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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.


Title

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


Measurements

The sheet measures approximately 24.9 x 20.8 cm.


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.


Dating

The translation was presumably prepared in 1932.


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.


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“.