he’d taken his
Teď když si sundal helmu, bylo vidět, že má
helmet off.
holou hlavu.
– Joey The Lips Fagan, he said.
– Joey Pysk Fagan.
- 35 -
– Eh ––––––– Come again?
– Co ––––––– Jak že?
– Joey The Lips Fagan.
– Joey Pysk Fagan.
– An’ I’m Jimmy The Bollix Rabbitte.
– A já sem Jimmy Sráč Rabbitte.
– I earned my name for my horn playing,
– Zasloužil jsem si jméno díky hře
Brother Rabbitte. How did you earn yours?
Jimmy pointed a finger at him.
na trubku, bratře Rabbitte. Jak jsi získal to
svoje?
Jimmy na něj namířil prstem.
– Don’t get snotty with me, son.
– Nezahrávej si se mnou, synu.
– I get snotty with no man.
– Nikdy si s nikým nezahrávám.
– Better bleedin’ not. –––––– An’ are
– A děláš zatraceně dobře. –––––– Ty se mě
YOU tryin’ to tell me that yeh played with
snažíš přesvědčit, žes hrál s Jamesem
James Brown?
Brownem?
– Among others, Brother.
– Kromě jiných, bratře.
– Like?
– Třeba?
– Have we all night? –––––––––
– Máme na to celou noc? –––––––– Byli to
Screaming Jay Hawkins, Big Joe Turner,
uječený Jay Hawkins, velký Joe Turner,
Martha Reeves, Sam Cooke, poor Sam,
Martha Reeves, Sam Cooke, chudák Sam,
Sinatra. –––––– Never again. The man is a
Sinatra. –––––– S tím už nikdy více. Ten
thug. –––– Otis Redding, Lord rest his sweet
chlap je gangster. –––– Otis Redding, Bože
soul, Joe Tex, The Four Tops, Stevie
dej klid jeho čisté duši, Joe Tex, Four Tops,
Wonder, Little Stevie then. He was only
Stevie Wonder, maličký Stevie. Tehdy mu
eleven. A pup. –––––– More?
bylo teprve sedm let. Štěně. –––––– Chceš
– Yeah.
slyšet víc jmen?
– Jasně.
– Let’s see. –––––– Wilson Pickett, Jackie
– Tak poslouchej. –––––– Wilson Pickett,
Wilson, Sam an’ Dave, Eddie Floyd, Booker
Jackie Wilson, Sam a Dave, Eddie Floyd,
T. and the MGs of course, Joe Tex.
Booker T. a taky samozřejmě MGs, Joe Tex.
– Yeh said him already.
– Toho už menovals.
– Twice. Em –––– an unusual one, Jimi
– S tím jsem hrál dvakrát. Kdo dál ––––
Hendrix. Although, to be honest with you, I
neobyčejný Jimi Hendrix. Ačkoli abych byl
don’t think poor Jimi knew I was there.
upřímný, nemyslím, že by si chudák Jimi
–––– Bobby Bland, Isaac Hayes, Al Green.
všimnul, že tam jsem. –––– Bobby Bland,
– You’ve been fuckin’ busy.
Isaac Hayes, Al Green.
– Měls fakt dost práce.
– You speak the truth, Brother Rabbitte.
– Tvá ústa mluví pravdu, bratře Rabbitte. A
- 36 -
And there’s more. Blood, Sweat and Tears,
bylo jich víc. Blood, Sweet and Tears,
The Tremeloes. I know, I know, I have
Tremeloes. Vím, vím, již jsem učinil pokání.
repented. –––– Peter Tosh, George Jones,
–––– Peter Tosh, George Jones, Stranglers.
The Stranglers. Nice enough dudes under
Pod vším tím koženým oblečením to byli moc
the leather. I turned up for The Stones on the
příjemní chlapíci. Na turné se Stouny jsem se
wrong day. The day after. They were gone.
dostavil ve špatný den. O den později. Už byli
– Yeh stupid sap, yeh.
pryč.
– Smůla, co?
– I know. –––– Will that do? –––– Oh
yeah, and The Beatles.
– Já vím. –––– Stačí to už? –––– Jo, a ještě
Beatles.
– The Beatles, said Jimmy.
– Beatles, jo? zapochyboval Jimmy.
– Money for jam, said Joey The Lips. –
– Zaplatili mi za džemovačku, vysvětloval
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE –––– DOO
Joey Pysk. – VŠECHNU LÁSKU DÁM ––––
DUH DOO DUH DOO.
DÚ DA DÚ DA DÚ.
– Was tha’ you?
– Tos byl ty?
– Indeed it was me, Brother. Five pounds,
– Zajisté jsem to byl já, bratře. Pět liber. Na
three and sixpence. A fair whack in those
ty časy to byla pěkná sumička. –––– Nemohl
days. –––– I couldn’t stand Paul, couldn’t
jsem vystát Paula, i když jsem si ho chtěl
take to him. I was up on the roof for Let It
oblíbit. Při natáčení koncertu Let It Be, jsem
Be. But I stayed well back. I’m not very
byl taky na střeše. Ale držel jsem se od
photogenic Brother. I take a shocking
kamery dál. Nejsem moc fotogenický, bratře.
photograph.
Na fotkách vypadám jako strašák.
By now Jimmy was believing Joey The
Lips. A question had to be asked.
Jimmy už teď Joeymu Pyskovi věřil. Musel
mu však položit tuhle otázku.
– Wha’ do yeh want to join US for?
– Proč se chceš přidat k NÁM?
– I’m tired of the road, said Joey The Lips.
– Cestování mě už zmáhá, odpověděl Joey
– I’ve come home. And my mammy isn’t
Pysk. – Vracím se domů. A maminka na tom
very well.
taky není nejlépe.
Jimmy knew he was being stupid, and
cheeky, asking the next question but he
Jimmy tušil, že další otázka je hloupá a ne
zrovna zdvořilá, ale stejně se zeptal.
asked it anyway.
– Who’re your influences?
– Kdo tě ovlivnil?
– I admit to no influences but my God my
Lord, said Joey The Lips. – The Lord blows
– Nemohu přiznat vliv nikoho jiného než
Boha, mého Pána, řekl Joey Pysk. – Bůh mi
- 37 -
my trumpet.
fouká na trubku.
– Does he? said Jimmy.
– Fakticky? zapochyboval Jimmy.
– And the walls come tumbling down.
– A hradby Jericha se hroutí.
Joey The Lips explained: – I went on the
Joey Pysk vysvětloval: – Asi tak před devíti,
road nine, no ten maybe eleven years ago
ne desíti, možná i před jedenácti lety jsem byl
with a gospel outfit. The Alabama Angels,
na turné s gospelovou skupinou Andělé
featuring Sister Julie Bob Mahony. They
z Alabamy v čele se zpěvačkou sestrou Julií
brought me to God. I repented, I can tell you
Mahonyovou. Přivedli mě k Bohu. Kál jsem
that for nothing, Brother Rabbitte. I used to
se, to ti povím, bratře Rabbitte. Kdysi jsem
be one mother of a sinner. A terrible man.
býval hříšníkem. Mizerou. Ale Pán, víš, není
But the Lord’s not a hard man, you know.
nelítostný tyran. Nevyvádí, když si
He doesn’t kick up at the odd drink or a
příležitostně přihneš nebo sem tam utrousíš
swear word now and again. Even a Sister, if
nějaké to hrubší slůvko. A ani svatá sestra,
you treat her with proper respect.
Jimmy had nothing to say yet. Joey the
když ji budeš chovat v náležité úctě.
Jimmy zatím neměl co říct. Joey Pysk proto
Lips carried on.
pokračoval.
– The Lord told me to come home. Ed
– Pán mi vzkázal, abych se vrátil domů.
Winchell, a Baptist reverend on Lennox
Tedy prozradil mi to Ed Winchell, baptistický
Avenue in Harlem, told me. But The Lord
duchovní z Harlemu. Bůh mu pošeptal, aby to
told him to tell me. He said he was
pověděl mě. Vyprávěl, že když v televizi
watching something on TV about the
sledoval cosi o tom nekonečném nepřátelství
feuding Brothers in Northern Ireland and
mezi bratry v Severním Irsku, Bůh mu vnukl
The Lord told the Reverend Ed that the Irish
myšlenku, že irští bratři nemají vůbec
Brothers had no soul, that they needed some
soulovou duši a že ji nutně potřebují. A to
soul. And pretty fucking quick! Ed told me
kurva dost rychle! A tak mi Ed řekl, ať se
to go back to Ireland and blow some soul
vrátím do Irska a napumpuji soul do duší
into the Irish Brothers. The Brothers
irských bratrů. Prý by si bratři navzájem
wouldn’t be shooting the asses off each
neustřelovali zadnice, kdyby měli soul v duši.
other if they had soul. So said Ed. I’m not a
Tak pravil Ed. Já sám baptista nejsem, ale pro
Baptist myself but I’ve a lot of time for the
reverenda Eda bych dal ruku do ohně.
Reverend Ed.
Jimmy still had nothing to say.
Jimmy pořád nic neříkal.
– Am I in? Joey The Lips asked.
– Jsem tedy v kapele? zeptal se Joey Pysk.
– Fuck, yes, said Jimmy. – Fuckin’ sure
– Do hajzlu, jasně, že jo, vyhrkl Jimmy. – Si
- 38 -
you’re in. –––– Are yeh on the phone?
piš, že seš. –––– Máš telefon?
– Jesus on the mainline, said Joey The
Lips, – tell him what you want. 463221.
– Zavolej Ježíšovi, odvětil Joey Pysk, –
pověz mu, čeho žádáš. 463221.
Jimmy took it down.
Jimmy si to zapsal.
– I’ll be in touch with yeh. Definitely. The
– Rozhodně se s tebou spojím. Určitě. Kluci
lads’ll have to see –––– to meet yeh.
tě musí potkat –––– poznat.
Joey The Lips threw the leg over his
scooter. His helmet was back on.
Joey Pysk přehodil nohu přes skútr. Helma
mu zas seděla na hlavě.
– All God’s chillun got wings, he said, and
– Všechny děti Pána mají křídla,
he took off out the gate, over the path and
zadeklamoval a odfrčel brankou na cestu a
down the road.
