Translation and Analysis of The Commitments by Roddy Doyle

MASARYK UNIVERSITY Faculty of Education Department of English Language and Literature

Translation and Analysis of The Commitments by Roddy Doyle Bachelor Thesis

Brno 2009

Supervised by

Written by

Mgr. Martin Němec

Zuzana Pilátová

Declaration I hereby declare that this bachelor thesis is my own work and that the information I used has been acknowledged in the text and included in the reference list. I agree with putting the thesis on public display at Masaryk University for study purposes.

Prohlášení Prohlašuji, ţe jsem tuto bakalářskou práci zpracovala samostatně a ţe informace, které jsem při vypracování pouţívala, řádně cituji s uvedením úplného odkazu na příslušný zdroj. Dávám svolení k tomu, aby byla tato bakalářská práce zpřístupněna na Masarykově univerzitě ke studijním účelům. ………………………………… Zuzana Pilátová

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Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Mgr. Martin Němec for his constant encouragement, expert advice and insightful comments on the text as well as recommending literature.

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Annotation This bachelor thesis is concerned with the translation and subsequent analysis of an extract from the comic novel The Commitments by a leading Irish author Roddy Doyle. Its main goal is to suggest contemporary Czech lexical equivalents to predominantly colloquial expressions typical of the slang of Northside in Dublin in order to preserve Doyle‟s authentic and imaginative dialogue. The work consists of two parts. The first is practical, containing the translation itself. The second, theoretical part analyses the style of the original text as well as the author‟s application of basic translation principles to various translation difficulties.

Anotace Tato bakalářská práce se zabývá překladem a následnou analýzou úryvku z humorného románu ‚The Commitments„ předního irského autora Roddyho Doyla. Hlavním cílem práce je navrhnout současné české ekvivalenty k převáţně hovorovým výrazům typickým pro slang severního Dublinu a zachovat Doylův autentický a nápaditý dialog. Práce zahrnuje dvě části. Praktická obsahuje samotný překlad. Teoretická analyzuje styl původního textu a také autorčino vyuţití základních překladatelských principů při překonávání překladatelských těţkostí.

Key Words The Commitments, Roddy Doyle, translation, translation analysis, equivalence

Klíčová slova The Commitments, Roddy Doyle, překlad, analýza překladu, ekvivalence

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Contents 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 6 1.1. Thrill of Translation ...................................................................................... 6 1.2. Motives and Intentions .................................................................................. 6 1.3. Outline of the Thesis ..................................................................................... 7 2. RODDY DOYLE ......................................................................................................... 8 3. THE COMMITMENTS ............................................................................................. 10 4. PRACTICAL PART .................................................................................................. 11 5. THEORETICAL PART ............................................................................................. 51 5.1. Process of Translation ................................................................................. 51 5.1.1. Understanding ............................................................................... 51 5.1.2 Interpretation.................................................................................. 52 5.1.2.1. Language........................................................................ 52 5.1.2.2. Personal and Geographical Names ................................ 53 5.1.2.3. Music Matters ................................................................ 54 5.1.2.4. Polysemous Words ........................................................ 55 5.1.2.5. Title ................................................................................ 56 5.1.3. Rewriting ...................................................................................... 58 5.2. Equivalence in Practice ............................................................................... 59 5.2.1. Stylistic Differences...................................................................... 60 5.2.1.1. Reporting Verbs ............................................................. 60 5.2.1.2 Emotive Expressions ...................................................... 62 5.2.1.3. Collocations ................................................................... 62 5.2.1.4. Cohesion ........................................................................ 64 5.2.2. Pragmatic Differences .................................................................. 65 5.2.3. Grammatical Differences .............................................................. 69 5.2.4. Compensation ............................................................................... 72 6. CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................... 75 7. BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................... 76 8. INTERNET SOURCES ............................................................................................. 77

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1. INTRODUCTION Thrill of Translation This bachelor thesis deals with the translation and subsequent analysis of an extract from the short novel The Commitments. The reason why I have chosen practical translation and analysis as a topic of my work were the translation seminars which I was attending and thoroughly enjoying. There I discovered that translation is like a rollercoaster ride, so thrilling and sensational. It brings not only boundless joy, excitement and satisfaction, but also frustration, gloom and despair. Undoubtedly, translators experience the first when their own text and the original merge into one, when they are like soul mates operating on the same wavelength. However, translators sometimes get stuck in an often apparently uncomplicated expression or phrase. Then the latter comes. Overcoming the problem certainly takes some time. Once you solve it, you are raring to get into a car, fasten your seatbelt and take another breathtaking round.

Motives and Intentions The book I have chosen for the translation is one by a contemporary Irish author Roddy Doyle which has not been translated into the Czech language so far. I came across this book in the early 1990s after having seen a feature film by Alan Parker that was based on it. I was overwhelmed with its life and energy. Truly, it filled me with a desire to be one of the heroes and the next logical step was to reach for the book since I was eager to learn more about each character. Finding out it was not on the market at bookshops at that time, my disappointment was vast. Luckily, I obtained an English version of the book and it has been one of my favourites since. Reading it for the first time, I struggled with a transcription of Irish slang. To be frank, it took me a long time to wade through. Neverthless I have returned many times and finally appreciated the humour, style, mood and even rhythm of the speech which the book offers. The novel seems to be extremely challenging for translators all over the world because at least half of the book is “the eccentrically rendered dialogue, full of constant profanity and raucous,

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repetitive slang of North Dublin speech, and therefore it contains many delightful Irish turns of English phrases.” (Peach 131). In my own translation, I try to do my best to preserve all the features (including the graphic arrangement of the novel) which make the book so specific and easily recognisable. An idea has struck my mind that the expressions significant for North Dublin slang could be translated by Brno slang phrases while transferring all the colloquial speech into Czech could be done by the means of using word endings of the variety about which a linguist Naughton (2005 2) writes: People may refer to this variety as hovorová čeština „colloquial Czech‟; the term has sometimes been used for a slightly relaxed version of the standard language, avoiding more literary or „bookish‟ features, but still more or less standard in phonetics and grammar.

Outline of the Thesis The following pages of the thesis will be devoted to Roddy Doyle, the author of the book, as well as to the novel itself. Then the practical part will follow, the content of which is my own solution to the translation. Finally, in the theoretical part I will fix my attention to the theoretical principles of translation and their application in the previous part. There will be a section based predominantly on Levý‟s publication Umění překladu where I will try to indicate how the process of translation itself developed from the very basics to the final version taking into account the majority of Levý‟s recommendations he sets down. Another part dedicated to the examination of equivalence will be relied on Knittlová‟s work K teorii i praxi překladu. Basically, its aim is to provide examples whereby it is possible to demonstrate that the theory applies to the translation.

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2. RODDY DOYLE

Martin Wallace (1999: 109) in his collection of brief biographies of the great men and women of Ireland writes that Roddy Doyle, who was born on 8 May 1958, worked as an English and Geography teacher at Greendale Community School in Northside Dublin, in an area known as Kilbarrack which later became the Barrytown of his novels. Roddy Doyle‟s literary debut The Commitment, the first Fig. 1 Roddy Doyle

novel of The Barrytown Trilogy published in 1987, chronicles the rise and fall of an Irish Soul band founded

by Jimmy Rabbitte. The story of the Rabbitte family continues in two following novels The Snapper (1990) and The Van (1991). The first one deals with the unexpected pregnancy of Jimmy Rabbitte‟s young unmarried sister Sharon. Sharon refuses to name the father and becomes the talk of the town. This is not much of surprise in Ireland “which had not wholly shed its Catholic Puritanism.” (Wallace 109). Having lost his job, The Van‟s hero, Jimmy Rabbitte Senior, sets up in business as a take-away food seller. This character is often indicated as “one of the most memorable figures in modern Irish fiction.” (Wallace 109). Although The Van was nominated for the Booker Prize, the book which actually won this prestigious prize in 1993 was Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. The novel is situated in the Barrytown of the late sixties and it studies how the breakdown of marriage influences a ten-year-old child. It certainly concerns darker matters than the previous works and this tendency develops in further writings such The Woman Who Walked into the Doors (1996), A Star Called Henry (1999), Oh, Play That Thing! (2004), Paula Spencer (2006), Chicago Blues (2006) and The Deportees and Other Stories (2008). Apart from writing for adult readers, Doyle is also a successful author of several children‟s books, one of which, The Wilderness, Jill Murphy (2008) highly recommends saying that, “A gorgeous family drama split between an ice safari in Finland and a mother-daughter reunion

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in Dublin. Doyle's perfect ear for dialogue and unerring ability to tap into emotional dynamics lift this book far above most of the competition.” Except modifying his novels to screenplays, Doyle has produced two dramas so far. “His plays Brownbread (1987) and War (1989) were successes for the Dublin-based theatre company Passion Machine.” (Wallace 109). Undoubtedly, Roddy Doyle is a popular author. Although he is sometimes criticized for “his „unflattering‟ depiction of modern Ireland” (McCarthy 2003), he belongs, as Caramine White (2001 1) states, “to the brightest stars on the Irish literary scene today for his innovative use of language; his manipulation of his audience's reaction via comedy and humour; the role, however slight, of religion and politics; and his overall social vision.” Curious and disappointing it is that Roddy Doyle‟s works, internationally famous though, have been almost ignored by Czech publihers, with three exceptions: Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, Yeats is Dead! (a novel written by fifteen leading Irish authors together), and Speaking of the Angel (a collection of short stories by various authors compiled by Nick Hornby).

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3. THE COMMITMENTS The book takes place in a fictitious part of Dublin, called Barrytown, in the 1980s Ireland, a country which Emma Brocks (2006: 6) describes as “violent, impoverished, and flattened by the church.” It suffers from political instability, corruption as well as economic problems causing high unemployment and mass emigration. Most Barrytown inhabitants cannot face their grim fate and seek their comfort in heavy drinking or sometimes perpetrate a crime to cater their needs. However, Jimmy Rabbitte, the main character, knows a better way to escape from everyday misery. “Obsessed with James

Fig. 2 The cover of the first edition

Brown, Percy Sledge and other rhythm-and-blues greats from across the ocean, he organizes the „world's hardest working band,‟ made up of fellow Dubliners, and sets out to teach the town a lesson about soul.” (Publishers Weekly 1989). “The band slowly becomes more and more musically competent and draws bigger and more enthusiastic audiences. But after a concert the band falls apart when a fight ensues – all while Jimmy is negotiating to record the band's first single with an independent label.” (McCarthy 53). At first sight, the novel, which “depends heavily on the foulmouthed conversation of its working class Dubliners” (Wallace 109), seems to be nothing more than a great comedy but after a detailed inspection, you can reveal other layers, such as the characters‟ hope for better tomorrows, their search for identity or desire to excel. Not only the book but also the film and its soundtrack were all massively popular in the 1990s. Of course, there are some differences between the book and film, “the most obvious being that the novel was composed mostly of dialogue, with hardly any physical description; the movie concentrated much more on the collapse of Dublin's inner city.” (White 61). Roddy Doyle mocks the success of the Commitments stating that, “It's a big con job. We have sold the myth of Dublin as a sexy place incredibly well; because it is a dreary little dump most of the time.” (Brocks 6).

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4. PRACTICAL PART THE COMMITMENTS

THE COMMITMENTS - kapela, co mohla změnit svět

– We‟ll ask Jimmy, said Outspan. –

– Zeptáme se Jimmyho, řekl Outspan. –

Jimmy‟ll know.

Jimmy se vyzná.

Jimmy Rabbitte knew his music. He knew

Jimmy Rabbitte se v muzice vyznal.

his stuff alright. You‟d never see Jimmy

Vyznal se v ní dost dobře. Nikdy byste ho

coming home from town without a new

nezahlídli, jak jde domů z města bez novýho

album or a 12-inch or at least a 7-inch

elpíčka nebo aspoň singlu. Kaţdej tejden

single. Jimmy ate Melody Maker and the

zhltnul hudební časáky Melody Maker a New

NME every week and Hot Press every two

Musical Express a kaţdej druhej Hot Press.

weeks. He listened to Dave Fanning and

Poslouchal v rádiu Davea Fanninga a Johna

John Peel. He even read his sisters‟ Jackie

Peela. Dokonce, kdyţ se nikdo nedíval,

when there was no one looking. So Jimmy

přelouskl Bravo pro dívky, který četly ségry.

knew his stuff.

Takţe Jimmy se fakticky vyznal.

The last time Outspan had flicked through

Kdyţ se Outspan naposledy probíral

Jimmy‟s records he‟d seen names like

Jimmyho sbírkou desek, natrefil na jména

Microdisney, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Otis

jako Microdisney, Eddie and the Hot Rods,

Redding, The Screaming Blue Messiahs,

Otis Redding, Screaming Blue Messiahs,

Scraping Foetus off the Wheel (– Foetus,

Scraping Foetus off the Wheel (– Foetus,

said Outspan. – That‟s the little young fella

zamyslel se Outspan. – To je ten mrňous

inside the woman, isn‟t it?

uvnitř ţenskýho břicha, ţe? Je to z latiny, ne?

– Yeah, said Jimmy.

– Jasně, přikývl Jimmy.

– Aah, that‟s fuckin‟ horrible, tha‟ is.);

– Fuj, to je fakt děsný jméno.); byly to

groups Outspan had never heard of, never

kapely, o kterých Outspan v ţivotě neslyšel,

mind heard. Jimmy even had albums by

natoţ aby je slyšel hrát. Jimmy měl dokonce

Frank Sinatra and The Monkees.

alba Franka Sinatry a Monkees.

So when Outspan and Derek decided,

Kdyţ byl Ray na pánech, Outspan

while Ray was out in the jacks, that their

s Derekem se shodli, ţe kapela potřebuje

group needed a new direction they both

novej směr. Oba dva přitom pomysleli na

thought of Jimmy. Jimmy knew what was

Jimmyho. Jimmy věděl, co a jak. Věděl, co je

what. Jimmy knew what was new, what

nový. Věděl, co je nový, ale mít dlouhýho

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was new but wouldn‟t be for long and what

trvání, a taky, co nový bude. Jimmy měl singl

was going to be new. Jimmy had Relax

Buď v klidu dávno předtím, neţ kdokoliv

before anyone had heard of Frankie Goes to

slyšel o Frankie Goes to Hollywood a začal

Hollywood and he‟d started slagging them

je zatracovat dřív, neţ si lidi uvědomili, ţe

months before anyone realized that they

stojej za starou belu. Jimmy se v muzice

were no good. Jimmy knew his music.

vyznal.

Outspan, Derek and Ray‟s group, And

Kapela AAA, jejíţ členové byli Outspan,

And And, was three days old; Ray on the

Derek a Ray, byla tři dny stará; Ray hrál

Casio and his little sister‟s glockenspiel,

na klávesy Casio a xylofon mladší ségry,

Outspan on his brother‟s acoustic guitar,

Outspan na bráchovu akustickou kytaru a

Derek on nothing yet but the bass guitar as

Derek zatím na nic, ale basovku si pořídí

soon as he‟d the money saved.

hned, jak našetří nějaký prašule.

– Will we tell Ray? Derek asked.

– Řeknem to Rayovi? zeptal se Derek.

– Abou‟ Jimmy? Outspan asked back.

– Jako o Jimmym? odpověděl otázkou Outspan.

– Yeah.

– Jo.

––––– Better not.

–––––– Radši ne.

Outspan was trying to work his thumb in

Outspan se snaţil palcem odstranit nálepku

under a sticker, This Guitar Kills Fascists,

s nápisem ,Tato kytara zabíjí fašisty„, kterou

his brother, an awful hippy, had put on it.

mu na ni nalepil brácha, ten otravnej hipík.

– There‟s the flush, he said. – He‟s comin‟ back. We‟ll see Jimmy later.

– Slyším, jak splachuje, řekl. – Uţ se vrací. Sejdem se s Jimmym pozdějc.

They were in Derek‟s bedroom.

Byli v Derekově pokoji.

Ray came back in.

Ray se vrátil.

– I was thinkin‟ there, he said. – I think

– Trochu sem tam přemýšlel, řekl. –

maybe we should have an exclamation

Myslím, ţe bysme moţná měli dát do jména

mark, yeh know, after the second And in

vykřičník za druhý A.

the name. – Wha?

– Co?

– It‟d be And And exclamation mark,

– Bylo by to AA vykřičník A, jasný?

righ‟, And. It‟d look deadly on posters. Outspan said nothing while he imagined

Plakáty by vypadaly brutálně. Outspan si je v duchu mlčky představil.

it.

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– What‟s an exclamation mark? said

– Co je to vykřičník? nechápal Derek.

Derek. – Yeh know, said Ray.

– Ale to víš, přesvědčoval ho Ray.

He drew a big one in the air.

A namaloval velikánskej vykřičník do vzduchu.

– Oh, yeah, said Derek. – An‟ where d‟yeh want to put it again?

– Aha, pochopil Derek. – A kamţe ho chceš dát?

– And And,

– A A,

He drew a big one in the air.

Znovu namaloval vykřičník do vzduchu.

– And.

– A.

– Is it not supposed to go at the end?

– Neměl by ho spíš strčit na konec?

– It should go up his arse, said Outspan,

– Ať si ho strčí třeba do prdele, zabručel

picking away at the sticker.

Outspan a dál odlupoval nálepku.

* * *

* * *

Jimmy was already there when Outspan and Derek got to the Pub.

Jimmy uţ čekal v hospodě, kdyţ tam dorazili Outspan s Derekem.

– How‟s it goin‟, said Jimmy.

– Čau, pozdravil Jimmy.

– Howyeh, Jim, said Outspan.

– Zdarec, Jime, opáčil Outspan.

– Howayeh, said Derek.

– Čus, nezůstal pozadu Derek.

They got stools and formed a little

Postavili si stoličky u baru do půlkruhu.

semicircle at the bar. – Been ridin‟ anythin‟ since I seen yis last? Jimmy asked them.

– Tak co, vojeli jste někoho od posledně? zeptal se jich Jimmy.

– No way, said Outspan. – We‟ve been

– Ani náhodou, prohlásil Outspan. –

much too busy for tha‟ sort o‟ thing. Isn‟t

Nemáme na takový voloviny vůbec čas, no

tha‟ right?

ne?

– Yeah, that‟s righ‟, said Derek.

– Jo, to je fakt, souhlasil Derek.

– Puttin‟ the finishin‟ touches to your

– Pilovali ste album? provokoval je

album? said Jimmy.

Jimmy.

– Puttin‟ finishin‟ touches to our name, said Outspan.

– Pilovali sme jméno kapely, zamumlal Outspan.

– Wha‟ are yis now?

– A jak se teda menujete?

– And And exclamation mark, righ‟? –––

– A A vykřičník, je to tak, ţe? –––– A,

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– And, said Derek.

ujišťoval se Derek.

Jimmy grinned a sneer.

Jimmy se ušklíbl.

– Fuck, fuck, exclamation mark, me. I bet

– Vyhul, vyhul, vykřičník, mě. Vsadím se,

I know who thought of tha‟.

ţe vím, kdo tohle vymyslel.

– There‟ll be a little face on the dot, righ‟, Outspan explained.

– Na tečce bude obličejík, víš? vysvětloval Outspan.

– An‟ yeh know the line on the top of it? That‟s the dot‟s fringe.

– A ta čárka nad tečkou bude jakoby ofina toho ksichtu.

– Black an‟ whi‟e or colour?

– Bude to černobílý nebo v barvě?

– Don‟t know.

– Nevíme.

