THE LITTLE PRINCE, SHERLOCK HOLMES, ALICE AND OMAR KHAYYAM
As the Italian saying goes: traduttore traditore (the translator is a traitor). Geraint Jennings will betray some of the secrets of his Jèrriais translations. How can one translate the untranslatable, and why should anyone bother? The game is afoot, so let’s go down the rabbit hole of meaning and nonsense with a book of verses underneath the bough, a jug of wine, a loaf of bread … and some readings.
Geraint Jennings has translated (or betrayed) into Jèrriais, among other works, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, some works by Shakespeare, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edward Lear and others, and works from non-English literatures including Robert Burns and Le Petit Prince.
Born in Jersey in 1966 (as was the big Jèrriais dictionary – but that was just coincidence), Geraint Jennings researches Jèrriais literature, writes some of his own – which he has performed regularly – and translates into Jèrriais. Twice winner of the Norman language short story competition, and winner of the JFOW writing competition 2023, he has also collaborated with poets working in other lesser-used languages.
