Translating the Untranslatable: New French Versions of Homer, Virgil, and Dante

A new wave of French translations of classical epics—Homer's Iliad, Virgil's Aeneid, and Dante's Divine Comedy—alongside a collection of essays by Yves Bonnefoy, argues that poetry translation is not about fidelity to the letter but about reviving a living speech. Bonnefoy's L'Autre langue à portée de voix (Seuil) contends that poetry accesses a 'presence' beyond signification, making it the most translatable genre precisely because it touches the incomprehensible. The new translations include Jean-Louis Backès's Iliad (Folio/Gallimard), Paul Veyne's Aeneid (Albin Michel/Les Belles Lettres), and Jean-Charles Vegliante's Divine Comedy (Poésie/Gallimard). The article, by Fabrice Hadjadj, emphasizes that Western literature originates in violence—the Iliad's graphic battle scenes—and that translation must confront this horror. Bonnefoy's approach rejects archaisms and literalism, advocating instead for a creative re-enactment that allows the ancient text to speak anew. The essay also references Peter Brook's decision to translate Shakespeare into French to restore his plays' popular vitality. The piece concludes that the original poem is itself a translation of the unspeakable, and that translation ultimately turns the unspeakable into the ineffable.