When considering the title of the novel, there must be some respect for what Patrick White said at the time he was proofreading The Solid Mandala, according to information provided in his biography written by David Marr:
They [Eyre and Spottiswoode] did try to change the title, but White would not budge: ‘The title is the book and the book is the title.’ He arranged for the London publishers to commission Desmond Digby to do the cover, and one afternoon the two men returned to Sarsaparilla to find the sort of house the Browns would have lived in. They never found the one White had in mind. Digby recalled a very pleasant day, ‘but I have seen much better Greek fronts since’ (MARR, 1995, p. 454).
The forms used, namely, Las esferas del mandala in Spanish, and Le Mystérieux Mandala in French, did not follow this orientation, with the Italian being closer to the original, Màndala solido.
The syntagm “solid mandala(s)” appears in 6 occurrences in the original, with their respective translation:
Exhibit 20 – Instances of “solid mandala”
French German Italian Spanish 1 Spanish 2
“Ce sont mes fidèles mandalas”, expliqua Arthur au directeur (WHITE, 1973b, p. ).
C’est alors que lui vint l’idée de donner un de ses fidèles mandalas à Dulcie Feinstein (WHITE, 1973b, p.
288).
«Das sind meine beiden Mandalas. Man kann sie anfassen», erklärte Arthur dem Geshäftsführer (WHITE, 1978, p. 65)
Es war dies der Augenblick, in dem er den Plan faßte, Dulcie eines seiner festen, greifbaren
Glasmandalas zu schenken (WHITE,
“Questi sono I miei mandala solidi,” Arthur spiegò al gestore (WHITE, 1973c, p. 59).
Fu allora che egli concepì l’idea di donare a Dulcie Feinstein uno dei suoi mandala solidi (WHITE, 1973c, p. 283).
– Esos son mis mandalas sólidos – había explicado Arthur al administrador (WHITE, 1973a, p.
63).
Fue entonces cuando Arthur concibió la idea de dar a Dulcie Feinstein uno de sus mandalas sólidos (WHITE, 1973a, p.
– Son mis mandalas – le explicò Arthur (WHITE, 2016, p.
103).
Así, se le ocurrió darle un de los mandalas que guardaba (WHITE, 2016, p. 394).
“C’est un des mandalas dans toute as solidité, le mandala bleu, expliqua-t-il”
(WHITE, 1973b, p.
290).
Ce solide mandala, il le gardait en main quand il s’installait, chaque fois qu’il le pouvait, dans la salle de lecture de la Bibliothèque. [...]
Assis à lire, il faisait tournoyer le fidèle mandala et, en assemblant les mots de diverses manières, il se livrait à de
nombreuses sinon à toutes les
permutations de sens possibles (WHITE, 1973b, p.
318-319).
La révolution somnolente des roues dans les trains et les autobus le ramena à son point de départ tandis qu’il se laissait emporter en faisant tournoyer
1978, p. 311).
«Das ist eins von meinem Mandalas – das blaue Mandala», erklärte er (WHITE, 1978, p. 313)
Dieses feste, greifbare Mandala hielt er immer in der Hand, wenn er im Leseaal der Öffentlichen Bibliothek saß. […] Er saß und drehte sein festes Mandala zwischen den Fingern, und indem er die Worte einfach wie Karten ständig neu mischte, gelang es ihm, ihnen viele – wenn auch vielleicht nich alle –
Möglichkeiten ihrer Sinngebung abzugewinnen (WHITE, 1978, p.
346).
Und so trugen ihn die schläfrig rollenden Räder der Züge und Busse zurück, während er nur still dasaß und in der Tasche sein festes Mandala kreisen ließ (WHITE, 1978, p.
“È uno dei mandala solidi: il mandala
azzurro,” spiegò (WHITE, 1973c, p. 286).
Teneva in mano il mandala solido quando sedeva, ogni volta che gli era possibile, nella sala di lettura della biblioteca. [...]
Quindi sedeva rigirandosi fra le dita il mandala solido, e rimescolava le parole nel tentativo di scorprire diverse variazioni di significato, se non tutti i significati possibili
(WHITE, 1973c, p. 314)
Così le ruote sonnolente di treni e di autobus lo riportarono indietro, mentre sedeva facendo roteare il mandala solido nella sua tasca (WHITE,
295).
– Es uno de los mandalas sólidos. El mandala azul – explico (WHITE, 1973a, p. 297).
Siempre que el era posible sostenía en su mano aquel mandala sólido cuando se sentaba en la sala de lectura de la biblioteca. [...]
Entonces se sentaba girando el mandala sólido entre sus dedos y barajando las palabras, haciendo la mayoría de las
permutaciones de sentido posibles, si es que no todas (WHITE, 1973a, p.
327).
Y así, las
soñolientas ruedas de los trenes, y los autobuses, lo llevaron de nuevo hacia allí, sentado y haciendo girar el mandala sólido en su bolsillo (WHITE,
– Es uno de mis mandalas, el azul – explicò (WHITE, 2016, p. 397).