– It‟s been done before, Jimmy was

– To uţ tady bylo. Jimmyho těšilo, ţe jim

happy to tell them. – Ska. Madness, The

můţe udělat přednášku. – Hudební ţánr ska.

Specials. Little black an‟ whi‟e men. ––––

Kapely Madness, Specials. Chlápci v

I told yis, he hasn‟t a clue.

černobílým. ––––– Říkám vám, ţe neví, co ţvaní.

–––––– Yeah, said Outspan.

––––––– Asi ne, přitakal Outspan.

– He owns the synth though, said Derek.

– Ale má přece synťáky, namítl Derek.

– Does he call tha‟ fuckin‟ yoke a synth?

– Říká tomu bazmeku synťáky? zamrkal

said Jimmy.

překvapeně Jimmy.

– Annyway, no one uses them anymore. It‟s back to basics.

– Dneska uţ je stejně nikdo nepouţívá. Návrat ke kořenům, ten je teď in.

– Just as well, said Outspan. – Cos we‟ve fuck all else.

– Ještě ţe tak, oddechl si Outspan. – Protoţe my kurva nic jinýho nemáme.

– Wha‟ tracks are yis doin‟? Jimmy

– Jaký songy dáváte? ptal se Jimmy.

asked. – Tha‟ one, Masters and Servants.

– No tamto, Masters and Servants.

– Depeche Mode?

– Depeche Mode?

– Yeah.

– No jo.

Outspan was embarrased. He didn‟t know

Outspan se cítil trapně. Nevěděl proč. Ta

why. He didn‟t mind the song. But Jimmy

písnička mu nevadila, ale Jimmy se na něho

has a face on him.

jen nevěřícně podíval.

– It‟s good, tha‟, said Derek. – The words are good, yeh know –––– good.

– Vţdyť je dobrá, prohlásil Derek. – Slova jsou schopný, no prostě –––– schopný.

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– It‟s just fuckin‟ art school stuff, said Jimmy.

– Je to jen matroš z umělecký školy, řekl Jimmy.

That was the killer argument, Outspan knew, although he didn‟t know what it

Tak přes tenhle argument nejel vlak. Outspan to věděl, i kdyţ netušil, co znamená.

meant. Derek did.

Ale Derek byl v obraze.

– Hang on, Jimmy, he said. – That‟s not

– Moment, Jimmy, spustil. – Tohle není

fair now. The Beatles went to art school.

fér. Na uměleckou školu chodili i Beatlesáci.

– That‟s different.

– To je něco jinýho.

– Me hole it is, said Derek. – An‟ Roxy

– No jasně! A já sem tvoje babička,

Music went to art school an‟ you have all

rozhořčil se Derek. – A taky Roxy Music

their albums, so yeh can fuck off with

chodili na uměleckou a ty máš všechny jejich

yourself.

desky, takţe se můţeš jít vycpat.

Jimmy was fighting back a redner.

Jimmy se úporně snaţil, aby nezrudl poníţením.

– I didn‟t mean it like tha‟, he said. – It‟s

– Takhle jsem to nemyslel, vytáčel se. –

not the fact tha‟ they went to fuckin‟ art

To, ţe chodili do posraný umělecký školy,

school that‟ wrong with them. It‟s – (Jimmy

není blbý. Spíš – (Jimmy horkotěţko hledal

was struggling.) – more to do with – (Now

správný slova.) – spíš to má co dělat – (Teď

he had something.) –––– the way their

uţ něco měl.) –––– s tím, ţe jejich věci,

stuff, their songs like, are aimed at gits like

jejich songy, sou zaměřený na stejný kretény,

themselves. Wankers with funny haircuts.

jako sou voni sami. Vypatlaní vocasi, co maj

An‟ rich das. –––– An‟ fuck all else to do

směšný vlasy. A bohatý tatíky. –––– A celý

all day „cept prickin‟ around with synths.

dny nic jinýho na práci kromě poflakování se u synťáků.

– Tha‟ sounds like me arse, said Outspan. – But I‟m sure you‟re righ'.

– To by se jeden poblil, řekl Outspan. – Ale určitě máš recht.

– Wha‟ else d‟yis do?

– Co ještě dáváte?

– Nothin‟ yet really, said Derek. – Ray

– Uţ nic, fakt, řekl Derek. – Ray chce dělat

wants to do tha‟ one, Louise. It‟s easy.

tamtu, Louisu. Není těţká.

– Human League?

– Od Human League?

– Yeah.

– Jo.

Jimmy pushed his eyebrows up and

Jimmy obrátil oči v sloup a hvízdnul.

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whistled. They agreed with him.

Tak v tomhle byli zajedno.

Jimmy spoke. – Why exactly –––– d‟yis

Jimmy si vzal slovo. – Proč vlastně chcete

want to be in a group?

hrát v kapele?

– Wha‟ d‟yeh mean? Outspan asked. He approved of Jimmy‟s question though.

– Proč se ptáš? zeptal se Outspan, i kdyţ tu otázku schvaloval. Mířila na to, co ho

It was getting to what was bothering him,

znepokojovalo a Dereka pravděpodobně

and probably Derek too.

taky.

– Why are yis doin‟ it, buyin‟ the gear, rehearsin‟? Why did yis form the group?

– Tak proč to děláte? Proč kupujete vybavení? Proč zkoušíte? Proč zakládáte kapelu?

– Well ––––

– No –––––

– Money?

– Chechtáky?

– No, said Outspan. – I mean, it‟d be nice.

– Ne, řekl Outspan. – Teda nebyly by

But I‟m not in it for the money.

marný, ale nedělám to pro prachy.

– I amn‟t either, said Derek.

– Já taky ne, přidal se Derek.

– The chicks?

– Buchty?

– Jaysis, Jimmy!

– Jeţiši, Jimmy!

– The brassers, yeh know wha‟ I mean.

– Štětule přece, však víte, co myslím.

The gee. Is tha‟ why?

Kundičky. Tak proto?

–––– No, said Derek.

––––– Ne, odporoval Derek.

– The odd ride now an‟ again would be

– I kdyţ by bylo super si sem tam zašukat,

alrigh‟ though wouldn‟t it? said Outspan.

ne? poznamenal Outspan.

– Ah yeah, said Derek. – But wha‟

– Jo, to jo, přitakal Derek. – Ale Jimmy se

Jimmy‟s askin‟ is is tha‟ the reason we got

ptá, jestli tohle je důvod, proč sme dali

the group together. To get our hole.

kapelu dohromady. Zasunout do díry.

– No way, said Outspan.

– Ani náhodou, řekl Outspan.

– Yis want to be different, isn‟t tha‟ it?

– Chcete se lišit, je to tak? Chcete se sebou

Yis want to do somethin‟ with yourselves,

něco udělat, ţe jo?

isn‟t tha‟ it? – Sort of, said Outspan.

– Tak něco, souhlasil Outspan.

– Yis don‟t want to end up like (he

– Nechcete skončit jako (pohodil hlavou

nodded his head back) – these tossers here.

dozadu) – tamti vykradení uboţáci. Nemám

- 16 -

Amn‟t I righ‟?

pravdu?

Jimmy was getting passionate now. The lads enjoying watching him. – Yis want to get up there an‟ shout I‟m Outspan fuckin‟ Foster.

Jimmy se pěkně rozparádil. Kluci ho se zájmem pozorovali. – Chceš přece vstát a zařvat: Já sem Outspan Foster, do prdele.

He looked at Derek.

Koukl na Dereka.

– An‟ I‟m Derek fuckin‟ Scully, an‟ I‟m

– A já sem, do prdele, Derek Scully a

not a tosser. Isn‟t that righ‟? That‟s why

nejsem ţádnej uboţák. Je to tak? Tak proto to

yis‟re doin‟ it. Amn‟t I righ‟?

děláte? Mám recht?

– I s‟pose yeh are, said Outspan.

– Jo, asi máš, řekl Outspan.

– Fuckin‟ sure I am.

– To si kurva piš.

– With the odd ride thrown in, said

– Jo a taky kvůli příleţitostný šoustačce,

Derek.

připomněl Derek.

They laughed.

Rozesmáli se.

Then Jimmy was back on his track again.

A Jimmy byl zase na koni.

– So if yis want to be different what‟re yis

– Takţe kdyţ chcete vyniknout, nemůţete

doin‟ doin‟ bad versions of other people‟s

hrát špatný verze stupidních songů od jinejch

poxy songs?

lidí.

That was it. He was right, bang on the nail. They were very impressed. So was

To bylo ono. Měl pravdu, trefil hřebík na hlavičku. Jimmy je ohromil. A sebe taky.

Jimmy. – Wha‟ should we be doin‟ then? Outspan asked.

– A co bysme teda měli hrát? zeptal se Outspan.

– It‟s not the other people‟s songs so much, said Jimmy. – It‟s which ones yis do.

– Ani tak nevadí, ţe hrajete songy jinejch, zamyslel se Jimmy. – Záleţí na tom, který hrajete.

– What‟s tha‟ mean?

– Jak to myslíš?

– Yeh don‟t choose the songs cos they‟re

– Nevybíráte si songy, protoţe jsou lehký a

easy. Because fuckin‟ Ray can play them

protoţe je ten ichtyl Ray zahraje dvěma

with two fingers.

prstama.

– Wha‟ then? Derek asked?

– A jaký teda? chtěl vědět Derek.

Jimmy ignored him.

Jimmy ho ignoroval.

– All tha‟ mushy shite abou‟ love an‟

– Dneska uţ neletí všechny ty přeslazený

- 17 -

fields an‟ meetin‟ mots in supermarkets an‟

hovadiny o lásce a o tom, jak se se svou

McDonald‟s is gone, ou‟ the fuckin‟

kočkou scházíš v obchoďáku nebo mekáču.

window. It‟s dishonest, said Jimmy. – It‟s

To je dávná historie. A taky samej podraz,

bourgeois.

kázal Jimmy. – Je to burţoazní.

– Fuckin‟ hell!

– No, to mě poser!

– Tha‟ shite‟s ou‟. Thank Jaysis.

– Tyhle sračky jsou pryč. Díky bohu.

– What‟s in then? Outspan asked him.

– A co teda letí? zeptal se ho Outspan.

– I‟ll tell yeh, said Jimmy. – Sex an‟

– To vám hned prozradím, řekl Jimmy. –

politics.

Sex a politika.

– WHA‟?

– CO?

– Real sex. Not mushy I‟ll hold your hand

– Skutečnej sex. Ne sentimentální kraviny

till the end o‟ time stuff. –––– Ridin‟.

typu ,budu tě drţet za ruku do skonání světa„.

Fuckin‟. D‟yeh know wha‟ I mean?

––––– Šoustání. Šukání. Snad víte, o čem mluvím, ne?

– I think so.

– Asi jo.

– Yeh couldn‟t say Fuckin‟ in a song, said

– Nemůţeš mít v písničce slovo šukat,

Derek.

ohradil se Derek. – A ani kurva nemůţeš říct.

– Where does the fuckin‟ politics come into it? Outspan asked.

– A jak tam dostaneme tu podělanou politiku? byl zvědavý Outspan.

– Yeh‟d never get away with it.

– To ti nikdy neprojde.

– Real politics, said Jimmy.

– Opravdickou politiku, trval na svém Jimmy.

– Not in Ireland annyway, said Derek. –

– V Irsku nikdy, prohlásil Derek. – Moţná

Maybe England. But they‟d never let us on

v Anglii. Ale do Top of the Pops nás stejně

Top o‟ the Pops.

nikdy nepozvou.

– Who the fuck wants to be on Top o‟ the Pops? said Jimmy.

– Kurva, kdo by chtěl vystupovat v Top of the Pops? vybuchl Jimmy.

Jimmy always got genuinely angry

Jimmy se pokaţdý váţně rozčílil, kdyţ

whenever Top of the Pops was mentioned

někdo zmínil hitparádu Top of the Pops.

although he never missed it.

Nikdy se však nezapomněl dívat.

– I never heard anyone say it on The Tube either, said Derek.

– Ani jsem neslyšel, ţe by to někdo řekl v Tube, poznamenal Derek. A to je větší vodvaz.

- 18 -

– I did, said Outspan. – Your man from

– To já jo, řekl Outspan. – Jeden chlap,

what‟s their name said it tha‟ time the mike

z těch, jak se jenom menujou, to řek, kdyţ ho

hit him on the head.

mikrák trefil do palice.

Derek seemed happier.

Derek vypadal šťastnějc.

Jimmy continued. He went back to sex.

Jimmy vysvětloval dál. Znovu mluvil o sexu.

– Believe me, he said. – Holdin‟ hands is

– Věřte mně, řekl. – Drţení za ruce je

ou‟. Lookin‟ at the moon, tha‟ sort o‟ shite.

v tahu. Čumění na měsíc a jiný srance.

It‟s the real thing now.

Realita, ta teď frčí.

He looked at Derek.

Podíval se na Dereka.

– Even in Ireland. –––––– Look, Frankie

– Dokonce i v Irsku. –––––– Hele, Frankie

Goes To me arse were shite, righ‟?

Goes to Hulivůd stáli za hovno, ţe jo?

They nodded.

Přikývli.

– But Jaysis, at the least they called a

– Ale jeţiši, aspoň nazvali kuřbu kuřbou a

blow job a blow job an‟ look at all the units

koukejte, co vydali vinylů.

they shifted? – The wha‟?

– Čeho?

– Records.

– Desek.

They drank.

Napili se.

Then Jimmy spoke. – Rock an‟ roll is all

Pak Jimmy zase spustil. – Celej rokenrol je

abou‟ ridin‟. That‟s wha‟ rock an‟ roll

o šukání. Tohle rokenrol znamená. Věděli ste

means. Did yis know tha‟? (They didn‟t.) –

to? (Nevěděli.) – No, tak tomu kdysi říkali

Yeah, that‟s wha‟ the blackies in America

černoši v Americe. Takţe teď je ta pravá

used to call it. So the time has come to put

chvíle na návrat šoustačky do rokenrolu.

the ridin‟ back into rock an‟ roll. Tongues,

Jazyky, dírky, frndy, samotná klepačka.

gooters, boxes, the works. The market‟s

Výběr je širokej.

huge. – Wha‟ abou‟ this politics?

– A co ta politika?

– Yeah, politics. –––– Not songs abou‟

– No jo, politika. –––– Ţádný songy

Fianna fuckin‟ Fail or annythin‟ like tha‟.

o zkurvený republikánský armádě nebo něco

Real politics. (They weren‟t with him.) –

takovýho. Skutečná politika. (Nechytali se.)

Where are yis from? (He answered the

– Odkud ste? (Odpověděl si sám.) –

question himself.) – Dublin. (He asked

Z Dublinu. (Ptal se dál.) Z který části

- 19 -

another one.) – Wha‟ part o‟ Dublin?

Dublinu? Z Barrytownu. Do který třídy

Barrytown. Wha‟ class are yis? Workin‟

patříte? Dělnický. Ste na to pyšný? Jasně, ţe

class. Are yis proud of it? Yeah, yis are.

ste. (Pak následovala praktická otázka.) –

(Then a practical question.) – Who buys the

Kdo kupuje nejvíc desek? Dělnická třída.

most records? The workin‟ class. Are yis

Chápete? (Ne tak docela.) – Vaše hudba by

with me? (Not really.) – Your music should

měla bejt o tom, odkud pocházíte a jací ste. –

be abou‟ where you‟re from an‟ the sort o‟

––––– Tak jen to řekni, zařvi z plnejch plic,

people yeh come from. –––––– Say it once,

sem černej a hrdej na svůj lid.

say it loud, I‟m black an‟ I‟m proud. They looked at him.

Nechápavě se na něho podívali.

– James Brown. Did yis know ––––––

– James Brown. Znáte –––––– nevadí. On

never mind. He sang tha‟. –––––– An‟ he

to zpíval. –––––––A byla to fakt bomba.

made a fuckin‟ bomb. They were stunned by what came next.

To, co přišlo pak, je dorazilo.

– The Irish are the niggers of Europe,

– Iři sou negři Evropy, pánové.

lads. They nearly gasped: it was so true.

Skoro vyjekli překvapením: to byla velká pravda.

– An‟ Dubliners are the niggers of

– A Dubliňáci sou negři Irska. Lonťáci maj

Ireland. The culchies have fuckin‟

kurva všechno. A ti ze severního Dublinu sou

everythin‟. An‟ the northside Dubliners are

negři Dublinu. –––––– Zařvi z plnejch plic,

the niggers o‟ Dublin. –––––– Say it loud,

sem černej a hrdej na svůj lid.

I‟m black an‟ I‟m proud. He grinned. He‟d impressed himself again.

Vítězoslavně se usmál. Zase ohromil sám sebe.

He‟d won them. They couldn‟t say

Měl je v hrsti. Na to se nedalo nic říct.

anything. – Yis don‟t want to be called And And exclamation mark And, do yis? Jimmy

– Uţ se nechcete menovat AA vykřičník A, co? otestoval je Jimmy.

asked. – No way, said Outspan.

– Ani náhodou, pospíšil si Outspan.

– Will yeh manage us, Jimmy? said

– Budeš náš manaţer, Jimmy? poprosil

Derek.

Derek.

- 20 -

– Yeah, said Jimmy. – I will.

– Jo, odpověděl Jimmy. Jo, budu.

They all smiled.

Všichni se zakřenili.

– Am I in charge? Jimmy asked them.

– Takţe sem šéf? zeptal se jich Jimmy.

– Yeah.

– Jasně.

– Righ‟ then, said Jimmy. – Ray isn‟t in

– Tak fajn, prohlásil Jimmy. – Ray uţ není

the group annymore.

v kapele.

This was a shock.

To byl šok.

– Why not?

– Proč ne?

– Well, first we don‟t need a synth. An‟

– Zaprvý nepotřebujem synťáky. A

second, I don‟t like the cunt.

zadruhý nemám toho kripla rád.

They laughed.

Zachechtali se.

– I never have liked him. I fuckin‟ hate

– Nikdy sem ho neměl rád. Abych byl

him to be honest with yis.

upřímnej, fakt ho nesnáším.

–––––– I don‟t like him much meself, said Outspan.

–––––– Já ho taky moc nemusím, připojil se Outspan.

– He‟s gone so?

– Takţe má padáka?

He was gone.

Měl padáka.

– Wha‟ sort o‟stuff will we be doin‟?

– A jakou muziku budem teda dělat? zeptal

Derek asked.

se Derek.

– Wha‟ sort o‟music has sex an‟ politics? Jimmy asked.

– Která muzika má v sobě sex i politiku? zkoušel je Jimmy.

– Reggae, said Derek.

– Reggae, odpověděl Derek.

– No, not tha‟.

– Ne, to dělat nebudem.

– It does.

– Ale má to v sobě.

– Yeah, but we won‟t be doin‟ it. We‟ll

– No tak má, ale dělat ho nebudem.

leave the reggae to the skinheads an‟ the

Necháme reggae skinheadům a huličům.

spacers. – Wha‟ then?

– A co teda?

– Soul.

– Soul.

– Soul?

– Soul?

– Soul?

– Soul?

– Soul. Dublin soul.

– Soul. Dublinskej soul.

Outspan laughed. Dublin soul sounded

Oustpan se zasmál. Dublinskej soul, to bylo

- 21 -

great.

něco.

– Another thing, said Jimmy. – Yis aren‟t And And And annymore.

– A další věc, řekl Jimmy. – Uţ se nemenujete AAA.

This was a relief.

To byla úleva.

– What are we Jimmy?

– A jaký máme jméno, Jimmy?

– The Commitments.

– The Commitments.

Outspan laughed again.

Outspan se znovu zasmál.

– That‟s a rapid name, said Derek.

