As I Lay Dying Tr

______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

AS I LAY DYING Mientras Agonizo by de William Faulkner William Faulkner tr. de Javier Coy 5 to Hal Smith ______X

1 X 1 DARL (1) DARL Darl (1)

In this section, Darl’s unspoken 10 JEWEL and I come up from the JEWEL y yo salimos del campo si- thoughts as he walks towards the field, following the path in single guiendo el sendero en fila india. Aun- house are recorded; he notices file. Although I am fifteen feet que voy cinco metros delante de él, cual- many things in his environment, ahead of him, anyone watching us quiera que nos observe desde el coberti- for instance, that, although he is from the cotton-house can see zo del algodón verá el roto sombrero de walking ahead of his brother Jewel, anyone watching them frayed deshilachado 15 Jewel’s frayed and broken straw paja, medio deshecho, de Jewel sobresa- X from the house would still be able hat a full head above my own. lir una cabeza por encima de la mía. to see Jewel’s head. We deduce from this that Jewel must be much The path runs straight as a El sendero, alisado por pies y recocido, taller than Darl. plumb-line, worn smooth by feet and X igual que ______[duros ladrillos de] adobe por julio, 20 baked brick-hard by July, between the corre derecho como tirado a cordel por entre stored for later use laid-by: stored for later use green tows of laid-by cotton, to the las hileras verdes de algodón preparado has- cotton-house in the centre of the field, ta el cobertizo del algodón del campo, donde where it turns and circles the se tuerce y rodea el cobertizo formando cua- suave adj.1 (of a person, esp. a man) smooth; polite; ** Los estancos, o su aproximado equivalente sophisticated. Afable, amable fino, cortés, diplo- cotton-house at four soft right angles tro ángulos de suaves vértices, y vuelve a atra- (cigarstore), se solían anunciar al público por mático / zalamero. 2 (of a wine etc.) bland, smooth. suave 1. adj. Liso y blando al tacto, en contraposi- 25 and goes on across the field again, vesar el campo, alisado por muchos pies con medio de una talla de madera, en tamaño natu- ción a tosco y áspero. 2. Blando, dulce, grato a ral, de un indio con sus adornos de plumas, co- los sentidos. 3. V. espíritu, manjar suave. 4. fig. worn so by feet in fading precision. precisión que se va desvaneciendo. Tranquilo, quieto, manso. 5. fig. Lento, modera- locada a la puerta del establecimiento. do. 6. fig. Dócil, manejable o apacible. Aplícase, En lenguaje coloquial, wooden indian, o «in- por lo común, al genio o natural. The cotton-house is of rough El cobertizo del algodón es de ásperos dio de madera», llegó a emplearse a principios logs, from between which the troncos de entre los que hace tiempo que chinking: (Am. English) material (Am. English) material used to fill the spaces between logs in a building of logs del siglo XX como sinónimo de persona muy used to fill the spaces between 30 chinking has long fallen. Square, with cayó la argamasa. Cuadrado, con la rota callada, o incluso estúpida. slope of a roof logs in a building of logs a broken roof set at a single pitch, it techumbre de una sola vertiente, se leans in empty and encorva como una desolada ruina shimmer shine with a tremulous or faint diffused s himmering dilapidation in the deslumbrante bajo el sol, con una light. Reluciente, centelleante, radiante, X COMMENTARY: The words titilar 1. intr. Agitarse con ligero temblor alguna sunlight, a single broad window in two ventana alargada en cada una de las parte del organismo animal. 2. Centellear con in this section are unspoken ligero temblor un cuerpo luminoso. Relucir 35 opposite walls giving on to the dos paredes, una frente a otra, que thoughts, none of them going deslumbrar 1. tr. Ofuscar la vista o confundirla con el exceso de luz. 2. fig. Dejar a alguien approaches of the path. When we reach dan al sendero. Cuando llegamos a beyond the possible limits of confuso o admirado. 3. fig. Producir gran im- Darl’s vocabulary. It is significant presión con estudiado exceso de lujo. it I turn and follow the path which él, giro y sigo el sendero que lo ro- circles the house. Jewel, fifteen feet dea. Jewel, cinco metros detrás de that Jewel is the very first word behind me, looking straight ahead, steps mí, y mirando al frente, entra de una in the section, for we later discover that Darl is obsessively

40 in a single stride through the window. X _____ zancada por la ventana. Miran- jealous of him. «pale» es cognado y significa ‘claros’ cuando va con Still staring straight ahead, his pale eyes X do todavía al frente, con sus ojos claros como color como ‘pale blue’; pero en los demás casos When he thinks ‘anyone como aquí es mejor ‘pálido’ o falto de color like wood set into his wooden face, he madera incrustados en su cara de madera, cruza el watching us from the cotton- crosses the floor in four strides with the cobertizo de cuatro zancadas con la rígida grave- house can see Jewel’s frayed and a cigar-store Indian: (Am. English) rigid gravity of a cigar-store Indian dad de un indio de muestra de un estanco**, broken straw hat a full head above flat figure of an Am. Indian, cut my own’, we realise that Darl is 45 dressed in patched overalls and que fuera vestido con un mono remendado y out of plywood and used to invested revealing his concern with how advertise cigars endued with life from the hips down, estuviese dotado de vida de cintura para aba- Jewel and he are regarded in a and steps in a single stride through jo, y de una sola zancada atraviesa la ventana wider context, especially by the opposite window and into the path de enfrente y sale de nuevo al sendero justo Addie. again just as I come around the corner. cuando yo doblo la esquina. En fila india y The second and third 50 In single file and five feet apart and separados por cinco metros y ahora Jewel de- paragraphs of the section show Jewel now in front, we go on up the lante, seguimos sendero arriba hacia el pie de Darl’s acute observation of all the the bluff: a perpendicular piece of particulars of his world; there are rock or ground upright, peñas- path toward the foot of the bluff. X la escarpada cuesta. mathematical images, ‘a co, risco plumb-line’, ‘circles’, ‘four soft Tull’s wagon stands beside the La carreta de Tull está junto al ma- right angles’ and ‘square’, and 55 spring, hitched to the rail, the reins nantial, atada al poste, con las riendas the whole passage gives an stanchion: support, soporte, montan- [puntal del ] impression of preciseness of wrapped about the seat stanchion. In X enrolladas en el______pescante. En la te, puntal the wagon-bed are two chairs. Jewel carreta hay dos asientos. Jewel se para observation. The description of Jewel creates an image of stops at the spring and takes the gourd en el manantial y coge la calabaza de rigidity, with references to ‘a from the willow branch and drinks. I la rama del sauce y bebe. Me adelan- wooden face’ and ‘the rigid 60 pass him and mount the path, to y remonto el sendero; empiezo a gravity of a cigar-store Indian’. beginning to hear Cash’s saw. oír la sierra de Cash. As Darl approaches the house, he notices Tull’s wagon and Cash When I reach the top he has quit Cuando llegó arriba ha dejado de serrar. cutting wood. These, we realise chips : slivers of wood refuse, waste slivers of wood basura, desperdicios later, both relate to Addie’s sawing. Standing in a litter of chips, he X De pie, parado entre un montón de virutas, impending death. Darl is not 65 is fitting two of the boards together. ensambla dos tableros. Entre los espa- disturbed by the fact that Addie Between the shadow spaces they are cios en sombra son amarillos como el can hear and see the preparations yellow as gold, like soft gold, bearing on oro, como oro blando, mostrando en for her own burial, in fact he their flanks in smooth undulations the sus flancos las suaves ondulaciones de thinks ‘Addie Bundren could not adze:a cutting tool with a curved blade de la cuchilla want a better box to lie in. It will marks of the adze blade: a good carpenter, X las huellas ______de la azuela: ¡qué set at right angles to its handle give her confidence and comfort.’ 70 Cash is. He holds the two planks on the buen carpintero es Cash! Mantiene las trestle: supporting structure for a table, caballete The section ends with Darl trestle, fitted along the edges in a quarter dos tablas en el banco, ajustando los bor- hearing the noise of the adze: of the finished box. He kneels and des para que formen una cuarta parte de la ‘Chuck Chuck Chuck’. los cantos squints along the edge of them, then he X caja. Se arrodilla y enfila su superficie, lue- The wide spacing of the words los posa represents the pauses between the lowers them and takes up the adze. A X go los deja y coge la azuela. Buen carpin- noises, an indication of how 75 good carpenter. Addie Bundren could not tero. Addie Bundren no podría desear otro lie in: seguir en la cama, no levantarse, yacer, morar, permanecer Faulkner tries to get close to the want a better one, a better box to lie in. mejor, ni una caja mejor donde descansar. self-reliance, security well-being seguridad confortabilidad actual experience of the character. It will give her confidence and comfort. X Le proporcionará confianza y comodidad. I go on to the house, followed by the Sigo a la casa acompañado del

1 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

Chuck Chuck Chuck Chack Chack Chack

of the adze. de la azuela. Cora (1) In this section we find the spoken 5 2 X 2 and unspoken words of Cora Tull, CORA (1) CORA a neighbour of the Bundrens. She is sitting by Addie’s bed, keeping SO I saved out the eggs and CONQUE ayer recogí los huevos y the dying woman company but baked yesterday. The cakes turned preparé el horno. Los bollos me salie- following her own train of thought. When her thoughts eventually turn Opossum: any mainly tree-living marsupial 10 out right well. We depend a lot on ron muy bien. Dependemos mucho de to the dying Addie they conflict of the family Didelphidae, native to America, our chickens. They are good layers, nuestras gallinas. Son buenas with her spoken words. She says having a prehensile tail and hind feet with an what few we have left after the ponedoras; las pocas que nos dejan las that Addie will soon be well enough animales perjudiciales a la caza menor, como la zorra, el gato montés, el milano, etc. opposable thumb possums and such. Snakes, too, in the zarigüeyas** y alimañas así. También las to bake cakes, but she believes that ** Mamífero marsupial de tamaño mediano o summer. A snake will break up a serpientes, en verano. Una serpiente se cuela Addie will die. pequeño y aspecto que recuerda a la rata; las 15 hen-house quicker than anything. So en un gallinero más rápido que nada. Con- extremidades tienen cinco dedos y las de atrás el pulgar oponible; la cola es prensil, lisa y after they were going to cost so much que después de que nos costaran mucho más desnuda. Es mamífero nocturno y omnívoro, more than Mr. Tull thought, and after de lo que creía Mr. Tull, y después de pro- que hace nido en los árboles y su preñez dura I promised that the difference in the meterle yo que pagaríamos la diferencia con trece días. number of eggs would make it up, I los huevos que pusieran, tengo que andarme 20 had to be more careful than ever con mucho más cuidado que nunca, porque because it was on my final say-so we fue por mí «de acuerdo» final por lo que las took them. We could have stocked compramos. Podríamos haber comprado cheaper chickens, but I gave my unas gallinas más baratas, pero yo estuve promise as Miss Lawington said de acuerdo cuando Miss Lawington me 25 when she advised me to get a good aconsejó que las comprásemos de bue- breed, because Mr. Tull himself na raza, porque el propio Mr. Tull ad- admits that a good breed of cows or mite que una buena raza de vacas o COMMENTARY: This section demonstrates the efectiveness of hogs pays in the long run. So when cerdos a la larga compensa. De modo Faulkner’s technique, for we see we lost so many of them we couldn’t que como nos hemos quedado sin tantas how the unspoken thoughts of the 30 afford to use the eggs ourselves, no nos atrevemos a quedarnos con los character reveal that character’s because I could not have had Mr. Tull huevos para nosotros, porque no podría personality and how they flow chide me when it was on my say-so soportar los gruñidos de Mr. Tull, pues around and away from the we took them. So when Miss si las compramos fue por mí. Conque immediate environment of the character. Cora is exposed as a Lawington told me about the cakes I cuando Miss Lawington me habló de los woman of limited vision, liable to 35 thought that I could bake them and X bollos pensé que podría hacerlos yo y think long and hard on the small earn enough at one time to increase ganar lo suficiente de una vez como incidents of her life and to think the net value of the flock the para aumentar el valor neto del corral of them in a passive way. This equivalent of two head. And that by en el equivalente a dos gallinas. Y que passivity is encouraged by Cora’s saving the eggs out one at a time, even echando un huevo menos cada vez, in- religious beliefs and the only time that her vocabulary goes beyond 40 the eggs wouldn’t be costing cluso los huevos no me costarían nada. the narrowly colloquial is when anything. And that week they laid so Y esta semana pusieron tantos que no she thinks of God, using the well that I not only saved out enough sólo ahorré bastantes más huevos de language which the preacher eggs above what we had engaged to sell, los que pensaba vender, con los que must use, such as ‘eternal and to bake the cakes with, I had saved hacer los bollos, además había ahorra- everlasting salvation’. Cora’s passivity and limited responses 45 enough so that the flour and the sugar do los bastantes como para que la ha- contrast sharply with those of and the stove wood would not be rina y el azúcar y la leña del horno me Darl, two of whose sections costing anything. So I baked salieran por nada. Conque preparé los appear either side of Cora (1). yesterday, more careful than ever I bollos ayer, con más cuidado que nun- They also contrast sharply, in baked in my life, and the cakes ca en mi vida, y los bollos me salie- their acceptance of the world as 50 turned out right well. But when we ron muy bien. Pero cuando fuimos it is, with the feelings of the got to town this morning Miss esta mañana al pueblo Miss woman beside whose bed Cora sits, feelings revealed in Addie’s Lawington told me the lady had Lawington me dijo que la señora ha- only section in the book. changed her mind and was not going bía cambiado de idea y al final no iba Cora uses the language of to have the party after all. a celebrar la fiesta. religion in an incantatory way, the 55 long words providing a soothing “She ought to taken those cakes —De todos modos debiera quedarse chorus against which the anyway,” Kate says. con los bollos —dice Kate. hardships of life may be set and diminished. Religion has also given Cora an idea of how other “Well,” I say, “I reckon she never —Claro —digo yo—, aunque para mí people should behave and we 60 had no use for them now.” que ahora ya no le hacen falta. sense that she does not altogether approve of the Bundrens. She “She ought to taken them,” Kate —Debiera quedarse con ellos —dice talks of Addie’s ‘blindness’, says. “But those rich town ladies can Kate—. Pero estas sañoras ricas del pueblo something which is made more explicit in Cora’s later sections change their minds. Poor folks can’t.” pueden cambiar de idea. Los pobres, no. but which obviously implies some 65 sort of moral judgement on Riches is nothing in the face of the La riqueza no es nada delante del Se- Addie. More generally, Faulkner Lord, for He can see into the heart. ñor, pues Él ve dentro de los corazones. successfully creates the “Maybe I can sell them at the —A lo mejor el sábado los puedo vender atmosphere of the sick room in bazaar Saturday,” I say. en el mercadillo de la parroquia —digo—. this section, with Cora sitting in silence most of the time, 70 They turned out real well. Me salieron bien de verdad. thinking her own thoughts and only occasionally becoming “You can’t get two dollars a piece —No sacarás ni dos dólares por cada aware of those around her. The for them,” Kate says. uno —dice Kate. words which are actually spoken are sporadic and infrequent, thus heightening the sense of time 75 “Well, it isn’t like they cost me —Bueno, es como si no me hubieran hanging heavily for those who sit anything,” I say. I saved them out costado nada —digo yo. Los he ido apartando poco a poco by Addie’s bedside. and swapped a dozen of them for X Los cogí en el corral y cambié una do- the sugar and flour. It isn’t like cena por el azúcar y la harina. Es como si

2 X ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

the cakes cost me anything, as Mr. los bollos no me hubieran costado, pues el Tull himself realizes that the eggs propio Mr. Tull comprende que los huevos I saved were over and beyond que ahorré eran muchos más de los que what we had engaged to sell, so it pensábamos vender, conque era como si 5 was like we had found the eggs or hubiéramos encontrado los huevos o nos they had been given to us. los hubieran dado.