Cuando estaba en la sala de lectura de la biblioteca, apretaba en la mano el mandala de vidrio siempre que era posible. [...] De modo que sentado allí jogueteando con el mandala y barajando palabras, obtuvo muchas de las permutaciones de sentido, si no todas (WHITE, 2016, p. 432-433).
Así, las somnolientas ruedas de los trenes y los autobuses lo llevaron de regresso, mientras él hacía girar en el bolsillo la esfera del mandala
dans sa poche le fidèle mandala (WHITE, 1973b, p.
354).
384). 1973c, p. 348). 1973a, p. 362). (WHITE, 2016, p.
477).
English First Attempt Brazilian Portuguese - Revised
“’Those are my solid mandalas,”
Arthur explained to the manager (WHITE, 1974, p. 55).
It was then he conceived the idea of giving Dulcie Feinstein one of his solid mandalas (WHITE, 1974, p. 253).
“It’s one of the solid mandalas, the blue mandala,” he explained (WHITE, 1974, p. 255).
This solid mandala he held in his hand as he sat, whenever possible, in the reading room at the Library. […] So he sat twirling the solid mandala, and by shuffling the words together, he made many if not all of the permutations of sense. (WHITE, 1974, p. 280-281).
So the drowsily revolving wheels, of trains, of buses, carried him back, as he sat twirling the solid mandala in his pocket (WHITE, 1974, p. 309).
– Aquelas são minhas mandalas sólidas – Arthur explicou ao gerente.
Foi então que ele concebeu a ideia de dar a Dulcie Feinstein uma de suas sólidas mandalas.
– É uma das mandalas sólidas, a mandala azul – ele explicou.
Esta mandala sólida ele mantinha em sua mão enquanto ele sentava, sempre que possível, na sala de leitura da Biblioteca. [...] Assim ele sentava rodopiando a mandala sólida, e ao embaralhar as palavras juntas, ele fazia muitas se não todas as permutações de sentido.
Assim as rodas sonolentamente revoltas, de trens, de ônibus, o levaram de volta, enquanto ele sentava rodopiando a mandala sólida no seu bolso.
– Essas são minhas sólidas mandalas – Arthur explicou ao gerente.
Foi então que ele concebeu a ideia de dar a Dulcie Feinstein uma de suas sólidas mandalas.
– É uma das sólidas mandalas, a mandala azul – ele explicou.
Esta sólida mandala ele mantinha em sua mão enquanto sentava, sempre que possível, na sala de leitura da Biblioteca. [...] Assim ele sentava rodopiando a sólida mandala, e ao embaralhar as palavras, ele fazia muitas, se não todas, as permutações de sentido.
Assim as rodas sonolentamente revoltas, de trens, de ônibus, o levavam de volta, enquanto ele sentava rodopiando a sólida mandala no seu bolso.
In the translations, only the Italian translation goes on with the option using “solido”
throughout the novel and keeping it in the title too; both Spanish versions deleted the adjective from the title: while the oldest one added nouns, the most recent decided to delete the adjectives, thus ignoring the possible meaning of “solid” in the original. The French uses
“fidèles” in most occurrences, with the alternatives “solide”, together with “solidité”,
appearing as well; however, for some reason the title ended up with the adjective
“mystérieux”. The German translation keeps the adjectives (only in the first two occurrences the adjective disappears), but the title (Die ungleichen Brüder, “the different brothers”, in a free translation) is a reference to the twins, not to the idea of the mandala, thus eliminating any reference to this important aspect of the novel. It should be noted that the translator’s workflow during the 1970s was quite precarious (compared to ours, in the 21st century), so, the idea of keeping the same occurrence might be lost when there are a number of pages to correct at a time when typewriters were still in use (at times, even handwritten excerpts).
In Brazilian Portuguese, it is possible to use the syntactical structure adjective + noun with “sólida” and “mandala” in these fragments, giving a different effect than the initial (and more common) idea, “mandala sólida” (noun + adjective). The option A sólida mandala keeps the syntactical and semantic (as the range of meanings for both “solid” in English and
“sólida” in Brazilian Portuguese is similar) structure of the original without causing strangeness, provided that the Portuguese language allows for that. Once again, it is important to recall here that publishers have the final word about the title, thus, it remains to be seen whether “A sólida mandala” would be a marketable title or not, but, for the purposes of this dissertation, that is the alternative chosen.
The form of the title seems to corroborate the fact that ordinary objects acquire a different meaning to Patrick White’s characters. According to Geoffrey Dutton, White would be a “victim of a mysticism of objects – or better still, a mysticism of sensations. Far too many things, objects, are presented as revelations; and it is through an unremitting concern with sensations that they are so presented” (DUTTON, 1964, p. 417). Hence the importance of keeping these objects just as they are in the story (for example, glass marbles could not be replaced by pearls).
We call attention to one small change made in the extracts just presented: in the last occurrence, the verb form “levaram” (perfect past) was changed to “levavam” (imperfect past), because we wanted to maintain the idea of habit manifest in Arthur in connection with his solid mandalas. In the next pages, we are going to perceive that these apparently insignificant changes in verb tenses mean a great deal in the effect created in the rhythm of the narrative in translation.
4.6 HISTORY AND MILITARY (COLONIAL, RELIGIOUS) TOUCHES IN THE SOLID