– To je senzační jméno, nadchl se Derek.

– Good, old-fashioned THE, said Jimmy.

– Starý, dobrý THE, podotkl Jimmy.

– Dublin soul, said Outspan.

– Dublinskej soul, řekl Outspan.

He laughed again.

Zase se zasmál.

– Fuckin‟ deadly.

– K posrání skvělý.

* * *

* * *

The day after formation of The

Den potom, co se dali The Commitments

Commitments Jimmy sent an ad into the

dohromady, Jimmy poslal do časopisu Hot

Hot Press classifieds:

Press inzerát:

– Have you got soul? If yes, The World‟s

– Máte soul v duši? Jestliţe ano, pak

Hardest Working Band is looking for you.

nejpracovitější kapela světa hledá právě vás.

Contact J. Rabbitte, 118, Chestnut Ave.,

Kontaktujte J. Rabbitta, Kaštanová tř. 118,

Dublin 21. Rednecks and southsiders need

Dublin 21. Venkovští burani a snobi z jiţního

not apply.

Dublinu nejsou vítáni. * * *

* * *

There was a young guy who worked in the

Ve stejným obchodě jako Jimmy makal jeden

same shop as Jimmy. Declan Cuffe was his

kluk. Jmenoval se Declan Cuffe. Vypadal

name. He seemed like a right prick,

na pěknýho vola, ale Jimmy ho zas tak dobře

although Jimmy didn‟t know him that well.

neznal. Slyšel ho zpívat vloni na vánočním

Jimmy had heard him singing at the last

večírku. I kdyţ zrovna venku zvracel, přesto

year‟s Christmas Do. Jimmy had just been

si Declanův hlas pamatoval. Pěkně hlubokej

out puking but still remembered it, Declan

chraplák, kterej cestou ven drásal hrdlo i

Cuffe‟s voice, a real deep growl that

jazyk. Jimmy by dal kdovíco za to, aby měl

scraped against the throat and tongue on its

takovej hlas.

way out. Jimmy would have loved a voice like it.

- 22 -

Jimmy was going to see if he could

Rozhodl se, ţe se pokusí Declana

recruit Declan Cuffe. He took his tray and

naverbovat. Vzal si podnos s jídlem a šel

went over to where he was sitting.

k místu, kde seděl.

– Sorry, eh –––– Declan, said Jimmy. – Is there annyone sittin‟here?

– Soráč –––– Declane, začal Jimmy. – Sedí tady někdo?

Declan Cuffe leaned over the table and studied the chair.

Declan se nahnul přes stůl a prostudoval ţidli.

Then he said: – It doesn‟t look like it.

Potom prohlásil: – Vypadá to, ţe ne.

Normally Jimmy would have upended the

Za normálních okolností by mu Jimmy tu

slop on the tray over him (or at least would

šlichtu z podnosu vyklopil na hlavu (nebo by

have wanted to) but this was business.

ho to určitě lákalo), ale tohle byl byznys.

He sat down.

Posadil se.

– What‟s the soup like? he asked.

– Jaká je polívka? zeptal se.

– Cuntish.

– Na zblití.

– As usual, wha‟.

– Jako vţdycky, co?

There wasn‟t an answer. Jimmy tried a

Nedočkal se odpovědi, tak to Jimmy zkusil

different angle.

jinak.

– What‟s the curry like?

– Jaký je kari?

– Cuntish.

– Na zblití.

Jimmy changed tactics.

Jimmy změnil taktiku.

– I‟d say yeh did Honours English in

– Tys, myslím, chodil do studijní třídy se

school, did yeh?

zaměřením na anglinu, co?

Declan Cuffe stared across at Jimmy while he sent his cigarette to the side of his

Declan Cuffe na Jimmyho upřeně zíral a přitom si vsunul cigaretu do koutku úst.

mouth. – You startin‟ somethin‟? he said.

– Chceš se porvat? zavrčel.

The woman from the Information Desk at

Ţenská z informací, co seděla u stolu

the table beside them started talking louder.

vedle, začala mluvit hlasitějc.

– Ah, cop on, said Jimmy. – I was only messin‟.

– Ále buď v klidu, konejšil ho Jimmy. – Jen sem tě pokoušel.

He shoved the bowl away and slid the plate nearer to him.

Odstrčil misku a přisunul si talíř blíţ k sobě.

– You were righ‟ abou‟ the soup.

– S tou polívkou měls pravdu.

- 23 -

He searched the chicken curry.

Prozkoumával kuřecí kari.

– Tell us an‟annyway. Are yeh in a group

– Řekni. Nejseš teď náhodou v nějaký

these days?

kapele?

– Am I wha‟?

– Jestli nejsem kde?

– In a group.

– V kapele.

– Doin‟ what?

– A co bych tam jako dělal?

– Singin‟.

– Zpíval přece.

– Me! Singin‟? Fuck off, will yeh.

– Já a zpíval, jo? Běţ někam!

– I heard yeh singin‟, said Jimmy. – You

– Slyšel sem tě zpívat, řekl mu Jimmy. –

were fuckin‟ great.

Byls fakt boţí.

– When did you hear me singin‟?

– Kdys mě slyšel zpívat?

– Christmas.

– O vánocích.

– Did I sing? At the dinner dance?

– Zpíval jsem? Na tom večírku?

– Yeah.

– Jasně.

– Fuck, said Declan Cuffe. – No one told

– Do hajzlu, zaklel. – Nikdo mně to neřek.

me. – You were deadly.

– Byls bombastickej.

– I was fuckin‟ locked, said Declan Cuffe.

– Byl sem navátej jak pytel, řekl Declan

– Rum an‟ blacks, yeh know.

Cuffe. – Víš, chlastal sem guinness s rumem.

Jimmy nodded. – I was locked meself.

Jimmy chápavě přikývl. – Sám sem byl nadranej.

– I must have had abou‟ twenty o‟ them.

– Musel sem jich vyzunknout aspoň dvacet.

Your woman, Frances, from the Toys, yeh

Jedna baba z oddělení hraček, Frances, znáš

know her? She was all over me. –––– Dirty

ji? Jela po mně jak slepice po flusu. ––––

bitch. She‟s fuckin‟ married. –––––– I sang

Blbá kráva. Vţdyť je kurva vdaná. ––––––

then?

Takţe sem zpíval, jo?

– Yeah. It was great.

– Jo a bylo to super.

– I was fuckin‟ locked.

– Byl sem našrot.

– D‟yeh want to be in a group?

– Chtěl bys do kapely?

– Singin‟?

– Jako zpívat?

– Yeah.

– Jasně.

– Are yeh serious?

– Neděláš si prdel?

– Yeah.

– Jasně, ţe ne.

- 24 -

–––– Okay. –––––– Serious now?

–––– Tak jo. –––––– Není to teda prdel?

– Yeah.

– Jasně, ţe není.

– Okay.

– Tak jo. * * *

* * *

The next night Jimmy brought Declan

Další večer si Jimmy přivedl Declana Cuffea

Cuffe (by now he was Deco) home from

(teď si uţ si říkal Deco) z práce domů. Deco

work with him. Deco had a big fry cooked

si dal pořádnou porci masový směsi, co

by Jimmy, five slices of bread, two cups of

Jimmy připravil na pánvičce, pět krajíců

tea, and he fell in love with Sharon,

chleba, dva čaje a taky se stačil zamilovat

Jimmy‟s sister, when she came in from

do Jimmyho sestry Sharon, hned jak přišla

work.

z práce.

– What age is Sharon? Deco asked Jimmy.

– Kolik má Sharon roků? zeptal se Deco Jimmyho.

They were up in Jimmy‟s bedroom. Deco

Byli v Jimmyho pokoji. Deco leţel

was lying on the bottom bunk.

na spodní palandě.

– You‟re wastin‟ your time.

– Jen marníš čas.

– What age is she?

– Kolik má?

– Twenty, said Jimmy. – But you‟re

– Dvacet, odpověděl Jimmy. – Ale ztrácíš

wastin‟ your time.

čas.

– I wonder would she fancy goin‟ out with a pop star.

– Jen mě zajímá, jestli by nechtěla randit s popovou hvězdou.

The door opened. It was the rest of the

Otevřely se dveře. Vešel zbytek kapely,

group, Outspan and Derek. They smiled

Outspan a Derek. Uviděli Deca, jak se

when they got in and saw Deco on the

povaluje na posteli a začali se naculovat.

bunk. Jimmy had told them about him.

Jimmy jim o něm uţ vyprávěl.

– That‟s Deco, said Jimmy.

– Tohle je Deco, představil ho Jimmy.

– Howyeh, said Outspan.

– Čau, kývl na něj Outspan.

– Howyeh, said Deco.

– Zdarec, pozdravil Deco.

– Pleased to meet yeh, Deco, said Derek.

– Deco, rád tě poznávám, zahlaholil Derek.

– Yeah, –––––– righ‟, said Deco.

– Jo, –––––– bezva, řekl Deco.

Deco got up and let Outspan and Derek

Pak vstal a Outspan s Derekem si k němu

sit beside him on the bunk.

přisedli na postel.

– How did Ray take the news? Jimmy

–

- 25 -

Jak vzal Ray tu novinu? zajímal se

asked.

Jimmy.

– Not too bad, said Derek.

– Docela dobře, odpověděl Derek.

– The cunt, said Jimmy.

– Ten kripl zachcanej, řekl Jimmy.

– He wasn‟t too happy with the eh, And

– Stejně prej nebyl spokojenej s tamtím, no

And And situation either. Or so he said.

se situací kolem AAA. Nebo aspoň to tak říkal.

– He‟s goin‟ solo.

– Prej pojede sólo.

– He doesn‟t have much of a fuckin‟

– Však uţ mu taky kurva nic jinýho

choice.

nezbejvá.

They laughed. Deco too.

Rozchechtali se. Deco se smál taky.

– Righ‟ lads, said Jimmy. – Business.

– Tak fajn, hoši, řekl Jimmy. – Deme na obchodní záleţitosti.

He had his notebooks out.

Vytáhl blok.

– We have the guitar, bass, vocals, righ‟?

– Máme kytaru, basu, vokály, je to tak, ne?

We need drums, sax, trumpet, keyboards. I

Ještě potřebujem bicí, saxík, trubku, klávesy.

threw an ad into Hot Press. Yis owe me

Hodil sem do časopisu inzerát. Dluţíte mně

forty-five pence, each.

kaţdej čtyřicet pět pencí.

– Ah, here!

– Tady máš.

– I‟ll take American Express. ––––––

– Beru visa kartu. –––––– Tak fajn.

Now. D‟yis remember your man, Jimmy

Pamatujete na jednoho kluka, Jimmyho

Clifford?

Clifforda?

– Tha‟ fuckin‟ drip!

– Toho poseru?

– That‟s him, said Jimmy. – D‟yis ––––

– Jo, to je on, přikývl Jimmy. – Tak pamatujete ––––

– He was JAMES Clifford.

– Menoval se JAMES Clifford.

– Wha‟?

– Coţe?

– James. He was never Jimmy. What‟s

– James. Nikdy Jimmy. Jak se jmenuješ?

your name? James Clifford, sir.

James Clifford, pane.

– Righ‟, said Jimmy. – James Clifford then. He ––––

– Fajn, připustil Jimmy. Tak teda James Clifford. On ––––

– Tha‟ bollix ratted on us, d‟yis

– Ta krysa na nás bonzovala, vzpomínáš,

remember? said Derek. – When I stuck the

připomněl mu Derek. – Jak jsem strčil

compass up Tracie Quirk‟s hole. – They

kruţítko do díry Tracie Quirkový. – Pozvali

- 26 -

had me da up. Me ma ––––

si mýho taťku. Moje mamka ––––

– Derek –

– Dereku –

– Wha‟?

– Co?

– Fuck up –––––– Annyway, said Jimmy,

– Nech uţ toho –––––– Takţe, začal

– his ma used to make him do piano

Jimmy, – matka ho nutila chodit do klavíru,

lessons, remember. He was deadly at it. I

pamatujete? Hrál bombasticky. Potkal jsem

met him on the DART yesterday ––––

ho včera ve vlaku ––––

– No way, Jimmy, said Outspan.

– Ani náhodou, Jimmy, řekl Outspan.

– No, hang on, listen. He told me he got

– Ne fakt, moment, poslouchejte. Vyprávěl

fucked ou‟ o‟ the folk mass choir. ––––

mně, jak ho vyrazili z církevního sboru. ––––

D‟yis know why? For playin‟ The Chicken

A víte proč? Protoţe zahrál na varhany Ptačí

Song on the organ. In the fuckin‟ church.

song. V posraným kostele.

– Jaysis.

– Á jeţiš.

They laughed. This didn‟t sound like the

Řvali smíchy. Tohle nebyl ten James

James Clifford they‟d known and hated.

Clifford, kterýho znali a nemohli vystát.

– Just before the mass, Jimmy continued.

– Těsně před mší, pokračoval Jimmy. –

– There were oul‟ ones an‟ oul‟ fellas

Představte si, jak staříci procházej střední

walkin‟ up the middle, yeh know. An‟ he

uličkou a on začne hrát ten blbej Ptačí song.

starts playin‟ The fuckin‟ Chicken Song. – He sounds okay, said Deco.

– Mně se líbí, poznamenal Deco.

No one disagreed with Deco.

Nikdo nebyl proti.

– I‟ll go round to his gaff an‟ ask him

– Zejtra zajdu k němu do bejváku a zeptám

tomorrow, will I?

se ho, jo?

Outspan and Derek looked at each other.

Outspan a Derek se na sebe podívali.

– Okay, said Outspan.

– Tak dobře, souhlasil Outspan.

– So long as he doesn‟t start rattin‟ on us

– Pokud na nás nebude zas bonzovat,

again, said Derek. – When we‟re all

připomněl Derek. – Kdyţ si všichni budem

getting‟ our hole.

hlídat svou díru.

– He‟ll be getting‟ his too sure, said Outspan.

– On si rozhodně bude hlídat tu svou, suše konstatoval Outspan.

– Oh, yeah, said Derek. – That‟s righ‟.

– No, jo, rezignoval Derek. – To je fakt.

– Does he still wear tha‟ jumper with the

– Nosí ještě ten svetr s ovcema?

sheep on it?

- 27 -

– They weren‟t sheep, said Derek. – They were deers.

– To nebyly ovce, řekl Derek. – Byli to jeleni.

– They were fuckin‟ sheep, said Outspan.

– Byly to podělaný ovce, odsekl Outspan.

– No, they weren‟t. –––– I should know. I

– To teda nebyly. –––– A já to musím

drew a moustache on one o‟ them.

vědět, kdyţ sem jednomu namaloval knír.

– Is he workin‟? Outspan asked.

– Maká? chtěl vědět Outspan.

– He‟s a student, said Jimmy.

– Studuje, odpověděl Jimmy.

– Oh, fuck.

– Á do prdele.

– He‟ll be grand, said Jimmy. – He‟ll

– Bude v pohodě, prohlásil Jimmy. – Bude

have plenty o‟ time to rehearse. ––––––

mít spoustu času na zkoušení. –––––– Teď

Hang on.

moment.

Jimmy put a record on the deck. He‟d

Jimmy poloţil desku na otáčivej talíř

brought the deck and the speakers up from

gramofonu. Uţ předtím si ho i s repráky

the front room. He turned to them again.

přinesl z obyváku. A zas pokračoval.

– D‟yis know James Brown, do yis? he asked.

– Znáte Jamese Browna, ţe jo? ujišťoval se.

– Was he in our class too? Outspan asked.

– Nechodil s náma taky do třídy? zamyslel se Outspan.

They laughed.

Zatlemili se.

– The singer, said Jimmy. – Blackie. He‟s

– Toho zpěváka, vysvětloval Jimmy. –

deadly. –––– Did yis see The Blues

Černocha. Je bombastickej. –––– Viděli ste

Brothers?

film Bratři Bluesovi?

Outspan and Derek had seen it. Deco

Outspan a Derek ho viděli. Deco ne.

hadn‟t. – I seen the Furey Brothers, said Deco.

– Já jsem viděl bratry Fureyovi, řekl Deco.

– Fuck off, said Jimmy. – D‟yis

– S těma di někam, odpálil ho Jimmy. –

remember the big woman singer in the

Vzpomínáte na tu macatou zpěvačku v

coffee place? (They did.) – Tha‟ was

kavárně? (Vzpomněli si.) – Tak to byla

Aretha Franklin. D‟yis remember the blind

Aretha Franklin. Vzpomínáte na toho

guy in the music shop? (– Yeah.) Tha‟ was

slepýho chlápka v krámě s deskama? (–

Ray Charles. D‟yis remember the preacher

Jasně.) Ray Charles. Vzpomínáte na toho

in the church? (– No.) – Well, th‟ was

kazatele v kostele? (– Ne.) – No, tak to byl

James –––––– No? (– No.) – In the red

James Brown. –––––– Ne? (– Ne.)

- 28 -

cloak? –––––– The black fella? (– No.) –

– V červeným plášti? –––––– Ten černej?

Yeh have to. –––– Derek?

(– Ne.) – Jak to?. –––– Dereku?

– I don‟t remember tha‟ bit.

– Tu scénu si nevybavuju.

–––––– Well, tha‟ was James Brown, said

–––––– No, prostě to byl James Brown,

Jimmy. – Hang on –––––– Rocky IV.

řekl Jimmy. – Moment –––––– Rocky IV.

Livin‟ in America, remember? Tha‟ was

Písnička Ţivot v Americe, vzpomínáte? Tak

him.

to byl on.

– Tha‟ header!

– Ten magor!

– Yeah.

– Jasně.

– Tha‟ was a shite film, said Derek.

– To byl debilní film, poznamenal Derek.

– He was good but, said Jimmy.

– On byl ale v pohodě, bránil ho Jimmy.

– Ah, yeah.

– No jasně.

– Annyway, listen to this. It‟s called Get

– Tak si teda poslechněte toto. Jmenuje se

Up, I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine.

to No tak uţ vstaň, jedu jak sexomat.

– Hold on there, said Derek. – We can‟t do tha‟. Me ma would fuckin‟ kill me.

– Počkej, zarazil ho Derek. – Tohle nemůţeme hrát. Mamka by mě kurva zabila.

– What‟re yeh on abou‟? said Outspan.

– Co to kecáš? usadil ho Outspan.

– I Feel Like a fuckin‟ Sex Machine,

– Zpívá přece, ţe jede jak sexomat,

Derek explained. – She‟d break me fuckin‟

vysvětloval Derek. – Urvala by mně hlavu,

head if I got up an‟ sang tha‟.

do hajzlu, kdybych zpíval něco takovýho.

– You won‟t be singin‟ it, son, said Deco.

– Ty to zpívat nebudeš, synu, upozornil ho

– I will. An‟ personally speakin‟, I don‟t

Deco. – Já to zazpívám. A za sebe říkám, ţe

give a fuck wha‟ MY ma thinks. ––––––

mám u prdele, co si MOJE matka myslí. –––

Let‟s hear it, Jimmy.

––– Poslechnem si to, Jimmy.

– We won‟t be doin‟ this one, Derek, said

– Tuhle dělat nebudem, Dereku, řekl

Jimmy. – I just want yis to hear it, yeh

Jimmy. – Jen chci, abyste si to poslechli.

know, just to get an idea, to get the feel o‟

Abyste si udělali představu, abyste pocítili

the thing. –––––– It‟s called funk.

náladu toho všeho. –––––– Říká se tomu funk.

– Funk off, said Deco.

– Vyfunkni si, snaţil se být vtipnej Deco.

