Rose Jermusyk's latest update for Puttin’ the Puss in Boots

Apr 1, 2016

Step One: Translating the Translated; Part 1

“Master Cat, or Puss in Boots” is a French literary fairy tale written by Charles Perrault. If you’d like a really solid understanding of what “pulling the ever-lovin’ stuffing out of it” looks like, getting yourself a copy of Jack Zipes’ translation into English is your best bet. Zipes translated the story from French to English, and I’ll be translating his translation from fairy tale to academic essay.

Here’s the first paragraph - which sets up the story - translated sentence by sentence. No mention of any details of the fairy tale here. Instead every single element of the story has been given an incredibly dry equivalent:

Through the inevitable co-mingling of nature and nurture we are educated, imbued with our own singular work ethic, and - at some point - given the opportunity to stand on our own. Sometimes, those who fall under the jurisdiction of nurturer - family, teachers, friends of family, even our own friends - aren’t wholly nurturing and drain the power of our agency without our even realizing it. After so many years of reciting facts and copying figures and following in others’ footsteps, it can be difficult to know exactly what we should do when left to our own devices.

In the second paragraph of the story, our attention is turned to the youngest son of the recently-deceased miller. We are told through the narrator’s voice that he is upset, and he himself has the first line of dialogue in the story in which he explains his difficulty and leaves an opening for the cat. Since actions speak louder than words, and speaking is a kind of dialogue, his speaking his thoughts aloud says more about him and his situation and the possibilities that surround him than anything a narrative voice might say about him; and, so each of the three parts of this second fairy tale paragraph is translated into its own academic paragraph:

As children being denied appetite-spoiling foods or made to take naps, we define freedom as being a grown-up and making our own rules. When we finally reach adulthood we find ourselves confined by larger, societal rules. Every day we see others who thrive within such conventions while we remain in our near-constant state of disbelief regarding our own adultness.

This is made more difficult by our incessant need to compare ourselves to those peers who seem to glide effortlessly from schooldays into adulting without skipping a beat. Our need to connect or fit in is a basic tenet of our humanity and the driving force behind why we try so hard to follow the exact steps to success walked by our peers. It’s what we did as kids and so - because we survived childhood - we try to do it now.

However, when we who are aware that “something is not right” just try to continue on as we always have, the smallest fallback is immensely disheartening. It drives home this idea that we are completely unprepared for the world of adulting and will be doomed forever if we cannot figure out how to do what everyone else manages to be able to do every day. Our only hope for redemption is to embrace failure as an option.

What comes next in the story is the cat, the good stuff, the thing you’ve been waiting for. Next time. 
Story Page