Terence Kevin Kilmartin

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(10 January 1922 – 17 August 1991) was an Irish-born

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

who served as the

literary editor A literary editor is an editor in a newspaper, magazine or similar publication who deals with aspects concerning literature and books, especially reviews.

of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' between 1952 and 1986. He is best known for his 1981 revision of the Scott Moncrieff translation of ''

Remembrance of Things Past ''In Search of Lost Time'' (french: À la recherche du temps perdu), first translated into English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'', and sometimes referred to in French as ''La Recherche'' (''The Search''), is a novel in seven volumes by French ...

'' by Marcel Proust.

Early life and career in journalism

Kilmartin was born on 10 January 1922 in the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...

. Moving to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

as a child, he was educated at Xaverian College in Mayfield, East Sussex. His knowledge of French was limited at the age of 17, when he was recruited to teach English to a French family's children. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, Kilmartin was keen to serve in the armed forces, however, with only one kidney he was deemed medically unfit. Instead he served in the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

(SOE). He worked in London under Colonel

Maurice Buckmaster Colonel Maurice James Buckmaster (11 January 1902 – 17 April 1992) was the leader of the French section of Special Operations Executive and was awarded the ''Croix de Guerre''. Apart from his war service, he was a corporate manager with the ...

. Kilmartin defied orders from Buckmaster in 1944 to take part in a parachute jump into France as part of

Operation Jedburgh Operation Jedburgh was a clandestine operation during World War II in which three-man teams of operatives of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the Free French Bureau central de renseigne ...

. He subsequently earned medals for his military service. During his time at SOE Kilmartin became acquainted with

David Astor Francis David Langhorne Astor, CH (5 March 1912 – 7 December 2001) was an English newspaper publisher, editor of ''The Observer'' at the height of its circulation and influence, and member of the Astor family, "the landlords of New York". E ...

.A LITERARY LIFE ''

'' (1901- 2003); London (UK) ondon (UK)28 Dec 1986: 15. His first post after the war was as a radio journalist, before he joined the staff of ''

'' in 1949. Initially, he worked in the foreign affairs office of the newspaper, becoming assistant literary editor in 1950 and literary editor in 1952. As literary editor of ''

'', Kilmartin commissioned reviews from

Anthony Burgess John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993), who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer. Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his dystopian satire ''A Clockwork ...

beginning in 1960.Confessions of the hack trade Burgess, Anthony. ''

'' (1901- 2003); London (UK) ondon (UK)30 Aug 1992: 41.

Translation and Proust

Kilmartin began to work as a translator from French with the major works of

Henry de Montherlant Henry Marie Joseph Frédéric Expedite Millon de Montherlant (; 20 April 1895 – 21 September 1972) was a French essayist, novelist, and dramatist. He was elected to the Académie française in 1960. Biography Born in Paris, a descendant ...

: ''The Bachelors, The Girls, The Boys'', and ''Chaos and Night''. He also translated works by Malraux and

Françoise Sagan Françoise Sagan (born Françoise Delphine Quoirez; 21 June 1935 – 24 September 2004) was a French playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. Sagan was known for works with strong romantic themes involving wealthy and disillusioned bourgeois chara ...

. The revision of the Scott Moncrieff translation of Proust's ''Remembrance of Things Past'' by Kilmartin was published in 1981. He compiled a comprehensive ''Reader's Guide to the Remembrance of Things Past'' (1983). The Guide comprises four separate indices: an index of characters in the ''Remembrance''; an index of actual persons; an index of places; and an index of themes. The reader is thus enabled to locate almost any reference, such as Hector Berlioz, or ''

The Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...

'', or Madame Verdurin in any particular scene or setting, or Versailles. The volume and page numbers are keyed to the 3-volume ''Remembrance of Things Past'' of 1981, translated by Scott Moncrieff and revised by Kilmartin. The Guide's volume and page references were revised for inclusion as "A Guide to Proust" in the 6-volume edition of the 1992 Moncrieff-Kilmartin- D. J. Enright translation newly entitled "In Search of Lost Time".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kilmartin, Terence 1922 births 1991 deaths 20th-century Irish people 20th-century Irish translators Deaths from cancer Irish emigrants to the United Kingdom Translators of Marcel Proust Literary editors The Observer people Irish literary editors 20th-century translators Commanders of the Order of the British Empire