Outspan hit him.

Outspan mu jednu vrazil.

Jimmy let the needle down and sat on the

Jimmy spustil jehlu a klekl si mezi

back of his legs between the speakers.

reproduktory.

- 29 -

– I‟m ready to get up and do my thang, said James Brown.

– Jsem celej nadrţenej to tu pořádně rozbalit, svěřil se James Brown publiku.

A chorus of men from the same part of the world as James went: – YEAH.

Muţskej sbor ze stejnýho koutu světa, odkud je i James Brown zaburácel: – JEĎ.

– I want to, James continued, – to get into

– Víte, chci se do toho, pokračoval James

it, you know. (– YEAH, said the lads in the

Brown, – pěkně vopřít. (– JEĎ, podpořili ho

studio with him.) – Like a, like a sex

muzikanti ve studiu.) – Chlape, vţdyť jedu

machine, man (– YEAH, YEAH, GO

jak sexomat, (– JEN JEĎ, PARÁDNĚ JE

AHEAD.) – movin‟, doin‟ it, you know. (–

ODBOUREJ) – Vidíte, jak válím, jak se

YEAH.) – Can I count it all? (– YEAH,

svíjím? (– JEĎ.) – Tak můţu to teď

YEAH, YEAH, went the lads.) – One Two

odpočítat? (– JÓ JEN JEĎ, skandovali

Three Four.

muzikanti.) – Jedna, dva, tři, čtyři.

Then the horns started, the same note

Ozvaly se trumpety (– DA, DA, DA, DA,

repeated (– DUH, DUH, DUH, DUH,

DA, DA, DA) a sedmkrát zopakovaly tutéţ

DUH, DUH, DUH) seven times and then

notu. Pak spustil James Brown. Zpíval stejně,

James Brown began to sing. He sang like

jako mluvil. Měl silnej hlas, kterej jakoby

he spoke, a great voice that he seemed to be

musel drţet zkrátka, krotit ho. Tak byl

holding back, hanging onto because it was

nebezpečnej. Kluci (v Jimmyho pokoji) se

dangerous. The lads (in Jimmy‟s bedroom)

na sebe usmívali. To bylo přesně ono.

smiled at each other. This was it. – GET UP AH, sang James.

– NO TAK VSTAŇ, naléhal James.

A guitar clicked, like a full stop.

Cvakla kytara. Znělo to jako tečka za větou.

– GET ON UP, someone else sang, no mean voice either.

JENOM VSTAŇ, zazpíval někdo jinej s neméně pronikavým hlasem.

Then the guitar again.

A zase kytara.

– GER RUP AH ––––

– NO TAK VSTAŇ ––––

Guitar.

Kytara.

– GET ON UP ––––

– JENOM VSTAŇ ––––

– STAY ON THE SCENE, sang James.

– NEBUĎ SRAB, zpíval James.

– GET ON UP ––––

– JENOM VSTAŇ ––––

James had the good lines.

James měl vynikající slova.

– LIKE A SEX MACHINE AH ––––

– JEDU JAK SEXOMAT ––––

- 30 -

– GET ON UP ––––

– NO TAK VSTAŇ ––––

The lads bounced gently on the bunks.

Kluci jemně bubnovali na palandy.

– YOU GOT TO HAVE THE FEELING

– TEN POCIT UŢ ZNÁŠ ––

– SURE AS YOU‟RE BORN AH ––––

LÍTÁŠ JAK PTÁK ––––

RIGHT ON –

JE TO TAK –

RIGHT ON ––––

JE TO TAK ––––

GET UP AH, sang James.

NO TAK VSTAŇ, zpíval James.

– GET ON UP ––––

– JENOM VSTAŇ ––––

Then there was a piano break and at the

Následující pauzu vyplnil klavír a na jejím

end of it James went: – HUH. It was the

konci James vypustil: – OCH. Nejlepší och,

best Huh they‟d ever heard. Then the piano

který kdy slyšeli. A pak se znovu vrátil

went again.

klavír.

– GER RUP AH ––––

– NO TAK VSTAŇ ––––

– GET ON UP ––––

– JENOM VSTAŇ ––––

The guitar clicked away.

Kytara si cvakala dál.

And the bass was busy too, padding

A basa taky nezahálela, udávala rytmus.

along. You could actually make it out;

Vlastně se z jejího zvuku daly vyvodit noty.

notes. This worried Derek a bit. He‟d

To Dereka mírně znepokojilo. Vybral si

chosen the bass because he‟d thought there

basovku, protoţe si myslel, ţe hrát na ni není

was nothing to it. There was something to

ţádný umění. Tahle basa byla ale něco. Měla

this one. It was busier than all the other

víc práce neţ ostatní nástroje.

instruments. The song went on. The lads bounced and grinned. Deco concentrated.

Song jel dál. Kluci bubnovali a zubili se. Deco se soustředil.

– Bobby, James called. (Bobby must have

– Bobby, zavolal James. (Bobby byl určitě

been the man who kept singing GET ON

ten chlápek, kterej pořád dokola zpíval

UP.) – Bobby, said James. – Shall I take

JENOM VSTAŇ.) – Bobby, křičel James. –

them to the bridge?

Mám zpívat dál?

– Go ahead, said Bobby.

– Jo, rozjeď to, řekl Bobby.

– Take‟em all to the bridge.

– Všichni si přejí, abych zpíval dál?

– Take them to the bridge, said Bobby.

– Jo, všichni, řekl Bobby.

– Shall I take them to the bridge? James

– Tak mám zpívat dál? nepřestával se

asked.

vyptávat James.

- 31 -

– YEAH, the lads in the studio, and Outspan and Derek, answered.

–

JEĎ, netrpělivě zahoukali muzikanti

ve studiu a taky Outspan a Derekem.

Then the guitar changed course a bit and

Potom se kytara pustila trošku jiným

stayed that way. James shouted and huh-

směrem a v tom kurzu se drţela. James ještě

huhhed a while longer and then it faded out.

chvíli křičel a naříkal a potom všechno utichlo.

Jimmy got up and lifted the needle.

Jimmy vstal a zvedl jehlu.

A roar arrived from downstairs.

Z přízemí se k nim přivalil řev.

– Turn down tha‟ fuckin‟ radio!

– Vypni to zasraný rádio!

– It‟s the stereo, Jimmy roared at the

– To je gramofon, zahulákal Jimmy

floor.

na podlahu.

– Don‟t get snotty with me, son. Just turn

– Nebuď drzej, synu. Prostě to vypni.

it down. The lads were in stitches laughing,

Hoši se potichoučku váleli smíchy.

quietly. – Stupid bollix, said Jimmy. – Wha‟ did yis think o‟ tha‟?

– Ksindl blbej, ulevil si Jimmy. – Tak co tomu říkáte?

– Brilliant.

– Dokonalý.

– Fuckin‟ brilliant.

– K posrání dokonalý.

– Play another one, said Outspan.

– Pusť ještě jednu, ţadonil Outspan.

– Okay, said Jimmy. – I think yis‟ll be

– Fajn, řekl Jimmy. – Myslím, ţe budeme

playin‟ this one.

dělat tuhle.

He put on Night Train for them. It was even more brilliant than Sex Machine.

Pustil jim písničku Noční vlak. Byla ještě dokonalejší neţ Sexomat.

– We‟ll change the words a bit to make it – more Dubliny, yeh know, Jimmy told

– Kapku pozměníme slova, jo, aby to znělo víc po dublinsku, oznámil jim Jimmy.

them. They were really excited now.

Teď uţ byli v extázi.

– Fuckin‟ deadly, said Derek. I‟m goin‟ to

– Do prdele, to je boţí, rozplýval se Derek.

get a lend o‟ the odds for the bass.

Někde si na tu basu a další krámy půjčím.

– Good man.

– Hodnej.

– I‟d better get a proper guitar, said

– Já si radši seţenu pořádnou kytaru,

Outspan. – An electric.

prohlásil Outspan. – Elektrickou.

- 32 -

Jimmy played It‟s a Man‟s Man‟s World.

Jimmy přehrál Tohle je chlapskej svět.

– I‟m goin‟ to get a really good one, said

– Koupím si nějakou kvalitní, snil dál

Outspan. – Really fuckin‟ good.

Outspan. – Fakt dost dobrou.

– Let‟s go, said Jimmy.

– Tak dem, zavelel Jimmy.

They were off to the Pub.

Chystali se do hospody.

Deco stood up.

Deco vstal.

He growled: – ALL ABOARD ––––

Zaburácel: – NASTUPOVAT ––––

THE NIGHT TRAIN

DO NOČNÍHO VLAKU

On the way down the stairs they met

Po cestě dolů po schodech potkali Sharon.

Sharon coming up. – Howyeh, Gorgeous, said Deco.

– Jak je, krasavice? poškádlil ji Deco.

– Go an‟ shite, said Sharon.

– Di se vysrat, odpálila ho Sharon.

* * *

* * *

Jimmy spent twenty minutes looking at his

Další čtvrtek se Jimmy dvacet minut kochal

ad in Hot Press the next Thursday. He

pohledem na inzerát v časopisu Hot Press.

touched the print. (– J. Rabbitte.) He

Dotýkal se tištěných slov. (– J. Rabbitte.)

grinned.

Samolibě se zakřenil.

Others must have been looking at it too

Určitě ho četli i jiní, protoţe kdyţ se vrátil

because when he got home from work his

z práce, matka ho informovala, ţe se na něho

mother told him that two young fellas had

vyptávali dva mladí kluci.

been looking for him. – J. Rabbitte they said.

– Říkali, ţe hledají J. Rabbitta.

– That‟s me alrigh‟, said Jimmy.

– To jsem já, potvrdil Jimmy.

– Who d‟yeh think yeh are with your J.?

– Na co si hraješ s tím J.? Jmenuješ se

Your name‟s Jimmy.

přece Jimmy.

– It‟s for business reasons, ma, said

– To je kvůli byznysu, mami, vysvětloval

Jimmy. – J. sounds better. Yeh never heard

Jimmy. J. vypadá líp. Nikdy jsem neslyšel, ţe

of a millionaire bein‟ called Jimmy.

by se nějakej milionář menoval Jimmy.

* * * Thing were motoring.

* * * Věci se daly do pohybu.

James Clifford had said yes. Loads of

James Clifford na nabídku kývl. Během

people called looking for J. Rabbitte over

víkendu byla po J. Rabbitovi pěkná sháňka.

the weekend. Jimmy was interested in two

Jimmyho zaujali dva maníci, oba dva

- 33 -

of them: a drummer, Billy Mooney from

ze severodublinskýho předměstí: bubeník

Raheny, and Dean Fay from Coolock who

Billy Mooney z Raheny a Dean Fay

had a saxophone but admitted that he was

z Coolocku. Dean měl saxofon, ale přiznal,

only learning how to Make It Talk. There

ţe se teprv učí, jak ho přinutit zpívat.

were more callers on Monday. Jimmy liked

V pondělí přišli další zájemci. Jimmymu se

none of them. He took phone numbers and

ţádnej nezamlouval. Vzal si jejich telefonní

threw them in the bin.

čísla a rovnou je hodil do koše.

He judged on one question: influences.

Soudil je podle jedinýho kritéria: vlivu.

– Who‟re your influences?

– Kdo tě ovlivnil?

– U2.

– U2.

– Simple Minds.

– Simple Minds.

– Led Zeppelin.

– Led Zeppelin.

– No one really.

– Vlastně nikdo.

They were the most common answers.

To byly nejčastější odpovědi těch, co

They failed.

neprošli.

– Jethro Tull an‟ Bachman Turner

– Jethro Tull a Bachman Turner Overdrive.

Overdrive. Jimmy shut the door on that one without

Tomuhle zájemci Jimmy zabouchl dveře

bothering to get the phone number. He

před nosem. Ani se neobtěţoval vzít si jeho

didn‟t even open the door to three of them.

číslo. Třem kandidátům ani neotevřel. Stačilo

A look out his parents‟ bedroom at them

se na ně jen podívat z okna loţnice.

was enough. – Who‟re your influences? he‟d asked Billy Mooney.

– Kdo tě ovlivnil? zeptal se Billyho Mooneyho.

– Your man, Animal from The Muppets.

– Maňásek z Muppetsových, pan Zvíře.

Dean Fay had said Clarence Clemons and

Dean Fay jmenoval Clarence Clemonse a

the guy from Madness. He didn‟t have the

taky ještě chlápka ze skupiny Madness.

sax long. His uncle had given it to him

Nevlastnil saxík dlouho. Věnoval mu ho

because he couldn‟t play it any more

strejda, kterej uţ hrát nemohl, protoţe mu

himself because one of his lungs had

odešla jedna plíce.

collapsed. Jimmy was up in his room on Tuesday night putting clean socks when Jimmy Sr.,

V úterý večer byl Jimmy ve svým pokoji a oblíkal si čistý ponoţky, kdyţ dovnitř vrazil

- 34 -

the da, came in.

táta, Jimmy senior.

– Come „ere, you, said Jimmy Sr. – Are you sellin‟ drugs or somethin‟?

– Poď sem, ty kluku, zavolal si ho Jimmy senior. – Ty prodáváš drogy nebo co?

– I AM NOT, said Jimmy.

– NEPRODÁVÁM, ohradil se Jimmy.

– Then why are all these cunts knockin‟

– Tak proč tady ty zkurvení hašišáci furt

on the door?

klepou na dveře?

– I‟m auditionin‟.

– Pořádám konkurz.

– You‟re wha‟?

– Coţe děláš?

– Aud-ish-un-in. We‟re formin‟ a group.

– Lidi cho-dí-na-kon-kurz. Dávám

––– A band.

dohromady skupinu. ––– Kapelu.

– You?

– Ty?

– Yeah.

– Jasně.

Jimmy Sr. laughed.

Jimmy senior jedovatě procedil mezi zuby.

– Dickie fuckin‟ Rock.

– Ó bacha, velkej J. Bono Rabbitte.

He started to leave and turned at the door.

Uţ byl na odchodu, kdyţ se u dveří obrátil.

– There‟s a little fucker on a scooter

– Dole na tebe čeká nějakej zevl na skútru.

lookin‟ for yeh downstairs. When Jimmy got down to the door he

Kdyţ Jimmy dorazil ke dveřím, viděl, ţe

saw that his da had been right. It was a little

táta nelhal. Stál tam takovej prcek a opíral se

fucker and he had a scooter, a wreck of a

o skútr, pěknou rachotinu.

yoke. He was leaning on it. – Yeah? said Jimmy.

– Co je? vyhrkl Jimmy.

– God bless you, Brother J. Rabbitte. In

– Bůh ti ţehnej, bratře J. Rabbitte. Co se

answer to your Hot Press query, yes, I have

týče tvé otázky v Hot Pressu, ano, já mám

got soul.

soul v duši.

– Wha‟?

– Co to ţvaníš?

– And I‟m not a redneck or a southsider.

– A nejsem ani venkovský buran ani snob z jiţního Dublinu.

– You‟re the same age as me fuckin‟ da!

– Ale seš stejně starej jak můj fotr!

– You may speak the truth, Brother

– Tvá ústa asi mluví pravdu, bratře

Rabbitte, but I‟m sixteen years younger

Rabbitte, ale jsem o šestnáct let mladší

than B.B. King. And six years younger than

neţ B.B. King. A o šest let mladší neţ James

James Brown.

Brown.

- 35 -

– You‟ve heard o‟ James Brown –

– Znáš Jamese Browna?

– I jammed with the man.

– Pěkně jsem si s ním zadţemoval.

– FUCK OFF!

– NEKECEJ!

– Leicester Mecca, ‟72. Brother James

– Klub Mecca v Leicesteru, rok 1972. Bratr

called me on for Superbad. I couldn‟t give

James mě povolal na turné. I přes úpornou

it my best though because I had a bit of a

snahu jsem tam ze sebe nevydal všechno, byl

head cold.

jsem krapet nachlazený.

He patted the scooter.

Pohladil svůj skútr.

– I‟d ridden from Holyhead in the rain. I

– Jel jsem tam z Holyheadu v dešti. Neměl

didn‟t have a helmet. I didn‟t have

jsem helmu. Vlastně jsem neměl nic. Jen

anything. Just Gina.

Ginu.

– Who‟s she?

– Co je to za ţenskou?

– My trumpet. My mentor always advised

– To je má trumpeta. Můj učitel mi vţdy

me to imagine that the mouthpiece was a

radil, abych si místo náustku představil

woman‟s nipple. I chose Gina

ţenskou bradavku. Vybral jsem Ginu

Lollabrigida‟s. A fine woman.

Lollobrigidu. Výjímečnou ţenu.

He stared at Jimmy. There wasn‟t a trace of grin on him.

Pozorně si Jimmyho prohlíţel, na tváři ani stopy po nějakým úšklebku.

– I‟m sure you‟ve noticed already,

– Zajisté jsi si povšimnul, bratře Rabbitte,

Brother Rabbitte, it was wild advice

ţe to byla značně revoluční rada. Kdyby totiţ

because if it had been Gina Lollabrigida‟s

ta bradavka skutečně patřila Gině

nipple I‟d have been sucking it, not blowing

Lollobrigidě, sál bych ji, nefoukal bych do

into it.

ní.

Jimmy didn‟t know what was going on here. He tried to take control of the

Jimmy nechápal, o čem ten chlap mluví. Snaţil se převzít nad rozhovorem kontrolu.

interview. – What‟s your name, pal?

– Jak se menuješ, kámo?

– Joseph Fagan, said the man.

– Joseph Fagan, řekl ten chlap.

He was bald too, now that he‟d taken his

Teď kdyţ si sundal helmu, bylo vidět, ţe

helmet off.

má holou hlavu.

– Joey The Lips Fagan, he said.

– Joey Pysk Fagan.

– Eh ––––––– Come again?

– Co ––––––– Jak ţe?

– Joey The Lips Fagan.

– Joey Pysk Fagan.

- 36 -

– An‟ I‟m Jimmy The Bollix Rabbitte.

– A já sem Jimmy Sráč Rabbitte.

– I earned my name for my horn playing,

– Zaslouţil jsem si jméno díky hře

Brother Rabbitte. How did you earn yours?

na trubku, bratře Rabbitte. Jak jsi získal to svoje?

Jimmy pointed a finger at him.

Jimmy na něj namířil prstem.

– Don‟t get snotty with me, son.

– Nezahrávej si se mnou, synu.

– I get snotty with no man.

– Nikdy si s nikým nezahrávám.

– Better bleedin‟ not. –––––– An‟ are

– A děláš zatraceně dobře. –––––– Ty se

YOU tryin‟ to tell me that yeh played with

mě snaţíš přesvědčit, ţes hrál s Jamesem

James Brown?

Brownem?

– Among others, Brother.

– Kromě jiných, bratře.

– Like?

– Třeba?

– Have we all night? –––––––––

– Máme na to celou noc? –––––––– Byli to

Screaming Jay Hawkins, Big Joe Turner,

uječený Jay Hawkins, velký Joe Turner,

Martha Reeves, Sam Cooke, poor Sam,

Martha Reeves, Sam Cooke, chudák Sam,

Sinatra. –––––– Never again. The man is a

Sinatra. –––––– S tím uţ nikdy více. Ten

thug. –––– Otis Redding, Lord rest his

chlap je gangster. –––– Otis Redding, Boţe

sweet soul, Joe Tex, The Four Tops, Stevie

dej klid jeho čisté duši, Joe Tex, Four Tops,

Wonder, Little Stevie then. He was only

Stevie Wonder, maličký Stevie. Tehdy mu

eleven. A pup. –––––– More?

bylo teprve sedm let. Štěně. –––––– Chceš slyšet víc jmen?

