IV.B.14.iii: Occasional Verses

Variant French Translation of “Ecce Puer”: “Voici L’Enfant” (1932)

Material Description and Collation

The manuscript is a loose sheet of grey ruled paper, torn from a tablet: the top edge is ragged and the verso is blank. The manuscript is in an unidentified hand in black ink.

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Title

The manuscript is headed: “Voici l’Enfant.”

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Measurements

The sheet measures approximately 24.9 x 20.8 cm.

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Contents

According to an accompanying note in Beach’s hand, the manuscript is Joyce’s own translation of “Ecce Puer” into French; the text is significantly different from the published version.

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Dating

The translation was presumably prepared in 1932.

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Publication

This version of the translated poem has not been reproduced nor published, but a version translated by Ivan Goll was published as “Ecce Puer” in Le Phare de Neuilly (Neuilly-sur-Seine; No. 2; [March 1933]), between pp. [24] and [25] (Slocum and Cahoon C88 and D33). The location of the holograph manuscript version of “Ecce Puer” in English that was reproduced on p. [25] is not known.

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Notes

The sheet was folded in half both vertically and horizontally and there is a hole in the upper left corner. There is an accompanying note in Beach’s hand in blue ink that reads: “J J’s translation | of Ecce Puer“.