Hi there,

I'm looking for a translation of Sartre's play Huis Clos (No Exit --
sometimes called In Camera) into English *other than* the ones done in
the late 1940s by Stuart Gilbert and the late 1950s version by Paul
Bowles (published by Samuel French in 1958). Ideally, I'd like to find
a translation that's available for purchase (through an online used
book service like abebooks.com or the like) or that could be borrowed
through ILL at a good university library.

If such a translation hasn't been published (and who knows?), I'd
accept a reference (web link and contact info) to  a professional,
English-language theatrical production of No Exit in the last twenty
years that used an original translation developed for that production.
(Ideally, such a production would be from somewhere in the
English-speaking world *outside* of the UK, but hey, I'll take what I
can get.)

I know the price is a bit low, but I'd rather be generous in tipping
for a fast and helpful answer than give 25% to the G-men... Thanks.

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 26 Nov 2004 07:48 PST

For an awfully famous play, there don't seem to have been many
translations into English -- but I'm sure you know this already!

The best bet may be translations done for theater productions.  I've
located a few of these, such as this one:


http://www.rudeguerrilla.org/2000season/noexit/noexit.html
"No Exit" 
by Jean-Paul Sartre

A new translation of Sartre's existentialist classic reminds us that
in the afterlife "Hell is other people."

========

The translation was done by Andrew Nienaber, who is still affiliated
with Rude Guerilla Theater Company, and can be contacted at the RGTC:


rudegrrlla@aol.com
phone: 1 714 547 4688

==========


There are at least two more theater-based translations that I know of,
but they are not for-sale publications, so that you would need to
contact the theaters directly for availability.

Beyond these, though, I've come up empty.  

Would a few theater leads meet your needs?  Let me know.

pafalafa-ga

---

Clarification of Question by rogerwilco-ga on 26 Nov 2004 10:26 PST

Hi Pafalafa,

I feared as much about published editions. Maybe I will have to do my
own after all ...

Sure, the kind of details you've provided for Rude Guerilla for the
other companies that have done No Exit in English recently would be
fine. Of course, there's no way to ensure that it's a complete list,
but if you could try to be as thorough as you can in finding all
recent English-language productions that used their own translations,
I'd appreciate it. I just want to be sure there isn't a major recent
production that gets missed ...

(And if they don't have much web presence, it must not have been a
major production! :) )

Thanks.

Hello again,

I conducted a pretty thorough search, but I have to say, there aren't
a heck of a lot of options.  No major new translations appear to have
occurred.

Here's what crops up:


==========

http://www.cuttingball.com/curProds.php
Projects at The Cutting Ball
No Exit 
by Jean Paul Sartre
in a new translation by Rob Melrose 

Contact The Cutting Ball Theater

Mailing Address:
The Cutting Ball
Intersection for the Arts
446 Valencia St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
Venue Address:

Email:
Rob Melrose, Artistic Director, rob@cuttingball.com
Adriana Baer, Associate Artistic Director, adriana@cuttingball.com

Phone:
415-419-3584


==========

...and the one I mentioned earlier:


http://www.rudeguerrilla.org/2000season/noexit/noexit.html
"No Exit" 
by Jean-Paul Sartre

A new translation of Sartre's existentialist classic...

The translation was done by Andrew Nienaber, who is still affiliated
with Rude Guerilla Theater Company, and can be contacted at the RGTC:


rudegrrlla@aol.com
phone: 1 714 547 4688

==========


[I'm also including this translation from a 2001 production, though
I'm not sure the theater is still in existence]

http://archives.nashvillescene.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?story=Back_Issues:2001:September_13-19_2001:Special_Section:Fall_Guide:Theater
Glow Log Productions, presents a new translation of Jean-Paul Sartre's
existentialist vision of hell, No Exit, at the Darkhorse Theatre

Glow Log Theater   
Address: 216-C 37th Ave. North   
Nashville,  Tennessee  37209  
 615-268-8601 
615-268-8601 
Joe Garber, Managing Director
Claire Harlock, Artistic Director 


==========
 
   
...and I couldn't resist this mention in "Ironic Times":


BOOKS 
Best-Selling Reissues of 2004

1. No Exit, by Jean-Paul Sartre, new translation by Donald Rumsfeld



...C'est la guerre!



==========

Beyond that....rien!  There are some minor references to
productions/translations that go back to the 1990's, but these are in
theaters that no longer exist.

In addition to searching the web, I checked several book catalogs and
newspaper databases for reports of books or plays that may contain new
translations of No Exit, but didn't turn up anything beyond what is
referenced above.


Hope this meets your needs.  But before rating this answer, please let
me know if there's anything else I can do for you.  Just post a
Request for Clarification, and I'm at your service.


Over and out,

pafalafa-ga




search strategy:  Searched Google, book catalogs, and
newspaper/magazine databases for:

[ "new translation" and "no exit" OR "huis clos" ]

---

Clarification of Answer by pafalafa-ga on 05 Dec 2004 05:34 PST

Thank you, too, for the very generous feedback and tip.

Best of luck in your work on all this...perhaps I'll get to read your
translation one day.

paf

What I asked for didn't exist -- which made this question much harder
-- and you went the extra mile to find the next best alternative
instead. Many thanks.