Jimmy was delighted. He knew now that
pak dolů na silnici.
Jimmy měl radost. Bylo mu jasný, že se
everything was going to be alright. The
všechno vydaří. The Commitments budou.
Commitments were going to be. They had
Získali Joeyho Pyska. A ten měl dost soulu
Joey The Lips Fagan. And that man had
pro každýho z nich. A měl taky Boha.
enough soul for all of them. He had god too.
* * *
The Commitments used the garage of Joey
* * *
The Commitments se scházeli a zkoušeli
The Lips’ mother’s house for meeting and
v garáži domu matky Joeya Pyska. Byl to
rehearsing. The house was a big one on the
velkej dům poblíž Killesteru a garáž byla taky
Howth Road near Killester and the garage
prostorná.
was big too.
When they all got there the first time Joey
Když se tam sešli poprvé, Joey Pysk ji
The Lips had it filled with chairs and rugs.
dovybavil židlema a koberečkama. Jen tak
They sat back while Joey The Lips counted
nečinně posedávali, zatímco je Joey Pysk
them for tea-bag purposes.
počítal, aby věděl, kolik čajových pytlíků
– Strong tea, Brothers? he asked.
bude potřeba.
– Dáte si silný čaj, bratři? zjišťoval.
There wasn’t an answer so he threw
fifteen bags into the pot.
Nikdo mu neodpověděl, proto vhodil
do konvice patnáct kousků.
They were all there, their first time
Byli tam všichni, poprvé takhle pohromadě.
together.
Jimmy Rabbite; manažer.
Jimmy Rabbitte; manager.
Outspan Foster; kytara.
Outspan Foster; guitar.
Deco Cuffe; zpěv.
Deco Cuffe; vocals.
Derek Scully; basová kytara. (Koupil ji
- 39 -
Derek Scully; bass. (He’d bought one,
ze čtvrtý ruky – myslel si však, že je ze druhý
fourth-hand – he thought it was second – for
– za 60 liber. Zesilovač na ozvučení stál 40
₤60. The amp and cabinet were ₤40 extra
babek navíc. Derek se dohodl
and sounded it. He’d made a deal with his
s mámou. Zatáhla basovku i vybavení a on
ma. She’d paid for the bass and gear and he
musí celejch osmnáct měsíců cálovat
had to pay the video rental for the next
pohledávky ve videopůjčovně. Derekova
eighteen months. There were no flies on
máma řešila problémy rychlostí blesku.)
Derek’s ma.)
James Clifford; piano.
James Clifford; klavír.
Billy Mooney; drums.
Billy Mooney; bicí.
Dean Fay; sax.
Dean Fay; saxofon.
And Joey The Lips.
A Joey Pysk.
This was the first time they’d seen Joey
Tenkrát viděli kluci Joeyho Pyska poprvé a
The Lips, and they weren’t happy. He
moc nadšení neprojevili. Vypadal jako jejich
looked like a da, their da; small, bald, fat,
tatík; malej, obtloustlej, plešatej tatík, kterej
making tea. He was wearing slippers,
vaří čaj. Na nohách měl měkkoučký,
checked fluffy ones. One thing made him
kostkovaný papuče. Ale něco na něm bylo
different though. He was wearing a Jesse
přece jenom jiný. Měl na sobě triko
Jackson campaign T-shirt.
s potiskem volební kampaně Jesseho
– Is this the entire band here, Brother
Jacksona.
– Máme tu celou kapelu, bratře Rabbitte?
Jimmy? Joey The Lips asked.
zeptal se Joey Pysk.
He was handing out mugs.
Rozdával hrnky.
– This is it, said Jimmy.
– Máme, odvětil Jimmy.
– And what have you been listening to?
– A co jste poslouchali? –––– Zmiňovali
––– You said my man, James Brown, didn’t
jste Jamese Browna, že ano?
you?
– Yeah, said Jimmy. – We’ll be doin’
Night Train.
– Jo, přikývl Jimmy. – Budem hrát Noční
vlak.
– I like what I hear. –––– And?
– Těší mě, co slyším. –––– A dále?
– Eddie Floyd. Knock On Wood, yeh
– Eddieho Floyda. Písničku Zaklepej to
know.
– Ummm.
na dřevo, však ji znáš.
– Fajn.
– Percy Sledge, said Jimmy.
– Percyho Sledge, pokračoval Jimmy.
– When a Man Loves a Woman?
– Zpíval Když muž miluje ženu?
- 40 -
– Yeah.
– Jasně.
– Lovely.
– Krása.
– That’s all so far really, said Jimmy.
– A to bude zatím asi všechno, přiznal
– A good start, said Joey The Lips. – I
Jimmy.
– Dobrý začátek, pochválil je Joey Pysk. –
have some Jaffa Cakes here, Brothers. Soul
Mám tady piškoty s pomerančovou náplní,
food.
bratři. Soulová krmě.
When they heard that they started to
Jakmile kluci tohle slyšeli, začali ho
tolerate him. When he took out his trumpet
tolerovat. Když vytáhl trubku a zahrál jim
and played Moon River for them they loved
skladbu Měsíční řeka, přímo si ho zamilovali.
him. Jimmy had been annoying them, going
Jimmy jim už lezl na nervy, jak tohohle génia
on and on about this genius, but now they
věčně opěvoval, ale teď už se přesvědčili
knew. They were The Commitments.
sami. Byli The Commitments.
When they’d finished congratulating Joey
The Lips (– Fair play to yeh, Mr Fagan.
– Yeah, tha’ was deadly.
Když ovace oslavující výkon Joeyho Pyska
utichly (– Suprově válíte, pane Fagane.
– Jo, bomba.
– The name’s Joey, Brothers.) Jimmy
– Jmenuji se Joey, bratři.), Jimmy oznámil.
made an announcement.
– I’ve some backin’ vocalists lined up.
– Dal jsem dohromady pár zpěvaček, který
budou dělat křoví.
– Who?
– Koho?
– Three young ones.
– Tři mladý buchty.
– Young ones. –––– Rapid!
– Mladý? –––– Senza!
– Are they foxy ladies, Jimmy? Joey The
– Jsou to sexy kočky, Jimmy? chtěl vědět
Lips asked.
Joey Pysk.
They all stared at him.
Všichni ho pozorně sledovali.
– Fuckin’ sure they are, said Jimmy.
– Si pište, že jo, pyšnil se Jimmy.
– Who are they? said Outspan.
– Kdo to je? dychtil se Outspan.
– Remember Tracie Quirk?
– Pamatujete na Tracie Quirkovou?
– She’s fuckin’ married!
– Ta je přece, do prdele, vdaná!
– Not her, said Jimmy. – Her sister.
– Tu nemyslím, odfrkl Jimmy. – Její ségru.
– Wha’ one? Derek asked.
– Kterou? ozval se Derek.
– Imelda.
– Imeldu.
– Wha’ one’s she? Hang on –––––– Oh
– Která to je? Moment –––––– Týjo, ježiš,
Jaysis, HER! Fuckin’ great.
TA! Tak tu žeru.
- 41 -
–
Which one is it? said Outspan.
– Tak která to je? nedočkavě vyzvídal
Outspan.
– Vždyť ji znáš, přesvědčoval ho Derek. –
– You know her, said Derek. – Yeh
fuckin’ do. Small with lovely tits. Yeh
Kurva, že jo. Malá, skvělý kozy. Už víš?
know. Black hair, long. Over her eyes.
Černý vlasy, dlouhý. Padají jí do očí.
– Her!
– Jo, tahle!
– She’s fuckin’ gorgeous, said Derek. –
– Tak ta je kurva výstavní, rozplýval se
Wha’ age is she?
Derek. Kolik jí asi je?
– Eighteen.
– Osmnáct.
– She lives beside you, James.
– Bydlí vedle tebe, Jamesi.
– So I believe, said James.
– Asi to tak je, netečně se ozval James.
– Is she anny good at the oul’ singin’?
– A umí soulově zpívat?
– I haven’t a clue, said Jimmy.
– Co já vím? ohradil se Jimmy.
– Who’re the others? Deco asked.
– Kdo jsou ty další? zeptal se Deco.
– Two of her mates.
– Její kamarádky.
– That’s very good management, Brother,
– Tomu říkám kvalitní management, bratře,
said Joey The Lips. – Will they be dressed
pochválil ho Joey Pysk. – Budou mít černé
in black?
šaty?
– Yeah –––– I –––– think so.
– Good good.
The time flew in.
– Jasně –––– myslím –––– myslím, že jo.
– Vynikající.
Čas běžel jako o závod.
Those Commitments still learning their
Muzikanti z The Commitments, co se teprv
instruments improved. The ones ready were
učili nástroje zvládnout, se lepšili. Ti, kteří je
patient. There was no group rehearsing.
už ovládali, trpělivě vyčkávali. Kapela
Jimmy wouldn’t allow it. They all had to be
nezkoušela. Jimmy to nedovolil. Nejdřív
ready first.
Derek’s fingers were raw. He liked to
museli všichni umět hrát.
Derek měl prsty samej puchejř. Rád dával
wallop the strings. That was the way, Jimmy
strunám do těla, dokud se poraženě nevzdaly.
said. Derek found out that you could get
Takhle to má bejt, spokojeně si mnul ruce
away with concentrating on one string. You
Jimmy. Derek zjistil, že mu projde, i když se
made up for the lack of variety by thumping
bude soustředit jen na jednu strunu. Tím, že
the string more often and by taking your
budete jednu strunu používat častěji,
hand off the neck and putting it back a lot to
vykompenzujete jednotvárnost, a tím, že
make it look like you were involved in
pustíte krk basový kytary a pak ho zas
complicated work. He carried his bass low,
uchopíte, budete vypadat, jako že provádíte
- 42 -
Stranglers style, nearly down at his knees.
velmi komplikovanej úkon. Derek měl svou
He didn’t have to bend his arms.
basovku zavěšenou proklatě nízko. Odkoukal
to od basáka ze Stranglers, visela mu téměř
Outspan improved too. There’d be no
u kolen. Aspoň nemusel ohýbat paže.
