A review by joshknape
Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand

5.0

Although I believe I first read Cyrano de Bergerac in another translation (probably Charles Marowitz's), I strongly favor Brian Hooker's English translation, so much that I'm continually annoyed at Anthony Burgess's later translation becoming seemingly more fashionable (not necessarily better). But I feel uncertain of the literal accuracy of Hooker's translation--he was a poet, and may or may not have taken liberties for beauty's sake. It's a translation of Alexandrine verse into blank verse in a different language, by a poet; literal accuracy, inasmuch as it's even possible, wasn't the point. It makes me all the more determined to read the original French when I get around to it. I want to know how closely Hooker captured it.

Despite that the fictional de Bergerac remains a hero of mine, I've also felt less comfortable with his character as I grow older: less able to relate to his egoism, pride and apparent willingness to murder. Killing someone over an insult to one's nose? I can't relate.