“She ought to taken those cakes when —Debiera quedarme con esos bollos, she same as gave you her word,” Kate says. X pues te los encargó ella —dice Kate. * El punto y aparte no da la di- mensión que son palabras no di- 10 The Lord can see into the heart. If it * El señor ve dentro de los corazo- chas de Kate pero sí pensadas por is His will that come folks has nes. Si es su voluntad que unas perso- ella. Habría que dejar comillas. different ideas of honesty from other nas tengan ideas sobre la honradez dis- folks, it is not my place to question tintas que otras, no me toca discutir sus His decree. designios. 15 “I reckon she never had any use for —Para mí que nunca los necesitó — them,” I say. They turned out real well, too. digo—. *Pero me salieron ricos de verdad. Si arriba pone punto y coma, ¿por qué no aquí? The quilt is drawn up to her chin, Tiene la colcha subida hasta la barbilla, 20 hot as it is, with only her two hands con todo el calor que hace, y sólo las dos and her face outside. She is propped X manos y la cara destapadas. Está apoyada en on the pillow, with her head raised la almohada, con la cabeza erguida de so she can see out the window, and modo que pueda mirar por la ventana, y we can hear him every time he takes X nosotros oímos a Cash* cada vez que coje Demasiado descriptivo y nada 25 up the adze or the saw. If we were la azuela o la sierra. Si fuéramos sor- sugestivo. deaf we could almost watch her face dos, con sólo mirarle la cara a ella casi and hear him, see him. Her face is X podríamos oír a Cash, verle. Tiene la cara wasted away so that the bones draw tan consumida que los huesos se le dibujan just under the skin in white fines. Her debajo de la piel como línes blancas. Sus 30 eyes are like two candles when you ojos son igual que dos velas a las que cuencos de los brazos gutter 1 (de una casa) canalón; (on roof) canaleta watch them gutter down into the X ves derretirse en los soportes de un f, canalón m desagüe 2 (en la calle) alcanta- rilla, cuneta: someone was lying in the gutter, sockets of iron candle-sticks. But the candelabro de hierro. Pero la salvación alguien estaba tendido en la cuneta 3 (los) barrios bajos (lowest section of society) the ~ eternal and the everlasting salvation eterna y perdurable y la gracia no han el arroyo, desagüe; (before n) the ~ press la prensa sensacionalista and grace is not upon her. descendido sobre ella. 35 really nice real nice: (col.) really nice “They turned out real nice,” I —Me salieron ricos de verdad —digo—. say. “But not like the cakes Addie X Pero no como los bollos que solía hacer used to bake.” You can see that Addie. — Se puede ver cómo lava y plan- girl’s washing and ironing in the cha esa chica fijándose en la funda de la 40 pillow-slip, if ironed it ever was. almohada, si es que la ha planchado alguna Maybe it will reveal her blindness vez. Puede que eso hiciera a Addie consciente laying yaciendo to her, laying there at the mercy X de su ceguera: estar allí tumbada a merced and the ministration of four men X ______de cuatro hombres y una a girl who behaves like a boy tom-boy girl: a girl who behaves like and a tom-boy girl. “There’s not a marimacho—. No hay mujer en estos a boy, virago, hombruna 45 woman in this section could ever bake contornos capaz de amasar como with Addie Bundren,” I say. “First X Addie Bundren —digo—. Si se thing we know she’ll be up and levantara y amasase otra vez, lo baking again, and then we won’t sabríamos enseguida porque las have any sale for ours at all.” Under demás no venderíamos nada. 50 the quilt she makes no more of a hump X Debajo de la colcha no abulta más bar listón, madero than a rail would, and the only way que una tabla, y el único modo de sa- you can tell she is breathing is by the ber que respira es oyendo el crujido de mattress shucks: (Am. English) the straw or springs ** Las hojas secas de las mazorcas de maíz, que se usan straw or springs in the mattress sound of the mattress shucks. Even the las [58] hojas** del jergón***. Ni si- como relleno de los colchones en las zonas rurales. hair at her cheek does not move, even quiera se le mueve el pelo que tiene pe- *** Colchón de paja, esparto o hierba y sin bastas. 55 with that girl standing right over her, gado a la cara, ni con esa chica de pie, fanning her with the fan. While we a su lado, dándole aire con el abanico. watch she swaps the fan to the other X Mientras miramos se pasa el abanico a hand without stopping it. la otra mano sin dejar de moverlo.

60 “Is she sleeping?” Kate whispers. —¿Duerme? —susurra Kate.

“She’s just watching —Está mirando a Cash, allá abajo — Cash yonder,” the girl says. dice la chica. We can hear the saw in the board. It Podemos oír la sierra en la tabla. Sue- 65 sounds like snoring. Eula turns on the na como a ronquido. Eula vuelve el tron- trunk and looks out the window. Her co y mira por la ventana. El collar le que- necklace looks real nice with her red da bien de verdad con el sombrero rojo. hat. You wouldn’t think it only cost Nadie pensaría que sólo le costó veinti- twentyfive cents. cinco centavos. 70 “She ought to taken those cakes,” —Debiera haberse quedado con esos Kate says. bollos —dice Kate.

I could have used the money real Habría empleado el dinero bien de ver- 75 well. But it’s not like they cost me dad. Pero es como si no me hubieran costado anything except the baking. I can tell nada, excepto el cocerlos en el horno. Puedo him that anybody is likely to make a decirle que cualquiera puede cometer un mistake a miscue: a mistake miscue, but it’s not all of them that error, pero que no todos son capaces de

3 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

can get out of it without loss, I can salir de él sin pérdidas, puedo decirle. No tell him. It’s not everybody can eat todo el mundo puede comerse sus erro- their mistakes, I can tell him. res, puedo decirle. Darl (2) This section consists largely of 5 Someone comes through the hall. Alguien atraviesa el zaguán. Es Darl. the unspoken and unverbalised It is Darl. He does not look in as he No mira dentro cuando pasa delante de thoughts of Darl. It begins as he passes the door. Eula watches him as la puerta. Eula le observa fijamente mien- goes to take a drink from the gourd. he goes on and passes from sight tras él siguie y se pierde nuevamente de When Anse asks, ‘Where’s Jewel?’, again toward the back. Her hand rises vista por la parte de atrás. Levanta una Darl has already started on a train of thought relating to previous 10 and touches her beads lightly, and mano y se toca levemente las cuentas del experiences of drinking from the then her hair. When she finds me collar; después el pelo. A1 darse cuenta wooden bucket. He follows this watching her, her eyes go blank. de que la miro, se le turba la vista. train of thought to its end before replying to his father’s question 3 with ‘Down to the barn. Harnessing the team’, and this reply immediately 15 DARL (2) DARL leads him into another train of thought in which he imagines in detail a scene PA and Vernon are sitting on the PADRE y Vernon están sentados en between Jewel and the horse. back porch. Pa is tilting snuff from el porche de atrás. Padre se echa rapé**, ** Polvo de tabaco que se consumía aspirándo- the lid of his snuff-box into his lower de la tapa de la caja en el labio inferior, lo por la nariz. Su efecto inmediato se traducía hacia fuera 20 lip, holding the lip outdrawn between manteniendo el labio estirado _____ en- en fuertes estornudos que despejaban la cabeza. thumb and fingen. They look around tre pulgar e índice. Levantan la vista cuan- ** En el original, gourd: recipiente para líqui- as I cross the porch and dip the gourd do cruzo el poche y meto la calabaza** dos fríos que se obtenía vaciando una calabaza into the water bucket and drink. en el cubo de agua y bebo. y dejándola secar.

25 “Where’s Jewel?” pa says. —¿Qué es de Jewel? —dice padre. When I was a boy I first learned Cuando era pequeño me enteré por how much better water tastes primera vez de cuánto mejor sabe el agua when it has set a while in a cedar cuando ha pasado un buen rato en un bucket. Warmish-cool, with a cubo de cedro. Fresquita, con un leve 30 faint taste like the hot July wind sabor parecido al olor del viento calien- in cedar trees smells. It has to set te de julio en los cedros. Tiene que pasar at least six hours, and be drunk seis horas por lo menos, y hay que be- from a gourd. Water should never berla con calabaza. El agua nunca se debe be drunk from metal. beber con nada de metal. 35 And at night it is better still. I Y de noche todavía sabe mejor. En- used to lie on the pallet in the hall, tonces muchas veces me quedaba tum- waiting until I could hear them all bado en el jergón, en el zaguán, esperan- asleep, so I could get up and go back do hasta oír que todos se habían dormi- 40 to the bucket. It would be black, the do para levantarme y volver al cubo. Es- COMMENTARY: Darl’s imaginative shelf black, the still surface of the taba oscuro, la quieta superficie del agua round hole, opening construction of the scene between water a round orifice in nothingness, era un orificio redondo en la nada, don- orifice: round hole, opening despertarla al agitarla Jewel and the horse is a sign of where before I stirred it awake with the de antes de agitarla y despertarla con el how obsessed he is with his dipper I could see maybe a star or two cacillo a veces veía una estrella o dos en brother. The image which he creates of Jewel and the horse is 45 in the bucket, and maybe in the dipper el cubo, y hasta puede que en el cacillo, highly poetic and many of the a star or two before I drank. After antes de beber, una estrella o dos. Des- words used are far beyond the that I was bigger, older. Then I pués de eso crecí, me hice mayor. Enton- probable reach of Darl’s would wait until they all went to ces esperaba hasta que todos se hubieran vocabulary and are, therefore, sleep so I could lie with my ido a dormir para poderme tumbar con unverbalised. What the character 50 shirt-tail up, hearing them asleep, los faldones de la camisa levantados, y himself has at this moment is a feeling myself without touching les oía dormir, y me notaba sin necesi- visual image of the events and that image is translated into words by myself, feeling the cool silence dad de tocarme, sentía el frío silencio my genitals the author. Of course, the image my parts: my genitals blowing upon my parts and alrededor de mis partes y me pregunta- is not purely visual, so there are wondering if Cash was yonder in the ba si Cash estaría también allí fuera, en some words in the paragraphs 55 darkness doing it too, had been la oscuridad, haciendo lo mismo, y si lo following Darl’s reply to his doing it perhaps for the last two habría estado haciendo los dos últimos father which do in fact belong to years before I could have wanted to años antes de que yo hubiera deseado o Darl himself, ‘Down there . . . the pasture’. When we get to ‘Then or could have. podido hacerlo. Jewel is . . . limberness of a * 1. Trepar, subir a lo alto. 2. Engarabatar, hablando especialmente de los dedos entumecidos (hinchados) por el frío. snake’, we are in the realms of spread out=extendidos (sin gracia) salidos splay outstretch, estirar, spread outward 60 Pa’s feet are badly splayed, his X Los pies de padre están deformados de Darl’s visual image as translated awkwardly / biselar, achaflanar contracted 1 spread out; broad and flat 2 turned outwards toes cramped and bent and mala manera; los dedos retorcidos y dobla- by Faulkner. There has been a in an awkward manner 3 to spread out; deformed, out of shape marked change in Darl’s image of turn out or expand 4 (Vet. science) to warped, with no toenail at all on X dos y engarabitados*, los meñiques sin dislocate (a bone) 5 a surface of a wall that his little toes, from working so hard nada de uña, por trabajar tan penosamen- Jewel from Darl (1), where he saw forms an oblique angle to the main flat him as rigid. Here he is seen as surfaces, esp. at a doorway or window opening in the wet in homemade shoes when te en la humedad con zapatos hechos en 6 enlargement (Pies planos) being as supple as a snake. 65 he was a boy. Beside his chair his casa cuando era niño. Junto a su silla es- Dar] is ambivalent in his coarse shoes of untanned leather brogans: coarse shoes of untanned brogans sit. They look as though tán sus zapatones. Parece como si los hu- feelings towards Jewel; the leather they had been hacked with a blunt biera cortado con un hacha embotada a unverbalised image is beautiful, yet Darl dislikes Jewel and the hack I n. 1 corte 2 pey & hum (periodista) gacetillero axe out of pig-iron. Vernon has partir de un lingote de hierro. Vernon ha 3 (caballo) jamelgo II v.tr. cortar a hachazos to been to town. I have never seen estado en el pueblo. Nunca le había vis- horse which is an emblem of his hack sthg/sb to pieces, hacer trizas algo/a alguien difference from the rest of the III vi Inform piratear 70 him go to town in overalls. His to ir al pueblo en mono. Por su mujer, family. This confused attitude is wife, they say. She taught school dicen, que también daba clase en la es- later explained when we see that too, once. cuela, antes. Darl suffers because Addie refused to give him her love, giving it to Jewel instead. But fling throw or hurl (an object) forcefully, I fling the dipper dregs to the Tiro al suelo el agua que sobra y Darl has a highly developed sense enérgicamente 75 ground and wipe my mouth on my me seco la boca con la manga. Va a of beauty and Jewel possesses sleeve. It is going to rain before llover antes de que vuelva a ser de día. beauty in the shape of the horse morning. Maybe before dark. Puede que antes de que oscurezca. and in his mastery of the animal, “Down to the barn,” I say. —Ha bajado a la cuadra —digo—. so Darl both admires and is “Harnessing the team.” A enjaezar el tiro. jealous of his brother. 4 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