Outspan se taky zlepšil. Jimmy říkal, že
guitar solos, Jimmy said, and that suited
v jejich produkci nebudou žádný kytarový
Outspan. Jimmy gave him Motown
sóla, a to Outspanovi vyhovovalo.
compilation to listen to. Chord changes were
Od Jimmyho dostal k poslouchání směsku
scarce. It was just a matter of making
songů studia Motown. Akordy se měnily
yourself loose enough to follow the rhythm.
zřídkakdy. Museli jste se jen dostatečně
Outspan was very embarrased up in his
uvolnit a dodržovat rytmus.
Outspan se cítil děsně trapně, když se
bedroom trying to strum along to the
ve svým pokoji snažil brnkat společně s hity
Motown time. But once he stopped looking
Motownu. Ale jakmile se na sebe přestal dívat
at himself in the mirror he loosened up. He
do zrcadla, nebyl už tak svázanej. Kytara mu
chugged along with the records, especially
šlapala přesně jak v nahrávkách, zvláště těch
The Supremes. Under the energy it was
od Supremes. Za celou tou energií se skrývala
simple.
Then he started using the mirror again. He
jednoduchost.
Pak začal zase používat zrcadlo. Byl
was thrilled. His plectrum hand danced.
nadšenej. Ruka s trsátkem tančila
Sometimes it was a blur. The hand looked
po strunách. Někdy z ní byla vidět jen
great. The arm hardly budged. The wrist was
rozmazaná šmouha. Ta ruka vypadala
in charge. He held his guitar high against his
senzačně. Paže se ale sotva kdy hnula. Všemu
chest.
vládlo zápěstí. Kytaru měl posazenou pěkně
He saved money when he could. He
vysoko na hrudi.
Šetřil peníze, kde mohl. Neměl práci, ale
wasn’t working but on Saturday mornings
každou sobotu ráno chodil v Barrytownu
he went from door to door in Barrytown
od jedněch dveří ke druhým a prodával
selling the frozen chickens that his cousin
mražený kuřata, který jeho bratranec každou
always managed to rob from H. Williams on
páteční noc ukradl v místním diskontu. Mohl
Friday nights. That gave him at least a
si proto každej tejden odložit deset babek. A
tenner a week to put away. As well as that,
nejen to. Taky pomáhal panu Hurleymu,
he gave the man next door, Mr Hurley, a
kterej bydlel vedle, kšeftovat
hand with his video business. This involved
s videokazetama. Musel jich schovávat asi
keeping about two hundred tapes under his
dvě stě pod postelí, několikrát tejdně pár
- 43 -
bed and driving around the estate with Mr
hodin objíždět sídliště s panem Hurleym a
Hurley for a few hours a couple of times a
předávat kazety, zatímco pan Hurley
week, handing out the tapes while Mr
kasíroval. Pak najednou, z čista jasna mu
Hurley took in the money. Then, out of the
máma dala většinu peněz z přídavku na dítě
blue, his ma gave him most of the month’s
za poslední měsíc. Rozplakal se.
mickey money. He cried.
He had ₤145 now. That got him a third-
Teď měl 145 liber. Mohl si pořídit kytaru ze
hand electric guitar (the make long
třetí ruky (co to bylo za značku, už dávno
forgotten) and a bad amp and cabinet. After
nikdo nevěděl) a ne moc kvalitní zesilovač i
that they couldn’t get him away from the
s bednou. Potom už ho od zrcadla nemohli
mirror.
Deco’s mother worried about him. He’d
odtrhnout.
Decova matka si dělala starosti. Deco snědl
be eating his breakfast and then he’d yell
snídani, a pak ječel něco jako ,cítím se fajn‘
something like Good God Y’Awl or Take It
nebo ,vem mě dolů k řece‘. Deco dodržoval
To The Bridge Now. Deco was on a strict
přísnou soulovou dietu: dával si Jamese
soul diet: James Brown, Otis Redding,
Browna, Otise Reddinga, Smokeyho
Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye. James
Robinsona a Marvina Gaye. Jamese kvůli
for the growls, Otis for the moans, Smokey
chraplání, Otise kvůli sténání, Smokeyho
for the whines and Marvin for the whole lot
kvůli kvílení a Marvina kvůli pospojování
put together, Jimmy said.
Deco sang, shouted, growled, moaned,
toho všeho. Tak to aspoň říkal Jimmy.
Deco si pouštěl kazety, co dostal
whined along to the tapes Jimmy had given
od Jimmyho. S nima zpíval, řval, chraplal,
him. He bollixed his throat every night. It
sténal, kvílel. Prznil si hlasivky každou noc.
felt like it was being cut from the inside by
Když se dostával na konec písničky Stopy
the time he got to the end of Tracks of My
mých slz, měl pocit, jako by mu je někdo
Tears. He liked I Heard It through the
vyrval ven. Líbila se mu nahrávka Vinná réva
Grapevine because the women singing I
šepotá, protože měl šanci si na chviličku
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
svlažit palčivý hrdlo během chvíle, kdy tam ty
NOT MUCH LONGER WOULD YOU BE
ženský zpívaly VINNÁ RÉVA ŠEPOTÁ,
MY BABY gave him a short chance to wet
JEN KRÁTCE BUDU TVÁ.
the stinging in his throat. Copying Marvin
Po napodobování Marvina Gaye ho pokaždé
Gaye meant making his throat sore and then
rozbolelo v krku, což ho neskutečně vytáčelo.
rubbing it in.
He kept going though. He was getting
better. It was getting easier. He could feel
Přesto nepolevoval. Lepšil se. Všechno bylo
najednou snažší. Vnímal, že má hrdlo
- 44 -
his throat stretching. It was staying wet
elastičtější. Nevysychalo tak brzy. Dostával
longer. He was getting air from further
vzduch mnohem hloubějc. Když si potřeboval
down. He put on Otis Redding and sang My
odpočinout, pustil si a zazpíval Mou dívku od
Girl with him when he needed a rest. He
Otise Reddinga. Každou sérii končil Jamesem
finished every session with James Brown.
Brownem. Pak ležel
Then he’d lie on the bed till the snot stopped
na posteli, dokud mu nepřestal téct sopel.
running. He couldn’t close his eyes because
Nemohl ani zavřít oči, protože by se mu točila
he’d spin. Deco was taking this thing very
hlava. Deco bral zpívání a všechno kolem
seriously.
All his rehearsing was done standing up in
velmi vážně.
Vždycky zkoušel vestoje a před zrcadlem.
front of the wardrobe mirror. He was to look
Při zpívání se měl na sebe dívat. To si přál
at himself singing, Jimmy said. He was to
Jimmy. Měl předstírat, že drží mikrofon.
pretend he had a microphone. At first he
Nejprve i poskakoval kolem dokola, ale bylo
jumped around but it was too knackering
to šíleně vyčerpávající a děsilo to matku.
and it frightened his mother. Jimmy showed
Jimmy mu přehrál krátký video, kde James
him a short video of James Brown doing
Brown zpíval Táta si sehnal funglnovou
Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag. He couldn’t
kabelu. Na koberci mu Jamesův skluz
copy James’ one-footed shuffle on the
na jedný noze nešel, tak si ho zkoušel na
bedroom carpet so he practiced on the lino
linoleu v kuchyni, když už všichni spali.
in the kitchen when everyone had gone to
bed.
He saw the way James Brown dropped to
Viděl, jak James Brown padl na kolena. Ne
his knees. He didn’t hitch his trousers and
že by si povytáhl gatě a klekl. Prostě padl.
kneel. He dropped. Deco tried it. He
Deco se o to také pokusil. Zavyl KDYŽ
growled SOMETIMES I FEEL GOOD I
POCÍTÍM SEDMÉ NEBE, TAK BYCH
WANNA JUMP BACK AND KISS
LÍBAL I SÁM SEBE, namířil kolena k zemi a
MYSELF, aimed his knees at the floor and
pustil tělo za nima.
followed them there.
He didn’t get up again for a while. He
Chvíli trvalo, než se znovu postavil. Myslel,
thought he’d knee-capped himself. Jimmy
že si rozdrtil kolena. Jimmy mu vyprávěl, že
told him that James Brown’s trousers were
když James Brown odcházel z jeviště, měl
often soaked in blood when he came off-
kalhoty nasáklý krví. Kdyby se to stalo
stage. Deco was fucked if his would be.
Decovi, pěkně by ho to nakrklo.
There was nothing you could teach James
Nebylo nic, co byste ještě mohli naučit
Clifford about playing the piano. Jimmy had
Jamesa Clifforda o hraní na klavír. Jimmy
- 45 -
him listening to Little Richard. He got
chtěl, aby poslouchal Little Richarda. Donutil
James to thump the keys with his elbows,
Jamese bušit do kláves loktama, pěstma i
fists, heels. James was a third-year medical
patama. Jelikož James dělal třetí ročník
student so he was able to tell Jimmy the
medicíny, byl schopnej Jimmymu říct přesnej,
exact, right word for whatever part of his
korektní termín jakékoli část těla, kterou do
body he was hitting the piano with. He was
klavíru mlátil. Uměl taky vysvělit, jak moc si
able to explain the damage he was doing to
tím ubližuje a proto si chtěl aspoň zachránit
himself. He drew the line at the forehead.
hlavu. Jimmy ho nemohl přesvědčit, aby taky
Jimmy couldn’t persuade him to give the
sem tam klavíru uštědřil nějakej ten úder
piano the odd smack with his forehead.
čelem. Bylo až příliš mnoho v sázce. A kromě
There was too much at stake there. Besides,
toho, nosil brejle.
he wore glasses.
Joey The Lips helped Dean Fay.
Joey Pysk pomáhal Deanovi Fayovi.
– My man, that reed there is a nice lady’s
nipple.
– Chlapče, tenhle jazýček je bradavka nějaké
půvabné dámy.
For days Dean blushed when he wet the
reed and let his lips close on it.
Dlouhou dobu se Dean začervenal pokaždé,
když olízl jazýček saxíku a přitiskl na něho
– Make it a particular lady, someone real.
rty.
– Představ si konkrétní dámu, někoho
Dean chose a young one from across the
skutečného.
