Miroir, écho, tac au tac: Paul Claudel «répond» le “Cantique des Cantiques”

This paper is a comment on Claudel’s translation of The Song of Songs, which precedes each chapter of Paul Claudel interroge le Cantique des Cantiques. It appears as a personal exercise on the Latin text of the Bible in the Vulgate. Claudel translates very literally and often uses mere transfer of Latin words and phrases into French. His aim is to stick as closely as possible to the original text, which to him means God’s own intention, and in case of divergences between the Latin, Greek and Hebrew versions he would always choose the most mystical one, according to the Roman Catholic tradition which reads The Song of Songs as a dialogue between Christ and the Church.