This sense of beauty is also Down there fooling with that horse. He Bajó a divertirse con ese caballo. evident when Darl finds the water will go on through the barn, into the pasture. Cruzará la cuadra hasta el prado. El in the wooden bucket redolent (perfumado) of ‘hot July wind in The horse will not be in sight: he is caballo no está a la vista: está allá cedar tree smells’. Even within 5 up there among the pine seedlings, arriba entre los brotes de pino, a la the limits of his unspoken in the cool. Jewel whistles, once sombra. Jewel silba, una vez y vocabulary he emerges as a and shrill. The horse snorts, then estridentemente. El caballo resopla character with an almost lyrical Jewel sees him, glinting for a y entonces Jewel lo ve: brilla duran- love of the minute things in his gaudy 1 tastelessly or extravagantly bright gaudy instant among the blue shad- te un instante magnífico entre las world. His world is not, however, or showy. wholly beautiful and his sensitive 10 ows. Jewel whistles again; the horse sombras azules. Jewel vuelve a sil- nature must also confront much comes dropping down the slope, bar; el caballo va hacia él ladera abajo, that is ugly. When he begins to stiff-legged, his ears cocking and las patas rígidas, las orejas erguidas y return from his memories of past flick mover rápidamente flicking, his mis-matched eyes agitándose, los desiguales ojos evenings, he becomes aware of rolling, and fetches up twenty feet desorbitados, y se para a unos diez his father. The imagery ceases to be beautiful and shades into the 15 away, broadside on, watching Jewel pasos, de costado, mirando a Jewel grotesque and misshapen. ‘Pa’s over his shoulder in an attitude por encima del hombro en actitud ju- feet are badly splayed, his toes kittenish and alert. guetona y alerta. cramped and bent and warped, with no toenails at all on his little “Come here, sir,” Jewel says. He —Venga acá, señor mío —dice Jewel. toes.’ 20 moves. Moving that quick his coat, El caballo se mueve. Su piel recorrida It is this awareness of the bunching, tongues swirling like so por rápidos temblores, lenguas que se arre- grotesque possibilities of liis world which eventually drives many flames. With tossing mane molinan como otras tantas llamas. Agitan- Darl to try to destroy his mother’s curveting: leaping, by a horse, with and tail and rolling eye the horse do crin y cola y poniendo los ojos en blanco, el stinking corpse when it is housed the forelegs together then the makes another short curveting rush X caballo emprende otra breve ___ carrera, in Gillespie’s barn. back legs raised before the 25 and stops again, feet se vuelve a detener, patas bien The gap between Anse’s forelegs have touched the ground bunched, watching Jewel. Jewel asentadas, y observa a Jewel. Jewel question and Darl’s reply in this curveting haciendo corvetas, swirling, walks steadily toward him, his avanza decidido hacia él, las manos en section is filled with Darl’s thoughts. We may assume that hands at his sides. Save for Jewel’s la cadera. A no ser por las piernas de Darl would not in actuality have legs they are like two figures carved Jewel, son como dos figuras talladas taken so long to answer. Faulkner 30 for a tableau savage in the sun. para un grupo salvaje al sol. creates the delay to show that a fleeting moment of time may When Jewel can almost touch Cuando Jewel casi le puede tocar, contain a great deal of thought. him, the horse stands on his hind el caballo se alza sobre los cuartos Where, in Cora’s section, time seemed to hang heavily, here it legs and slashes down at Jewel. traseros y se deja caer encima de él. moves with a rapidity which 35 Then Jewel is enclosed by a Entonces Jewel queda rodeado por reflects the difference between glitter : brillo, oropel, tinsel, sparkle, glint; glittering maze of hooves as by an un laberinto resplandeciente de cas- Darl’s questing temperament and relucir, centellear, fulgir, fulgente, centelleante, chispeante, illusion of wings; among them, cos igual que una ilusión de alas; entre Cora’s passive one. beneath the upreared chest, he ellos, debajo del pecho alzado, se mue- moves with the flashing limberness ve con la relampagueante flexibilidad limber 1 adj. 1 lithe, agile, nimble. 2 flexible. Ágil, flexible; he’s very limber for his 40 of a snake. For in instant before the de una serpiente. Durante un instante, age, está muy agil para su edad limber up vi entrar en calor limber up (sports) vi jerk comes on to his arms he sees antes de que la sacudida le llegue a los hacer precalentamiento his whole body earth-free, brazos, Jewel ve todo su cuerpo en vilo, v. (usu. foll. by up) 1 tr. make (oneself or a part of the body etc.) supple. 2 intr. warm snake-limber: (neologism) as horizontal, whipping snake-limber, horizontal, serpenteando fulgurante, up in preparation for athletic etc. activity. limber 2 n. the detachable front part of a supple as a snake until he finds the horse’s nostrils hasta que agarra las ventanas de la nariz gun-carriage, consisting of two wheels, axle, pole, and ammunition-box. Armón 45 and touches earth again. Then they del caballo y se aferra nuevamente a tie- de artillería are rigid, motionless, terrific, the rra. Entonces los dos se quedan rígidos, v. 1 tr. attach a limber to (a gun etc.). 2 intr. fasten together the two parts of a gun- horse back-thrust on stiffened, inmóviles, terroríficos; el caballo apoya- carriage. quivering legs, with lowered head; do en las patas traseras, tiesas y temblo- Jewel with dug heels, shutting off rosas, con la cabeza baja; Jewel con los 50 the horse’s wind with one hand, talones clavados, tapando el resoplar del with the other patting the horse’s caballo con una mano, con la otra neck in short strokes myriad* and X acariciéndole el cuello, dándole _____ caressing, cursing the horse with golpecitos cariñosos, mientras le insul- * myriad 1 an indefinitely great obscene ferocity. number. 2 ten thousand. ta con obscena ferocidad. 55 — of an indefinitely great number. miríada: cantidad muy grande, pero indefinida break, a moment frozen in time hiatus: break, a moment frozen in They stand in rigid terrific hiatus, Permanecen en un vacío rígido y terro- time the horse trembling and groaning. rífico: el caballo temblando y gimiendo. Then Jewel is on the horse’s back. Luego Jewel está montado en el caballo. He flows upward in a stooping Cabalga cuesta arriba, como un torbellino, 60 swirl like the lash of a whip, his como el coletazo de un látigo, con el cuer- body in mid-air shaped to the horse. po en el aire continuando el del caballo. spraddled: with legs outstretched For another moment the horse Durante otro momento el caballo queda with legs outstretched stands spraddled, with lowered despatarrado, con la cabeza baja, antes de head, before it bursts into motion. lanzarse a la carrera. Descienden por el 65 They descend the hill in a series of cerro con una serie de saltos y sacudidas leech-like: clinging like a leech (an spine-jolting jumps, Jewel high, de lomo, Jewel erguido, agarrado como clinging like a leech (known for its tenacity) insect known for its tenacity) leech-like on the withers*, to the una sanguijuela a la cruz del caballo, has- gathers, (frena) withers: ridge between the shoulder fence where the horse bunches to ta la cerca donde el caballo vuelve a inte- scurrying, hasty blades of a horse a scuttering halt again. rrumpir su precipitada carrera. scuttering: scurrying, hasty X 70 * ridge between the shoulder blades of a horse “Well,” Jewel says, “you can quit —Bien —dice Jewel—, ya puedes now, if you got a-plenty.” rendirte, si es que ya tienes bastante.

Inside the barn Jewel slides Dentro de la cuadra Jewel se deja caer stall 75 running to the ground before the horse al suelo a toda prisa antes de que el caballo 1 (= stable) establo m (= manger) pesebre m (for single horse etc) casilla f 2 (in market) stops. The horse enters the stall, Jewel se pare. El caballo entra en el pesebre con puesto m (in fair) caseta f; casilla f 3 (British) following. Without looking back the Jewel detrás. Sin mirar atrás, el caballo (theatre) the stalls el patio de butacas 1 parar; calar 2 [+ person] entretener horse kicks at him, slamming a single le suelta una coz, alcanzando con uno 1 [car] pararse [plane] perder velocidad 2 (= delay) andar con rodeos; esquivar 5 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

hoof into the wall with a pistol-like de los cascos la pared con un estampido report. Jewel kicks him in the como de pistola. Jewel le da patadas en stomach; the horse arches his neck el estómago; el caballo arquea el cue- crop-toothed: with teeth shortened (presumably by filing down) back, crop-toothed; Jewel strikes him llo, enseñando los dientes; Jewel le gol- 5 across the face with his fist and slides pea la cara con el puño y se desliza has- on to the trough and mounts upon it. ta la artesa y se sube encima de ella. Clinging to the hay-rack he lowers Pegándose al montón de heno, agacha his head and peers out across the stall la cabeza y mira por encima de los tabi- tops and through the doorway. The ques del pesebre hacia la entrada. El 10 path is empty; from here he cannot sendero está desierto; desde aquí ni si- even hear Cash sawing. He reaches quiera puede oír a Cash serrando. Se up and drags down hay in hurried X estira y ______llena apresuradamen- armfuls and crams it into the rack. te, a manos llenas, el comedero.

15 “Eat,” he says. “Get the goddamn —Come —dice—. Llénate Jewel (1) pussel-gutted: (Am. col.) fat, stuff out of sight while you got a esa hinchada panza mien- overfed chance, you pussel-gutted bastard. X tras puedas, cabrón,______Jewel has only one section in You sweet son of a bitch,” he says. hijo de la gran puta —dice. the book, but it is revealing, consisting of his unspoken 20 4 thoughts. He resents Cash sawing JEWEL (1) JEWEL the wood outside Addie’s window, constantly reminding her of her impending death and he IT’S because he stays out there, POR qué se tiene que quedar ahí resents the others sitting around right under the window, hammering afuera, justo debajo de la ventana, cla- waiting for her to die. He imagi- 25 and sawing on that goddamn box. vando y serrando esa maldita caja. En nes himself and his mother Where she’s got to see him. Where donde ella le vea. Donde cada bocana- isolated on a hill, rolling rocks every breath she draws is full of his da que ella aspire esté llena de su mar- down on anyone who tríes to intrude upon their solitude. knocking and sawing where she can tillear y serrar. Donde ella pueda verle see him saying See. See what a good diciendo: Mira. Mira qué buena es la 30 one I am making for you. I told him que te estoy haciendo. Yo ya le dije que to go somewhere else. I said Good se fuera a cualquier otro sitio. Le dije: God do you want to see her in it. It’s Santo Dios, ¿es que quieres verla den- COMMENTARY: The brevity like when he was a little boy and she tro de ella? Es como cuando era niño y of Jewel’s section underlines his general taciturnity. Until now, we says if she had some fertilizer she ella dijo que si tuviera un poco de abo- have seen Jewel only through the 35 would try to raise some flowers and no intentaría cultivar unas flores y él eyes of Darl, two conflicting he taken the bread-pan and brought cogió la cesta del pan y se la trajo lle- images of rigidity and suppleness. dung: manure it back from the barn full of dung. na de estiércol de la cuadra. Here, Jewel emerges as an embittered man, sensitive as none And now them others sitting there, Y ahora los demás ahí sentados, como of the others are to his mother’s buzzards: birds of prey feelings. 40 like buzzards. Waiting, fanning buitres. Esperando, abanicándose. Por- When Jewel talks of the others themselves. Because I said If you que yo dije: ¿Es que no puedes dejar de as ‘buzzards’, we sense the wouldn’t keep on sawing and nailing serrar y clavar sin parar? No dejas dor- bitterness he feels on behalf of his at it until a man can’t sleep even and mir a nadie. Y las manos de ella encima mother, aware that their presence her hands laying on the quilt like two de la colcha como dos de esas raíces [62] must be a constant reminder to her that she is about to die. At the end 45 of them roots dug up and tried to wash retorcidas que tratas de lavar y nunca of the section, his resentment and you couldn’t get them clean. I can consigues que queden limpias. Veo el takes a more generalised form and see the fan and Dewey Dell’s arm. I abanico y el brazo de Dewey Dell. Le dije we realise, when he imagines said if you’d just let her alone. Sawing que si nunca la iba a dejar en paz. Serran- himself alone with Addie on top and knocking, and keeping the air do y martillando, y haciendo que el aire of a hill, how profound his dislike 50 always moving so fast on her face that se mueva siempre tan deprisa por delante of the rest of the world is and how when you’re tired you can’t breathe de su cara que cuando estás cansado ni lo closely he sympathises with his mother, ‘it would just be me . . . it, and that goddamn adze going One puedes respirar; y esa maldita azuela re- was quiet’. lick less. One lick less. One lick less pitiendo: Ya queda menos. Ya queda me- This is an image full of until everybody that passes in the road nos. Ya queda menos, hasta que todos los violence, eloquent of deep 55 will have to stop and see it and say que pasan por el camino se paren y lo vean resentment, and of isolation. It what a fine carpenter he is. If it had y digan: Qué buen carpintero es. Si hu- suggests to the reader that Jewel just been me when Cash fell off of that biera sido yo y no Dash el que se cayó de has over the years built up this hatred of his family and this bond church and if it had just been me when aquella iglesia y si hubiera sido yo y no pa- with his mother. Later in the book, pa laid sick with that load of wood fell dre el que se accidentó con aquella carga de he proves the depths of his 60 on him, it would not be happening with leña que le cayó encima, no vendría a verla feelings for Addie by selling his every bastard in the county coming cualquier hijo de puta de la comarca, horse and by risking his life in the in to stare at her because if there is a porque si hay Dios para qué demo- fire to save her corpse. The God what the hell is He for. It would nios existe. Sólo estaríamos yo y section shows us Jewel’s personality and gives us the first just be me and her on a high hill and ella en la cima de un cerro y yo indication of the crucial and 65 me rolling the rocks down the hill at echaría a rodar piedras cerro abajo powerful role played by Addie their faces, picking them up and contra sus caras, y las subiría y se Bundren in shaping the throwing them down the hill, faces las tiraría otra vez cerro abajo, caras y personalities of her sons. and teeth and all by God until she was dientes y todo, por Dios, hasta que se quiet and not that goddamn adze estuviese tranquila y esa maldita azuela Darl (3) 70 going One lick less. One lick less and no dijera: Ya queda menos. Ya queda me- This section consists largely of we could be quiet. nos, y estaríamos tranquilos. the words overheard by Darl as the family take the wagon and set 5 off to collect some wood, thus DARL (3) DARL risking being absent when Addie dies. In the early part of the 75 section, the words which Darl WE watch him come around the LE vemos doblar la esquina y subir overhears are supplemented by corner and mount the steps. He does los escalones. No nos mira. his own unspoken thoughts, so not look at us. “You ready?” he says. —¿Listos? —dice él. that the spoken words are put in the context of Darl’s opinion of

6 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

the speaker. hitched up: having the horses or “If you’re hitched up,” —Si has enganchado el caballo — mules harnessed to the wagon I say. I say “Wait.” He digo yo. Digo—: Espera. stops, looking at pa. Vernon spits, Se para, mirando a padre. Vernon es- 5 without moving. He spits with cupe, sin moverse. Escupe con correcta decorous and deliberate precision into y deliberada precisión en el polvo COMMENTARY: In this pocked: marked with holes the pocked dust below the porch. Pa picado de viruelas del pie del porche. Pa- section Darl’s powers of precise rubs his hands slowly on his knees. dre se restriega lentamente las manos en observation are used to record He is gazing out beyond the las rodillas. Mira a algo que está más allá with apparent accuracy the actual words spoken by his father, 10 crest of the bluff, out across the land. de la cresta del farallón, por encima del himself, Vernon, Tull and Jewel. Jewel watches him a moment, then he campo. Jewel le observa un momento, lue- The personalities of the various goes on to the pail and drinks again. go sigue hasta el cubo y vuelve a beber. speakers are implicit in the words which they use. When, for mislike: (Am. col.) dislike “I mislike undecision as much as —Me revienta la indecisión como a example, Anse hesitates and then says ‘1 mislike undecision as 15 ere a man,” pa says. cualquiera —dice padre. much as ere a man’, the words are empty. The words spoken by “It means three dollars,” I say. The —Eso significa tres dólares —digo yo. La ca- Jewel also expose his basic hump: deformity of the spine shirt across pa’s hump is faded lighter misa está [63] más descolorida en la joroba de nature. We have already seen him than the rest of it. There is no sweat padre que en el resto. No hay ni una mancha de distressed by the sound of the 20 stain on his shirt. I have never seen a sudor en su camisa. ______adze in Jewel (1). It is consistent, sweat stain on his shirt. He was sick X ______Una vez, cuando therefore, to find that Darl recalls Jewel repeatedly trying to register once from working in the sun when tenía veintidós años, se puso a protest against the noise and ‘the he was twenty-two years old, and he malo por trabajar a pleno sol y buzzards’. Darl also notices that tells people that if he ever sweats, he cuenta a la gente que si volviera a sudar, Jewel cannot bring himself to say 25 will die. I suppose he believes it. se moriría. Supongo que se lo cree. the word ‘coffin’. This tells us something not revealed in Jewel’s “But if she don’t last until you get back,” —Pero si ella no dura hasta que volváis own section, namely that Jewel does not want to acknowledge he says. “She will be disappointed.” —dice—. Le molestaría mucho. that his mother is dying and cannot bear to utter the word 30 Vernon spits into the dust. But it Vernon escupe al polvo. Pero lloverá ‘coffin’ which would set the seal will rain before morning. antes de que vuelva a ser de día. of death on the proceedings. Thus in this section we see “She’s counted on it,” pa says. —Ella cuanta con eso —dice padre— Anse successfully deceiving himself and insisting that he “She’ll want to start right away. I . Querrá ponerse en marcha inmediata- wants to do his best for Addie and 35 know her. I promised her I’d keep the mente. La conozco. Le prometí que ten- we see Jewel trying to deceive team here and ready, and she’s dría el tiro aquí y preparado, y cuenta himself by refusing to counting on it.” con ello. acknowledge that his mother is dying. The recorder of both these “We’ll need that three dollars —Entonces necesitaremos esos tres deceptions is Darl, whose role in this particular interaction is to 40 then, sure,” I say. He gazes out dólares, seguro —digo. Él mira por advocate that they should take the over the land, rubbing his hands on encima del campo, frotándose las wagon and go, leaving Addie his knees. Since he lost his teeth manos en las rodillas. Desde que se alone. He has clearly analysed the his mouth collapses in slow quedó sin dientes la boca se le hunde weak points of his father’s dips: dips his head to drink water repetition when he dips. The en lentas repeticiones cuando traga. character, playing on Anse’s love stubble: growth of facial hair of money, and he also tries to hurt 45 stubble gives his lower face that Los cañones de la barba dan a la parte de cañón : 6. Lo más recio, inmediato Jewel by reminding him that a la raíz, del pelo de la barba. appearance that old dogs have. abajo de su cara ese aspecto que tienen los Addie is very ill. This jealousy of “You’d better make up your mind perros viejos—. Será mejor que se decida en- his brother is an ever-present soon, so we can get there and get seguida, así podríamos ir allí y traer una car- aspect of Darl’s outlook. a load on before dark,” I say. ga antes de que oscurezca —digo. At the end of the section Darl 50 notices that the physical layout of ain’t: (col.) is not “Ma ain’t that sick,” Jewel says. —Madre no está tan grave —dice the house leads to an apparent separation between the voices and “Shut up, Darl.” Jewel—. Cállate, Darl. the speakers from whom they emanate, ‘As you enter the hall, “That’s right,” Vernon says. “She —Es cierto —dice Vernon—. Hoy they sound as though they were 55 seems more like herself to-day than parece mejor que en toda la semana. Para speaking out of the air about your she has in a week. Time you and cuando tú y Jewel volváis, estará levan- head’. As the book progresses Jewel get back, she’ll be setting up.” tada. such sensitivity to his environment proves to be a burden to Darl. His world “You ought to know,” Jewel says. —Eso usted lo sabrá —dice Jewel—. becomes increasingly odd and so 60 “You been here often enough Se ha pasado mucho tiempo aquí mirán- his experience of it, coming to looking at her. You or your folks.” dola. Usted y los suyos. him through his finely attuned Vernon looks at him. Jewel’s eyes Vernon le mira. Los ojos de senses, also becomes increasingly look like pale wood in his Jewel parecen madera clara en su odd. high-blooded face. He is a head taller cara rubicunda. Nos saca la cabe- 65 than any of the rest of us, always was. za a todos los demás, siempre nos I told them that’s why ma always la ha sacado. Les dije que por eso whipped him and petted him more. le pegaba madre más y le mimaba peakling: (neologism) wandering Because he was peakling around the más. Porque era el más enfermizo weakly house more. That’s why she named de la casa. Por eso le llamaron 70 him Jewel I told them. Jewel, joya, les dije. [64]

“Shut up, Jewel,” pa says, —Cállate, Jewel —dice padre, pero but as though he is not listening como si no hubiera prestado demasiada aten- much. He gazes out across the X ción a lo que decíamos. Mira por encima 75 land, rubbing his knees. del campo, se frota las rodillas.