Deanova vyvolená byla holčina, která
road. She was in the same class as his
bydlela přes ulici. Bylo to třeťačka a chodila
brother, third year, and she was always
do stejné třídy jako Deanův bratr. Půjčovala si
coming over to borrow his books or scab his
u nich učebnice nebo opisovala úkoly. Tohle
homework. It didn’t work though. Dean
ale nefungovalo. Dean se přes to nemohl
couldn’t go through with it. She was too
přenést. Byla až moc skutečná. Takže se
real. So the saxophone reed became one of
jazýček změnil v Madonninu bradavku a
Madonna’s nipples and Dean’s playing
Deanovo hraní se začalo někam ubírat.
began to get somewhere.
Joey The Lips was a terrific teacher, very
Joey Pysk byl báječnej učitel. Veletrpělivej.
patient. He had to be. Even Joey The Lips’
Určitě byl, protože i jeho matka, která byla
mother, who was completely deaf, could
jinak totálně hluchá, vnímala Deanovo hraní,
sense Dean’s playing from the other side of
který se linulo z druhýho konce domu.
the house.
After three weeks he could go three notes
Po třech tejdnech zahrál tři noty bez
- 46 -
without stopping and he could hold short
nádechu a udržel i krátký noty. Ty dlouhý se
notes. Long ones went all over the place.
mu potulovaly všude možně. Joey Pysk hrál
Joey The Lips played alongside him, like a
spolu s ním, jako instruktor autoškoly. Zařval
driving instructor. He only shouted once and
jen jednou. Byl to výkřik plnej opravdovýho
that was really a cry of fright and pain
zděšení a bolesti. Dean do něj totiž nacouval,
caused by Dean backing into him while Joey
když měl trubku ještě u huby.
The Lips still had his trumpet in his mouth.
Billy Mooney blammed away at his
Billy Mooney mlátil do bubnů jak smyslů
drums. His father was dead and his brothers
zbavenej. Otec byl mrtvej a bratři mnohem
were much younger than him so there was
mladší, takže v domě nebyl nikdo, kdo by mu
no one in the house to tell him to shut the
nakázal, aby s tím kurva přestal.
fuck up.
Jimmy told him not to bother too much
Jimmy mu poradil, aby se moc nezalamoval
with cymbals and to use the butts of the
s činelama a používal konce paliček stejně
sticks as well as the tips. What he was after
jako špičky. Šlo o vyrovnanej,
was a steady, uncomplicated beat: – a
nekomplikovanej rytmus: – dusající backbeat,
thumping back-beat, Jimmy called it. That
jak to nazval Jimmy. To Billymu vyhovovalo.
suited Billy. He’d have been happy with a
Byl by spokojenej, i kdyby měl jen víko od
bin lid and a hammer. And that was what he
popelnice a kladivo. A ty taky využíval, když
used when he played along to Dancing in
doprovázel song Tanec
the Streets. Not a bin lid exactly; a tin tray,
v ulicích. Nebylo to přímo víko od popelnice;
with a racehorse on it. The horse was worn
měl jen cínovej podnos, na kterým byl
off after two days.
namalovanej dostihovej kůň. Po dvou dnech
The three backing vocalists, The
se už kůň úplně ošoupal.
Tři doprovodný zpěvačky, The
Commitmentettes, listened to the Supremes,
Commitmentettes, poslouchaly kapely jako
Martha and the Vandellas, The Ronettes,
Supremes, Martha and Vandellas, Ronettes,
The Crystals and The Shangri-las. The
Crystals a Shangri-las. The Commitmentettes
Commitmentettes were Imelda Quirk and
tvořily Imelda Quirková a její kamarádky
her friends Natalie Murphy and Bernie
Natalie Murphyová a Bernie McLoughlinová.
McLoughlin.
– How yis move, yeh know –––––– is
– Víte, to, jak se hejbete, –––––– je
more important than how yis sing, Jimmy
důležitější, než to, jak zpíváte, poučoval je
told them.
– You’re a dirty bastard, you are.
Jimmy.
– Seš pěknej sprosťák. To teda seš.
- 47 -
Imelda, Natalie and Bernie could sing
Imelda, Natalie a Bernie ale uměly zpívat.
though. They’d been in the folk mass choir
Během školních let chodily do kostelního
when they were in school but that, they
sboru, což, jak teď už poznaly, nebylo žádný
knew now, hadn’t really been singing.
zpívání. Jimmy jim prozradil, že skutečná
Jimmy said that real music was sex. They
hudba je sex. Nejdřív mu řekly, že je úchylák,
called him a dirty bastard but they were
ale pak mu začaly dávat za pravdu. V
starting to agree with him. And there wasn’t
církevních chorálech Můj králi, má spáso
much sex in Morning Has Broken or The
nebo Hospodin je můj pastýř moc sexu
Lord is my Shepherd.
Now they were singing along to Stop in
nebylo.
Teď doprovázely zpěvem nahrávky Stůj
the Name of Love and Walking in the Rain
ve jménu lásky nebo Procházka v dešti a moc
and they were enjoying it.
Joined together their voices sounded good,
se jim to líbilo.
Myslely si, že jejich hlasy zní dohromady
they thought. Jimmy taped them. They were
dobře. Jimmy je nahrál. Studem úplně
scarlet. They sounded terrible.
– Yis’re usin’ your noses instead of your
zfialověly. Nedalo se to poslouchat.
– Zpíváte nosem místo pusou, vysvětloval
mouths, said Jimmy.
Jimmy.
– Fuck off slaggin’, said Imelda.
– Vyhoň si, odpálila ho Imelda.
– Yis are, I’m tellin’ yeh. An’ yis
– Fakt to tak děláte, já nekecám. A taky
shouldn’t be usin’ your ordin’y accents
byste neměly zpívat s přízvukem. Je tam
either. It’s Walking in the Rain, not Walkin’
Procházka v dešti, ne Prochazkovojdešťu.
In De Rayen.
– Snobby!
They taped themselves and listened. They
– To je tak snobácký!
Nahrávaly se a pak se poslouchaly.
got better, clearer, sweeter. Natalie could
Postupem času byly lepší, čistší a sladší.
roar and squeal too. They took down the
Natalie uměla řvát a taky vřískat. Napsaly si
words and sang by themselves without the
slova a zpívaly si je bez doprovodu nahrávek.
records. They only did this though when one
Ale jen když měla některá z nich volnej dům.
of them had a free house.
They moved together, looking down,
Pohupovaly se společně, hlavy sklopený,
making sure their feet were going the right
aby se ujistily, že se hejbou správným
way. Soon they didn’t have to look down.
směrem. Brzy se už nemusely dívat dolů.
They wiggled their arses at the dressing-
Vrtěly zadkama před zrcadlem toaletního
table mirror and burst out laughing. But they
stolku a často vybuchly smíchy. Ale nedaly se
kept doing it.
* * *
odradit, jely dál.
* * *
- 48 -
5. THEORETICAL PART
Process of Translation
While translating the extract of the novel, which was a slow and uneasy process, I tried to
follow certain rules that a Czech literary and translation theoretician Jiří Levý finds necessary in
order to produce the translation closely similar to a ‘piece of art’. In his monograph Umění
překladu he (9) claims that the process of translation embraces three fundamental steps which a
translator has to climb. Ideally, the translator is to understand, interpret and rewrite the original
text.
The author of several publications on the theory of translation, Dagmar Knittlová (2000: 21,
transl. by Z.P.), supports Levý’s statement saying this:
It is covetable that the process of translation be phased. In the first place the translator should
make a strategic decision which integrates the original text into a certain framework. He/she
should study cultural backround, historical and local insertion, literary allusions, realia, an
author’s relationship to a topic and also audience, a nature of audience and text, and a
function of the text. Only then can he/she proceed to more detailed decisions regarding the
choise of grammar structures or lexical content so that he/she can create the definite
translated text.
5.1.1. Understanding
Levý (1963: 10) informs that understanding the original is not only the question of knowledge
of a source language including idiomatic or colloquial phrases. He finds essential that the
translator be a good reader because accurate reading helps other readers who face the product of
the translation process to feel the mood of the original work and comprehend “reality expressed
- 49 -
in it, such as the characters and relations among them, setting and the author’s ideological
intension.” (Levý 1963: 11, transl. by Z.P.).
Although I had read The Commitments several times, it was inevitable to refresh my memory
and bring the characters back to life. Moreover Levý (11) recommends the translator to be very
sensitive, read between lines and notice unique qualities of characters as well as pay attention to
historical, political, cultural and social peculiarities in order to create a translation that accords
with the original not only in lexical but also connotative meaning.
Peter Newmark, an English professor and translation specialist, (1991: 62) notifies something
similar in his work About Translation writing this:
The traslator has to be conversant with and responsible for the topic, the referential meaning
of the text: he or she has to check figures, facts, places, proper names. The translator’s first
responsibility is to the truth, to the facts of the matter. Further the translator has a
responsibility to the principles of human rights – in this sense, the translator is neither
objective nor anonymous.
To accomplish Levý’s and Newmark’s requirements I commenced a research that consumed a
considerable number of hours searching the Internet so that I could gain some useful
information from trustworthy sources. Especially, I tried to trace references to literary works
engaged in issues with which being familiar is indispensable; otherwise there is a danger of
misinterpretation of the original. Hence the research was aimed at conditions that formed the
characters’ personalities (e.g. the economic situation in the Republic of Ireland and its capital
Dublin in the 1980s, the state of the characters’ native Northside Dublin), the author’s
biography, works and style, the language the characters speak and last but not the least at soul
music. To tell the truth, the web pages devoted to these concerns did not offer a great amount of
data, yet they provided enough to put me in the picture. Some of the findings are employed in
the introduction of the thesis, more accurately in the sections reserved to Roddy Doyle and his
book.
5.1.2. Interpretation
Levý (1963: 31) thinks that the product of translation process is a miscellaneous unit where two
distinct worlds coexist. One of them, the content of the text, is depended on foreign setting and
the other, the language, is Czech. The understanding of the original or the reconstruction of
- 50 -
reality, as Levý (11) calls it, “requires imagination and well thought out interpretation of the
text.” (Levý 1963: 11-12, transl. by Z.P.).
5.1.2.1.Language
The official language of The Commitments is a Northside dialect marked by a high frequency of
swearing, usually referred to as Dublinese. It was one of the crucial issues to which I had to aim
my attention in particular. Roddy Doyle himself considers his characters’ authentic speech
important saying (White 181-182) this:
I’ve always wanted to bring the books down closer and closer to the characters – to get
myself, the narrator, out of it as much as I can. And one of the ways to do this is to use the
language that the characters actually speak, to use the vernacular, and not ignoring the
grammar, the formality of it, to bend it, to twist it, so you get a sense that you are hearing it,
not reading it; that you are listening to the characters.