– Yeah.

– Jasně.

– Let‟s see. –––––– Wilson Pickett,

– Tak poslouchej. –––––– Wilson Pickett,

Jackie Wilson, Sam an‟ Dave, Eddie Floyd,

Jackie Wilson, Sam a Dave, Eddie Floyd,

Booker T. and the MGs of course, Joe Tex.

Booker T. a taky samozřejmě MGs, Joe Tex.

– Yeh said him already.

– Toho uţ menovals.

– Twice. Em –––– an unusual one, Jimi

– S tím jsem hrál dvakrát. Kdo dál ––––

Hendrix. Although, to be honest with you, I

neobyčejný Jimi Hendrix. Ačkoli abych byl

don‟t think poor Jimi knew I was there. –––

upřímný, nemyslím, ţe by si chudák Jimi

– Bobby Bland, Isaac Hayes, Al Green.

všimnul, ţe tam jsem. –––– Bobby Bland, Isaac Hayes, Al Green.

– You‟ve been fuckin‟ busy.

– Měls fakt dost práce.

– You speak the truth, Brother Rabbitte.

– Tvá ústa mluví pravdu, bratře Rabbitte. A

- 37 -

And there‟s more. Blood, Sweat and Tears,

bylo jich víc. Blood, Sweet and Tears,

The Tremeloes. I know, I know, I have

Tremeloes. Vím, vím, jiţ jsem učinil pokání.

repented. –––– Peter Tosh, George Jones,

–––– Peter Tosh, George Jones, Stranglers.

The Stranglers. Nice enough dudes under

Pod vším tím koţeným oblečením to byli

the leather. I turned up for The Stones on

moc příjemní chlapíci. Na turné se Stouny

the wrong day. The day after. They were

jsem se dostavil ve špatný den. O den

gone.

později. Uţ byli pryč.

– Yeh stupid sap, yeh.

– Smůla, co?

– I know. –––– Will that do? –––– Oh

– Já vím. –––– Stačí to uţ? –––– Jo, a ještě

yeah, and The Beatles.

Beatles.

– The Beatles, said Jimmy.

– Beatles, jo? zapochyboval Jimmy.

– Money for jam, said Joey The Lips. –

– Zaplatili mi za dţemovačku, vysvětloval

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE –––– DOO

Joey Pysk. – VŠECHNU LÁSKU DÁM –––

DUH DOO DUH DOO.

– DÚ DA DÚ DA DÚ.

– Was tha‟ you?

– Tos byl ty?

– Indeed it was me, Brother. Five pounds,

– Zajisté jsem to byl já, bratře. Pět liber. Na

three and sixpence. A fair whack in those

ty časy to byla pěkná sumička. –––– Nemohl

days. –––– I couldn‟t stand Paul, couldn‟t

jsem vystát Paula, i kdyţ jsem si ho chtěl

take to him. I was up on the roof for Let It

oblíbit. Při natáčení koncertu Let It Be, jsem

Be. But I stayed well back. I‟m not very

byl taky na střeše. Ale drţel jsem se od

photogenic Brother. I take a shocking

kamery dál. Nejsem moc fotogenický, bratře.

photograph.

Na fotkách vypadám jako strašák.

By now Jimmy was believing Joey The Lips. A question had to be asked.

Jimmy uţ teď Joeymu Pyskovi věřil. Musel mu však poloţit tuhle otázku.

– Wha‟ do yeh want to join US for?

– Proč se chceš přidat k NÁM?

– I‟m tired of the road, said Joey The

– Cestování mě uţ zmáhá, odpověděl Joey

Lips. – I‟ve come home. And my mammy

Pysk. – Vracím se domů. A maminka na tom

isn‟t very well.

taky není nejlépe.

Jimmy knew he was being stupid, and cheeky, asking the next question but he

Jimmy tušil, ţe další otázka je hloupá a ne zrovna zdvořilá, ale stejně se zeptal.

asked it anyway. – Who‟re your influences?

– Kdo tě ovlivnil?

– I admit to no influences but my God my

– Nemohu přiznat vliv nikoho jiného neţ

- 38 -

Lord, said Joey The Lips. – The Lord blows

Boha, mého Pána, řekl Joey Pysk. – Bůh mi

my trumpet.

fouká na trubku.

– Does he? said Jimmy.

– Fakticky? zapochyboval Jimmy.

– And the walls come tumbling down.

– A hradby Jericha se hroutí.

Joey The Lips explained: – I went on the

Joey Pysk vysvětloval: – Asi tak před

road nine, no ten maybe eleven years ago

devíti, ne desíti, moţná i před jedenácti lety

with a gospel outfit. The Alabama Angels,

jsem byl na turné s gospelovou skupinou

featuring Sister Julie Bob Mahony. They

Andělé z Alabamy v čele se zpěvačkou

brought me to God. I repented, I can tell

sestrou Julií Mahonyovou. Přivedli mě

you that for nothing, Brother Rabbitte. I

k Bohu. Kál jsem se, to ti povím, bratře

used to be one mother of a sinner. A terrible

Rabbitte. Kdysi jsem býval hříšníkem.

man. But the Lord‟s not a hard man, you

Mizerou. Ale Pán, víš, není nelítostný tyran.

know. He doesn‟t kick up at the odd drink

Nevyvádí, kdyţ si příleţitostně přihneš nebo

or a swear word now and again. Even a

sem tam utrousíš nějaké to hrubší slůvko. A

Sister, if you treat her with proper respect.

ani svatá sestra, kdyţ ji budeš chovat v náleţité úctě.

Jimmy had nothing to say yet. Joey the Lips carried on.

Jimmy zatím neměl co říct. Joey Pysk proto pokračoval.

– The Lord told me to come home. Ed

– Pán mi vzkázal, abych se vrátil domů.

Winchell, a Baptist reverend on Lennox

Tedy prozradil mi to Ed Winchell,

Avenue in Harlem, told me. But The Lord

baptistický duchovní z Harlemu. Bůh mu

told him to tell me. He said he was

pošeptal, aby to pověděl mě. Vyprávěl, ţe

watching something on TV about the

kdyţ v televizi sledoval cosi o tom

feuding Brothers in Northern Ireland and

nekonečném nepřátelství mezi bratry

The Lord told the Reverend Ed that the

v Severním Irsku, Bůh mu vnukl myšlenku,

Irish Brothers had no soul, that they needed

ţe irští bratři nemají vůbec soulovou duši a

some soul. And pretty fucking quick! Ed

ţe ji nutně potřebují. A to kurva dost rychle!

told me to go back to Ireland and blow

A tak mi Ed řekl, ať se vrátím do Irska a

some soul into the Irish Brothers. The

napumpuji soul do duší irských bratrů. Prý

Brothers wouldn‟t be shooting the asses off

by si bratři navzájem neustřelovali zadnice,

each other if they had soul. So said Ed. I‟m

kdyby měli soul v duši. Tak pravil Ed. Já sám

not a Baptist myself but I‟ve a lot of time

baptista nejsem, ale pro reverenda Eda bych

for the Reverend Ed.

dal ruku do ohně.

- 39 -

Jimmy still had nothing to say.

Jimmy pořád nic neříkal.

– Am I in? Joey The Lips asked.

– Jsem tedy v kapele? zeptal se Joey Pysk.

– Fuck, yes, said Jimmy. – Fuckin‟ sure

– Do hajzlu, jasně, ţe jo, vyhrkl Jimmy. –

you‟re in. –––– Are yeh on the phone?

Si piš, ţe seš. –––– Máš telefon?

– Jesus on the mainline, said Joey The Lips, – tell him what you want. 463221.

– Zavolej Jeţíšovi, odvětil Joey Pysk, – pověz mu, čeho ţádáš. 463221.

Jimmy took it down.

Jimmy si to zapsal.

– I‟ll be in touch with yeh. Definitely.

– Rozhodně se s tebou spojím. Určitě.

The lads‟ll have to see –––– to meet yeh.

Kluci tě musí potkat –––– poznat.

Joey The Lips threw the leg over his scooter. His helmet was back on.

Joey Pysk přehodil nohu přes skútr. Helma mu zas seděla na hlavě.

– All God‟s chillun got wings, he said,

– Všechny děti Pána mají křídla,

and he took off out the gate, over the path

zadeklamoval a odfrčel brankou na cestu a

and down the road.

pak dolů na silnici.

Jimmy was delighted. He knew now that

Jimmy měl radost. Bylo mu jasný, ţe se

everything was going to be alright. The

všechno vydaří. The Commitments budou.

Commitments were going to be. They had

Získali Joeyho Pyska. A ten měl dost soulu

Joey The Lips Fagan. And that man had

pro kaţdýho z nich. A měl taky Boha.

enough soul for all of them. He had god too. * * *

* * *

The Commitments used the garage of Joey

The Commitments se scházeli a zkoušeli

The Lips‟ mother‟s house for meeting and

v garáţi domu matky Joeya Pyska. Byl to

rehearsing. The house was a big one on the

velkej dům poblíţ Killesteru a garáţ byla

Howth Road near Killester and the garage

taky prostorná.

was big too. When they all got there the first time Joey

Kdyţ se tam sešli poprvé, Joey Pysk ji

The Lips had it filled with chairs and rugs.

dovybavil ţidlema a koberečkama. Jen tak

They sat back while Joey The Lips counted

nečinně posedávali, zatímco je Joey Pysk

them for tea-bag purposes.

počítal, aby věděl, kolik čajových pytlíků bude potřeba.

– Strong tea, Brothers? he asked.

– Dáte si silný čaj, bratři? zjišťoval.

There wasn‟t an answer so he threw

Nikdo mu neodpověděl, proto vhodil

- 40 -

fifteen bags into the pot.

do konvice patnáct kousků.

They were all there, their first time together.

Byli tam všichni, poprvé takhle pohromadě.

Jimmy Rabbitte; manager.

Jimmy Rabbite; manaţer.

Outspan Foster; guitar.

Outspan Foster; kytara.

Deco Cuffe; vocals.

Deco Cuffe; zpěv.

Derek Scully; bass. (He‟d bought one,

Derek Scully; basová kytara. (Koupil ji

fourth-hand – he thought it was second –

ze čtvrtý ruky – myslel si však, ţe je ze druhý

for ₤60. The amp and cabinet were ₤40

– za 60 liber. Zesilovač na ozvučení stál 40

extra and sounded it. He‟d made a deal with

babek navíc. Derek se dohodl

his ma. She‟d paid for the bass and gear and

s mámou. Zatáhla basovku i vybavení a on

he had to pay the video rental for the next

musí celejch osmnáct měsíců cálovat

eighteen months. There were no flies on

pohledávky ve videopůjčovně. Derekova

Derek‟s ma.)

máma řešila problémy rychlostí blesku.)

James Clifford; piano.

James Clifford; klavír.

Billy Mooney; drums.

Billy Mooney; bicí.

Dean Fay; sax.

Dean Fay; saxofon.

And Joey The Lips.

A Joey Pysk.

This was the first time they‟d seen Joey

Tenkrát viděli kluci Joeyho Pyska poprvé a

The Lips, and they weren‟t happy. He

moc nadšení neprojevili. Vypadal jako jejich

looked like a da, their da; small, bald, fat,

tatík; malej, obtloustlej, plešatej tatík, kterej

making tea. He was wearing slippers,

vaří čaj. Na nohách měl měkkoučký,

checked fluffy ones. One thing made him

kostkovaný papuče. Ale něco na něm bylo

different though. He was wearing a Jesse

přece jenom jiný. Měl na sobě triko

Jackson campaign T-shirt.

s potiskem volební kampaně Jesseho Jacksona.

– Is this the entire band here, Brother

– Máme tu celou kapelu, bratře Rabbitte?

Jimmy? Joey The Lips asked.

zeptal se Joey Pysk.

He was handing out mugs.

Rozdával hrnky.

– This is it, said Jimmy.

– Máme, odvětil Jimmy.

– And what have you been listening to? –

– A co jste poslouchali? –––– Zmiňovali

–– You said my man, James Brown, didn‟t

jste Jamese Browna, ţe ano?

you?

- 41 -

– Yeah, said Jimmy. – We‟ll be doin‟ Night Train.

– Jo, přikývl Jimmy. – Budem hrát Noční vlak.

– I like what I hear. –––– And?

– Těší mě, co slyším. –––– A dále?

– Eddie Floyd. Knock On Wood, yeh

– Eddieho Floyda. Písničku Zaklepej to

know.

na dřevo, však ji znáš.

– Ummm.

– Fajn.

– Percy Sledge, said Jimmy.

– Percyho Sledge, pokračoval Jimmy.

– When a Man Loves a Woman?

– Zpíval Kdyţ muţ miluje ţenu?

– Yeah.

– Jasně.

– Lovely.

– Krása.

– That‟s all so far really, said Jimmy.

– A to bude zatím asi všechno, přiznal Jimmy.

– A good start, said Joey The Lips. – I

– Dobrý začátek, pochválil je Joey Pysk. –

have some Jaffa Cakes here, Brothers. Soul

Mám tady piškoty s pomerančovou náplní,

food.

bratři. Soulová krmě.

When they heard that they started to

Jakmile kluci tohle slyšeli, začali ho

tolerate him. When he took out his trumpet

tolerovat. Kdyţ vytáhl trubku a zahrál jim

and played Moon River for them they loved

skladbu Měsíční řeka, přímo si ho

him. Jimmy had been annoying them, going

zamilovali. Jimmy jim uţ lezl na nervy, jak

on and on about this genius, but now they

tohohle génia věčně opěvoval, ale teď uţ se

knew. They were The Commitments.

přesvědčili sami. Byli The Commitments.

When they‟d finished congratulating Joey The Lips (– Fair play to yeh, Mr Fagan.

Kdyţ ovace oslavující výkon Joeyho Pyska utichly (– Suprově válíte, pane Fagane.

– Yeah, tha‟ was deadly.

– Jo, bomba.

– The name‟s Joey, Brothers.) Jimmy

– Jmenuji se Joey, bratři.), Jimmy oznámil.

made an announcement. – I‟ve some backin‟ vocalists lined up.

– Dal jsem dohromady pár zpěvaček, který budou dělat křoví.

– Who?

– Koho?

– Three young ones.

– Tři mladý buchty.

– Young ones. –––– Rapid!

– Mladý? –––– Senza!

– Are they foxy ladies, Jimmy? Joey The

– Jsou to sexy kočky, Jimmy? chtěl vědět

Lips asked.

Joey Pysk.

They all stared at him.

Všichni ho pozorně sledovali.

- 42 -

– Fuckin‟ sure they are, said Jimmy.

– Si pište, ţe jo, pyšnil se Jimmy.

– Who are they? said Outspan.

– Kdo to je? dychtil se Outspan.

– Remember Tracie Quirk?

– Pamatujete na Tracie Quirkovou?

– She‟s fuckin‟ married!

– Ta je přece, do prdele, vdaná!

– Not her, said Jimmy. – Her sister.

– Tu nemyslím, odfrkl Jimmy. – Její ségru.

– Wha‟ one? Derek asked.

– Kterou? ozval se Derek.

– Imelda.

– Imeldu.

– Wha‟ one‟s she? Hang on –––––– Oh

– Která to je? Moment –––––– Týjo, jeţiš,

Jaysis, HER! Fuckin‟ great. –

TA! Tak tu ţeru.

Which one is it? said Outspan.

– Tak která to je? nedočkavě vyzvídal Outspan.

– You know her, said Derek. – Yeh

– Vţdyť ji znáš, přesvědčoval ho Derek. –

fuckin‟ do. Small with lovely tits. Yeh

Kurva, ţe jo. Malá, skvělý kozy. Uţ víš?

know. Black hair, long. Over her eyes.

Černý vlasy, dlouhý. Padají jí do očí.

– Her!

– Jo, tahle!

– She‟s fuckin‟ gorgeous, said Derek. –

– Tak ta je kurva výstavní, rozplýval se

Wha‟ age is she?

Derek. Kolik jí asi je?

– Eighteen.

– Osmnáct.

– She lives beside you, James.

– Bydlí vedle tebe, Jamesi.

– So I believe, said James.

– Asi to tak je, netečně se ozval James.

– Is she anny good at the oul‟ singin‟?

– A umí soulově zpívat?

– I haven‟t a clue, said Jimmy.

– Co já vím? ohradil se Jimmy.

– Who‟re the others? Deco asked.

– Kdo jsou ty další? zeptal se Deco.

– Two of her mates.

– Její kamarádky.

– That‟s very good management, Brother,

– Tomu říkám kvalitní management, bratře,

said Joey The Lips. – Will they be dressed

pochválil ho Joey Pysk. – Budou mít černé

in black?

šaty?

– Yeah –––– I –––– think so.

– Jasně –––– myslím –––– myslím, ţe jo.

– Good good.

– Vynikající.

The time flew in.

Čas běţel jako o závod.

Those Commitments still learning their

Muzikanti z The Commitments, co se teprv

instruments improved. The ones ready were

učili nástroje zvládnout, se lepšili. Ti, kteří je

patient. There was no group rehearsing.

uţ ovládali, trpělivě vyčkávali. Kapela

- 43 -

Jimmy wouldn‟t allow it. They all had to be

nezkoušela. Jimmy to nedovolil. Nejdřív

ready first.

museli všichni umět hrát.

Derek‟s fingers were raw. He liked to

Derek měl prsty samej puchejř. Rád dával

wallop the strings. That was the way,

strunám do těla, dokud se poraţeně nevzdaly.

Jimmy said. Derek found out that you could

Takhle to má bejt, spokojeně si mnul ruce

get away with concentrating on one string.

Jimmy. Derek zjistil, ţe mu projde, i kdyţ se

You made up for the lack of variety by

bude soustředit jen na jednu strunu. Tím, ţe

thumping the string more often and by

budete jednu strunu pouţívat častěji,

taking your hand off the neck and putting it

vykompenzujete jednotvárnost, a tím, ţe

back a lot to make it look like you were

pustíte krk basový kytary a pak ho zas

involved in complicated work. He carried

uchopíte, budete vypadat, jako ţe provádíte

his bass low, Stranglers style, nearly down

velmi komplikovanej úkon. Derek měl svou

at his knees. He didn‟t have to bend his

basovku zavěšenou proklatě nízko. Odkoukal

arms.

to od basáka ze Stranglers, visela mu téměř u kolen. Aspoň nemusel ohýbat paţe.

Outspan improved too. There‟d be no

Outspan se taky zlepšil. Jimmy říkal, ţe

guitar solos, Jimmy said, and that suited

v jejich produkci nebudou ţádný kytarový

Outspan. Jimmy gave him Motown

sóla, a to Outspanovi vyhovovalo.

compilation to listen to. Chord changes

Od Jimmyho dostal k poslouchání směsku

were scarce. It was just a matter of making

songů studia Motown. Akordy se měnily

yourself loose enough to follow the rhythm.

zřídkakdy. Museli jste se jen dostatečně uvolnit a dodrţovat rytmus.

Outspan was very embarrased up in his

Outspan se cítil děsně trapně, kdyţ se

bedroom trying to strum along to the

ve svým pokoji snaţil brnkat společně s hity

Motown time. But once he stopped looking

Motownu. Ale jakmile se na sebe přestal

at himself in the mirror he loosened up. He

dívat do zrcadla, nebyl uţ tak svázanej.

chugged along with the records, especially

Kytara mu šlapala přesně jak v nahrávkách,

The Supremes. Under the energy it was

zvláště těch od Supremes. Za celou tou

simple.

energií se skrývala jednoduchost.

