Alexandros Papadiamantis and "The Invisible Man" by H.G. Wells

 

By Vangelis Hatzivasiliou, 
Editor of Eleftherotypia, 4/3/2010

The first translation of H. G. Wells' famous novel "The Invisible Man" in Greece was made, anonymously, by Alexandros Papadiamantis.

What does Alexandros Papadiamantis have to do with science fiction and horror literature? And how can he be connected to an author like H. G. Wells and his famous novel "The Invisible Man", which nurtured generations upon generations of readers and translators, as well as writers and artists?

Papadiamantis was, in an unsuspecting time, the anonymous first translator of "The Invisible Man" in Greece. A translator with imagination, resourcefulness, humor and, most importantly, a strongly sarcastic disposition. This, at least, is shown by today's edition of his text by "Kichli", edited by N. D. Triantafyllopoulos and Lambrini Triantafyllopoulos, who spoke about their find four years ago (with an article in the magazine "Nea Estia"), while the case had already been identified in 1987 by Eleni I. Damvounelli (with her announcement in the magazine "Diavazo").

He Used the French Edition

But what exactly is happening with the translation of “The Invisible Man”? A professional translator, Papadiamantis worked for years with good pay in the Athenian press, translating into his juicy and lively katharevousa the most diverse authors: from William Blake and Fyodor Dostoevsky to Mark Twain and Alphonse Daudet. Papadiamantis, like other professionals of the time, often avoided signing his work, as a result of which we are today faced with a multitude of latent translation samples of his, which have only recently been identified and include authors from Anton Chekhov, Bram Stoker and Jerome K. Jerome to E. Siegfried, R. Kipling and Lord Byron.

H.G. Wells' "The Invisible Man" was first published in English in 1897, while its French translation was released in 1901: this was also used by Papadiamantis for the rendering of "The Invisible Man" in the Athenian newspaper "To Asty", in July and August of the same year. As the Triantafyllopoulos' observe in the epilogue of their publication, Papadiamantis translated from both French and English (something unusual for the Athenian intelligentsia of the early 20th century), but it is obvious that the newspaper's management had the French translation in its hands and gave it to him.

Examining the text of the anonymous translation, the editors were led to the conclusion about its perpetrator by what philologists call "internal evidence": linguistic and stylistic evidence, in other words, that certifies the working hypotheses of scientific research. In the case of Papadiamantis in particular, not only internal evidence applies (that unrecognizable style, which allows the use of the Skiathite idiom adorned with the diamonds of a completely personal katharevousa), but also external evidence, such as the public confession of "Asteos" about his translation collaboration with the author.

Behind the Perversion, the Vision

With an ambivalent attitude towards the technological achievements of his time (in this case, X-rays), Wells, who in "The Time Machine" (1895) and "The Island of Doctor Moreau" (1896) contemplates the possible consequences of time travel or worries about genetic experiments (mutation of animals into humans), puts his hero Griffin in an extremely torturous position: on the one hand, he is a great scientist who has fulfilled man's eternal desire to become invisible, on the other, he is a ferocious monster who gleefully spreads his elusive panic, stirring up entire cities with his murderous instincts. The invisible man will, of course, triumphantly lose the game, but Wells will not cease until the last moment to show that behind the depravity and perversion it is possible to linger (even if forever canceled) a high scientific vision.

In full agreement with the spirit of Wells, Papadiamantis will infuse the Greek text with the gloomy climate of the original, preserving, however, especially for the first chapters of the book, a mood of black comedy, which offers our reading today a rare, albeit cynically moistened delicacy. The edition is accompanied, in addition to the editors' note, by a particularly informative epitaph by Peggy Karpouzou on Wells's entire work, while the drawings, which are reminiscent of the style of illustration in 19th-century novel translations, belong to Evi Tsaknia.

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By Mari Theodosopoulou, 
Editor of Eleftherotypia, 3/26/2010

For over a century, H.G. Wells' science fiction novels have been translated and retranslated into many languages, including Greek. Among the most popular of these is "The Invisible Man". It was first published serially in the summer of 1897, in a widely circulated weekly English magazine of the time (Pearson's Weakly) and within the same year it had three book editions. Two were published in England - the second with corrections and an epilogue - and one in America. At the turn of that century, December 1900-January 1901, the first French translation was published. This one too was serialized, in a widely circulated magazine (La Revue de Paris), while in the first months of 1901 it was published as a book. This edition brought Wells to Greece. The book arrived at the office of Dimitris Kaklamanos, then director of the newspaper "To Asty", and was hastily given for translation. From July 14 to August 25, 1901, "Ο Αόρατος", according to the Greek version of the title, was the daily "cover" of the newspaper. However, despite the impact it should have had, it was not published in book form. This may have been due to the fact that Kaklamanos left the newspaper's editorship at the end of the year. In any case, that translation remained hidden in "Asty". We do not know when "The Invisible Man" was first published in our country as a book, nor who did the translation. Bibliography in Greece was considered and, unfortunately, still is considered an unnecessary luxury. However, to this day, it is translated once, if not more than once, every decade.