Basically, the rudiments of my strategy how to cope with the text arose from the first reading.
My mind was deliberating about the kind of language I was going to use. In any case it was
clear to me that standard Czech is for the text which swarmed with slang expressions
completely inappropriate. Therefore I was dallying with an idea to translate the text by means of
Brno slang. Finally, I doubted whether I would be able to provide the overall text written in
accurate Brno slang even though being a native Brno citizen. Besides I impugned acceptability
of the slang for readers from other regions of the Czech Republic. Thus, I decided to create a
text where non-standard forms of everyday language known as ‘Colloquial Czech’ blend with
Brno slang expressions which substitute distinctive Irish slang phrases so as to reach
exceptionality similar to the original. I made all the characters including the narrator speak this
informal and familiar language with an exception of the character Joey The Lips Fagan who
usually speaks standard English, formal and polite, marked with the usage of archaic phrases
(e.g. You may speak the truth.), formal addressing (e.g. brothers) and practically no contracted
forms. That is why Joey uses standard Czech with a bit odd choice of vocabulary in the
translation.
5.1.2.2.Personal and Geographical Names
- 51 -
The reading also detected passages that were going to desire careful handling and brought some
food for thought. Will foreign personal names sound disruptive, especially in declined forms?
How does the Czech reader manage English names of the songs? What shall I do with the
lyrics? To translate or not to translate? These were the most frequent questions that were
constantly on my mind. I believe that every translator confronts similar difficulties that emerge
when a foreign “setting collides with a specifically Czech expression.” (Levý 31). About cases
such as these Levý (1963: 31, transl. Z.P.) notes that, “even absolutely brilliant solution of the
translator is a compromise which cannot disguise incongruousness of the translation.”
At first I came up to a quick decision concerning the personal names. Some of the names that
appear in the text have Czech equivalents (e.g. Jimmy = Kuba, Joey = Pepa, Frank = František)
but most of them do not exist in the Czech language. I did not intend to have a mixture of
foreign and domestic personal names which would induce an inappropriate and in some
instances even ridiculous effect (e.g. František Sinatra). I also assumed that the Czech reader
was going to be aware that the book in his/her hands took place in an English-speaking country,
hence he/she was going to expect occurrence of English personal names. As a consequence I
was determined to leave the personal names as they were; however, they had to be slightly
adapted with declension endings (e.g. Eddieho, Declana Cuffea, Jimmyho, Franka Sinatry) or
endings of possessive case (e.g. Derekova, Derekově). The only exception I made was abided
by Levý’s statement (1963: 43, transl. by Z.P.), that “a personal name may be translated in case
it has a meaning quality.” That was the case of Joey Fagan’s middle name ‘The Lips’
functioning as a nickname which refers to Fagan’s playing the trumpet. To preserve the author’s
intention I renamed this character Joey Pysk Fagan.
The matter of geographical names indeed was a soft option. Most of them have their Czech
equivalents that are widely used (e.g. England = Anglie, Ireland = Irsko, Chestnut Street =
Kaštanová ulice). Those that retained their original forms were adjusted in a way to meet Czech
grammar requirements (e.g. Barrytown, Barrytownu).
5.1.2.3.Music Matters
It was expressions pertaining to music that kept my mind permanently busy. In this place I
would like to remark that the following statements are not meant as an offence which would
- 52 -
imply underestimation of the Czech nation’s intelligence. Much as I would like to say that soul
music is popular in the Czech Republic, I think there are not many admirers, which is probably
the aftermath of the communist regime. All the same, I suppose the allusions to other genres
such as ska or reggae are not fully comprehensible to the Czech reader.
Levý (1963: 33, transl. by Z.P.) advices that, “the translator to preserve more or less national
distinctions in agreement with the degree of foreign culture awareness he/she can expect. At the
same time he/she has an opportunity to broaden the reader’s knowledge of such culture.” After
a seemingly never-ending hesitation I devised a compromise to preserve the names of music
groups regardless the reader’s acquaintance with them but to translate both the names of songs
and the fragments of lyrics (even at the cost of losing familiarity with two notorious songs –
Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood and All You Need Is Love by The Beatles).
5.1.2.4.Polysemous Words
Other problems I had to stand up to eventuated from disparity of the English and Czech
languages. Levý (1963: 31, transl. by Z.P.) claims about this issue:
A whole meaning concord of expressions between the original and the translation is not
possible therefore a linguistically correct translation is insufficient. It often happens that the
lexis of the mother tongue does not comprise as a multivalent expression as the original
language. The translator has to specify the meaning then; he/she needs to know the reality
that is hidden behind the text to come to conclusion which expression with a restricted
meaning to use.
High though incidence of multivalent words was in the original text, I will only advance a few
instances that called for a delicate solution:
a) the original:
the translation:
Madness, The Specials. Little black an’ whi’e men.
Kapely Madness, Specials. Chlápci v černobílým.
As soon as I came across this line, I was not sure whether ‘black an’ whi’e’ referred to
the race of the groups’ members mentioned in the original line or something else. I
entered the musicians’ official web sites and found out that the saying reflected the
colours they were wearing rather than the ones of their skin.
b) the original:
Have you got soul?
- 53 -
the translation:Máte soul v duši?
The original phrase benefits from more senses of a polysemous word ‘soul’. Apart from
other meanings, Doyle wittily avails himself of a phenomenon that the word which
entitles a musical genre also means the immaterial essence, animating principle, or
actuating cause of an individual life; i.e. ‘duše’ in Czech. Unfortunately, the connection
like this is not possible in the Czech language, so I combined the two senses together in
an expression that could be translated into English as ‘Soul in your soul’.
5.1.2.5.Title
Since this whole chapter is devoted to the interpretation of the original text, I assume I should
pay some attention to the title of the book as well. Levý (1963: 61-62) distinguishes two types
of titles – descriptive and symbolic. The former denotes a topic of the work directly (often
contains a hero’s name or a literary genre of the work) while the latter provides a topic,
problems or atmosphere of it by means of abbreviations or symbols.
The title Roddy Doyle has given to his book can be perceived as both types; firstly, as a name
of the music group itself and secondly, as a message that its members have. The word
‘commitment’ encompasses a lot of senses, all of them concerning pledging, allegiance, loyalty,
dedication, and oath. Doyle perhaps aims at their mission to bring soul to Ireland, the result of
which should be peace; not only peace of arms, but also peace of Irish inhabitants’ minds which
struggle from economic instability, unemployment, political and religious scandals that shake
the country. In my opinion, soul music is a metaphor for hope that life is not pointless. While
the members of the group have soul, they can enjoy life; they have something to look forward
to; their hard work is rewarded with certain success. Sadly, their split, which is caused by
jealousy, petty quarrels and self-interestedness, shows that if people do not stand by one another
they could meet bad ends.
The problem was how to pack all I felt important into a short title. Imagining I was an ordinary
reader that was not familiar with Roddy Doyle, his book or the film that was based on it,
knowing no English at all, I wondered what title would grab my attention. Surely, it would not
be the original one. Levý (1963: 63) does not consider intellectual amplification of a title which
involves explanation and paraphrase the most convenient because it breaks prime structural
- 54 -
patterns of the title. At the same time, he does not fully reject the amplification saying that, “the
title is an idea key to the work; its intelligibility is sometimes more important than its
metaphorical character.” (63, transl. by Z.P.)
Personally, I felt that the amplification is strongly desirable. Solutions I came upon were
manifold, from the dull ones to the fairly crazy ones. To be frank, I cast away most of them
immediately. Nevertheless some of them were worth thinking and I believe that they should be
presented (their English translations are bracketed) as well as the reasons that were decisive for
their rejection:
The Commitments – Legenda dublinského soulu
-
(The Commitments – The Legend of Dublin Soul)
-
This title seemed quite plain and not really original; a lot of books have a title
like this I thought. Moreover I feared that it would remind people rather of nonfiction literature than fiction and besides the band’s ephemeral life would hardly
match the meaning of the word ‘legend’.
The Commitments – Vzestup a pád hudební kapely
-
(The Commitmens – Rise and Fall of a Music Band)
-
Again, this title was not fully satisfactory because of its overdescription and it
appeared to me that it signals too explicitly how the novel ends.
Letopisy kapely The Commitments
-
(The Chronicles of a band The Commitments)
-
In this case I yielded to temptation of paraphrasing a well-established title. This
one was surely inspired by C.S. Lewis’ book The Chronicles of Narnia which I
had been reading recently. I believe that if the novel were given this name, it
would be a good marketing move, for people like buying things that evoke
something they think they are familiar with. Meeting a title like this appears to
them as meeting a good old friend. Of course, I know reality bites and such
reunion does not always bring happiness and therefore I decided the title was not
the one I was looking for.
The Commitments – Irští pastýři soulu
-
(The Commitments – Irish Shepherds of Soul)
-
I confess truthfully that I liked this title very much. It had almost all important
things that were essential to be expressed – the location, religion, and soul
- 55 -
music. Its uncontested advantage was that even the ambiguity of the word ‘soul’
is not present in the Czech language. What I minded was that the title would be
probably too religious for the Czech reader and this could discourage him/her
from reaching for it.
Zapomeňte na U2, teď vládnou The Commitments!
-
(Forget U2; The Commitments rulez!)
-
This fairy aggressive title would perhaps please the Czech reader, the younger
the better, as the Irish band U2 is well known in the Czech Republic, and the
reference to it would clerify where the novel takes place and what main issue it
discusses. On the other hand, it is true that the title would be also misguiding
because it could imply that the book is a quasi-encyclopeadia of Irish music,
which is not, and that would be unfair to the reader.
Speaking personally, in the end the title I singled out, The Commitmens – Kapela, co mohla
změnit svět (The Commitments – A Band that Could Change the World), is not one of my
favourites since it also promps the band’s destiny as the second one listed above. However, it is
still shrouded in mystery and invokes certain whys and hows and this could be, in my opinion,
appealing to the reader.