“You could borrow the loan of —Podrías pedirle prestado el tiro a Vernon’s team and we could catch up with Vernon y podríamos salir a vuestro encuen-

7 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

you,” I say. “If she didn’t wait for us.” tro —digo yo—. Si ella no nos espera.

“Ah, shut your goddamn mouth,” —Cierra esa maldita boca —dice Jewel says. Jewel. 5 ourn: (Am. col.) our own one “She’ll want to go in ourn,” pa —Querrá ir en el nuestro —dice pa- says. He rubs his knees. “Don’t ere a dre. Se frota las rodillas—. Nada me re- don’t ere a man mislike: (Am. col.) man mislike it more.” ventaría más. no man ever disliked

10 “It’s laying there, watching Cash —Estar ahí tumbada, viendo a Cash whittle v. 1 tr. & (foll. by at) intr. pare (wood etc.) with whittle on that damn . . .” Jewel says. cepillando esa maldita... —dice Jewel. repeated slicing with a knife. 2 tr. (often foll. by away, down) reduce by repeated subtractions. He says it harshly, savagely, but he Lo dice áspera, salvajemente, pero no reducir poco a poco does not say the word. Like a little llega a pronunciar la palabra. Como un flail (=mayal 1. m. Palo del cual tira la caballería que mueve los molinos de aceite, tahonas y boy in the dark to flail his courage niño en la oscuridad para darse valor malacates. 2. Instrumento compuesto de dos palos, uno más largo que otro, unidos por medio de 15 and suddenly aghast into silence by que, de repente, calla aterrorizado por una cuerda, con el cual se desgrana el centeno dando golpes sobre él.) his own noise. su propia voz. flail a threshing-tool consisting of a wooden staff with a short heavy stick swinging from it. Batir, sacudir, desgranar con un mayal “She wanted that like she wants to —Ella lo quiso así, igual que quiere 1 tr. beat or strike with or as if with a flail (mayal= dos palos unidos por cuero). 2 intr. wave or swing go in our own wagon,” pa says. “She’ll ir en nuestra carreta —dice padre—. Des- wildly or erratically (went into the fight with arms flailing). 20 rest easier for knowing it’s a good cansará más tranquila si sabe que está one, and private. She was ever a bien hecha, y es suya. Siempre fue una private woman. You know it well.” mujer muy suya. Lo sabéis bien.

“Then let it be private,” —Entonces dejemos que se salga con la suya 25 Jewel says. “But how the hell —dice Jewel—. Pero cómo demonios can you expect it to be——” sois capaces de esperar que sea... — He looks at the back of pa’s head, his mira la nuca de padre; eyes like pale wooden eyes. sus ojos como madera clara.

sho: (Am. col.) surely, certainly 30 “Sho,” Vernon says, “she’ll hold —Claro —dice Vernon—,esperará on till it’s finished. She’ll hold on hasta que esté terminada. Esperará hasta till everything’s ready, till her own que esté todo preparado; hasta el momen- good time. And with the roads like to adecuado. Y con los caminos tal y they are now, it won’t take you no como están ahora, no os supondrá mu- 35 time to get her to town.” cho tiempo llevarla hasta el pueblo.

fixing up to: (Am. col.) preparing “It’s fixing up to rain,” pa says. “I —Va a llover —dice padre—. Soy to am a luckless man. I have ever been.” un hombre sin suerte. Siempre lo he He rubs his hands on his knees. “It’s sido —se frota las manos en los panta- 40 that durn doctor, fiable to come at lones—. Es ese maldito médico, viene any time. I couldn’t get word to cuando le apetece. No le pude avisar him tiff so late. If he was to come hasta muy tarde. Si viniera mañana y to-morrow and tell her the time was le dijera que había llegado el momen- nigh, she wouldn’t wait. I know her. to, ella no esperaría. La conozco. Con 45 Wagon or no wagon, she wouldn’t carreta o sin carreta, ella no esperaría. wait. Then she’d be upset, and I Quedaría toda trastornada y yo no que- wouldn’t upset her for the living rría trastornarla por nada del mundo. world. With that family burying- Con esa tumba de la familia en ground in Jefferson and them of her Jefferson y [65] todos los de su sangre 50 blood waiting for her there, she’ll be esperándola allí, se impacientará. Le di impatient. I promised my word me and mi palabra de que yo y los chicos la lle- the boys would get her there quick as varíamos allí todo lo deprisa que an- mules could walk it, so she could rest den las mulas; así descansará tranquila quiet.” He rubs his hands on his knees. —se frota las manos en las rodillas—. 55 “No man ever misliked it more.” Nada me reventaría más.

“If everybody wasn’t burning hell —Si no os estuvieseis quemando la to get her there,” Jewel says in that sangre todos por llevarla allí —dice harsh, savage voice. “With Cash all day Jewel con esa voz áspera, salvaje—. Con 60 long right under the window, Cash todo el santo día justo debajo de la hammering and sawing at that ——” ventana, clavando y serrando esa...

“It was her wish,” pa says. “You —Fue su voluntad —dice padre—. No got no affection nor gentleness for sientes ningún afecto ni dulzura por ella. 65 her. You never had. We would be Nunca lo sentiste. No queremos tener que beholden: indebted beholden to no man,” he says, “me agradecerle nada a nadie —dice—, ni beholden to no man estar en deuda con nadie and her. We have never yet been, yo ni ella. Todavía no lo tenemos que and she will rest quieter for agradecer, y ella descansará tranquila sa- knowing it and that it was her own biéndolo; y que sea uno de su propia san- 70 blood sawed out the boards and gre el que sierre las tablas y clave los cla- drove the nails. She was ever one vos. Siempre fue de las que lo dejan todo to clean up after herself.” limpio antes de irse.

“It means three dollars,” I say. “Do —Eso significa tres dólares —digo 75 you want us to go, or not?” Pa rubs yo—. ¿Quiere que vayamos a no? —pa- his knees. “We’ll be back by dre se frota las rodillas—. Estaremos de to-morrow sundown.” vuelta mañana al ponerse el sol.

8 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

“Well . . .” pa says. He looks out —Bueno —dice padre. Mira hacia el cam- awry-haired: (neologism) with hair over the land, awry-haired, mouthing po; el pelo enmarañado, mascando el taba- untidily ruffled the snuff slowly against his gums. co lentamente con las encías desdentadas.

5 “Come on,” Jewel says. He goes —Vámonos —dice Jewel. Baja los down the steps. Vernon spits neatly escalones. Vernon escupe limpiamente into the dust. en el polvo.

“By sundown, now,” pa says. “I —Hasta que se ponga el sol, entonces —dice 10 would not keep her waiting.” padre—. No quiero que tenga que esperar.

Jewel glances back, then he goes Jewel echa un vistazo atrás, luego ro- on around the house. I enter the hall, dea la casa. Yo entro en el zaguán, oyen- hearing the voices before I reach the do las voces antes de alcanzar la puerta. 15 door. Tilting a little down the hill, as Ladeándose un poco cerro abajo, como our house does, a breeze draws hace nuestra casa, una brisa sopla todo through the hall all the time, el tiempo en el zaguán arriba. Una plu- upslanting. A feather dropped near ma que cayera cerca de la puerta de de- the front door will rise and brush lante se levantaría y rozaría el techo, os- 20 along the ceiling, slanting backward, cilando hacia el fondo, hasta alcanzar la until it reaches the downturning corriente que da vueltas alrededor de la

current at the back door: so with puerta de atrás: lo mismo las voces. Cora (2) voices. As you enter the hall, they Cuando entras en el zaguán, suenan como sound as though they were speaking si estuvieran hablando en el aire por en- 25 out of the air about your head. cima de tu cabeza. [66] This section consists of Cora’s observations as Darl and Jewel 6 prepare to leave the farm, her self- congratulatory thoughts and, with CORA (2) CORA a sudden alteration in the time- scale, some recollections of a time 30 IT was the sweetest thing I ever FUE la cosa más bonita que he vis- after Addie has died. saw. It was like he knew he would to jamás. Fue como si él supiera que never see her again, that Anse no la volvería a ver nunca; que Anse Bundren was driving him from his Bundren le estaba alejando del lecho mother’s death-bed, never to see her mortuorio de su madre y nunca la vol- 35 in this world again. I always said Darl vería a ver en este mundo. Siempre dije was different from those others. I que Darl era distinto a los demás. Siem- always said he was the only one of pre dije que era el único de ellos que them that had his mother’s nature, had tenía el carácter de su madre, que sentía COMMENTARY: This section has three main features. Firstly, it any natural affection. Not that Jewel, X afecto ____ por ella. No ese Jewel, por underlines the disparity between 40 the one she laboured so to bear and quien tanto padeció para traerlo al mun- appearance and reality; secondly, tantrum n. an outburst of bad temper or petulance coddled and petted so and him do y consintió y mimó tanto y él siem- it gives the reader an insight into (threw a tantrum). rabietas, pataletas, berrinche flinging into tantrums or sulking pre cogiendo rabietas o enfurruñándose, Cora’s self-satisfied ‘Christian’ spells, inventing devilment to devil inventando diabluras para character and, thirdly, it abandons frailed: (Am. English) punished her till I would have frailed him time endemoniarla; yo le habría sacudido the normal chronological ordering of events. 45 and time. Not him to come and tell una y otra vez. No será él quien venga The first feature is particularly her good-bye. Not him to miss a a decirle adiós. No será él quien des- obvious in relation to Darl. In the chance to make that extra three perdicie la ocasión de ganar tres dóla- immediately preceding section, dollars at the price of his mother’s res de más por darle un beso de adiós Darl (3), he tried to force Jewel good-bye kiss. A Bundren through a su madre. Un Bundren de cabo a to leave the farm. Yet Cora 50 and through, loving nobody, caring rabo; a nadie quiere, de nada se pre- chooses to believe that it is Anse for nothing except how to get ocupa a no ser de cómo conseguir algo and Jewel who are driving Darl away from his dying mother. The something with the least amount of con la menor cantidad de trabajo posi- second aspect, Cora’s smugness, work. Mr. Tull says Darl asked them ble. Mr. Tull dice que Darl les pidió que (complacency, suficiencia) is to wait. He said Darl almost begged esperaran. Dijo que Darl casi les supli- apparent in both what she says 55 them on his knees not to force him to có de rodillas que no le obligasen a and what she thinks. She is leave her in her condition. But apartarse de ella en tal estado. Pero nada convinced that her code of nothing would do but Anse and Jewel podría impedir que Anse y Jewel deja- conduct is the right one and she judges people according to how must make that three dollars. Nobody ran de ganar esos tres dólares. Nadie que far their conduct departs from her that knows Anse could have expected conozca a Anse esperaría otra cosa, pero standard. At the same time, she 60 different, but to think of that boy, that pensar que ese chico, Jewel, vende to- is convinced that she is not smug Jewel, selling all those years of dos esos años de abnegación y de la about her goodness ‘not that I self-denial and down-right más completa predilección (no me en- deserve any credit for it’. On the partiality—they couldn’t me: Mr. Tull gañan: Mr. Tull dice que a Mrs. basis of her standards, Cora disapproves of the Bundrens, says Mrs. Bundren liked Jewel the Bundren el que menos le gustaba de to- thinking it wrong that they should 65 least of all, but I knew better. I knew dos era Jewel, pero yo estoy mejor entera- refuse to bury Addie with the partial Los adjetivos partial y parcial comparten she was partial to him, to the same da. Sé que sentía debilidad por él, que veía other members of the family at la idea de incompleto y, en sentido ético, in- justo, prejuiciado, pero partial se usa además quality in him that let her put up with en él la misma cualidad que le permitía so- New Hope. According to Cora, para aficionado, affectionate, fond, kind, Anse Bundren when Mr. Tull said she portar a Anse Bundren cuando Mr. Tull dijo Addie’s body is being taken to attached. ought to poisoned him—for three que ella le debería envenenar), por tres Jefferson not because Addie wishes to be buried there but 70 dollars, denying his dying mother the dólares, negándole a su madre moribun- because the family want to get rid good-bye kiss. da el beso de adiós. of her. Cora’s reliance on arbitrary standards when assessing other Why, for the last three weeks I Porque durante las tres últimas sema- people does tend to lead her to have been coming over every time I nas he estado viniendo siempre que po- misinterpret their motives and their characters. 75 could, coming sometimes when I día, a veces viniendo cuando no debía, However, not all of her shouldn’t have, neglecting my own descuidando a mi propia familia y mis analyses of the Bundrens’ family and duties so that somebody obligaciones para que estuviera alguien situation are wrong; Faulkner would be with her in her last moments con ella en sus últimos momentos y así leaves the reader to separate the correct from the incorrect

9 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

and she would not have to face the no tuviera que encarar lo Desconocido analysis, a process which forces the Great Unknown: a euphemism Great Unknown without one familiar sin una cara familiar que le diera valor. the reader to concentrate on the for what lies beyond death face to give her courage. Not that I Y no es que yo merezca que se me pre- situation of the characters and so encourages him to have a deeper deserve credit for it: I will expect the mie por ello: espero que hagan lo mismo understanding of the Bundrens. 5 same for myself. But think God it will [67] conmigo. Pero gracias a Dios ten- The third aspect of this section be the faces of my loved kin, my dré cerca las caras de los que quiero, los is the abandonment of the linear blood and flesh, for in my husband de mi sangre y mi carne, pues gracias a measure of time so that Cora is and children I have been more blessed mi marido y mis hijos he sido más feliz apparently sitting with the still li- than most, trials though they have que la mayoría, aunque a veces haya having Addie yet can, in her thoughts, remember a time after 10 been at times. bido problemas. Addie has died. In a situation where memory, not strict She lived, a lonely woman, Addie vivía, era una mujer solitaria, chronology, rules, the character lonely with her pride, trying to a solas con su orgullo, tratando de hacer remembering a past event relives make folks believe different, hiding que la gente creyera otra cosa, ocultando it as though it were happening in the present. So, when Cora thinks 15 the fact that they just suffered her, el hecho de que los suyos se limitaban a of her vigil by Addie’s bed, then because she was not cold in the soportarla; porque no se había enfriado she is ‘living’ at that time; when coffin before they were carting her en el ataúd y ya habían recorrido sesenta she thinks of her conversation forty miles away to bury her, y cinco kilómetros para enterrarla, me- with Tull after Addie’s death, then flouting the will of God to do it. nospreciando la voluntad de Dios al ha- she is ‘living’ in that later 20 Refusing to let her lie in the same cerlo. Negándose a dejarla descansar en moment. The order in which the earth with those Bundrens. la misma tierra que esos Bundren. moments appear is dictated not by any considerations of linear time but by the order in which the “But she wanted to go,” Mr. Tull —Pero ella quería ir —dijo Mr. character remembers them. said. “It was her own wish to lie Tull—. Era deseo suyo decansar entre 25 among her own people.” los de su familia.