Then he started using the mirror again.

Pak začal zase pouţívat zrcadlo. Byl

He was thrilled. His plectrum hand danced.

nadšenej. Ruka s trsátkem tančila

Sometimes it was a blur. The hand looked

po strunách. Někdy z ní byla vidět jen

great. The arm hardly budged. The wrist

rozmazaná šmouha. Ta ruka vypadala

- 44 -

was in charge. He held his guitar high

senzačně. Paţe se ale sotva kdy hnula.

against his chest.

Všemu vládlo zápěstí. Kytaru měl posazenou pěkně vysoko na hrudi.

He saved money when he could. He

Šetřil peníze, kde mohl. Neměl práci, ale

wasn‟t working but on Saturday mornings

kaţdou sobotu ráno chodil v Barrytownu

he went from door to door in Barrytown

od jedněch dveří ke druhým a prodával

selling the frozen chickens that his cousin

mraţený kuřata, který jeho bratranec kaţdou

always managed to rob from H. Williams

páteční noc ukradl v místním diskontu. Mohl

on Friday nights. That gave him at least a

si proto kaţdej tejden odloţit deset babek. A

tenner a week to put away. As well as that,

nejen to. Taky pomáhal panu Hurleymu,

he gave the man next door, Mr Hurley, a

kterej bydlel vedle, kšeftovat

hand with his video business. This involved

s videokazetama. Musel jich schovávat asi

keeping about two hundred tapes under his

dvě stě pod postelí, několikrát tejdně pár

bed and driving around the estate with Mr

hodin objíţdět sídliště s panem Hurleym a

Hurley for a few hours a couple of times a

předávat kazety, zatímco pan Hurley

week, handing out the tapes while Mr

kasíroval. Pak najednou, z čista jasna mu

Hurley took in the money. Then, out of the

máma dala většinu peněz z přídavku na dítě

blue, his ma gave him most of the month‟s

za poslední měsíc. Rozplakal se.

mickey money. He cried. He had ₤145 now. That got him a third-

Teď měl 145 liber. Mohl si pořídit kytaru

hand electric guitar (the make long

ze třetí ruky (co to bylo za značku, uţ dávno

forgotten) and a bad amp and cabinet. After

nikdo nevěděl) a ne moc kvalitní zesilovač i

that they couldn‟t get him away from the

s bednou. Potom uţ ho od zrcadla nemohli

mirror.

odtrhnout.

Deco‟s mother worried about him. He‟d

Decova matka si dělala starosti. Deco snědl

be eating his breakfast and then he‟d yell

snídani, a pak ječel něco jako ,cítím se fajn„

something like Good God Y‟Awl or Take It

nebo ,vem mě dolů k řece„. Deco dodrţoval

To The Bridge Now. Deco was on a strict

přísnou soulovou dietu: dával si Jamese

soul diet: James Brown, Otis Redding,

Browna, Otise Reddinga, Smokeyho

Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye. James

Robinsona a Marvina Gaye. Jamese kvůli

for the growls, Otis for the moans, Smokey

chraplání, Otise kvůli sténání, Smokeyho

for the whines and Marvin for the whole lot

kvůli kvílení a Marvina kvůli pospojování

put together, Jimmy said.

toho všeho. Tak to aspoň říkal Jimmy.

- 45 -

Deco sang, shouted, growled, moaned,

Deco si pouštěl kazety, co dostal

whined along to the tapes Jimmy had given

od Jimmyho. S nima zpíval, řval, chraplal,

him. He bollixed his throat every night. It

sténal, kvílel. Prznil si hlasivky kaţdou noc.

felt like it was being cut from the inside by

Kdyţ se dostával na konec písničky Stopy

the time he got to the end of Tracks of My

mých slz, měl pocit, jako by mu je někdo

Tears. He liked I Heard It through the

vyrval ven. Líbila se mu nahrávka Vinná

Grapevine because the women singing I

réva šepotá, protoţe měl šanci si na chviličku

HEARD IT THROUGH THE

svlaţit palčivý hrdlo během chvíle, kdy tam

GRAPEVINE NOT MUCH LONGER

ty ţenský zpívaly VINNÁ RÉVA ŠEPOTÁ,

WOULD YOU BE MY BABY gave him a

JEN KRÁTCE BUDU TVÁ.

short chance to wet the stinging in his

Po napodobování Marvina Gaye ho pokaţdé

throat. Copying Marvin Gaye meant

rozbolelo v krku, coţ ho neskutečně

making his throat sore and then rubbing it

vytáčelo.

in. He kept going though. He was getting

Přesto nepolevoval. Lepšil se. Všechno

better. It was getting easier. He could feel

bylo najednou snaţší. Vnímal, ţe má hrdlo

his throat stretching. It was staying wet

elastičtější. Nevysychalo tak brzy. Dostával

longer. He was getting air from further

vzduch mnohem hloubějc. Kdyţ si

down. He put on Otis Redding and sang My

potřeboval odpočinout, pustil si a zazpíval

Girl with him when he needed a rest. He

Mou dívku od Otise Reddinga. Kaţdou sérii

finished every session with James Brown.

končil Jamesem Brownem. Pak leţel

Then he‟d lie on the bed till the snot

na posteli, dokud mu nepřestal téct sopel.

stopped running. He couldn‟t close his eyes

Nemohl ani zavřít oči, protoţe by se mu

because he‟d spin. Deco was taking this

točila hlava. Deco bral zpívání a všechno

thing very seriously.

kolem velmi váţně.

All his rehearsing was done standing up

Vţdycky zkoušel vestoje a před zrcadlem.

in front of the wardrobe mirror. He was to

Při zpívání se měl na sebe dívat. To si přál

look at himself singing, Jimmy said. He

Jimmy. Měl předstírat, ţe drţí mikrofon.

was to pretend he had a microphone. At

Nejprve i poskakoval kolem dokola, ale bylo

first he jumped around but it was too

to šíleně vyčerpávající a děsilo to matku.

knackering and it frightened his mother.

Jimmy mu přehrál krátký video, kde James

Jimmy showed him a short video of James

Brown zpíval Táta si sehnal funglnovou

Brown doing Papa‟s Got a Brand New Bag.

kabelu. Na koberci mu Jamesův skluz

- 46 -

He couldn‟t copy James‟ one-footed shuffle

na jedný noze nešel, tak si ho zkoušel na

on the bedroom carpet so he practiced on

linoleu v kuchyni, kdyţ uţ všichni spali.

the lino in the kitchen when everyone had gone to bed. He saw the way James Brown dropped to

Viděl, jak James Brown padl na kolena. Ne

his knees. He didn‟t hitch his trousers and

ţe by si povytáhl gatě a klekl. Prostě padl.

kneel. He dropped. Deco tried it. He

Deco se o to také pokusil. Zavyl KDYŢ

growled SOMETIMES I FEEL GOOD I

POCÍTÍM SEDMÉ NEBE, TAK BYCH

WANNA JUMP BACK AND KISS

LÍBAL I SÁM SEBE, namířil kolena k zemi

MYSELF, aimed his knees at the floor and

a pustil tělo za nima.

followed them there. He didn‟t get up again for a while. He

Chvíli trvalo, neţ se znovu postavil.

thought he‟d knee-capped himself. Jimmy

Myslel, ţe si rozdrtil kolena. Jimmy mu

told him that James Brown‟s trousers were

vyprávěl, ţe kdyţ James Brown odcházel

often soaked in blood when he came off-

z jeviště, měl kalhoty nasáklý krví. Kdyby se

stage. Deco was fucked if his would be.

to stalo Decovi, pěkně by ho to nakrklo.

There was nothing you could teach James

Nebylo nic, co byste ještě mohli naučit

Clifford about playing the piano. Jimmy

Jamesa Clifforda o hraní na klavír. Jimmy

had him listening to Little Richard. He got

chtěl, aby poslouchal Little Richarda. Donutil

James to thump the keys with his elbows,

Jamese bušit do kláves loktama, pěstma i

fists, heels. James was a third-year medical

patama. Jelikoţ James dělal třetí ročník

student so he was able to tell Jimmy the

medicíny, byl schopnej Jimmymu říct

exact, right word for whatever part of his

přesnej, korektní termín jakékoli část těla,

body he was hitting the piano with. He was

kterou do klavíru mlátil. Uměl taky vysvělit,

able to explain the damage he was doing to

jak moc si tím ubliţuje a proto si chtěl aspoň

himself. He drew the line at the forehead.

zachránit hlavu. Jimmy ho nemohl

Jimmy couldn‟t persuade him to give the

přesvědčit, aby taky sem tam klavíru uštědřil

piano the odd smack with his forehead.

nějakej ten úder čelem. Bylo aţ příliš mnoho

There was too much at stake there. Besides,

v sázce. A kromě toho, nosil brejle.

he wore glasses. Joey The Lips helped Dean Fay.

Joey Pysk pomáhal Deanovi Fayovi.

– My man, that reed there is a nice lady‟s

– Chlapče, tenhle jazýček je bradavka

nipple.

nějaké půvabné dámy.

- 47 -

For days Dean blushed when he wet the reed and let his lips close on it.

Dlouhou dobu se Dean začervenal pokaţdé, kdyţ olízl jazýček saxíku a přitiskl na něho rty.

– Make it a particular lady, someone real.

– Představ si konkrétní dámu, někoho skutečného.

Dean chose a young one from across the

Deanova vyvolená byla holčina, která

road. She was in the same class as his

bydlela přes ulici. Bylo to třeťačka a chodila

brother, third year, and she was always

do stejné třídy jako Deanův bratr. Půjčovala

coming over to borrow his books or scab

si u nich učebnice nebo opisovala úkoly.

his homework. It didn‟t work though. Dean

Tohle ale nefungovalo. Dean se přes to

couldn‟t go through with it. She was too

nemohl přenést. Byla aţ moc skutečná.

real. So the saxophone reed became one of

Takţe se jazýček změnil v Madonninu

Madonna‟s nipples and Dean‟s playing

bradavku a Deanovo hraní se začalo někam

began to get somewhere.

ubírat.

Joey The Lips was a terrific teacher, very

Joey Pysk byl báječnej učitel.

patient. He had to be. Even Joey The Lips‟

Veletrpělivej. Určitě byl, protoţe i jeho

mother, who was completely deaf, could

matka, která byla jinak totálně hluchá,

sense Dean‟s playing from the other side of

vnímala Deanovo hraní, který se linulo

the house.

z druhýho konce domu.

After three weeks he could go three notes

Po třech tejdnech zahrál tři noty bez

without stopping and he could hold short

nádechu a udrţel i krátký noty. Ty dlouhý se

notes. Long ones went all over the place.

mu potulovaly všude moţně. Joey Pysk hrál

Joey The Lips played alongside him, like a

spolu s ním, jako instruktor autoškoly. Zařval

driving instructor. He only shouted once

jen jednou. Byl to výkřik plnej opravdovýho

and that was really a cry of fright and pain

zděšení a bolesti. Dean do něj totiţ nacouval,

caused by Dean backing into him while

kdyţ měl trubku ještě u huby.

Joey The Lips still had his trumpet in his mouth. Billy Mooney blammed away at his

Billy Mooney mlátil do bubnů jak smyslů

drums. His father was dead and his brothers

zbavenej. Otec byl mrtvej a bratři mnohem

were much younger than him so there was

mladší, takţe v domě nebyl nikdo, kdo by mu

no one in the house to tell him to shut the

nakázal, aby s tím kurva přestal.

fuck up.

- 48 -

Jimmy told him not to bother too much

Jimmy mu poradil, aby se moc

with cymbals and to use the butts of the

nezalamoval s činelama a pouţíval konce

sticks as well as the tips. What he was after

paliček stejně jako špičky. Šlo o vyrovnanej,

was a steady, uncomplicated beat: – a

nekomplikovanej rytmus: – dusající

thumping back-beat, Jimmy called it. That

backbeat, jak to nazval Jimmy. To Billymu

suited Billy. He‟d have been happy with a

vyhovovalo. Byl by spokojenej, i kdyby měl

bin lid and a hammer. And that was what he

jen víko od popelnice a kladivo. A ty taky

used when he played along to Dancing in

vyuţíval, kdyţ doprovázel song Tanec

the Streets. Not a bin lid exactly; a tin tray,

v ulicích. Nebylo to přímo víko od popelnice;

with a racehorse on it. The horse was worn

měl jen cínovej podnos, na kterým byl

off after two days.

namalovanej dostihovej kůň. Po dvou dnech se uţ kůň úplně ošoupal.

The three backing vocalists, The

Tři doprovodný zpěvačky, The

Commitmentettes, listened to the Supremes,

Commitmentettes, poslouchaly kapely jako

Martha and the Vandellas, The Ronettes,

Supremes, Martha and Vandellas, Ronettes,

The Crystals and The Shangri-las. The

Crystals a Shangri-las. The Commitmentettes

Commitmentettes were Imelda Quirk and

tvořily Imelda Quirková a její kamarádky

her friends Natalie Murphy and Bernie

Natalie Murphyová a Bernie

McLoughlin.

McLoughlinová.

– How yis move, yeh know –––––– is

– Víte, to, jak se hejbete, –––––– je

more important than how yis sing, Jimmy

důleţitější, neţ to, jak zpíváte, poučoval je

told them.

Jimmy.

– You‟re a dirty bastard, you are.

– Seš pěknej sprosťák. To teda seš.

Imelda, Natalie and Bernie could sing

Imelda, Natalie a Bernie ale uměly zpívat.

though. They‟d been in the folk mass choir

Během školních let chodily do kostelního

when they were in school but that, they

sboru, coţ, jak teď uţ poznaly, nebylo ţádný

knew now, hadn‟t really been singing.

zpívání. Jimmy jim prozradil, ţe skutečná

Jimmy said that real music was sex. They

hudba je sex. Nejdřív mu řekly, ţe je

called him a dirty bastard but they were

úchylák, ale pak mu začaly dávat za pravdu.

starting to agree with him. And there wasn‟t

V církevních chorálech Můj králi, má spáso

much sex in Morning Has Broken or The

nebo Hospodin je můj pastýř moc sexu

Lord is my Shepherd.

nebylo.

Now they were singing along to Stop in

Teď doprovázely zpěvem nahrávky Stůj

- 49 -

the Name of Love and Walking in the Rain

ve jménu lásky nebo Procházka v dešti a moc

and they were enjoying it.

se jim to líbilo.

Joined together their voices sounded

Myslely si, ţe jejich hlasy zní dohromady

good, they thought. Jimmy taped them.

dobře. Jimmy je nahrál. Studem úplně

They were scarlet. They sounded terrible.

zfialověly. Nedalo se to poslouchat.

– Yis‟re usin‟ your noses instead of your mouths, said Jimmy.

– Zpíváte nosem místo pusou, vysvětloval Jimmy.

– Fuck off slaggin‟, said Imelda.

– Vyhoň si, odpálila ho Imelda.

– Yis are, I‟m tellin‟ yeh. An‟ yis

– Fakt to tak děláte, já nekecám. A taky

shouldn‟t be usin‟ your ordin‟y accents

byste neměly zpívat s přízvukem. Je tam

either. It‟s Walking in the Rain, not

Procházka v dešti, ne Prochazkovojdešťu.

Walkin‟ In De Rayen. – Snobby!

– To je tak snobácký!

They taped themselves and listened. They

Nahrávaly se a pak se poslouchaly.

got better, clearer, sweeter. Natalie could

Postupem času byly lepší, čistší a sladší.

roar and squeal too. They took down the

Natalie uměla řvát a taky vřískat. Napsaly si

words and sang by themselves without the

slova a zpívaly si je bez doprovodu nahrávek.

records. They only did this though when

Ale jen kdyţ měla některá z nich volnej dům.

one of them had a free house. They moved together, looking down,

Pohupovaly se společně, hlavy sklopený,

making sure their feet were going the right

aby se ujistily, ţe se hejbou správným

way. Soon they didn‟t have to look down.

směrem. Brzy se uţ nemusely dívat dolů.

They wiggled their arses at the dressing-

Vrtěly zadkama před zrcadlem toaletního

table mirror and burst out laughing. But

stolku a často vybuchly smíchy. Ale nedaly

they kept doing it.

se odradit, jely dál.

* * *

* * *

- 50 -

5. THEORETICAL PART Process of Translation While translating the extract of the novel, which was a slow and uneasy process, I tried to follow certain rules that a Czech literary and translation theoretician Jiří Levý finds necessary in order to produce the translation closely similar to a „piece of art‟. In his monograph Umění překladu he (9) claims that the process of translation embraces three fundamental steps which a translator has to climb. Ideally, the translator is to understand, interpret and rewrite the original text. The author of several publications on the theory of translation, Dagmar Knittlová (2000: 21, transl. by Z.P.), supports Levý‟s statement saying this: It is covetable that the process of translation be phased. In the first place the translator should make a strategic decision which integrates the original text into a certain framework. He/she should study cultural backround, historical and local insertion, literary allusions, realia, an author‟s relationship to a topic and also audience, a nature of audience and text, and a function of the text. Only then can he/she proceed to more detailed decisions regarding the choise of grammar structures or lexical content so that he/she can create the definite translated text.

5.1.1. Understanding Levý (1963: 10) informs that understanding the original is not only the question of knowledge of a source language including idiomatic or colloquial phrases. He finds essential that the translator be a good reader because accurate reading helps other readers who face the product of the translation process to feel the mood of the original work and comprehend “reality expressed in it, such as the characters and relations among them, setting and the author‟s ideological intension.” (Levý 1963: 11, transl. by Z.P.). Although I had read The Commitments several times, it was inevitable to refresh my memory and bring the characters back to life. Moreover Levý (11) recommends the translator to be very sensitive, read between lines and notice unique qualities of characters as well as pay attention to historical, political, cultural and social peculiarities in order to create a translation that accords with the original not only in lexical but also connotative meaning. - 51 -

Peter Newmark, an English professor and translation specialist, (1991: 62) notifies something similar in his work About Translation writing this: The traslator has to be conversant with and responsible for the topic, the referential meaning of the text: he or she has to check figures, facts, places, proper names. The translator‟s first responsibility is to the truth, to the facts of the matter. Further the translator has a responsibility to the principles of human rights – in this sense, the translator is neither objective nor anonymous.

To accomplish Levý‟s and Newmark‟s requirements I commenced a research that consumed a considerable number of hours searching the Internet so that I could gain some useful information from trustworthy sources. Especially, I tried to trace references to literary works engaged in issues with which being familiar is indispensable; otherwise there is a danger of misinterpretation of the original. Hence the research was aimed at conditions that formed the characters‟ personalities (e.g. the economic situation in the Republic of Ireland and its capital Dublin in the 1980s, the state of the characters‟ native Northside Dublin), the author‟s biography, works and style, the language the characters speak and last but not the least at soul music. To tell the truth, the web pages devoted to these concerns did not offer a great amount of data, yet they provided enough to put me in the picture. Some of the findings are employed in the introduction of the thesis, more accurately in the sections reserved to Roddy Doyle and his book.

5.1.2. Interpretation Levý (1963: 31) thinks that the product of translation process is a miscellaneous unit where two distinct worlds coexist. One of them, the content of the text, is depended on foreign setting and the other, the language, is Czech. The understanding of the original or the reconstruction of reality, as Levý (11) calls it, “requires imagination and well thought out interpretation of the text.” (Levý 1963: 11-12, transl. by Z.P.).