5.1.3. Rewriting
The third phase of the process of translation is rewriting the original text. Levý (1963: 18-20)
presents three points explaining a necessity of this:
a) Two different language systems are confronted.
b) The original language both directly or indirectly interfere in the translation.
c) The translation style is derived; the original thought is converted into a language in
which it has not been created.
All the three points apply to a premise that Czech is a synthetic language1 unlike English, which
is analytic2. Linguistic means of the two languages are not identical and therefore they cannot
1
“A language which expresses syntactic relations by inflection (the change in the form of a word that indicates
distinctions of tense, person, gender, number, mood, voice, and case) or by agglunation (word formation by
means of morpheme or word unit, clustering).” (Harris and Hodges 297).
2
“A language which expresses syntactic features primarily by words and their order rather than affixes.” (Harris
and Hodges 9).
- 56 -
be transferred mechanically, by a method ‘word by word’. Briefly, the translator has to put up
with differences in grammar and syntax, lexeme or style (Levý 1963: 8).
Rewriting is in fact a relentless quest for suitable equivalents the translator has to set on. The
reason is simple because, as Knittlová (2000: 29) says, today translators do not exchange a
word, a structure or a sentence for another one of their kind. They long for reaching equivalence
in all aspects. She explains (2000: 6, transl. by Z.P.) that, “it does not matter whether the
translator uses the same or different linguistic means but what matters is that they have to
function in the same way; they should incorporate not only denotative or referential aspect of
the text but also connotative (expressive or associative) and pragmatic.”
5.2. Equivalence in Practice
This chapter of the thesis deals with the instances of solutions to various difficulties concerning
lexical, grammatical, textual and pragmatical equivalence. They are divided into subchapters
from the viewpoint of aforementioned differences between Czech and English which appear to
be cornerstones of all translation problems that the translator has to face.
While solving the lack of direct equivalents or handling matters with zero equivalents I tried to
exploit several traditional translation techniques, especially those that Knittlová (2000: 14)
suggests in her book. The list of the techniques is accompanied by the examples from the thesis
translation:

transcription
-
the trancription and transliteration adapted to the usage of the traget
language



e.g. rock an’ roll = rokenrol
calque
-
the literal translation
-
e.g. chicken curry = kuřecí kari
modulation
-
the change of aspect
-
e.g. Tha’ bollix ratted on us … = Ta krysa na nás bonzovala …
substitution
- 57 -

-
the replacement of one linguistic means by another
-
e.g. There’s the flush… = Slyším, jak splachuje…
adaptation
-
the substitution of a situation described in the original by another,
adequate one

e.g. He’d won them. = Měl je v hrsti.
transposition
-
the necessary grammatical change as a consequence of different
language systems

e.g. His uncle had given it to him… = Věnoval mu ho strejda…
equivalency
-
the usage of stylistic and structural means different from the original
-
… because one of his lungs had collapsed. = … protože mu odešla jedna
plíce.
5.2.1. Stylistic differences
Levý points out (1963: 19) that the Czech language, as distinct from English, cannot form many
stylistic nuances or compact expressions loaded with meaning. He also emphasises (19) that the
translator should exploit the potential in which Czech overcomes other languages, including
English.
5.2.1.1.Reporting Verbs
Levý encourages (1963: 20) the translator not to be bounded by apparent stylistic means of the
original language and to uncover latent stylistic qualities. Since repetition of the same
expression is regarded as a negative feature in Czech stylistics, it was vital to look for proper
equivalents of reporting verbs (say, ask) which are to discover vastly throughout the whole
original text. On Knitlová’s constructive advice (2000: 48) I guided the choice of the
equivalents of reporting verbs by the context, which helped me to find expressions that
combined denotative meaning with an expressive or connotative component. Consequently,
both the verbs ‘say’ and ‘ask’ are transferred into Czech by a wide scale of verbs which are
related (not necessarily) to verbal expressing in the case of ‘say’ and querying in the case of
- 58 -
‘ask’, but at the same time they comment the action that is happening. The next few examples
of various equivalents used in the translation, which Knittlová (2000: 41) calls as specification 3,
perhaps prove the previous statement positive. Although both the original and the translation
deal with these reporting verbs in past tense, I introduce their basic forms for better lucidity.
The expressions in brackets illustrate denotative meaning of the Czech equivalents in English.
a) the original: say
the translation: poznamenat (remark), zabručet (mutter), pozdravit (say hello), odporovat
(oppose), souhlasit (agree), vytáčet se (prevaricate), kázat (preach), ohradit se (protest),
odpovědět (answer), zavrčet (growl), zaklít (swear), odfrknout (snort), odseknout (snap
back), křičet (shout), zahulákat (yell), vysvětlovat (explain), vyhrknout (burst out),
provokovat (provoke)
b) the original: ask
the translation: chtít vědět (want to know), být zvědav (be curious), vyzvídat (snoop)
As the foregoing instances are taken out of context, it is relevant to show how these function in
the cohesive and coherent text.
the original:
– Been ridin’ anythin’ since I seen yis last?
the translation:
– Tak co, vojeli jste někoho od posledně?
Jimmy asked them.
zeptal se jich Jimmy.
– No way, said Outspan. – We’ve been
– Ani náhodou, prohlásil Outspan. –
much too busy for tha’ sort o’ thing. Isn’t tha’
Nemáme na takový voloviny vůbec čas, no
right?
. – Yeah, that’s righ’, said Derek.
ne?
– Jo, to je fakt, souhlasil Derek.
– Puttin’ the finishin’ touches to your
– Pilovali ste album? provokoval je Jimmy.
album? said Jimmy.
– Puttin’ finishin’ touches to our name, said
Outspan.
– Wha’ are yis now?
– And And exclamation mark, righ’? ––––
And, said Derek.
3
– Pilovali sme jméno kapely, zamumlal
Outspan.
– A jak se teda menujete?
– A A vykřičník, je to tak, že? –––– A,
ujišťoval se Derek.
substitution by a hyponym
- 59 -
5.2.1.2.Emotive Expressions
Levý considers (1963: 19) that words with the emotive function and especially diminutives
should not be forgotten while translating. It could be said that the whole tuning of the original
text does not give a chance for a great deal of such expressions, yet some of them appear in the
translation even though they do not bear emotional attitudes very often. Certainly, expressions
like these stylistically enrich the translation as well as lexical derivatives created by means of
prefixes. Here are a few instances of this phenomenon.
the original:
the little fella
a little face
saxík
oul’ fellas
a fair whack
young one
very patient
fluffy
the translation:
ten mrňous
obličejík
sax
staříci
pěkná sumička
holčina
veletrpělivej
měkkoučký
5.2.1.3.Collocations
Knittlová indicates (2000: 56-56) that connotation of colloquiallity helps to create atmosphere
of a situation or define characters by embracing the whole scale of style levels. As it is not easy
to recognize the position in the scale of colloquiality of a lexical unit, the translator should
exploit all means he/she considers adequate for a given situation and style.
The original text particularly required well-balanced colloquial language so that the characters
would act convincingly in concord with their culture and social surroundings. Hence I reached
for colloquial, slang, expressive or pejorative expressions and their various combinations.
I am aware that one may admit that the language the characters were made to speak is not rude
enough because of the rife presence of vulgarisms in the original text. Even though knowing
that majority of these expressions function as intensificators and thus their strength is
extenuated and taking into account the fact that the more frequent occurrence of taboo words
the less their vulgarity (Knittlová 65), I did not mean to shock the readership with a choice of
obscene language. I preferred following Clifford Lander’s advice (2001: 151-152) that while
translating offensive language the translator should firstly concentrate on searching for
- 60 -
“emotional, not literal, equivalents” (e.g. An’ second, I don’t like the cunt. = A za druhý,
nemám toho kripla rád.) and secondly that “at times a zero-translation is the only way to make
an utterance sound natural” (e.g. An’ he made a fuckin’ bomb. = A byla to fakt bomba.).
Here are examples of some Czech equivalents to expressions of informal register in the original
inserted into categories divided according to forms of colloquial Czech from the aspect of style
peculiarity (2000: 78):
a) expressive structures
the original:
wallop
That was the killer argument.
slop
the translation:
dávat do těla
Tak přes tenhle argument nejel vlak.
šlichta
b) colloquial structures
the original:
rapid
mike
the translation:
senzační
mikrák
c) common structures
the original:
locked
fuckin’ locked
the translation:
nalitej
navátej jak pytel
d) slang structures
the original:
Tha’ bollix ratted on us …
culchies
the translation:
Ta krysa na nás bonzovala …
lonťáci
e) vulgar structures
the original:
go up one’s arse
Fuckin’ hell!
Not songs abou’ Fianna fuckin’ Fail…
the translation:
strčit do prdele
No, to mě poser!
Žádný songy o zkurvený republikánský
armádě…
- 61 -
5.2.1.4.Cohesion
Speaking of style, this time in connection with textual equivalence, cohesion is another area
where English differs from Czech and it certainly should not be forgotten. The linguists
Halliday and Hasan remark in the introduction to their book Cohesion in English (1976: 1) this:
If a speaker of English hears or reads a passage of the language which is more than one
sentence lenght, he can normally decide whether it forms a unfied whole or is just a collection
of unrelated sentences.”
If the speaker decides that he has heard or read the whole, he has been, undoubtedly, exposed to
the cohesive text with formal linkage which serves as glue that puts all the text together. Both
the languages conform to different standards of cohesion. English prefers grammatical cohesive
devices (e.g. reference, substitution and ellipsis) while Czech bases textual cohesiveness on
conjunction and lexical cohesion (e.g. repetition, synonymy, antonymy etc.). The following
instance shows an example of varied usage of cohesive devices. To express the same, English
uses final textual ellipsis while it is more natural for the Czech text to repeat the verb that
appears in the discourse earlier.
the original:
D’yis remember your man, Jimmy Clifford?
– Tha’ fuckin’ drip!
– That’s him, said Jimmy. – D’yis ––––
the translation:
Pamatujete na jednoho kluka, Jimmyho
Clifforda?
– Toho poseru?