“Then why didn’t she go alive?” —¿Entonces por qué no se fue en I said. “Not one of them would have vida? —dije yo—. Ninguno de ellos se stopped her, with even that little lo habría impedido, ni siquiera el peque- 30 one almost old enough now to be ño que ya casi es lo bastante mayor como selfish and stone-hearted like the para ser tan egoísta y duro de corazón rest of them.” como los demás.

“It was her own wish,” Mr. Tull —Era deseo suyo —dijo Mr. Tull—. 35 said. “I heard Anse say it was.” Se lo oí decir a Anse_____.

“And you would believe Anse, of —Y tú creerías a Anse, claro —dije course,” I said. “A man like you yo—. Un hombre como te gustaría ser would. Don’t tell me.” a ti. No me digas. 40 “I’d believe him about something he —¿Por qué no iba a creer una cosa de couldn’t expect to make anything off of la que él no espera sacar nada por decir- me by not telling,” Mr. Tull said. la? —dijo Mr. Tull.

45 “Don’t tell me,” I said. “A woman’s —No me digas —le dije—. E1 pues- place is with her husband and children, to de una mujer está al lado de su marido alive or dead. Would you expect me e hijos, viva o muerta. ¿Esperarías que to want to go back to Alabama and yo quisiera volver a Alabama y dejarte a leave you and the girls when my time ti y a las chicas cuando me llegue la hora, 50 comes, that I left of my own will to después de que los dejé por propia vo- cast my lot with yours for better and luntad para vivir contigo en lo bueno y worse, until death and after?” en lo malo, hasta la muerte y después?

“Well, folks are different,” he said. —Bueno, la gente no es igual —dijo él. 55 I should hope so. I have tried to Eso espero. He tratado de vivir recta- live right in the sight of God and man, mente ante Dios y los hombres, para hon- for the honour and comfort of my rar y animar a mi cristiano marido y que- Christian husband and the love and rer y respetar a mis cristianos hijos. De 60 respect of my Christian children. So modo que cuando deje esta vida cons- that when I lay me down in the ciente de mis obligaciones y del pago que consciousness of my duty and reward merezco estaré rodeada de los rostros de I will be surrounded by loving faces, los que me quieren, llevándome como carrying the farewell kiss of each of recompensa el beso de adiós de todos a 65 my loved ones into my reward. Not los que quiero. No como Addie Bundren like Addie Bundren dying alone, que muere sola, escondiendo su orgu- hiding her pride and her broken heart. llo y su corazón destrozado. Conten- Glad to go. Lying there with her head ta de irse. Allí tumbada con la cabeza propped up so she could watch Cash en [68] alto para poder ver a Cash fabri- 70 building the coffin, having to watch cándole el ataúd, obligada a vigilarle para him so he would not skimp on it, like que no haga una chapuza, con esos skimp 1 tr. (often foll. by in) supply (a person etc.) skimp: use too little wood or other meagrely with food, money, etc. 2 tr. use a material as not, with those men not worrying hombres que no se preocupan de nada ex- meagre or insufficient amount of, stint (material, expenses, etc.). 3 intr. be parsimonious about anything except if there was cepto de si tendrán tiempo de ganar otros skimp: use too little wood or other material; econo- mizar; to skimp on fabric/work/food escatimar time to earn another three dollars tres dólares antes de que llueva y el río tela/trabajo/alimento 75 before the rain came and the river got crezca demasiado para poder cruzarlo. Si skimpy meagre; not ample or sufficient, insignificante, insuficiente too high to get across it. Like as not, no hubieran decidido llevar esa última adj. scanty, ligera n. colloq. a small or scanty thing, esp. a skimpy if they hadn’t decided to make that carga, lo mismo hubieran sido capaces garment. ligera de ropas last load, they would have loaded her de haberla cargado en la carreta encima

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into the wagon on a quilt and crossed de una colcha y cruzar el río y luego de- the river first and then stopped and tenerse y darle tiempo a que muriera de give her time to die what Christian muerte tan cristiana como hubieran de- death they would let her. cidido dejarle tener. 5 Except Darl. It was the sweet- Excepto Darl. Fue la cosa más bo- est thing I ever saw. Sometimes I nita que haya visto jamás. A veces pier- lose faith in human nature for a do la fe en la naturaleza humana du- time; I am assailed by doubt. But rante cierto tiempo; me asalta la duda. 10 always the Lord restores my faith Pero el Señor siempre me devuelve la and reveals to me His bounteous fe y me revela su bondadoso amor ha- love for His creatures. Not Jewel, cia sus criaturas. Pero no Jewel, al que the one she had always cherished, ella siempre quiso tanto; él no. Sólo iba not him. He was after that three detrás de esos tres dólares de más. En 15 extra dollars. It was Darl, the one cambio tuvo que ser Darl ése del que that folks say is queer, lazy, la gente dice que es raro, perezoso, que potter 1 v. (US putter) 1 intr. a (often foll. by about, around) work or occupy oneself in a desultory pottering about the place no better pierde el tiempo por ahí igual que (unmethodically) but pleasant manner (likes than Anse, with Cash a good carpen- Anse, al contrario de Cash, un buen pottering about in the garden). b (often foll. by at, in) dabble (chapotear) in a subject or occupation. ter and always more building than he carpintero y siempre con más trabajo 2 intr. go slowly, dawdle, loiter (pottered up to the pub). 3 tr. (foll. by away) fritter (waste) away (one’s 20 can get around to, and Jewel always del que puede, y Jewe1 que siempre time etc.). fritter : waste, dissipate, (desperdiciar, malgastar) waste (money, time, doing something that made him some hace cosas que le proporcionen dine- energy, etc.) triflingly, indiscriminately, or on divided aims money or got him talked about, and that ro o da que hablar, y esa chica medio desultory adj.1 going constantly from one subject to another, esp. in a half- near-naked girl always standing over desnuda que siempre anda encima de hearted way. 2 disconnected; unmethodical; superficial. Inconstante, intermitente,inconexo, irregular, poco metódico, intemitente, variable, vo- Addie with a fan so that every time a Addie con un abanico de modo que luble, inconstante, erratic, insconstant, irrelevant, tedious, pointless, boring, diufused 25 body tried to talk to her and cheer her cada vez que alguien trata de hablar up, would answer for her right quick, con ella y animarla, contesta en su lu- like she was trying to keep anybody gar a toda prisa, como si tratara de from coming near her at all. impedir que se le acerque nadie.

30 It was Darl. He come to the door Tuvo que ser Darl. Vino hasta la puer- and stood there, looking at his dying ta y se quedó allí, mirando a su madre mother. He just looked at her, and I moribunda. Se limitó a mirarla, y yo noté felt the bounteous love of the Lord nuevamente el bondadoso amor del again and His mercy. I saw that with Señor y su misericordia. Vi que 35 Jewel she had just been pretending, [con] Jewel sólo aparentaba, pero but that it was between her and Darl que lo que había entre ella y Darl that the understanding and the true era comprensión y auténtico amor. love was. He just looked at her, not Se limitó a mirarla, ni siquiera se even coming in where she could see acercó adonde ella le pudiera ver 40 him and get upset, knowing that Anse y sobresaltarse, sabiendo que was driving him away and he would Anse le iba a llevar lejos y nunca never see her again. He said nothing, la volvería a ver. No dijo nada, se just looking at her. limitó a mirarla.

45 “What you want, Darl?” Dewey —¿Qué quieres, Darl? —dijo Dewey Dell said, not stopping the fan, Dell, sin dejar de abanicar, hablando speaking up quick, keeping even muy deprisa, apartándole incluso a él. him from her. He didn’t answer. He El no contestó. Se limitó a estar allí de just stood and looked at his dying pie y mirar a su madre moribunda, con 50 mother, his heart too full for el corazón demasiado abrumado para Dewey Dell (1) words. palabras. [69] This section begins with Dewey Dell recalling the day on 7 which she was picking cotton DEWEY DELL (1) DEWEY DELL with someone called Lafe and 55 when she allowed him to make picked down the row: picked cotton THE first time me and Lafe La primera vez que yo y Lafe reco- love to her. She believes that it from a row of cotton plants picked on down the row. Pa gíamos algodón surco abajo. Padre no was not her responsibility, dassent: (Am. col.) dare not because she had decided to make dassent sweat because he will catch quiere sudar porque se pondrá malo y love only if her sack was full his death from the sickness so everybody morirá así que todos nos vienen a ayu- when they reached the end of the 60 that comes to help us. And Jewel don’t dar. Y a Jewel no le importa nada ni le row. She then begins to think of care about anything he is not kin to us importamos nosotros sus parientes, no Darl, who has not said anything care-kin: (neologism) not related to in caring, not care-kin. And Cash le importa su familia. Y a Cash le gusta to her but who, she senses, knows the rest of the family in feeling like sawing the long hot sad yellow serrar los días largos y cálidos y tristes y what she has done. Darl himself then enters the sick-room. days up into planks and nailing them amarillos y convertirlos en tablas y cla- 65 to something. And pa thinks because varlos a algo. Y padre cree que los veci- neighbours will always treat one nos siempre se portarán unos con otros another that way because he has del mismo modo porque siempre ha es- always been too busy letting tado demasiado ocupado dejando que los neighbours do for him to find out. vecinos trabajen por él para averiguarlo. COMMENTARY: By this stage in the novel, the reader is 70 And I did not think that Darl would, Y creí que Darl tampoco se enteraría, beginning to see certain events that sits at the supper table with his sentado a la mesa con la mirada perdida and observations recurring in eyes gone further than the food and más allá de la cena y la lámpara, llena sections belonging to different the lamp, full of the land dug out of del campo que se saca del cráneo y con characters. This is natural his skull and the holes filled with las órbitas de los ojos llenas de lejanía enough, for the world of the Bundren family is a small one and 75 distance beyond the land. de más allá del campo. different people are liable to record and reflect on the same We picked on down the row, the Recogíamos algodón surco abajo, los things. In these unspoken woods getting closer and closer and árboles y la sombra secreta acercándose thoughts of Dewey Dell’s we see that she believes her father’s story

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the secret shade, picking on into the cada vez más; recogíamos copos hacia la that if he sweats he will die. The secret shade with my sack and Lafe’s sombra secreta en mi saco y en el saco idea has already been mentioned sack. Because I said will I or won’t I de Lafe. Porque ¿lo haré o no lo haré?, by Darl, who does not believe the story. when the sack was half-full because dije cuando el saco estaba medio lleno, Dewey Dell’s sexual encounter 5 I said if the sack is full when we get porque si el saco está lleno, dije, cuando with Lafe takes place against a to the woods it won’t be me. I said if lleguemos a los árboles no será por mi background of brothers and a it don’t mean for me to do it the sack culpa. No dependerá de mí, dije, si no lo father who seem to be wholly will not be full and I will turn up the hago sino de si el saco no está lleno y preoccupied with their own next row but if the sack is full, I tengo que dar la vuelta y coger el surco affairs. Jewel is seen here, as elsewhere, as remote from the 10 cannot help it. It will be that I had to siguiente pero si el saco está lleno, no lo family, Cash as only being do it all the time and I cannot help it. podré evitar. Será que lo tenía que hacer concerned with sawing, Anse And we picked on toward the secret todo el tiempo y no lo podía evitar. Y with avoiding work and Darl with shade and our eyes would drown recogíamos algodón hacia la sombra se- inscrutable thoughts. Yet, after together touching on his hands and creta y nuestros ojos se hundían juntos she has had intercourse, Dewey Dell realises that Darl knows what 15 my hands and I didn’t say anything. I al tocarse sus manos y mis manos y yo she has done, ‘he said he knew said “What are you doing?” and he sin decir nada. Dije: «¿Qué estás hacien- without the words like he told me said “I am picking into your sack.” do?» —y él dijo: « Recogiendo en tu that ma is going to die without the And so it was full when we came to saco.» Y así éste estaba lleno cuando lle- words’. This unspoken the end of the row and I could not help gamos al final del surco y no lo pude evi- communication between Dewey 20 it. tar. Pell and Darl may be no more than a figment of Dewey Dell’s imagination, but it is equally And so it was because I could not Y así fue porque no lo pude evitar. possible that in this close and help it. It was then, and then I saw Fue entonces, y entonces vi a Darl y closed family circle Darl would Darl and he knew. He said he knew lo sabía. Dijo sin decir palabra que be able to sense that his sister had 25 without the words like he told me that lo sabía igual que me dijo sin decir a guilty secret and so would know ma is going to die without words, and palabra que madre se moría, y me di without anything being said. I knew he knew because if he had said cuenta de que lo sabía porque si hu- Dewey Dell resents this intrusion into her privacy, so when Darl he knew with the words I would not biera dicho con palabras que lo sabía appears at the door of the have believed that he had been there yo no habría creído que había estado sickroom (the same moment as 30 and saw us. But he said he did know allí y nos vio. Pero dijo que lo sabía recorded in Cora (2) immediately and I said “Are you going to tell pa y yo [70] dije: «¿Vas a contárselo a before) the exchange which takes are you going to kill him?” without padre, lo vas a matar?» —sin decir pa- place is hostile. By putting the words I said it and he said “Why?” labra lo dije y él dijo: «¿Por qué?» together pieces from Darl (3), Cora (2) and Dewey Dell (1) the without the words. And that’s why I —sin decir palabra. Y por eso es por reader begins to see that Darl is 35 can talk to him with knowing with lo que puedo hablar con él que lo sabe taking revenge on his mother, hating because he knows. y al que odio porque lo sabe. insisting that they go to collect the wood so that Addie will have to He stands in the door, looking at her. Está en la puerta, mirándola. die without the presence of Jewel whom she loves and of whom Darl is so jealous. 40 “What you want, Darl?” I say. —¿Qué quieres, Darl? —digo.

“She is going to die,” he says. —Se va a morir —dice él. turkey-buzzard: a bird of prey And old turkey-buzzard Tull Y ese viejo buitre de Tull viene a coming to watch her die but I can verla morir, pero puedo engañarlos a 45 fool them. todos ellos.

“When is she going to die?” I say. —¿Cuándo se va a morir? —digo.

“Before we get back,” he says. —Antes de que volvamos —dice él. 50 “Then why are you taking —¿Entonces por qué te llevas a Jewel?” I say. Jewel? —digo yo.

“I want him to help me load,” he —Quiero que me ayude a cargar — Tull (1) 55 says. dice él. This section consists of Tull’s 8 unspoken thoughts about the Bundrens and his conversations TULL (1) TULL with the people around him as they sit waiting for Anse to deci- 60 ANSE keeps on rubbing his ANSE sigue restregándose las rodillas. de whether or not the wagon knees. His overalls are faded; on one Tiene el mono descolorido; en una rodilla un should be sent to collect wood and knee a serge patch cut out of a pair remiendo de sarga cortado de unos pantalo- so risk Addie’s death occurring in Sunday pants: (Am. English) of Sunday pants, wore ironslick. nes de los domingos, lustroso por el uso. the absence of Darl and Jewel. trousers kept for special When he and his family at last occasions “No man mislikes it more than me,” —No hay hombre al que le reviente mount their wagon to depart, they 65 he says. más que a mí —dice. begin to discuss the possible repercussions of Addie’s death barruntar. 1. Prever, conjeturar o pre- sentir por alguna señal o indicio. “A fellow’s got to guess ahead —Un individuo tiene que barruntar and Tull notices that there is a barrunto 1 indicio, sospecha, noticia, storm brewing. inkling, suspicion, doubt, hope, now and then,” I say. “But, come long las cosas de vez en cuando —digo yo—. desire, indication, conjecture, and short, it won’t be no harm done Pero, pase lo que pase, en ningún caso reason. Asomo, atisbo, augurio. 70 neither way.” será nada malo.