The first Greek translation seems to have been waiting for the fullness of time to take the form of a book. Its publication coincided with the scientific confirmation of Wells' utopian conception. According to scientists, we are at the dawn of the era of invisible materials. In the near future, leaps are expected in the technology of so-called meta-materials. That is, materials that have the property of deflecting light and therefore becoming invisible. It remains to be seen to what extent the postmodern era will also verify the moral of the Wells novel, that scientific discoveries without humanity bring only pain and destruction.

The myth of the Invisible Man could be described as archetypal, as we find it from Greek mythology to folk tales and from the "Little Hero" to Harry Potter. Wells gave the myth in question the form of an adventurous narrative, which unfolds during the leap year 1896, with intense action and only a scientific flavor. Besides, all the science fiction novels he wrote together at the end of the 19th century were based around the threat of mysterious creatures. The fruits of a fertile imagination, which drew inspiration from scientific discoveries and the fears they caused. In the first chapters of "The Invisible Man", there are vague allusions to the hero's research, which are more reminiscent of the experiments of alchemists. Only in one chapter, the 19th, out of a total of 28, do the descriptions become more specific and acquire a scientific character. The author mixes elements from Biology, which he had studied, with descriptions of experiments, similar to those of Wilhelm Conrad Rüdgen, which had upset the scientific community. Just a year earlier, the German physicist had discovered an unknown radiation, hence the name X-rays, which had the property of rendering certain solid bodies transparent. The hero, explaining his experiments, incidentally mentions the ether, whose existence was, even then, a major scientific problem. Einstein, who would definitively prove its non-existence, had yet to arrive.

In other words, Wells' hero suffered like Apuleius' donkey. In the excitement of his transformation, he did not consider the disadvantages of his new situation. If the donkey could not distinguish rose petals from oleander flowers, he was unable, without a visible form, to move around the city and procure the necessary supplies for his experiments. Inverting the fairy tale, which wants you to become invisible by wearing a cap, he was forced to cover himself with clothes in order to become visible. Then, in order to repeat his alchemy, he abandoned the crowds of London and fled to a village in West Sussex. However, the narrator does not sympathize with the Invisible Man. The entire novel is written from the perspective of those who meet and associate with him. First, the villagers, who come face to face with this visitor wrapped like a mummy, and then a vagrant and an old classmate of his.

At the time, Wells was a thirty-year-old teacher of Chemistry and Physics. Writing novels was a pleasant side job for him, which, over time, proved to be very productive. He sketches characteristic types with ease, recreates popular speech with particular skill, but he is not at all interested in psychological deepening. The two, all and all, heroes, which he creates in "The Invisible Man", seem stereotypes. The Invisible Man is arrogant and without moral inhibitions, a researcher without curiosities, his old classmate, to whom he confides his experiments. The latter, unwavering in his moral principles, is quick to turn his friend in to the Police. Wells' writing has vitality, but no particular literary pretensions. In his later novels, which did not have the same commercial success, he showed a talent as a satirist.

The literary grace that was missing from "The Invisible Man" is offered to it, in the recent edition, by the invisible hand of the translator. Here, in fact, it is literally the hand of an invisible one, since that historic, first translation was the work of an anonymous person. Of course, in a slightly later newspaper article it was mentioned that the “feuilletons” of that year were translated by Papadiamantis. However, the definitive translation of “The Invisible Man” was made by his faithful follower N. D. Triantafyllopoulos. As he claims, there are cases of anonymous translations, where the presence of a single word certifies its authorship by Papadiamantis. That is, something like a trademark. In this particular case, he suggests the word "kourmantela" (κουρμαντέλα), which, in the Skiathitist dialect, means "seesaw". A word that Papadiamantis uses in two of his short stories, with a literal but also a metaphorical meaning. What escapes Triantafyllopoulos’ attention is that this particular word in “The Invisible Man” does not have an English equivalent, but is an addition by the translator. As if Papadiamantis were underlining the genuineness of the translation.

Coincidentally, when Papadiamantis began the translation in question, he was already in the mood for “The Invisible Man.” In the previous year, he had published three short stories with ghosts, witches, and demons, in which there are suggestive scenes of fear from otherworldly events. But the Sussex villagers must have been familiar to him. The way they behave and their festivals remind us of the Skiathos people of his short stories. In the “flap” of the book, an excerpt from a critique by Nikos Phokas on the signed Papadiamantis translation of Alphonsos Daudet’s book, “Tartarin of Tarascon,” is republished. There, however, as Phokas also observes, Papadiamantis was rendering the style of a “master.” Here, the style is Papadiamantis' creation, as shown by both translations, from the '80s and the '90s, which are in circulation. One, in fact, by the hand of a well-known prose writer. Although Papadiamantis' translation would not be characterized as unfaithful, as it remains faithful to the meaning, taking only verbal liberties, we will repeat the slight stereotype that it is as beautiful as it is liberating. Finally, with the discovery and publication of Wells, another valuable piece is added to the unknown image of Papadiamantis as a translator, a work from which he was falsifying.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.