– Jo, to je on, přikývl Jimmy. – Tak
pamatujete ––––
Knittlová (2000: 29) also comments on the importance of cohesion in her book writing that,
unless the translator does not respect cohesive differences, a traslated text may seem
overorganized or underorganized. She also mentions (29) one of the differences, also visible in
Doyle’s text, that English uses fewer connectors than Czech. Therefore it would be desirable
that I use more of them in the translation. However, I did not intend to unite Doyle’s simple
sentences, which are one of his characteristic stylistic features, into difficult complex ones
because of my primary intention to preserve his unique literary style he is easily recognizable
for. That is why the syntactic structure of the texts does not vary a lot. The following extract is
the result of my endeavour to joint Doyle’s style with the natural Czech way of expression.
- 62 -
the original:
There was nothing you could teach James
the translation:
Nebylo nic, co byste ještě mohli naučit
Clifford about playing the piano. Jimmy had
Jamesa Clifforda o hraní na klavír. Jimmy
him listening to Little Richard. He got James
chtěl, aby poslouchal Little Richarda. Donutil
to thump the keys with his elbows, fists, heels. Jamese bušit do kláves loktama, pěstma i
James was a third-year medical student so he
patama. Jelikož James dělal třetí ročník
was able to tell Jimmy the exact, right word
medicíny, byl schopnej Jimmymu říct přesnej,
for whatever part of his body he was hitting
korektní termín jakékoli část těla, kterou do
the piano with. He was able to explain the
klavíru mlátil. Uměl taky vysvělit, jak moc si
damage he was doing to himself. Jimmy
tím ubližuje. Jimmy ho nemohl přesvědčit,
couldn’t persuade him to give the piano the
aby taky sem tam klavíru uštědřil nějakej ten
odd smack with his forehead. There was too
úder čelem. Bylo až příliš mnoho v sázce. A
much at stake there. Besides, he wore glasses.
kromě toho, nosil brejle.
5.2.2. Pragmatic Differences
What can be regarded as solid ground for the need of the pragmatic translation is perhaps
Levý’s proposition (1963: 28, transl. by Z.P.) that, “the translation should not be a facsimile of
the original but it should influence readers in the same way.”
In an article Pragmatic Translation and Literarism (2009) Newmark defines the pragmatic
factor of translation as “one of the two factors in translation: ‘pragmatic’ denotes the reader’s or
readership’s reception of the translation, as opposed to ‘referential’, which denotes the
relationship between the translation and the extra-linguistic reality it describes”. Besides he also
declares (2009) that, “pragmatic translation is largely tentative and presumptive, as opposed to
refferential translation where the only assumption is that the readers are literate.”
Moreover Newmark develops his definition of the pragmatic factor by stating (2009) that it has
two elements. The first relates to the reader’s characteristics, taking into account important
circumstances such as his/her subject knowledge, linguistic level, source language cultural
familiarity but also less relevant factors such as the reader’s social class, age, sex and the time
elapsed since the writing of the sourse language text. The other factor refers to the language of
the text itself and the reader’s responsivess to it. There are different syntactic ways how to
evoke various moods, e.g. “action is pointed by verbs; description by nouns and adjectives or
- 63 -
adverbs of quality; dialogue by forms of address and tags; injunctions by imperatives or
rhetorical questions; urgency and speed by brief sentences; leisureliness or meditation by long
ones.” (Newmark 2009)
Knittlová devotes a whole chapter of her publication to solving pragmatic differences between
Czech and English. Her practical advice the translator can follow is priceless indeed. She writes
(2000: 81-91) that there are several types of solutions how to bring the reader of the translation
as near as possible to the source language society’s reality and experience. Actually, she
recognises these four categories: adding information, omitting information, substitution by
analogy, and explanatory periphrasis.
To tell the truth, solving pragmatic problems belonged to the most arduous, nevertheless they
were the most enjoyable. The next few lines of the thesis present some fruit of my labours that
fit the categories Knittlová has set.
a) adding information
the original:
Melody Maker and NME
the translation:
hudební časáky Melody Maker a New
Ska. Madness, The Specials.
Musical Express
Hudební žánr ska. Kapely Madness,
Specials.
The suggested examples make it obvious that it was inevitable for me to add some
general classifiers to the names that I supposed to be imcomprehensible for the common
Czech reader. Yet I am aware that those readers who are aquainted with British pop and
rock music may regard my epexegeses redundant and perhaps not very ellegant either.
b) omitting information
the original:
a Baptist reverend on Lennox Avenue in
the translation:
baptistický duchovní z Harlemu
Harlem
The house was a big one on the Howth
Byl to velkej dům poblíž Killesteru….
Road near Killester…
The presented instances foreshadow situations in which the translator can omit some
information without any potential danger of deplation of the text. In my opinion, the
- 64 -
precise specification of the geographical locations in the original text is a component
that is possible to be left out in the translation.
c) substitution by analogy
the original:
– How’s it goin’, said Jimmy.
the translation:
– Čau, pozdravil Jimmy.
– Howyeh, Jim, said Outspan.
– Zdarec, Jime, opáčil Outspan.
– Howayeh, said Derek.
– Čus, nezůstal pozadu Derek.
The first instance adverts to the informal behaviour while greeting. Aware that Knittlová
recommends (2000: 12) to respect social conventions of a relevant language society, I
decided to replace them with informal greeting expressions instead as it is not very
common in the Czech cultural backround use social collocations asking about ‘how the
things are’ among friends.
the original:
Did I sing? At the dinner dance?
Deco had a big fry…
the translation:
Zpíval jsem? Na tom večírku?
Deco si dal pořádnou porci masový
směsi…
He even read his sisters’ Jackie when there Dokonce, když se nikdo nedíval, přelouskl
was no one looking.
Bravo pro dívky, který četly ségry.
The aim of these changes, which are illustrated in the examples above, was to give
names to the objects of the different reality using the equivalets functioning nearly in the
same way. Again, it was necessary to slightly modify the epressions unknown to the
Czech reader in order to produce accurate and naturally sounding text. That is why the
expression ‘dinner dance’ was replaced for ‘večírek’ meaning ‘party’ (people eat and
dance at parties, though); ‘fry’ for ‘masová směs’ meaning ‘meat mixture’ (I admit that
this expression can be polemicised because in case of ‘fry’ the meat version is not the
only option for there is also a vegetarian type.) Coincidentally, even the last instance of
the substitution by analogy could be engaged into controversy. While searching the
Internet for more information about Jackie magazine, I found out that the magazine is
sold on the Czech market as well, which I had had no idea about. Still, in the end I
thought that a magazine Bravo Girl was the one the Czech reader was more familiar
with and he/she could imagine what kind of magazine it was.
- 65 -
d) explanatory periphrases
the original:
I have some Jaffa Cakes here,…
the translation:
Mám tady piškoty s pomerančovou náplní,
…
Although it would be possible to apply substitution by analogy to the presented instance,
I arrived at the conclusion that a periphrasis would be more suitable, for an analogy I
could made up (Jaffa Cakes = Pims) was too typical of the Czech background and hence
confusing or misleading.
On the contrary, the following example taken from the translation is a clear
exemplification that using explanatory periphrasis should be as Knittlová remarks
(2000: 84) the last rough-and-ready solution while transferring an unknown situation or
in these cases rather experience.
the original:
the translation:
He carried his bass low, Stranglers style,… Derek měl svou basovku zavěšenou
proklatě nízko. Odkoukal to od basáka
ze Stranglers,…
5.2.3. Grammatical Differences
Regarding the differencies of the grammatical systems of both the languages, Knittlová (2000:
92) envisages several instances of occasions when the translator faces difficulties connected
with categories of number, gender, tense, aspect, or voice. Besides, I would also mention
negation and word order.
The syntactic field I would like to pay considerable attention is verbal tense. Levý (1963: 19)
remarks to this problem that English tense category is much wider while Czech has a category
of verbal aspect (perfective or imperfective), which helps to overcome the missing tense
category through the usage of aspect prefixes or time adverbs.
In the first place, I present a fragment from the original where the chronological sequence of
sentences is indicated by using two different verbal tenses, i.e. past simple tense and past
perfect simple tense. Translating this I thought that uniting a time adverb ‘předtím’ meaning
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‘before’ and past tense would be the most convenient for clear distinguishing which activity
preceded the other, for it is not possible to be done by the means of different tenses.
the original: Jimmy put a record on the deck. He’d brought the deck and the speakers up from
the front room.
the translation: Jimmy položil desku na otáčivej talíř gramofonu. Už předtím si ho i s repráky
přinesl z obyváku.
The second example again demonstrates how radically dissimilar Czech and English are
concerning tenses. Where English exploits the shift of tense to determine what happened before,
namely in the nominal that-clause, Czech sticks to past tense and the chronological order of
actions is totally clear. In fact the past tense in the subordinate clause defines that its action took
place before the action in the matrix clause. In case the two actions occurred simultaneously, the
verb in the nominal clause would have a form of present tense. In addition, this example
illustrates how Czech can compensate the absence of progressive tenses with the help of
aforementioned verbal aspect, particularly imperfective one, which refers to repeated actions.
the original: … his mother told him that two young fellas had been looking for him.
the translation: … matka ho informovala, že se na něho vyptávali dva mladí kluci.
Except the category of verbal tense, there are other grammatical levels, which have been
forshadowed in the introductory paragraph to this subchapter, causing discrepancies between
English and Czech, for which the translator should find ellegant solutions. Frankly, some
differences the translator does not notice at all because the best solution comes to his mind
immediately and so it does not require any deep cogitating. On the other hand, some that seem
quite innocuous paradoxically take some time to solve. The examples I offer are of both kinds
and they refer to various grammatical categories that have not been dealt with earlier:
a) number
the original:
Tha’ shite’s ou’.
the translation:
Tyhle sračky jsou pryč.
It is known that Czech and English do not concur in number and countability of nouns at
times. The word ‘shite’ meaning ‘nonsense’ is always singular and uncountable in
English while in Czech it is more natural to use plural. The difference of number
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between the expressions conditions the choise of determiners as well as the forms of
verbs.
b) gender
the original:
… by taking your hand off the neck and putting it back …
the translation:
… pustíte krk basový kytary a pak ho znovu uchopíte…
English gender, unlike Czech, refers to biological sex which means that generally
animate personal nouns are classied as male of female. Conversely, in Czech inanimate
objects can belong to all the gender classes that Czech distinguishes – male (the case of
the illustrated noun ‘krk’), female, and neuter. The presented instance also testifies that
the cathegory of gender determines the selection of reference pronouns.
c) verbal voice
the original:
All his rehearsing was done standing up in
the translation:
Vždycky zkoušel vestoje a před zrcadlem.
front of the wardrobe mirror.