“She’ll want to get started right —Ella querrá ponerse en marcha in- off,” he says. “It’s far enough to mediatamente —dice él—. Jefferson está Jefferson at best.” bastante lejos en el mejor de los casos. 75 “But the roads is good now,” I. say. —Pero ahora los caminos están bien —digo yo. COMMENTARY: The sense It’s fixing to rain to-night, too. H i s Además parece que esta noche va a of time hanging heavily on the folks buries at New-Hope, llover. Además los parientes de Anse es- hands of those who await Addie’s death is as strong here as it was

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too, not three miles away. tán enterrados en New Hope, ni a cinco in Cora (1). Like Cota and Darl, But it’s just like him to kilómetros de distancia. Pero sólo a él se Tull has time to observe in detail marry a woman born a le ocurre casarse con una mujer que ha the world around him. Although many of the details are repeated day’s hand ride away and nacido a un día largo de camino y que from section to section, some 5 have her die on him. encima tenga que morírsele. belong specifically to individual characters. He looks out over the Mira hacia el campo, restregándose Tull’s unspoken observation land, rubbing his knees. las rodillas. that the fish caught by Vardaman “ No man so mislikes it,” —No hay hombre al que le reviente seems to be ‘hiding into the dust like it was ashamed of being dead, 10 he says. tanto —dice. like it was in a hurry to get back hid again’ is a simple one, yet it “They’ll get back in plenty of —Volverán con tiempo de sobra — is also prophetic of what happens time,” I say. “I wouldn’t worry none.” digo—. Yo no me preocuparía nada. in Vardaman’s section. Collectively, the Tull family share a view of the Bundrens, 15 “It means three dollars,” he says. —Es que supone tres dólares —dice él. believing that they are held together by Addie. As they ride “Might be it won’t be no need for —Puede que no necesiten volver a away, the Tulls imagine each of noways: (Am. English) in no way them to rush back, noways,” I say. “I toda prisa, en ningún caso —digo—. Eso the sons seeking a wife to replace hope it.” espero. the lost mother. In a sense, they 20 are right in assuming that Addie “She’s a-going,” he —Se está yendo —dice él—. No pien- is central but, as the book shows, she is central in a far more subtle says. “Her mind is set on it.” sa en otra cosa. and complicated way than any It’s a hard life on women, for a fact. Es dura la vida para las mujeres, por that the Tulls might suspect. Some women. I mind my mammy cierto. Para algunas mujeres. Recuerdo 25 lived to be seventy and more. que mi madre vivió hasta los setenta años Worked every day, rain or shine; y pico. Trabajaba todo el santo día, con never a sick day since her last lluvia o con sol; nunca estuvo enferma chap was born until one day she desde que le nació el último crío hasta kind of looked around her and then que un día hizo que miraba a su alrede- 30 she went and taken that lace-trimmed dor y luego fue y cogió aquel camisón nightgown she had had forty-five adornado con encaje que hacía cuarenta years and never wore out of the chest y cinco años que tenía y nunca había sa- and put it on and laid down on the cado del arca y se lo puso y se metió en bed and pulled the covers up and shut la cama y se tapó con la ropa y cerró los 35 her eyes. “You all will have to look ojos. «Ahora todos tendréis que cuidar out for pa the best you can,” she de papá lo mejor que podáis» —dijo—. said. “I’m tired.” «Estoy cansada.»

Anse rubs his hands on his knees. Anse se restriega las manos en las rodillas. 40 “The Lord giveth,” he says. We can —El Señor nos lo dio —dice. hear Cash a-hammering and sawing Oímos a Cash martillar y serrar beyond the corner. pasada la esquina.

It’s true. Never a truer Es cierto. Nunca se ha dicho nada más 45 breath was ever breathed. cierto. “The Lord giveth,” I say. —El Señor nos lo dio —digo.

That boy comes up the hill. He is Ese chico sube el cerro. nigh: near, nearly carrying a fish nigh long as he is. He Trae un pez casi tan grande 50 slings it to the ground and grunts como él. Lo tira al suelo. “Hah” and spits over his —Aj —gruñe y escupe por encima del shoulder like a man. Durn hombro como un hombre. Condenado, nigh long as he is. casi tan grande como él.

55 “What’s that?” I say. “A hog? —¿Qué es eso? —digo—. ¿Un cerdo? Where’d you get it?” ¿De dónde lo sacaste?

“Down to the bridge,” he says. He —De allá abajo, junto al puente —dice turns it over, the under-side caked over él. Le da la vuelta; la parte de abajo tiene 60 with dust where it is wet, the eye una costra de polvo donde está húmedo; el coated over, humped under the dirt. ojo tapado, hinchado bajo el polvo.

“Are you aiming to leave it laying —¿Es que piensas dejarlo ahí tirado? there?” Anse says. —dice Anse. 65 “I aim to show it to ma,” Vardaman —Voy a enseñárselo a madre —dice says. He looks toward the door. We Vardaman. Mira hacia la puerta. Oímos can hear the talking, coming out on la conversación, viene con la corriente the draught. Cash, too, knocking and de aire. A Cash también, martillando y 70 hammering at the boards. “There’s clavando las tablas—. Ahora tiene com- company in there,” he says. pañía —dice.

“Just my folks,” I say. “They’d —Sólo son mis parientes —digo yo— enjoy to see it, too.” . También les gustará verlo. 75 He says nothing, watching the No dice nada y mira la puerta. Lue- door. Then he looks down at the fish go baja la vista hacia el pez que yace laying in the dust. He turns it over en el polvo. Le da la vuelta con el pie

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with his foot and prods at the y le pincha el globo del ojo con el dedo gouge 1 a a chisel with a concave blade, used in eye-bump with his toe, gouging at it. gordo, barrenándoselo. Anse está mi- carpentry, sculpture, and surgery. b an indentation or groove made with or as with this. Gubia 2 US Anse is looking out over the land. rando hacia el campo. Vardaman mira colloq. a swindle. 1 tr. cut with or as with a gouge. creuser à la gouge Vardaman looks at Anse’s face, then la cara [72] de Anse, luego a la puer- (bois). (escarbar con gubia) 2 tr. a (foll. by out) 5 force out (esp. an eye with the thumb) with or as at the door. He turns, going toward ta. Se vuelve, dirigiéndose hacia la es- with a gouge. b force out the eye of (a person). 3 the corner of the house, when Anse quina de la casa, cuando Anse le lla- tr. US colloq. swindle; extort money from. (US. sl.) refaire, estamper, soutirer, extorquer, se sucrer. calls him without looking around. ma sin mirarle. estafar, swindle “You clean that fish,” Anse says. —Limpia ese pescado —dice Anse. 10 Vardaman stops. Vardaman se para. “Why can’t Dewey Dell clean —¿Es que no lo puede limpiar Dewey it?” he says. Dell? —dice.

15 “You clean that fish,” Anse says. —Límpialo tú —dice Anse.

“Aw, pa,” Vardaman says. —Padre, es que... —dice Vardaman.

“You clean it,” Anse says. He don’t —Que lo limpies —dice Anse. No 20 look around. Vardaman comes back le mira. Vardaman vuelve y coge el and picks up the fish. It slides out of pescado. Se le escurre de entre las his hands, smearing wet dirt on to him, manos, manchádose de barro húmedo, goggle-eyed: (Am. col.) with staring and flops down, dirtying itself again, y cae al suelo, manchándose todavía eyes gap-mouthed, goggle-eyed, hiding X más, la ____ boca, los ojos saltones, y 25 into the dust like it was ashamed se esconde en el polvo como si le aver- of being dead, like it was in a hurry gonzara estar muerto, como si tuviera cusses: (Am. col.) curses to get back hid again. Vardaman prisa en volver a esconderse. Vardaman cusses it. He cusses it like a grown lo insulta. Lo insulta como un hombre man, standing a-straddle of it. Anse hecho y derecho, a caballo encima de 30 don’t look around. Vardaman picks él. Anse no mira. Vardaman lo vuelve it up again. He goes on around the a coger. Se aleja rodeando la casa, toting: (Am. col.) carrying house, toting it in both arms like agarrándole con las dos manos como a an armful of wood, it overlapping una brazada de leña mientras el pescado aso- him on both ends, head and tail. ma por ambos extremos, cabeza y cola. 35 Durn nigh big as he is. Maldito, casi tan grande como él.

Anse’s wrists dangle out of his Las muñecas de Anse le asoman por sleeves: I never see him with a shirt las mangas. En toda mi vida nunca le he on that looked like it was his in all visto con una camisa que pareciera suya. 40 my life. They all looked like Jewel Todas parecen como si Jewel le hubiera might have give him his old ones. Not dado las suyas viejas. No son de Jewel, Jewel, though. He’s long-armed, even con todo. Es largo de brazos, como si spindling: (Am. English) long and if he is spindling. Except for the lack estuviera dando un estirón. Y no es- thin, like a spindle of sweat. You could tell they ain’t tán sudadas. Puedes asegurar que no 45 been nobody else’s but Anse’s that way han sido de nadie más que de Anse without no mistake. His eyes look like sin equivocarte. Sus ojos parecen dos pieces of burnt-out cinder fixed in his carbones quemados y clavados en su face, looking out over the land. cara, y miran hacia el campo.

50 When the shadow touches the Cuando la sombra alcanza los escalones dice: steps he says “It’s five o’clock.” —Son las cinco.

Just as I get up Cora comes En cuanto me levanto Cora sale a la to the door and says it’s time to puerta y dice que es hora de ponerse en 55 get on. Anse reaches for his marcha. Anse alcanza sus zapatos. shoes. “Now, Mr. Bundren,” Cora —Oiga, Mr. Bundren —dice Cora—, says, “don’t you get up now.” He no se levante ahora. puts his shoes on, stomping into them, Se pone los zapatos, haciendo fuerza, like he does everything, like he is como lo hace todo, igual que si todo el 60 hoping all the time he really can’t do tiempo pensara que no lo iba a poder ha- it and can quit trying to. When we go cer y tendrá que dejar de intentarlo. up the hall we can hear them clumping Cuando llegamos al zaguán les oímos on the floor like they was iron shoes. andar pesadamente por el suelo como si He comes toward the door where she fueran unos zapatos de hierro. Va hacia 65 is, blinking his eyes, kind of looking la puerta [73] donde está ella, guiñando ahead of hisself before he sees, like los ojos, como adivinando lo que va a ver he is hoping to find her setting up, in antes de verlo, igual que si esperara en- a chair maybe or maybe sweeping, and contrársela levantada, en una silla, tal vez looks into the door in that surprised barriendo, y mira adentro de ese modo 70 way like he looks in and finds her still asombrado en que suele hacerlo y se la in bed every time and Dewey Dell still encuentra todavía en cama y Dewey Dell a-fanning her with the fan. He stands todavía abanicándola con el abanico. Se don’t aim to: (Am. English) do not there, like he don’t aim to move queda allí como si no tuviera intención intend to again nor nothing else. de volverse a mover ni de nada. 75 “Well, I reckon we better —Bueno, para mí que será mejor que get on,” Cora says. “I got nos vayamos —dice Cora—. Tengo que to feed the chickens.” It’s echarles de comer a las gallinas.

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fixing to rain, too. Clouds like Va a llover, además. Nubes como that don’t lie, and the cotton ésas no engañan, y el algodón ha- making every day the Lord sends. ciéndose día a día como Dios man- That’ll be something else for him. da. Otra cosa que le dará que hacer. 5 Cash is still trimming at the Cash todavía ajusta los tablones. boards. “If there’s ere a thing we —Si hay algo que podamos hacer — can do,” Cora says. dice Cora.

“Anse’ll let us know,” I say. —Ya nos lo dirá Anse —digo yo. 10 Anse don’t look at us. He looks Anse no nos mira. Pasea la vista a su around, blinking, in that surprised alrededor, guiñando los ojos, de ese modo hisself: (Am. col.) himself way, like he had wore hisself down asombrado, como si estuviera destroza- being surprised and was even do por la sorpresa y le asombrara estarlo. 15 surprised at that. If Cash just works Si Cash por lo menos trabajase con ese that careful on my barn. mismo cuidado en mi granero...

“I told Anse it likely won’t be no —Ya le dije a Anse que probablemente need,” I say. “I so hope it.” no sea necesario —digo—. Eso espero. 20 “Her mind is set on it,” he says. “I —Se la ha metido en la cabeza —dice reckon she’s bound to go.” él—. Para mí que está decidida a irse.

“It comes to all of us,” Cora says. —A todos nos llegará la hora —dice Cora—. 25 “Let the Lord comfort you.” Que el Señor le dé resignación.

“About that corn,” I say. I tell —A propósito de ese maíz —digo. him again I will help him out if Le vuelvo a decir que le ayudaré si se he gets into a tight, with her sick encuentra en un apuro, con ella enferma 30 and all. Like most folks around y todo. Como la mayoría de la gente de holp: (Am. col. help here, I done holp him so much por aquí, le he ayudado tantas veces que already I can’t quit now. ahora no puedo dejar de hacerlo.

“I aimed to get to it to-day,” he —Tenía intención de haber ido hoy — 35 says. “Seems like I can’t get my mind dice él—. Parece como si no pudiera pen- on nothing.” sar en nada.

“Maybe she’ll hold out till you are —Puede que ella dure hasta que us- laid by,” I say. ted lo tenga listo —digo yo. 40 “If God wills it,” he says. —Si Dios lo quiere —dice él.

“Let Him comfort you,” Cora says. —Que Él le dé resignación —dice Cora.

45 If Cash just works that Si Cash por lo menos trabajase careful on my barn. He con ese cuidado en mi granero... Le- looks up when we pass. vanta la vista cuando pasamos. [74] “Don’t reckon I’ll get to you —No creo que pueda ocuparme de lo this week,” he says. suyo esta semana —dice. 50 ’taint: Am. col.) it is not “’Tain’t no rush,” I say. —No hay ninguna prisa —digo—. “Whenever you get around to it.” Cuando te venga bien.

We get into the wagon. Cora sets Subimos a la carreta. Cora se pone 55 the cake-box on her lap. It’s fixing to la caja de los bollos en el regazo. Va a rain, sho. llover, seguro.

“I don’t know what he’ll do,” Cora —No sé qué será de él —dice says. “I just don’t know.” Cora—. No lo sé. 60 “Poor Anse,” I say. “She kept him —Pobre Anse —digo yo—. Ella le ha at work for thirty-odd years. I reckon dado trabajo durante más de treinta años. she is tired.” Creo que está cansada.

65 “And I reckon she’ll be behind him —Y yo creo que ella va a seguir de- for thirty years more,” Kate says. “Or trás de él otros treinta años —dice Kate— if it ain’t her, he’ll get another one . O si no sigue, ya se buscará él otra an- before cotton-picking.” tes de la recogida del algodón.

70 “I reckon Cash and Darl can get —Para mí que Cash y Darl podrían married now,” Eula says. casarse ya —dice Eula.

“That poor boy,” Cora says. “The —Ese pobre chico —dice Cora—. Ese tyke, 1 a small child, especially a boy, fry, nestling,child poor little tyke.” pobre granujilla. a young person of either sex; «she writes books 75 for children»; «they’re just kids»; «`tiddler’ is a British term for youngsters» 2 peasant, barbarian, “What about Jewel?” Kate says. —¿Y qué pasa con Jewel? —dice Kate. boor, churl, Goth, tike a crude uncouth ill-bred person lacking culture or refinement 3 a mongrel, perro mestizo, chucho “He can, too,” Eula says. —También podría —dice Lula.

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“Humph,” Kate says. “I reckon he —Bueno —dice Kate—. Creo que will. I reckon so. I reckon there’s lo hará. Eso creo. Creo que hay más tied down: (married) more gals than one around here that de una chica de por aquí a la que no 5 don’t want to see Jewel tied down. le gustaría ver a Jewel amarrado. Bue- Well, they needn’t to worry.” no, no se deben preocupar.