5.1.2.1.Language The official language of The Commitments is a Northside dialect marked by a high frequency of swearing, usually referred to as Dublinese. It was one of the crucial issues to which I had to

- 52 -

aim my attention in particular. Roddy Doyle himself considers his characters‟ authentic speech important saying (White 181-182) this: I‟ve always wanted to bring the books down closer and closer to the characters – to get myself, the narrator, out of it as much as I can. And one of the ways to do this is to use the language that the characters actually speak, to use the vernacular, and not ignoring the grammar, the formality of it, to bend it, to twist it, so you get a sense that you are hearing it, not reading it; that you are listening to the characters.

Basically, the rudiments of my strategy how to cope with the text arose from the first reading. My mind was deliberating about the kind of language I was going to use. In any case it was clear to me that standard Czech is for the text which swarmed with slang expressions completely inappropriate. Therefore I was dallying with an idea to translate the text by means of Brno slang. Finally, I doubted whether I would be able to provide the overall text written in accurate Brno slang even though being a native Brno citizen. Besides I impugned acceptability of the slang for readers from other regions of the Czech Republic. Thus, I decided to create a text where non-standard forms of everyday language known as „Colloquial Czech‟ blend with Brno slang expressions which substitute distinctive Irish slang phrases so as to reach exceptionality similar to the original. I made all the characters including the narrator speak this informal and familiar language with an exception of the character Joey The Lips Fagan who usually speaks standard English, formal and polite, marked with the usage of archaic phrases (e.g. You may speak the truth.), formal addressing (e.g. brothers) and practically no contracted forms. That is why Joey uses standard Czech with a bit odd choice of vocabulary in the translation.

5.1.2.2.Personal and Geographical Names The reading also detected passages that were going to desire careful handling and brought some food for thought. Will foreign personal names sound disruptive, especially in declined forms? How does the Czech reader manage English names of the songs? What shall I do with the lyrics? To translate or not to translate? These were the most frequent questions that were constantly on my mind. I believe that every translator confronts similar difficulties that emerge when a foreign “setting collides with a specifically Czech expression.” (Levý 31). About cases such as these Levý (1963: 31, transl. Z.P.) notes that, “even absolutely brilliant - 53 -

solution of the translator is a compromise which cannot disguise incongruousness of the translation.” At first I came up to a quick decision concerning the personal names. Some of the names that appear in the text have Czech equivalents (e.g. Jimmy = Kuba, Joey = Pepa, Frank = František) but most of them do not exist in the Czech language. I did not intend to have a mixture of foreign and domestic personal names which would induce an inappropriate and in some instances even ridiculous effect (e.g. František Sinatra). I also assumed that the Czech reader was going to be aware that the book in his/her hands took place in an English-speaking country, hence he/she was going to expect occurrence of English personal names. As a consequence I was determined to leave the personal names as they were; however, they had to be slightly adapted with declension endings (e.g. Eddieho, Declana Cuffea, Jimmyho, Franka Sinatry) or endings of possessive case (e.g. Derekova, Derekově). The only exception I made was abided by Levý‟s statement (1963: 43, transl. by Z.P.), that “a personal name may be translated in case it has a meaning quality.” That was the case of Joey Fagan‟s middle name „The Lips‟ functioning as a nickname which refers to Fagan‟s playing the trumpet. To preserve the author‟s intention I renamed this character Joey Pysk Fagan. The matter of geographical names indeed was a soft option. Most of them have their Czech equivalents that are widely used (e.g. England = Anglie, Ireland = Irsko, Chestnut Street = Kaštanová ulice). Those that retained their original forms were adjusted in a way to meet Czech grammar requirements (e.g. Barrytown, Barrytownu).

5.1.2.3.Music Matters It was expressions pertaining to music that kept my mind permanently busy. In this place I would like to remark that the following statements are not meant as an offence which would imply underestimation of the Czech nation‟s intelligence. Much as I would like to say that soul music is popular in the Czech Republic, I think there are not many admirers, which is probably the aftermath of the communist regime. All the same, I suppose the allusions to other genres such as ska or reggae are not fully comprehensible to the Czech reader.

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Levý (1963: 33, transl. by Z.P.) advices that, “the translator to preserve more or less national distinctions in agreement with the degree of foreign culture awareness he/she can expect. At the same time he/she has an opportunity to broaden the reader‟s knowledge of such culture.” After a seemingly never-ending hesitation I devised a compromise to preserve the names of music groups regardless the reader‟s acquaintance with them but to translate both the names of songs and the fragments of lyrics (even at the cost of losing familiarity with two notorious songs – Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood and All You Need Is Love by The Beatles).

5.1.2.4.Polysemous Words Other problems I had to stand up to eventuated from disparity of the English and Czech languages. Levý (1963: 31, transl. by Z.P.) claims about this issue: A whole meaning concord of expressions between the original and the translation is not possible therefore a linguistically correct translation is insufficient. It often happens that the lexis of the mother tongue does not comprise as a multivalent expression as the original language. The translator has to specify the meaning then; he/she needs to know the reality that is hidden behind the text to come to conclusion which expression with a restricted meaning to use.

High though incidence of multivalent words was in the original text, I will only advance a few instances that called for a delicate solution: a) the original: the translation:

Madness, The Specials. Little black an‟ whi‟e men. Kapely Madness, Specials. Chlápci v černobílým.

As soon as I came across this line, I was not sure whether „black an‟ whi‟e‟ referred to the race of the groups‟ members mentioned in the original line or something else. I entered the musicians‟ official web sites and found out that the saying reflected the colours they were wearing rather than the ones of their skin. b) the original: the translation:

Have you got soul? Máte soul v duši?

The original phrase benefits from more senses of a polysemous word „soul‟. Apart from other meanings, Doyle wittily avails himself of a phenomenon that the word which entitles a musical genre also means the immaterial essence, animating principle, or actuating cause of an individual life; i.e. „duše‟ in Czech. Unfortunately, the

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connection like this is not possible in the Czech language, so I combined the two senses together in an expression that could be translated into English as „Soul in your soul‟.

5.1.2.5.Title Since this whole chapter is devoted to the interpretation of the original text, I assume I should pay some attention to the title of the book as well. Levý (1963: 61-62) distinguishes two types of titles – descriptive and symbolic. The former denotes a topic of the work directly (often contains a hero‟s name or a literary genre of the work) while the latter provides a topic, problems or atmosphere of it by means of abbreviations or symbols. The title Roddy Doyle has given to his book can be perceived as both types; firstly, as a name of the music group itself and secondly, as a message that its members have. The word „commitment‟ encompasses a lot of senses, all of them concerning pledging, allegiance, loyalty, dedication, and oath. Doyle perhaps aims at their mission to bring soul to Ireland, the result of which should be peace; not only peace of arms, but also peace of Irish inhabitants‟ minds which struggle from economic instability, unemployment, political and religious scandals that shake the country. In my opinion, soul music is a metaphor for hope that life is not pointless. While the members of the group have soul, they can enjoy life; they have something to look forward to; their hard work is rewarded with certain success. Sadly, their split, which is caused by jealousy, petty quarrels and self-interestedness, shows that if people do not stand by one another they could meet bad ends. The problem was how to pack all I felt important into a short title. Imagining I was an ordinary reader that was not familiar with Roddy Doyle, his book or the film that was based on it, knowing no English at all, I wondered what title would grab my attention. Surely, it would not be the original one. Levý (1963: 63) does not consider intellectual amplification of a title which involves explanation and paraphrase the most convenient because it breaks prime structural patterns of the title. At the same time, he does not fully reject the amplification saying that, “the title is an idea key to the work; its intelligibility is sometimes more important than its metaphorical character.” (63, transl. by Z.P.)

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Personally, I felt that the amplification is strongly desirable. Solutions I came upon were manifold, from the dull ones to the fairly crazy ones. To be frank, I cast away most of them immediately. Nevertheless some of them were worth thinking and I believe that they should be presented (their English translations are bracketed) as well as the reasons that were decisive for their rejection: The Commitments – Legenda dublinského soulu -

(The Commitments – The Legend of Dublin Soul)

-

This title seemed quite plain and not really original; a lot of books have a title like this I thought. Moreover I feared that it would remind people rather of non-fiction literature than fiction and besides the band‟s ephemeral life would hardly match the meaning of the word „legend‟.

The Commitments – Vzestup a pád hudební kapely -

(The Commitmens – Rise and Fall of a Music Band)

-

Again, this title was not fully satisfactory because of its overdescription and it appeared to me that it signals too explicitly how the novel ends.

Letopisy kapely The Commitments -

(The Chronicles of a band The Commitments)

-

In this case I yielded to temptation of paraphrasing a well-established title. This one was surely inspired by C.S. Lewis‟ book The Chronicles of Narnia which I had been reading recently. I believe that if the novel were given this name, it would be a good marketing move, for people like buying things that evoke something they think they are familiar with. Meeting a title like this appears to them as meeting a good old friend. Of course, I know reality bites and such reunion does not always bring happiness and therefore I decided the title was not the one I was looking for.

The Commitments – Irští pastýři soulu -

(The Commitments – Irish Shepherds of Soul)

-

I confess truthfully that I liked this title very much. It had almost all important things that were essential to be expressed – the location, religion, and soul music. Its uncontested advantage was that even the ambiguity of the word „soul‟ is not present in the Czech language. What I minded was that the title would be probably too religious for the Czech reader and this could discourage him/her from reaching for it. - 57 -

Zapomeňte na U2, teď vládnou The Commitments! -

(Forget U2; The Commitments rulez!)

-

This fairy aggressive title would perhaps please the Czech reader, the younger the better, as the Irish band U2 is well known in the Czech Republic, and the reference to it would clerify where the novel takes place and what main issue it discusses. On the other hand, it is true that the title would be also misguiding because it could imply that the book is a quasi-encyclopeadia of Irish music, which is not, and that would be unfair to the reader.

Speaking personally, in the end the title I singled out, The Commitmens – Kapela, co mohla změnit svět (The Commitments – A Band that Could Change the World), is not one of my favourites since it also promps the band‟s destiny as the second one listed above. However, it is still shrouded in mystery and invokes certain whys and hows and this could be, in my opinion, appealing to the reader.

5.1.3. Rewriting The third phase of the process of translation is rewriting the original text. Levý (1963: 18-20) presents three points explaining a necessity of this: a) Two different language systems are confronted. b) The original language both directly or indirectly interfere in the translation. c) The translation style is derived; the original thought is converted into a language in which it has not been created. All the three points apply to a premise that Czech is a synthetic language1 unlike English, which is analytic2. Linguistic means of the two languages are not identical and therefore they cannot be transferred mechanically, by a method „word by word‟. Briefly, the translator has to put up with differences in grammar and syntax, lexeme or style (Levý 1963: 8).

1

“A language which expresses syntactic relations by inflection (the change in the form of a word that indicates distinctions of tense, person, gender, number, mood, voice, and case) or by agglunation (word formation by means of morpheme or word unit, clustering).” (Harris and Hodges 297). 2 “A language which expresses syntactic features primarily by words and their order rather than affixes.” (Harris and Hodges 9).

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Rewriting is in fact a relentless quest for suitable equivalents the translator has to set on. The reason is simple because, as Knittlová (2000: 29) says, today translators do not exchange a word, a structure or a sentence for another one of their kind. They long for reaching equivalence in all aspects. She explains (2000: 6, transl. by Z.P.) that, “it does not matter whether the translator uses the same or different linguistic means but what matters is that they have to function in the same way; they should incorporate not only denotative or referential aspect of the text but also connotative (expressive or associative) and pragmatic.”

5.2. Equivalence in Practice This chapter of the thesis deals with the instances of solutions to various difficulties concerning lexical, grammatical, textual and pragmatical equivalence. They are divided into subchapters from the viewpoint of aforementioned differences between Czech and English which appear to be cornerstones of all translation problems that the translator has to face. While solving the lack of direct equivalents or handling matters with zero equivalents I tried to exploit several traditional translation techniques, especially those that Knittlová (2000: 14) suggests in her book. The list of the techniques is accompanied by the examples from the thesis translation: 

transcription -

the trancription and transliteration adapted to the usage of the traget language









e.g. rock an‟ roll = rokenrol

calque -

the literal translation

-

e.g. chicken curry = kuřecí kari

modulation -

the change of aspect

-

e.g. Tha‟ bollix ratted on us … = Ta krysa na nás bonzovala …

substitution -

the replacement of one linguistic means by another

-

e.g. There‟s the flush… = Slyším, jak splachuje…

adaptation

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-

the substitution of a situation described in the original by another, adequate one



e.g. He‟d won them. = Měl je v hrsti.

transposition -

the necessary grammatical change as a consequence of different language systems



e.g. His uncle had given it to him… = Věnoval mu ho strejda…

equivalency -

the usage of stylistic and structural means different from the original

-

… because one of his lungs had collapsed. = … protoţe mu odešla jedna plíce.

5.2.1. Stylistic differences Levý points out (1963: 19) that the Czech language, as distinct from English, cannot form many stylistic nuances or compact expressions loaded with meaning. He also emphasises (19) that the translator should exploit the potential in which Czech overcomes other languages, including English.

5.2.1.1.Reporting Verbs Levý encourages (1963: 20) the translator not to be bounded by apparent stylistic means of the original language and to uncover latent stylistic qualities. Since repetition of the same expression is regarded as a negative feature in Czech stylistics, it was vital to look for proper equivalents of reporting verbs (say, ask) which are to discover vastly throughout the whole original text. On Knitlová‟s constructive advice (2000: 48) I guided the choice of the equivalents of reporting verbs by the context, which helped me to find expressions that combined denotative meaning with an expressive or connotative component. Consequently, both the verbs „say‟ and „ask‟ are transferred into Czech by a wide scale of verbs which are related (not necessarily) to verbal expressing in the case of „say‟ and querying in the case of „ask‟, but at the same time they comment the action that is happening. The next few examples of various equivalents used in the translation, which Knittlová (2000: 41) calls as

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specification3, perhaps prove the previous statement positive. Although both the original and the translation deal with these reporting verbs in past tense, I introduce their basic forms for better lucidity. The expressions in brackets illustrate denotative meaning of the Czech equivalents in English. a) the original: say the translation: poznamenat (remark), zabručet (mutter), pozdravit (say hello), odporovat (oppose), souhlasit (agree), vytáčet se (prevaricate), kázat (preach), ohradit se (protest), odpovědět (answer), zavrčet (growl), zaklít (swear), odfrknout (snort), odseknout (snap back), křičet (shout), zahulákat (yell), vysvětlovat (explain), vyhrknout (burst out), provokovat (provoke) b) the original: ask the translation: chtít vědět (want to know), být zvědav (be curious), vyzvídat (snoop) As the foregoing instances are taken out of context, it is relevant to show how these function in the cohesive and coherent text. the original:

the translation:

– Been ridin‟ anythin‟ since I seen yis last? Jimmy asked them. – No way, said Outspan. – We‟ve been

– Tak co, vojeli jste někoho od posledně? zeptal se jich Jimmy. – Ani náhodou, prohlásil Outspan. –

much too busy for tha‟ sort o‟ thing. Isn‟t

Nemáme na takový voloviny vůbec čas, no

tha‟ right?

ne?

. – Yeah, that‟s righ‟, said Derek. – Puttin‟ the finishin‟ touches to your album? said Jimmy. – Puttin‟ finishin‟ touches to our name, said Outspan.

– Pilovali ste album? provokoval je Jimmy. – Pilovali sme jméno kapely, zamumlal Outspan.

– Wha‟ are yis now?

– A jak se teda menujete?

– And And exclamation mark, righ‟? ––––

– A A vykřičník, je to tak, ţe? –––– A,

And, said Derek.

3

– Jo, to je fakt, souhlasil Derek.

ujišťoval se Derek.

substitution by a hyponym

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5.2.1.2.Emotive Expressions Levý considers (1963: 19) that words with the emotive function and especially diminutives should not be forgotten while translating. It could be said that the whole tuning of the original text does not give a chance for a great deal of such expressions, yet some of them appear in the translation even though they do not bear emotional attitudes very often. Certainly, expressions like these stylistically enrich the translation as well as lexical derivatives created by means of prefixes. Here are a few instances of this phenomenon. the original:

the translation:

the little fella

ten mrňous

a little face

obličejík

saxík

sax

oul‟ fellas

staříci

a fair whack

pěkná sumička

young one

holčina

very patient

veletrpělivej

fluffy

měkkoučký

5.2.1.3.Collocations Knittlová indicates (2000: 56-56) that connotation of colloquiallity helps to create atmosphere of a situation or define characters by embracing the whole scale of style levels. As it is not easy to recognize the position in the scale of colloquiality of a lexical unit, the translator should exploit all means he/she considers adequate for a given situation and style. The original text particularly required well-balanced colloquial language so that the characters would act convincingly in concord with their culture and social surroundings. Hence I reached for colloquial, slang, expressive or pejorative expressions and their various combinations. I am aware that one may admit that the language the characters were made to speak is not rude enough because of the rife presence of vulgarisms in the original text. Even though knowing that majority of these expressions function as intensificators and thus their strength is extenuated and taking into account the fact that the more frequent occurrence of taboo

- 62 -

words the less their vulgarity (Knittlová 65), I did not mean to shock the readership with a choice of obscene language. I preferred following Clifford Lander‟s advice (2001: 151-152) that while translating offensive language the translator should firstly concentrate on searching for “emotional, not literal, equivalents” (e.g. An‟ second, I don‟t like the cunt. = A za druhý, nemám toho kripla rád.) and secondly that “at times a zero-translation is the only way to make an utterance sound natural” (e.g. An‟ he made a fuckin‟ bomb. = A byla to fakt bomba.). Here are examples of some Czech equivalents to expressions of informal register in the original inserted into categories divided according to forms of colloquial Czech from the aspect of style peculiarity (2000: 78): a) expressive structures the original:

the translation:

wallop

dávat do těla

That was the killer argument.

Tak přes tenhle argument nejel vlak.

slop

šlichta

b) colloquial structures the original:

the translation:

rapid

senzační

mike

mikrák

c) common structures the original:

the translation:

locked

nalitej

fuckin‟ locked

navátej jak pytel

d) slang structures the original:

the translation:

Tha‟ bollix ratted on us …

Ta krysa na nás bonzovala …

culchies

lonťáci

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e) vulgar structures the original:

the translation:

go up one‟s arse

strčit do prdele

Fuckin‟ hell!

No, to mě poser!

Not songs abou‟ Fianna fuckin‟ Fail…

Ţádný songy o zkurvený republikánský armádě…

5.2.1.4.Cohesion Speaking of style, this time in connection with textual equivalence, cohesion is another area where English differs from Czech and it certainly should not be forgotten. The linguists Halliday and Hasan remark in the introduction to their book Cohesion in English (1976: 1) this: If a speaker of English hears or reads a passage of the language which is more than one sentence lenght, he can normally decide whether it forms a unfied whole or is just a collection of unrelated sentences.”

If the speaker decides that he has heard or read the whole, he has been, undoubtedly, exposed to the cohesive text with formal linkage which serves as glue that puts all the text together. Both the languages conform to different standards of cohesion. English prefers grammatical cohesive devices (e.g. reference, substitution and ellipsis) while Czech bases textual cohesiveness on conjunction and lexical cohesion (e.g. repetition, synonymy, antonymy etc.). The following instance shows an example of varied usage of cohesive devices. To express the same, English uses final textual ellipsis while it is more natural for the Czech text to repeat the verb that appears in the discourse earlier. the original:

the translation:

D‟yis remember your man, Jimmy Clifford?

Pamatujete na jednoho kluka, Jimmyho Clifforda?

– Tha‟ fuckin‟ drip!

– Toho poseru?