They were stunned by what came next.
Jimmy was interested in two of them …
The horse was worn off after two days.
To, co přišlo pak, je dorazilo.
Jimmyho zaujali dva maníci …
Po dvou dnech se už kůň úplně ošoupal.
The fact that passive voice is to be found more frequently in English discourse than in
Czech one is indicated by the proposed examples where the sentences with passive
voice structures withdrawn from the original text are transferred into Czech by the
means of active voice except for the last one where the Czech text uses reflexive passive
voice.
d) negation
the original:
You’d never see Jimmy coming home…
… when there was no one looking.
the translation:
Nikdy byste ho nezahlídli, jak jde domů…
… když se nikdo nedíval…
One of the general rules of English grammar states that it is possible to have only one
form of negation within one clause. Czech, however, does not limit the number of
negative elements within a sentence, which the submitted examples make apparent.
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e) word order
Unlike English word order, the Czech is fairly flexible, yet it is not absolutely random at
all. The principle that is essential to follow is functional sentence perspective.4
It is usual that in Czech that the most dynamic or newest element (rheme) is placed in
the final position:
the original:
He tried to take control of the interview.
the translation:Snažil se nad rozhovorem převzít kontrolu.
In emotive situations, as the following example implies, it is also possible to emphasise
rheme by placing it to the initial position:
the original:
It’s the real thing now.
the translation:Realita, ta teď frčí.
5.2.4. Compensation
The last chapter of the thesis is devoted to compensation, a translation procedure which
“involves making up for the loss of a source text effect by recreating a similar effect in the
target text through means that are specific to the target language and/or text.” (Baker 37)
This technique helped me to stand up to burdensome extracts of the original text, as a matter of
fact it lit up my way when I grope about in the dark. On account of my decision to translate the
passages quoting lyrics of the songs, they finally turned out to be the problems that did not seem
possible to tackle. Newmark’s idea (2009: 143-144) that all can be compensated (mentioning
namely puns, alliteration, rhyme, metaphor, pregnant words) made me not give in and think
about their acceptable treatment.
It has been stated in one of the previous chapters, Handling Music Matters, that names of the
songs and fragments of their lyrics are going to be translated for which, I am inclined to believe,
there are two well-found reasons. First of all, meaning of the lyrics is important for
understanding the story (e.g. James had the good lines. = James měl vynikající slova.).
Secondly, reading of a tangle of English words, all Greek to some readers, might be tiring and
perchance dissuasive from continuing.
4
the organization of a sentence in terms of the role of its elements in distinguishing between old and new
information, esp. the division of a sentence into theme and rheme
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Probably, the most challenging and nightmarish part was to transform the extract describing
James Brown’s song Get Up, I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine. Needless to say, there was no
chance for literal translation. I felt very strongly that the translation had to retain the original
features of both the song (rhythm, rhyme and pace) and James Brown’s speech throughout the
song (fierceness, excitation or agitation) so I repeatedly listened to the song, sang it, combined
various Czech words until the passage sounded at least tolerable.
When rewriting this passage, I supposed the characters of the book to listen to a live recording
of the song. I tried to imagine the scene, atmosphere, concentrated musicians, frenetic audience;
all these seemed to matter in order to transfer the mood of the passage into the translation.
Naturally, some compromises had to be made. They could be regarded as units of compensation
if this would be a physical value and they are instanced in the following lines.
a) The problem with ‘Sex Machine’
the original:
– GET ON UP ––––
the translation:
– JENOM VSTAŇ ––––
James had the good lines.
James měl vynikající slova.
– LIKE A SEX MACHINE AH ––––
– JEDU JAK SEXOMAT ––––
– GET ON UP ––––
– NO TAK VSTAŇ ––––
Due to preserve the rhythm of the song lines, I knew that ‘sexuální stroj’, the literal
translation of the compound ‘sex machine’, would be much longer, thus it could not fit.
Hence a neologism ‘sexomat’ was born blending the word ‘sexuální’ and ‘automat’.
b) The problem with ‘the bridge’
the original:
– Bobby, James called. (Bobby must
the translation:
– Bobby, zavolal James. (Bobby byl
have been the man who kept singing GET
určitě ten chlápek, kterej pořád dokola
ON UP.) – Bobby, said James. – Shall I
zpíval JENOM VSTAŇ.) – Bobby, křičel
take them to the bridge?
James. – Mám zpívat dál?
– Go ahead, said Bobby.
– Jo, rozjeď to, řekl Bobby.
– Take’em all to the bridge.
– Všichni si přejí, abych zpíval dál?
– Take them to the bridge, said Bobby.
– Jo, všichni, řekl Bobby.
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Assuming that the mysterious ‘bridge’ was not a construction over a river, I investigated
the word and discovered that it is a music slang expression for preparing “the listener for
the climax” (Bennett 26). As it would be unsuitable to use similar lexical means for the
Czech reader, I let James Brown keep asking ‘Shall I carry on singing?’
c) The problem with songs unknown to the Czech reader
the original:
Morning Has Broken
… Good God Y’Awl
… Take It To The Bridge Now
the translation:
Můj králi, má spáso
… cítím se fajn
… vem mě dolů k řece
ThastLast instance of compensation is the replacement of songs or their fragments
unfamiliar to the Czech reader with better-known ones that could contribute to deeper
understanding. As far as I am concern, there is not a Czech cover version of a spiritual
song Morning Has Broken that is why it was substituted with another one, the name of
which signalled the environment where it was performed. Similarly, the presented
segments of well known pieces of music in English-speaking countries were superceded
with more acceptable lyrics of songs, particularly I Feel Good by James Brown; Take
Me to the River by Wilson Pickett.
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6.
CONCLUSION
To sum up the effort on my bachelor thesis, I would firstly like to claim how immensely
greatuful I am for my decision to choose the translation and analysis as its topic. Thanks to
devoting a considerable amount of time to it, I have been able to experience that translators’
way to make their living is extremely difficult and time-consuming. I take my hat off to those
who worked on their translations before the Internet was introduced. Yet, I must enunciate that
at the same time translating is highly rewarding and enjoyable. Moreover, I have learned that
translators are not likely to be ever satisfied with their work since every rereading brought
around new expressions or another aspect, simply there was always something that could be
improved.
Apart from a warm feeling when everything was going fine and occasional depressions when I
thought there was no way out, I suppose that the work on my thesis has enriched me in several
areas. Not only has my knowledge of the theory of translation perfected but hopefully, I have
also deepened my academic writing skill, including the research style of references and
citations.
Finally, I would love to express my delight and excitement I had the honour to translate an
extract of Roddy Doyle’s novel into my mother tongue. I frankly believe that I have not caused
any devastating harm to the original text and I have produced a piece that is easily readable and
functioning similarly as the original. As long as the translation would provoke just one reader to
listen to some soul, it would be an indisputable success, which would be a credit to no one else
but Roddy Doyle for he wrote such a splendid book.
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7.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barker, Mona, eds. Routlege Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. London and New York:
Routledge, 1998.
Bennett, Roy. Music Dictionary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Brockes, Emma. “Sexy Dublin. It’s a Con.” The Guardian. 6 Sept 2004: 6.
Doyle, Roddy. The Barrytown Trilogy: The Commitments, The Snapper, The Van. London:
Minerva, 1993.
Halliday, M. A. K., and Ruqaiya Hasan. Cohesion in English. London: Longman, 1976.
Harris, Theodore E., and Richard E. Hodges, eds. The Literacy Dictionary: Vocabulary of Reading
and Writing. Newark: International Reading Association, Inc., 1995.
Knittlová, Dagmar. K teorii i praxi překladu. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci, 2000.
Landers, Clifford E.. Literary Translation: A Practical Guide. Clevendon: Multilingual Matters
Ltd, 2001.
Levý, Jiří. Umění překladu. Praha: Československý spisovatel, 1963.
McCarthy, Dermot. Roddy Doyle. Dublin: Liffley Press, 2003.
Naughton, James. Czech: An Essential Grammar. Bodmin: Routledge, 2005.
Newmark, Peter. About Translation. Clevendon: Multilingual Matters Ltd, 1991.
Peach, Linden. The Contemporary Irish Novel. New York: Palgrave MacMillan 2004.
Wallace, Martin. Famous Irish Writers. Belfast: The Appletree Press, 1999.
White, Caramine. Reading Roddy Doyle. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2001.
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8.
INTERNET SOURCES
Murphy, Jill. “Wilderness by Roddy Doyle.” The Bookbag. 6 Dec 2008.
<http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php/Wilderness_by_Roddy_Doyle>.
Newmark, Peter. “Pragmatic translation and literarism.” Érudit. 13 Sept 2009.
<http://www.erudit.org/revue/TTR/1988/v1/n2/037027ar.pdf>.
Sbrockey, Karen. “Something of a Hero: An Interview with Roddy Doyle”. Literary Review. 29
Nov 2008. <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2078/is_4_42/ai_56184292>.
“Books by Roddy Doyle.” Biblio.com. Biblio, Inc. 6 Dec 2008.
<http://www.biblio.com/author_biographies/2038433/Roddy_Doyle.html>.
“Roddy Doyle.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 29 Nov 2008.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roddy_Doyle>.
“The Commitments.” Publishers Weekly. July 1989. Reed Elsevier, Inc. 29 Nov 2008. <
http://www.publishersweekly.com/community/reviews/47159.html >.
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Summary
The subject of this bachelor’s thesis is a translation of an extract of a prosaic literary work from
English to Czech. The thesis comprises of two chief parts – a practical one, the content of which
is the translation itself, and a theoretical one, where the author instances applying primary
translation principles.
Shrnutí
Předmětem této bakalářské práce je překlad úryvku prozaického literárního díla z anglického do
českého jazyka. Práce zahrnuje dvě hlavní části – praktickou, jejímž obsahem je překlad
samotný, a teoretickou, kde autorka uvádí příklady aplikace základních překladatelských
postupů.
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