“Why, Kate!” Cora says. The —¡Vamos, Kate! —dice Cora. La ca- rattle hacer sonar como una carraca ; batir o sacudir wagon begins to rattle. “The poor rreta se pone a chirriar—. El pobre con ruido; desatinar, atolondrar, atarantar, aturdir, aturrullar, correr, proferir, articular rápidamente; 10 little tyke,” Cora says. granujilla —dice Cora. (mar.) atar con rebenques. - v. intr. zurri(a)r, ma- traquear, rechinar, sonar, guachapear, zangolotearse, repiquetear; charlatanear, parlo- It’s fixing to rain this night. Yes, Va a llover esta noche. Sí, señor. In- tear; (mec.) ratear, moverse o funcionar con ruido desapacible: to rattle away, parlotear; rodar a sir. A rattling wagon is mighty dry cluso una carreta Birdsell**6 chirría distancia, haciendo ruido; to rattle down (mar.) arreglar los flechastes. weather, for a Birdsell. But that’ll be cuando el tiempo está muy seco. Pero eso s. rechin(ad)o, rechinamiento, zumba, zurrido; sonajero, sonajillas, matraca; carraca; bramadera; 15 cured. It will for a fact. se arreglará. Seguro que sí. cascabel del crótalo; parla, charla; (in the throat), estertor; rattlebrained, rattle-headed, rattle-pated, ligero de cascos, casquivano; voluble, voltario; “She ought to taken them —Podría haberse quedado con los rattlehead, ratttepate o rattleskull rattle cakes after she said she would,” bollos después de decir que los quería — I n. 1 (juguete) sonajero (de serpiente) cascabel (para fiestas) matraca 2 ruido (de tren, carro) traqueteo Kate says. dice Kate. [75] (de cadena, monedas, llaves) repiqueteo 20 II v. tr. 1 (llaves, monedas) hacer sonar 2 familiar desconcertar, poner nervioso : she gets rattled over 9 nothing, se pone nerviosa por nada III vi (tren) traquetear: the train rattled past, el tren ANSE (1) ANSE pasó traqueteando (metal) repiquetear (ventana) vibrar DURN that road. And it fixing to CONDENADO camino. Y va a Anse (1) 25 rain, too. I can stand here and same llover, además, puedo quedarme as see it with second-sight, a-shutting aquí como si viera la lluvia; espesa Anse’s section consists of his down behind them like a wall, por detrás de ellos como una pared, unspoken thoughts and recollections. The first paragraph shutting down betwixt them and my espesa entre ellos y lo que he pro- is a series of curses, as Anse given promise. I do the best I can, metido. Hago lo que puedo, hasta blames the weather, the road and 30 much as I can get my mind on donde me da de sí la cabeza, pero his sons for his situation. The anything, but durn them boys. esos condenados chicos... second, third and fourth paragraphs reveal his unspoken A-laying there, right up to my Ahí está el camino, justo hasta mi and somewhat superstitious feelings about the road. door, where every bad luck that puerta, para que cualquier mal fario de 35 comes and goes is bound to find it. los que van y vienen llegue hasta aquí. I told Addie it wasn’t any luck Le dije a Addie que no daba ninguna bue- living on a road when it come by na suerte vivir junto a un camino; que here, and she said, for the world esté tan cerca. Y ella, como mujer que like a woman, “Get up and move, es, dijo: «Entonces carretera y manta.» COMMENTARY: We have 40 then.” But I told her it wasn’t no Pero lo que yo le decía es que no daba already had several glimpses of luck in it, because the Lord put ninguna buena suerte, porque el Señor Anse and have realised that he is roads for travelling: why He laid hizo los caminos para ir de un sitio a otro; a lazy man who continually shifts them down flat on the earth. When ¿para qué, si no, los iba a poner en la tie- responsibility for his predicament He aims for something to be always rra? Cuando decide que algo esté siem- on to the world around him. This section confirms this impression. 45 a-moving, He makes it long ways, pre moviéndose, lo hace alargado, como His superstitious belief that the like a road or a horse or a wagon, un camino o un caballo o una carreta, road is at the root of all his but when He aims for something to pero cuando decide que algo se esté quie- troubles is both evidence of stay put, He makes it up-and-down to, lo hace que sea de arriba abajo, como Anse’s curious brand of simple- ways, like a tree or a man. And so un árbol o un hombre. Y por eso nunca mindedness and a comic 50 he never aimed for folks to live on le gustó que las personas vivieran junto reflection on the lengths to which a road, because which gets there a un camino, porque, ¿qué es lo prime- he will go to find something to which he can attach blame. He is first, I says, the road or the house? ro?, pregunto yo, ¿el camino o la casa? not at all critical of himself and Did you ever know Him to set a ¿Se sabe que Dios haya puesto alguna vez cannot conceive of the possibility road down by a house? I says. No un camino junto a una casa? pregunto. that he might have had something 55 you never, I says, because it’s Nunca jamás, es lo que yo digo, y con to do with the family’s poverty. always men can’t rest till they gets todo los hombres no descansan hasta que Indeed, he says and obviously the house set where everybody that ponen la casa donde todo el que pase en believes that ‘it ain’t that I am afraid of work; I always fed me passes in a wagon can spit in the carreta pueda escupir en el entrada, man- and mine and kept a roof above doorway, keeping the folks restless teniendo inquietas a las personas y dán- us’. 60 and wanting to get up and go doles ganas de coger y marcharse a otra somewheres else when He aimed parte cuando El quería que los hombres predicament apuro, aprieto, lío, dilema, trance, situación difícil: having been robbed on her trip for them to stay put like a tree or a se quedaran quietos como un árbol o un abroad, she was in a real predicament, como le robaron durante su viaje al extranjero, se stand of corn. Because if He’d a campo de maíz. Pues si hubiera que- encontró en un auténtico aprieto aimed for man to be always rido que el hombre estuviera siem- predicament n. 1 a difficult, unpleasant, or embarrassing situation, quandary, plight. 2 65 a-moving and going somewheres pre moviéndose y yendo de un sitio Philos. a category in (esp. Aristotelian) logic. predicamento prestige, influence, standing, else, wouldn’t He a put him a otro, ¿no lo hubiera hecho alarga- reputation. longways on his belly, like a snake? do por la tripa como una serpiente? It stands to reason He would. Es lógico que sí, si lo hubiera querido.

70 Putting it where every bad luck Puesta donde cualquier mal fario merodeando prowling can find it and come que ande por ahí pueda encontrarla y straight to my door, charging me taxes colarse por mi puerta, y encima los im- on top of it. Making me pay for Cash puestos. Me obligan a pagar porque a having to get them carpenter notions Cash se le ocurriera aprender nociones 75 when if it hadn’t been no road come de carpintería cuando si el camino no there, he wouldn’t a got them; falling llegara hasta ahí, no se le habría ocu- off of churches and lifting no hand in rrido; se cae de las [76] iglesias y no six months and me and Addie slav- da golpe en seis meses y yo y Addie

16 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

ing and a-slaving, when there’s plenty igual que esclavos, cuando hay tanto of sawing on this place he could do if que serrar y él lo podría haber hecho si he’s got to saw. hubiera podido serrar.

5 And Darl, too. Talking me out of Y Darl lo mismo. Dicen que me des- him, durn them. It ain’t that I am prenda de él, condenados. Y no es que me afraid of work; I always have fed me asuste el trabajo; siempre he dado de co- short-hended: reduced the number and mine and kept a roof above us it’s mer a los míos y no les ha faltado techo: of people available to work to an that they would short-hand me just el caso es que querían dejarme sin él, y unacceptably low level tends: (Am. col.) attends 10 because be tends to his own business, sólo porque se ocupa de sus cosas, sólo just because he’s got his eyes full of porque le preocupa la tierra todo el tiem- the land all the time. I says to them, po. Les digo que al principio iba bien, he was all right at first, with his eyes preocupado siempre de la tierra, porque full of the land, because the land laid entonces la tierra se extendía arriba y 15 up-and-down ways then; it wasn’t till abajo; no fue hasta que el camino llegó that ere road come and switched the aquí y cambió la tierra ______land around longways and his eyes X ______y él still full of the land, that they begun seguía preocupándose de ella, cuando to threaten me out of him, trying to empezaron a amenazarme con quitárme- 20 short-hand me with the law. lo por medio de la ley.

Making me pay for it. She was Me lo han hecho pagar. Ella era una hale :drag or draw forcibly. HAUL, PULL 2 : to compel to go well and hale as ere a woman ever mujer sana y fuerte como la que más, free from defect, disease, or infirmity : SOUND; also : retaining exceptional health and vigor synonym see HEALTHY 25 laying down, resting herself in her bada, descansando en su propia cama, own bed, asking naught of none. sin decirle nada a nadie. “Are you sick, Addie?” I said. —¿Estás mala, Addie? —le dije.

“I am not sick,” she said. —No, no estoy mala —dijo ella. 30 “You lay you down and rest you,” —Quédate echada y descansa —dije I said. “I knowed you are not sick. yo—. Sabía que no estabas mala. Que You’re just tired. You lay you down sólo estabas cansada. Quédate echada y and rest. “ descansa. 35 “I am not sick,” she said. “I will —No estoy mala —dijo ella—. Me get up.” voy a levantar.

“Lay still and rest,” I said. “You —Estate quieta y descansa —dije 40 are just tired. You can get up yo—. Sólo estás cansada. Puedes levan- to-morrow.” And she was laying tarte mañana —y allí seguía tumbada; there, well and hale as ere a woman una mujer sana y fuerte como la que más; ever were, except for that road. la culpa es del camino.

45 “I never sent for you,” I —A usted nunca le he mandado lla- said. “I take you to witness I mar —dije yo—. Es usted testigo de que never sent for you.” nunca le he mandado llamar...

“I know you didn’t,” Peabody said. —Ya sé que no —dijo Peabody—. Ni 50 “I bound that. Where is she?” lo dudo. ¿Y ella, dónde está?

“She’s a-laying down,” I said. “She’s —Se ha echado —dije yo—. Sólo está just a little tired, but she’ll——” un poco cansada, pero...

outen: (Am. col.) out of 55 “Get outen here, Anse,” he said. —Salga de aquí, Anse —dijo él—. “Go set on the porch a while.” Vaya a sentarse al porche un momento.

And now I got to pay for it, me Y ahora me lo hacen pagar, a mí que without a tooth in my head, hoping no tengo ni un diente en la boca y espe- 60 to get ahead enough so I could get my raba levantar cabeza lo suficiente para mouth fixed where I could eat God’s que me arreglaran la boca y poder comer victuals: food own victuals as a man should, and her como Dios manda, y era una mujer sana hale :drag or draw forcibly. HAUL, PULL 2 : to compel to go hale and well as ere a woman in the y fuerte como la que más hasta [77] aquel free from defect, disease, or infirmity : SOUND; also : retaining exceptional health and vigor synonym see HEALTHY 65 being put to the need of that three cesitar esos tres dólares. Las tengo que dollars. Got to pay for the way for pagar porque los chicos se tengan que ir them boys to have to go away to earn a ganar por ahí fuera. Y ahora puedo ver it. And now I can see same as second igual que si lo adivinara la lluvia espesa sight the rain shutting down betwixt entre nosotros, apareciendo por ese ca- 70 us, a-coming up that road like a durn mino como un hombre endemoniado, man, like it wasn’t ere a other house como si no hubiera otra casa en todas to rain on in all the living land. estas tierras encima de la que llover.

I have heard men cuss their luck, He oído a hombres renegar de su suer- 75 and right, for they were sinful men. te, y con razón, pues eran pecadores. Pero But I do not say it’s a curse on me, no digo que lo mío sea una maldición, because I have done no wrong to be porque no he hecho nada malo por lo que cussed by. I am not religious, I se me puediera maldecir. No soy religio-

17 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

reckon. But peace is my heart: I know so, lo reconozco. Pero tengo el corazón it is. I have done things but neither en paz: sé que es así. He hecho cosas, better nor worse than them that pero ni peores ni mejores que los que Old Marster: (Am. col.) God pretend otherlike, and I know that Old pretenden otra cosa, y sé que Dios Nues- 5 Marster will cace for me as for ere a tro Señor se ocupará de mí como de un sparrow that falls. But it seems hard gorrión que cae. Pero me parece cruel que that a man in his need could be so un hombre en apuros pueda verse tan flouted by a road. perjudicado por un camino.

10 Vardaman comes around the house, Vardaman viene rodeando la casa con bloody as a hog to his knees, and that las rodillas llenas de sangre como un cer- ere fish chopped up with the axe like do, y como si a ese pez de antes lo hubie- as not, or maybe throwed away for him ra hecho trozos con un hacha, o a lo meet: (Am. col.) eaten to lie about the dogs et it. Well, I jor lo tiró por ahí y mentirá que se lo co- 15 reckon I ain’t no call to expect no more mieron los perros. Bueno, para mí que no man-growed: (Am. col.) fully grown, adult of him than of his man-growed se puede esperar más de él que de sus her- brothers. He comes along, watching manos mayores. Se acerca mirando la the house, quiet, and sits on the steps. casa, callado, y se sienta en los escalones. “Whew,” he says, “I’m pure tired.” —¡Uf —dice—. Estoy muy cansado. 20 “Go wash them hands,” I say. But —Vete a lavarte las manos —le digo. couldn’t no woman strove harder than Pero no hay mujer como Addie para ha- Addie to make them right, man and cer que anden derechos, sean hombres o boy: I’ll say that for her. chicos: lo tengo que confesar. 25 “It was full of blood and guts as a —Estaba lleno de sangre y de tripas hog,” he says. But I just can’t seem como un cerdo —dice él. Pero no tengo to get no heart into anything, with this ánimo para nada, y encima con este here weather sapping me, too. “Pa,” tiempo que me consume—. Padre — 30 he says, “is ma sick some more?” dice—, ¿está madre peor?

“Go wash them hands,” I say. But I —Vete a lavarte las manos —digo yo. just can’t seem to get no heart into it. Pero no tengo ánimo para nada. [78]

35 10 DARL (4) DARL

HE has been to town this week: the HA estado esta semana en la ciudad: Darl (4) back of his neck is trimmed, with a la nuca rapada, con una línea blanca en- This section contains Darl’s 40 white fine between hair and sunburn tre el pelo y la piel quemada por el sol unspoken thoughts as he and like a joint of white bone. He has not como una articulación de hueso blanco. Jewel ride off on the wagon. He once looked back. No ha vuelto la vista ni una vez. notices the way in which the road appears to run between the ears “Jewel,” I say. Back running, —Jewel —digo yo. Corriendo hacia of the mules, ponders briefly on bob 1 : to strike with a quick light blow 2 : to move the mystery of birth and death, up and down in a short quick movement 3 : to polish with a bob 5 bobsled, bob thinks of Dewey Dell and the ride a bobsled; «The boys bobbed down the hill mule ears, the road vanishes beneath the orejas de las mulas, el camino desaparece unspoken secret they share and screaming with pleasure» menearse, agitarse, bazucar= menear o revolver una cosa líquida mo- wagon as though it were a ribbon and the debajo de la carreta como si fuera una cinta then returns to the present. He viendo la vasija en que está front axle were a spool. “Do you know y el eje delantero una devanadera—. Jewel, registers that the sun is setting and 1 a : to move up and down briefly or repeatedly b : to emerge, arise, or she is going to die, Jewel?” ¿sabes que se va a morir? then imagines what is happening appear suddenly or unexpectedly 2 : to nod or curtsy briefly 3 : 50 to try to seize a suspended or floating object with the teeth It takes two people to make you, Se necesitan dos personas para hacer- bob I verbo intransitivo 1 balancearse en el agua: and one people to die. That’s how the te, y una persona para morir. Así es como the boats bobbed up and down, los barcos se balanceaban en el agua 2 cortarse el pelo por world is going to end. el mundo se encamina a su fin. encima de los hombros pero cubriendo la nuca II nombre 1 movimiento sobre las olas 2 pelo corto 3 Bob, sobrenombre de Robert 4 GB chelín 55 I said to Dewey Dell: “You want Le dije a Dewey Dell: her to die so you can get to town: is —Quieres que se muera para así that it?” She wouldn’t say what we poder irte a la ciudad, ¿es eso? —Ella both knew. “The reason you will not no diría lo que los dos sabemos—. El COMMENTARY: By this say it is, when you say it, even to motivo por el que no lo dices es que si lo time, the reader is aware that Darl 60 yourself, you will know it is true: is dices, aunque sea a ti misma, comprenderás is likely to record his environment that it? But you know it is true now. I que es verdad, ¿Es eso? Pero sabes que es in minute detail and also that he can almost tell you the day when you cierto. Casi puedo decirte desde qué día is guilty of putting pressure on knew it is true. Why won’t you say sabes que es cierto. ¿Por qué no te lo other members of the family. When he says to Jewel ‘do you it, even to yourself?” She will not say quieres decir, ni a ti misma? —No lo know she is going to die’, Darl is 65 it. She just keeps on saying Are you quiere decir. No deja de decir: ¿Se lo vas trying to hurt Jewel, to make him going to tell pa? Are you going to kill a contar a padre? ¿Es que lo quieres ma- aware that he has left his dying him? “You cannot believe it is true tar?—. No puedes creer que sea mother behind and that he is not because you cannot believe that cierto porque no puedes creer que likely to see her alive again. Dewey Dell, Dewey Dell Bundren, Dewey Dell, Dewey Dell Bundren, pue- Darl’s reflection on the mystery of birth and death brings Dewey 70 could have such bad luck: is that it?” da tener tan mala suerte, ¿es eso? Dell to mind, for to him she is equated with birth. His statement, The sun, an hour above the El sol, que lleva una hora sobre el ‘it takes two people to make you horizon, is poised like a bloody egg horizonte, está suspendido como un hue- and one people to die’ is strange upon a crest of thunderheads; the light vo ensangrentado encima de una cresta but accurate. Darl’s use of the word ‘people’ instead of person 75 has turned copper: in the eye de cúmulos; la luz se ha vuelto cobre: might be seen as an early portentous, in the nose sulphurous, amenazadora para el ojo, sulfurosa para indication that at the end of the smelling of lightning. When Peabody la nariz, huele a relámpago. Cuando lle- book he effectively splits into comes, they will have to use the rope. gue Peabody, tendrán que usar la soga. two separate people. His reactions to the environment are,