– That‟s him, said Jimmy. – D‟yis ––––

– Jo, to je on, přikývl Jimmy. – Tak pamatujete ––––

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Knittlová (2000: 29) also comments on the importance of cohesion in her book writing that, unless the translator does not respect cohesive differences, a traslated text may seem overorganized or underorganized. She also mentions (29) one of the differences, also visible in Doyle‟s text, that English uses fewer connectors than Czech. Therefore it would be desirable that I use more of them in the translation. However, I did not intend to unite Doyle‟s simple sentences, which are one of his characteristic stylistic features, into difficult complex ones because of my primary intention to preserve his unique literary style he is easily recognizable for. That is why the syntactic structure of the texts does not vary a lot. The following extract is the result of my endeavour to joint Doyle‟s style with the natural Czech way of expression. the original:

the translation:

There was nothing you could teach James

Nebylo nic, co byste ještě mohli naučit

Clifford about playing the piano. Jimmy had

Jamesa Clifforda o hraní na klavír. Jimmy

him listening to Little Richard. He got James

chtěl, aby poslouchal Little Richarda.

to thump the keys with his elbows, fists,

Donutil Jamese bušit do kláves loktama,

heels. James was a third-year medical student pěstma i patama. Jelikoţ James dělal třetí so he was able to tell Jimmy the exact, right

ročník medicíny, byl schopnej Jimmymu říct

word for whatever part of his body he was

přesnej, korektní termín jakékoli část těla,

hitting the piano with. He was able to explain

kterou do klavíru mlátil. Uměl taky vysvělit,

the damage he was doing to himself. Jimmy

jak moc si tím ubliţuje. Jimmy ho nemohl

couldn‟t persuade him to give the piano the

přesvědčit, aby taky sem tam klavíru uštědřil

odd smack with his forehead. There was too

nějakej ten úder čelem. Bylo aţ příliš mnoho

much at stake there. Besides, he wore

v sázce. A kromě toho, nosil brejle.

glasses.

5.2.2. Pragmatic Differences What can be regarded as solid ground for the need of the pragmatic translation is perhaps Levý‟s proposition (1963: 28, transl. by Z.P.) that, “the translation should not be a facsimile of the original but it should influence readers in the same way.”

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In an article Pragmatic Translation and Literarism (2009) Newmark defines the pragmatic factor of translation as “one of the two factors in translation: „pragmatic‟ denotes the reader‟s or readership‟s reception of the translation, as opposed to „referential‟, which denotes the relationship between the translation and the extra-linguistic reality it describes”. Besides he also declares (2009) that, “pragmatic translation is largely tentative and presumptive, as opposed to refferential translation where the only assumption is that the readers are literate.” Moreover Newmark develops his definition of the pragmatic factor by stating (2009) that it has two elements. The first relates to the reader‟s characteristics, taking into account important circumstances such as his/her subject knowledge, linguistic level, source language cultural familiarity but also less relevant factors such as the reader‟s social class, age, sex and the time elapsed since the writing of the sourse language text. The other factor refers to the language of the text itself and the reader‟s responsivess to it. There are different syntactic ways how to evoke various moods, e.g. “action is pointed by verbs; description by nouns and adjectives or adverbs of quality; dialogue by forms of address and tags; injunctions by imperatives or rhetorical questions; urgency and speed by brief sentences; leisureliness or meditation by long ones.” (Newmark 2009) Knittlová devotes a whole chapter of her publication to solving pragmatic differences between Czech and English. Her practical advice the translator can follow is priceless indeed. She writes (2000: 81-91) that there are several types of solutions how to bring the reader of the translation as near as possible to the source language society‟s reality and experience. Actually, she recognises these four categories: adding information, omitting information, substitution by analogy, and explanatory periphrasis. To tell the truth, solving pragmatic problems belonged to the most arduous, nevertheless they were the most enjoyable. The next few lines of the thesis present some fruit of my labours that fit the categories Knittlová has set. a) adding information the original:

the translation:

Melody Maker and NME

hudební časáky Melody Maker a New Musical Express

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Ska. Madness, The Specials.

Hudební ţánr ska. Kapely Madness, Specials.

The suggested examples make it obvious that it was inevitable for me to add some general classifiers to the names that I supposed to be imcomprehensible for the common Czech reader. Yet I am aware that those readers who are aquainted with British pop and rock music may regard my epexegeses redundant and perhaps not very ellegant either. b) omitting information the original:

the translation:

a Baptist reverend on Lennox Avenue in

baptistický duchovní z Harlemu

Harlem The house was a big one on the Howth

Byl to velkej dům poblíţ Killesteru….

Road near Killester… The presented instances foreshadow situations in which the translator can omit some information without any potential danger of deplation of the text. In my opinion, the precise specification of the geographical locations in the original text is a component that is possible to be left out in the translation. c) substitution by analogy the original:

the translation:

– How‟s it goin‟, said Jimmy.

– Čau, pozdravil Jimmy.

– Howyeh, Jim, said Outspan.

– Zdarec, Jime, opáčil Outspan.

– Howayeh, said Derek.

– Čus, nezůstal pozadu Derek.

The first instance adverts to the informal behaviour while greeting. Aware that Knittlová recommends (2000: 12) to respect social conventions of a relevant language society, I decided to replace them with informal greeting expressions instead as it is not very common in the Czech cultural backround use social collocations asking about „how the things are‟ among friends.

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the original:

the translation:

Did I sing? At the dinner dance?

Zpíval jsem? Na tom večírku?

Deco had a big fry…

Deco si dal pořádnou porci masový směsi…

He even read his sisters‟ Jackie when

Dokonce, kdyţ se nikdo nedíval,

there was no one looking.

přelouskl Bravo pro dívky, který četly ségry.

The aim of these changes, which are illustrated in the examples above, was to give names to the objects of the different reality using the equivalets functioning nearly in the same way. Again, it was necessary to slightly modify the epressions unknown to the Czech reader in order to produce accurate and naturally sounding text. That is why the expression „dinner dance‟ was replaced for „večírek‟ meaning „party‟ (people eat and dance at parties, though); „fry‟ for „masová směs‟ meaning „meat mixture‟ (I admit that this expression can be polemicised because in case of „fry‟ the meat version is not the only option for there is also a vegetarian type.) Coincidentally, even the last instance of the substitution by analogy could be engaged into controversy. While searching the Internet for more information about Jackie magazine, I found out that the magazine is sold on the Czech market as well, which I had had no idea about. Still, in the end I thought that a magazine Bravo Girl was the one the Czech reader was more familiar with and he/she could imagine what kind of magazine it was. d) explanatory periphrases the original:

the translation:

I have some Jaffa Cakes here,…

Mám tady piškoty s pomerančovou náplní,…

Although it would be possible to apply substitution by analogy to the presented instance, I arrived at the conclusion that a periphrasis would be more suitable, for an analogy I could made up (Jaffa Cakes = Pims) was too typical of the Czech background and hence confusing or misleading. On the contrary, the following example taken from the translation is a clear exemplification that using explanatory periphrasis should be as Knittlová remarks - 68 -

(2000: 84) the last rough-and-ready solution while transferring an unknown situation or in these cases rather experience. the original:

the translation:

He carried his bass low, Stranglers

Derek měl svou basovku zavěšenou

style,…

proklatě nízko. Odkoukal to od basáka ze Stranglers,…

5.2.3. Grammatical Differences Regarding the differencies of the grammatical systems of both the languages, Knittlová (2000: 92) envisages several instances of occasions when the translator faces difficulties connected with categories of number, gender, tense, aspect, or voice. Besides, I would also mention negation and word order. The syntactic field I would like to pay considerable attention is verbal tense. Levý (1963: 19) remarks to this problem that English tense category is much wider while Czech has a category of verbal aspect (perfective or imperfective), which helps to overcome the missing tense category through the usage of aspect prefixes or time adverbs. In the first place, I present a fragment from the original where the chronological sequence of sentences is indicated by using two different verbal tenses, i.e. past simple tense and past perfect simple tense. Translating this I thought that uniting a time adverb „předtím‟ meaning „before‟ and past tense would be the most convenient for clear distinguishing which activity preceded the other, for it is not possible to be done by the means of different tenses. the original: Jimmy put a record on the deck. He‟d brought the deck and the speakers up from the front room. the translation: Jimmy poloţil desku na otáčivej talíř gramofonu. Uţ předtím si ho i s repráky přinesl z obyváku. The second example again demonstrates how radically dissimilar Czech and English are concerning tenses. Where English exploits the shift of tense to determine what happened before, namely in the nominal that-clause, Czech sticks to past tense and the chronological order of actions is totally clear. In fact the past tense in the subordinate clause defines that its

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action took place before the action in the matrix clause. In case the two actions occurred simultaneously, the verb in the nominal clause would have a form of present tense. In addition, this example illustrates how Czech can compensate the absence of progressive tenses with the help of aforementioned verbal aspect, particularly imperfective one, which refers to repeated actions. the original: … his mother told him that two young fellas had been looking for him. the translation: … matka ho informovala, ţe se na něho vyptávali dva mladí kluci. Except the category of verbal tense, there are other grammatical levels, which have been forshadowed in the introductory paragraph to this subchapter, causing discrepancies between English and Czech, for which the translator should find ellegant solutions. Frankly, some differences the translator does not notice at all because the best solution comes to his mind immediately and so it does not require any deep cogitating. On the other hand, some that seem quite innocuous paradoxically take some time to solve. The examples I offer are of both kinds and they refer to various grammatical categories that have not been dealt with earlier: a) number the original:

Tha‟ shite‟s ou‟.

the translation:

Tyhle sračky jsou pryč.

It is known that Czech and English do not concur in number and countability of nouns at times. The word „shite‟ meaning „nonsense‟ is always singular and uncountable in English while in Czech it is more natural to use plural. The difference of number between the expressions conditions the choise of determiners as well as the forms of verbs. b) gender the original:

… by taking your hand off the neck and putting it back …

the translation:

… pustíte krk basový kytary a pak ho znovu uchopíte…

English gender, unlike Czech, refers to biological sex which means that generally animate personal nouns are classied as male of female. Conversely, in Czech inanimate objects can belong to all the gender classes that Czech distinguishes – male - 70 -

(the case of the illustrated noun „krk‟), female, and neuter. The presented instance also testifies that the cathegory of gender determines the selection of reference pronouns. c) verbal voice the original:

the translation:

All his rehearsing was done standing up

Vţdycky zkoušel vestoje a před zrcadlem.

in front of the wardrobe mirror. They were stunned by what came next.

To, co přišlo pak, je dorazilo.

Jimmy was interested in two of them …

Jimmyho zaujali dva maníci …

The horse was worn off after two days.

Po dvou dnech se uţ kůň úplně ošoupal.

The fact that passive voice is to be found more frequently in English discourse than in Czech one is indicated by the proposed examples where the sentences with passive voice structures withdrawn from the original text are transferred into Czech by the means of active voice except for the last one where the Czech text uses reflexive passive voice. d) negation the original:

the translation:

You‟d never see Jimmy coming home…

Nikdy byste ho nezahlídli, jak jde domů…

… when there was no one looking.

… kdyţ se nikdo nedíval…

One of the general rules of English grammar states that it is possible to have only one form of negation within one clause. Czech, however, does not limit the number of negative elements within a sentence, which the submitted examples make apparent. e) word order Unlike English word order, the Czech is fairly flexible, yet it is not absolutely random at all. The principle that is essential to follow is functional sentence perspective.4 It is usual that in Czech that the most dynamic or newest element (rheme) is placed in the final position: 4

the organization of a sentence in terms of the role of its elements in distinguishing between old and new information, esp. the division of a sentence into theme and rheme

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the original:

He tried to take control of the interview.

the translation:

Snaţil se nad rozhovorem převzít kontrolu.

In emotive situations, as the following example implies, it is also possible to emphasise rheme by placing it to the initial position: the original:

It‟s the real thing now.

the translation:

Realita, ta teď frčí.

5.2.4. Compensation The last chapter of the thesis is devoted to compensation, a translation procedure which “involves making up for the loss of a source text effect by recreating a similar effect in the target text through means that are specific to the target language and/or text.” (Baker 37) This technique helped me to stand up to burdensome extracts of the original text, as a matter of fact it lit up my way when I grope about in the dark. On account of my decision to translate the passages quoting lyrics of the songs, they finally turned out to be the problems that did not seem possible to tackle. Newmark‟s idea (2009: 143-144) that all can be compensated (mentioning namely puns, alliteration, rhyme, metaphor, pregnant words) made me not give in and think about their acceptable treatment. It has been stated in one of the previous chapters, Handling Music Matters, that names of the songs and fragments of their lyrics are going to be translated for which, I am inclined to believe, there are two well-found reasons. First of all, meaning of the lyrics is important for understanding the story (e.g. James had the good lines. = James měl vynikající slova.). Secondly, reading of a tangle of English words, all Greek to some readers, might be tiring and perchance dissuasive from continuing. Probably, the most challenging and nightmarish part was to transform the extract describing James Brown‟s song Get Up, I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine. Needless to say, there was no chance for literal translation. I felt very strongly that the translation had to retain the original features of both the song (rhythm, rhyme and pace) and James Brown‟s speech throughout the

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song (fierceness, excitation or agitation) so I repeatedly listened to the song, sang it, combined various Czech words until the passage sounded at least tolerable. When rewriting this passage, I supposed the characters of the book to listen to a live recording of the song. I tried to imagine the scene, atmosphere, concentrated musicians, frenetic audience; all these seemed to matter in order to transfer the mood of the passage into the translation. Naturally, some compromises had to be made. They could be regarded as units of compensation if this would be a physical value and they are instanced in the following lines. a) The problem with „Sex Machine‟ the original:

the translation:

– GET ON UP ––––

– JENOM VSTAŇ ––––

James had the good lines.

James měl vynikající slova.

– LIKE A SEX MACHINE AH ––––

– JEDU JAK SEXOMAT ––––

– GET ON UP ––––

– NO TAK VSTAŇ ––––

Due to preserve the rhythm of the song lines, I knew that „sexuální stroj‟, the literal translation of the compound „sex machine‟, would be much longer, thus it could not fit. Hence a neologism „sexomat‟ was born blending the word „sexuální‟ and „automat‟. b) The problem with „the bridge‟ the original:

the translation:

– Bobby, James called. (Bobby must

– Bobby, zavolal James. (Bobby byl

have been the man who kept singing GET

určitě ten chlápek, kterej pořád dokola

ON UP.) – Bobby, said James. – Shall I

zpíval JENOM VSTAŇ.) – Bobby, křičel

take them to the bridge?

James. – Mám zpívat dál?

– Go ahead, said Bobby.

– Jo, rozjeď to, řekl Bobby.

– Take‟em all to the bridge.

– Všichni si přejí, abych zpíval dál?

– Take them to the bridge, said Bobby.

– Jo, všichni, řekl Bobby.

Assuming that the mysterious „bridge‟ was not a construction over a river, I investigated the word and discovered that it is a music slang expression for preparing “the listener for the climax” (Bennett 26). As it would be unsuitable to use similar - 73 -

lexical means for the Czech reader, I let James Brown keep asking „Shall I carry on singing?‟ c) The problem with songs unknown to the Czech reader T the original: h Morning Has Broken a … Good God Y‟Awl s … Take It To The Bridge Now t

the translation: Můj králi, má spáso … cítím se fajn … vem mě dolů k řece

Last instance of compensation is the replacement of songs or their fragments unfamiliar to the Czech reader with better-known ones that could contribute to deeper understanding. As far as I am concern, there is not a Czech cover version of a spiritual song Morning Has Broken that is why it was substituted with another one, the name of which signalled the environment where it was performed. Similarly, the presented segments of well known pieces of music in English-speaking countries were superceded with more acceptable lyrics of songs, particularly I Feel Good by James Brown; Take Me to the River by Wilson Pickett.

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6.

CONCLUSION

To sum up the effort on my bachelor thesis, I would firstly like to claim how immensely greatuful I am for my decision to choose the translation and analysis as its topic. Thanks to devoting a considerable amount of time to it, I have been able to experience that translators‟ way to make their living is extremely difficult and time-consuming. I take my hat off to those who worked on their translations before the Internet was introduced. Yet, I must enunciate that at the same time translating is highly rewarding and enjoyable. Moreover, I have learned that translators are not likely to be ever satisfied with their work since every rereading brought around new expressions or another aspect, simply there was always something that could be improved. Apart from a warm feeling when everything was going fine and occasional depressions when I thought there was no way out, I suppose that the work on my thesis has enriched me in several areas. Not only has my knowledge of the theory of translation perfected but hopefully, I have also deepened my academic writing skill, including the research style of references and citations. Finally, I would love to express my delight and excitement I had the honour to translate an extract of Roddy Doyle‟s novel into my mother tongue. I frankly believe that I have not caused any devastating harm to the original text and I have produced a piece that is easily readable and functioning similarly as the original. As long as the translation would provoke just one reader to listen to some soul, it would be an indisputable success, which would be a credit to no one else but Roddy Doyle for he wrote such a splendid book.

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7.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Barker, Mona, eds. Routlege Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. Bennett, Roy. Music Dictionary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Brockes, Emma. “Sexy Dublin. It‟s a Con.” The Guardian. 6 Sept 2004: 6. Doyle, Roddy. The Barrytown Trilogy: The Commitments, The Snapper, The Van. London: Minerva, 1993. Halliday, M. A. K., and Ruqaiya Hasan. Cohesion in English. London: Longman, 1976. Harris, Theodore E., and Richard E. Hodges, eds. The Literacy Dictionary: Vocabulary of Reading and Writing. Newark: International Reading Association, Inc., 1995. Knittlová, Dagmar. K teorii i praxi překladu. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci, 2000. Landers, Clifford E.. Literary Translation: A Practical Guide. Clevendon: Multilingual Matters Ltd, 2001. Levý, Jiří. Umění překladu. Praha: Československý spisovatel, 1963. McCarthy, Dermot. Roddy Doyle. Dublin: Liffley Press, 2003. Naughton, James. Czech: An Essential Grammar. Bodmin: Routledge, 2005. Newmark, Peter. About Translation. Clevendon: Multilingual Matters Ltd, 1991. Peach, Linden. The Contemporary Irish Novel. New York: Palgrave MacMillan 2004. Wallace, Martin. Famous Irish Writers. Belfast: The Appletree Press, 1999. White, Caramine. Reading Roddy Doyle. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2001.

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8.

INTERNET SOURCES Murphy, Jill. “Wilderness by Roddy Doyle.” The Bookbag. 6 Dec 2008. . Newmark, Peter. “Pragmatic translation and literarism.” Érudit. 13 Sept 2009. . Sbrockey, Karen. “Something of a Hero: An Interview with Roddy Doyle”. Literary Review. 29 Nov 2008. . “Books by Roddy Doyle.” Biblio.com. Biblio, Inc. 6 Dec 2008. . “Roddy Doyle.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 29 Nov 2008. . “The Commitments.” Publishers Weekly. July 1989. Reed Elsevier, Inc. 29 Nov 2008. < http://www.publishersweekly.com/community/reviews/47159.html >.

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Summary

The subject of this bachelor‟s thesis is a translation of an extract of a prosaic literary work from English to Czech. The thesis comprises of two chief parts – a practical one, the content of which is the translation itself, and a theoretical one, where the author instances applying primary translation principles.

Shrnutí

Předmětem této bakalářské práce je překlad úryvku prozaického literárního díla z anglického do českého jazyka. Práce zahrnuje dvě hlavní části – praktickou, jejímţ obsahem je překlad samotný, a teoretickou, kde autorka uvádí příklady aplikace základních překladatelských postupů.

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