18 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas pussel-gutted: (Am. col.) fat, He has pussel-gutted himself eating Se le ha inflado la tripa de tanto comer as usual, lyrical. The sun is overfed cold greens. With the rope they will verdura. Con la soga tirarán de él sende- likened to ‘a bloody egg upon the haul him up the path, baloon-like up ro arriba; ascenderá como un globo por crest of thunderheads’, a phrase which clearly belongs to the the sulphurous air. el aire sulfuroso. unverbalised as opposed to the 5 unspoken level, the words being “Jewel,” I say, “do you know that —Jewel —digo—, ¿sabes que Addie too long and erudite to belong to Addie Bundren is going to die? Addie Bundren se va a morir? ¿Que Addie Darl’s own vocabulary. Bundren is going to die?” Bundren se está muriendo? [79]

10 11 PEABODY (1) PEABODY

WHEN Anse finally sent for CUANDO Anse por fin mandó por mí Peabody (1) me of his own accord, I said por su propia voluntad yo me dije: «Al has wore: (Am. col.) has worn, has This section contains the 15 “He has wore her out at last.” And I fin ha terminado con ella.» Y dije: «Ya exhausted unspoken thoughts of Doctor said a damn good thing and at first I era hora», y al principio no me apetecía Peabody. He seems to know the would not go because there might be ir porque a lo mejor era algo que yo po- family well and takes a tolerant, something I could do and I would dría hacer y, Dios mío, tal vez podría re- even a faintly amused, view of have to haul her back, by God. I cuperarla. Pensé que a lo mejor en el cielo their idiosyncrasies. When he 20 thought maybe they have the same tienen el mismo tipo de ética idiota que reaches Addie’s bedside, Peabody fool ethics: (Am. English) foolish sort of fool ethics in heaven they en la Facultad de Medicina y que a lo sees at once that she has given up moral codes all desire to live. Nevertheless, he have in the Medical College and that mejor era Vernon Tull el que mandaba demands why Anse did not send it was maybe Vernon Tull sending for otra vez por mí para que llegara en el for him sooner. He receives no me again, getting me there in the nick momento justo, pues Vernon siempre satisfactory answer and at that 25 of time, as Vernon always does hace esas cosas, mira más por el dinero moment Dewey Dell summons things, getting the most for Anse’s de Anse que por el suyo. Pero cuando el them both back to the sickroom. money like he does for his own. But día avanzó lo suficiente para interpretar Peabody feel that Addie does not want him there, and, reflecting on when it got far enough into the day las señales que indicaban el tiempo que how strange it is that women for me to read weather sign I knew iba a hacer, comprendí que sólo me po- attach themselves to worthless 30 it couldn’t have been anybody but dría haber llamado Anse. Comprendí que men, he prepares to leave. Anse that sent. I knew that nobody sólo un hombre sin suerte podría necesi- Suddenly, Addie speaks for the but a luckless man could ever need a tar un médico cuando estaba a punto de first time, calling on Cash. doctor in the face of a cyclone. And empezar un ciclón. Y comprendí que si a I knew that if it had finally occurred Anse al fin se le había ocurrido que ne- 35 to Anse himself that he needed one, cesitaba un médico es que ya era dema- it was already too late. siado tarde.

When I reach the spring and get Cuando llego al manantial y me apeo down and hitch the team, the sun has y ato las caballerías, el sol se había es- COMMENTARY: Peabody’s section is very useful to the 40 gone down behind a bank of black condido detrás de un banco de nubes ne- reader, for it lets him see the cloud like a top-heavy mountain gras como un macizo de montañas más Bundrens and the background range, like a load of cinders dumped pesadas por arriba, como una carga de through the eye of an intelligent, over there, and there is no wind. I ceniza allí vertida; y no hay viento. humorous outsider, someone who could hear Cash sawing for a mile Oigo serrar a Cash más de un kilóme- is not bound by religious beliefs like the Tulls. He confirms the 45 before I got there. Anse is standing at tro antes de llegar. Anse está de pie en notion that Anse is unfortunate, the top of the bluff above the path. lo alto del farallón, encima del sendero. ‘nobody but a luckless man could ever need a doctor in the face of “Where’s the horse?” I say. —¿Dónde está el caballo? —digo. a cyclone’. Peabody also confirms what the reader has by now come 50 “Jewel’s taken and gone,” he says. —Jewel lo pilló y se fue —dice—. to suspect, namely that being ketch hit: : (Am. col.) catch it “Can’t nobody else ketch hit. You’ll Nadie más lo puede coger. Para mí que married to Anse is not a desirable state for any woman. His have to walk up, I reckon.” va a tener usted que subir andando. reluctance (renuencia) to go out to the farm if there is any chance “Me, walk up, weighing two —¿Andando yo con mis ciento y pico that he might save Addie shows 55 hundred and twenty-five pounds?” I kilos de peso? —digo—. ¿Subir andando that he feels for Addie’s suffering. say. “Walk up that durn wall?” He a ese maldito despeñadero? —Allí sigue Later in the section, in the lines stands there beside a tree. Too bad the de pie junto a un árbol. Una desgracia que from ‘she has been dead these ten days’ to ‘a tenement or a town’, Lord made the mistake of giving trees el Señor cometiera el error de dar raíces a Peabody puts her death into a roots and giving the Anse Bundrens He los árboles y, en cambio, dar a los Anse more general perspective. 60 makes feet and legs. If He’d just Bundren que hizo pies y piernas. Si hubie- The idea that Addie is finding swapped them, there wouldn’t ever be ra hecho al revés, nunca habría que pre- it difficult to make the transition a worry about this country being ocuparse de que algún día esta comarca from the state of being alive to deforested some day. Or any other country. quedase deforestada. O cualquier otra comar- that of being dead ties in with Peabody’s notion that life with “What do you aim for me to do?” I say. ca—. ¿Qué intenta que haga? —digo—. Anse must have been a form of 65 “Stay here and get blowed clean out ¿Que me quede aquí y que el viento living death for her. Peabody also of the county when that cloud me borre de la faz de tierra cuando rejects the idea that death is either breaks?” Even with the horse it would estalle esa nube? —Incluso con el ca- an end or a beginning, preferring take me fifteen minutes to ride up ballo me llevaría un cuarto de hora to see it simply as the movement across the pasture to the top of the subir por el prado hasta lo alto del of one individual away from his habitual place. The rest of the 70 ridge and reach the house. The path risco y llegar a la casa. El sendero world, the ‘tenement or the town’, looks like a crooked limb blown parece una rama retorcida lanzada continues to function and exist, against the bluff. Anse has not been contra el despeñadero. Anse hace doce as does the dead individual, albeit in town in twelve years. And how his años que no va a la ciudad. ¿Y cómo se in a different place. This notion mother ever got up there to bear him, las arreglaría su madre para subir allí a is prophetic; after Addie’s death we see the continuing evidence 75 he being his mother’s son. parirle, pues es hijo de su madre? that she has been in the gittin’ (Am. col.) getting ‘tenement’ of the family in the “Vardaman’s gittin’ the rope,” he says. —Vardaman traerá la cuerda —dice. marks she has left on her sons. Peabody’s section is full of reflections of equal profundity,

19 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

After a while Vardaman appears Al cabo de un rato aparece Vardaman though of less seriousness and it with the ploughline. He gives the end con la cuerda del arado. Le da un extre- provides a useful, ironical view of it to Anse and comes down the mo a Anse y baja por el sendero, of the Bundrens. The Doctor is not simply ironic, however, he path, uncoiling it. desenrrollándola. also evinces a large measure of 5 human sympathy, feeling concern I done already: (Am. col.) I have “You hold it tight,” I say. “I done —Agárrela fuerte —digo—. Ya for the silent Vardaman and for already already wrote this visit on to my he anotado esta visita en el libro, the dying Addie. In the end, books, so I’m going to charge you just conque se la tengo que cobrar, Peabody makes a remark which the same, whether I get there or not.” tanto si subo como si no. allows the reader to see the Bundrens in a new context, ‘That 10 durn little tyke . . . and brooding kin: (Am. col.) can “I got hit,” Anse says. “You kin —Ya agarro bien —dice Anse—. Pue- image.’ Such things as the come on up.” de usted subir. repetition of the sound of sawing, the resentment of Jewel by Darl, I’ll be damned if I can see why Que el demonio me lleve si entien- even the slow indolence of Anse, are seen here against a back- 15 I don’t quit. A man seventy years do por qué no lo dejo. Que a un hom- ground of a country where things old, weighing two hundred and bre de setenta años, que pesa ciento y do move slowly, where everything odd pounds, being hauled up and pico kilos, le suban y le bajen por una seems to continue for long down a damn mountain on a rope. condenada montaña con una cuerda... periods. Isolated on the bluff, the I reckon it’s because I must reach Supongo que es porque debo llegar a Bundrens’ world would appear, in 20 the fifty-thousand dollar mark of la cifra de cincuenta mil dólares de the light of this remark by dead accounts on my books before cuentas sin cobrar antes de dejarlo. — Peabody, to be a little world which mirrors the larger world I can quit. “What the hell does your ¿Cómo se le ocurre ponerse mala a tu beyond in the sense that it is a wife mean,” I say, “taking sick on mujer —digo—, ponerse mala en la place of slow, almost impercepti- top of a durn mountain?” cima de una maldita montaña? ble change. 25 “I’m right sorry,” he says. He let —Lo siento mucho —dice él. Ha the rope go, just dropped it, and he soltado la cuerda, la ha dejado caer, has turned toward the house. There y se ha vuelto hacia la casa. Aquí is a little daylight up here still, of the arriba todavía hay un poco de luz, 30 colour of sulphur matches. The X del color del azufre_____. Los tablo- boards look like strips of sulphur. nes parecen tiras de azufre. Cash no Cash does not look back. Vernon Tull mira hacia atrás. Vernon Tull dice says he brings each board up to the que lleva cada tabla a la ventana window for her to see it and say it is para que las vea ella y diga si están 35 all right. The boy overtakes us. Anse bien. El chico nos adelantaba. Anse looks back at him. “Where’s the se vuelve a mirarle—. ¿Dónde está rope?” he says. la cuerda? —dice.

“It’s where you left it,” I say. “But —Donde usted la dejó —digo—. Pero no 40 never you mind that rope. I got to get se preocupe por esa cuerda. Tendré que vol- back down that bluff. I don’t aim for ver a bajar por esos riscos. No tengo inten- that storm to catch me up here. I’d ción de que esa tormenta me coja aqui arri- blow too durn far once I got started.” ba. Me iba a hacer volar demasiado lejos.

45 The girl is standing by the bed, La chica está de pie junto a la fanning her. When we enter she turns cama, abanicándola. Cuando entra- her head and looks at us. She has been mos vuelve la cabeza y nos mira. Lle- dead these ten days. I suppose it’s va diez días como muerta. Supongo que having been a part of Anse for so long como ha sido una parte de Anse duran- 50 that she cannot even make that te tanto tiempo ni siquiera puede hacer change, if change it be. I can ese [81] cambio, si eso es un cambio. remember how when I was young I Recuerdo que cuando yo era joven believed death to be a phenomenon creía que la muerte era un fenómeno of the body; now I know it to be del cuerpo; ahora sé que es meramen- 55 merely a function of the mind--and te una función de la mente... y de that of the minds of the ones who las mentes de quienes sufren la bereave deprive of a relation, friend, etc., esp. by suffer the bereavement. The nihilists pérdida. Los nihilistas dicen que es death. bereavement n. sorrow, condolencia, pérdida, Luto, say it is the end; the fundamentalists, el final; los fundamentalistas, que el duelo, desgracia, aflicción the beginning; when in reality it is no comienzo; cuando en realidad no es 60 more than a single tenant or family más que un inquilino o familia que moving out of a tenement or a town. deja una casa alquilada o un pueblo.

She looks at us. Only her eyes seem Nos mira. Sólo sus ojos parecen mo- to move. It’s like they touch us, not verse. Es como si nos tocaran, y no como 65 with sight or sense, but like the stream la vista o sentido, sino igual que te toca from a hose touches you, the stream el chorro de una manguera, un chorro que at the instant of impact as dissociated en el instante del impacto se disociara de from the nozzle as though it had never la boca de la manguera como si no hu- been there. She does not look at Anse biera salido de ella. No mira a Anse en 70 at all. She looks at me, then at the boy. absoluto. Me mira a mí, luego al chico. Beneath the quilt she is no more than Debajo de la colcha no es más que un a bundle of rotten sticks. manojo de palos podridos.

“Well, Miss Addie,” I say. The —Bien, Miss Addie —digo. La chi- 75 girl does not stop the fan. “How ca no deja de abanicar—. ¿Cómo va are you, sister?” I say. Her head eso, mujer? —digo. Su cabeza descan- lies gaunt on the pillow, looking sa demacrada en la almohada y mira al at the boy. “You picked out a fine chico—. Valiente tiempecito ha elegido

20 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

time to get me out here and bring usted para hacerme venir hasta aquí y qué up a storm.” Then I send Anse and tormenta nos ha preparado. —Entonces the boy out. She watches the boy mando a Anse y al chico fuera. Ella sigue as he leaves the room. She has not al chico con la mirada cuando éste sale 5 moved save her eyes. del cuarto. Sólo ha movido los ojos.

He and Anse are on the porch when El chico y Anse están en el porche I come out, the boy sitting on the cuando salgo; el chico sentado en los es- steps, Anse standing by a post, not calones, Anse de pie junto a un poste, 10 even leaning against it, his arms pero no apoyado en él, con los brazos dipper (cazo) rooster: (Am. dangling, the hair pushed and matted caídos, el pelo revuelto y desgreñado matted (of a colour, surface, etc.) dull, without lustre. 1 a border of dull gold round a framed English) like a cockerel which has up on his head like a dipper rooster. como un pollo mojado. Vuelve la cabe- picture. 2 (in full matt paint) paint formulated been soaked with water He turns his head, blinking at me. za, mirándome con ojos semicerrados. to give a dull flat finish (cf. gloss 1). 3 the appearance of unburnished gold. — v.tr. (matted, matting) 1 make (gilding etc.) dull. 2 frost (glass) (escarchar). 15 “Why didn’t you send for me —¿Por qué no me mandó a buscar matted 1a tr. (esp. as matted adj.) entangle in a thick mass (matted hair). b intr. become sooner?” I say. antes? —digo. matted. 2 tr. cover or furnish with mats. matted A adj. 1 matted tangled in a dense mass; hit: (Am. col.) it “tried to push through the matted undergowth” jest: (Am. col.) just “Hit was jest one thing and then —Por una cosa u otra fui de- 2 flat, mat, matt, matte, matted not reflecting light; not glossy; “flat wall paint”; “a photograph another,” he says. “That ere corn me jándolo —dice—. Estaba ese with a matte finish” matted adj. (pelo) enmarañado 20 and the boys was aimin’ to git up maíz que teníamos que recoger with, and Dewey Dell a-takin’ good yo y los chicos, y Dewey Dell keer: (Am. col.) care keer of her, and folks comin’ in, la cuidaba bien, y la gente ve- sich: (Am. col.) such a-offerin’ to help and sich, till I jest nía, nos ofrecía ayuda, hasta thought . . .” que pensé... 25 “Damn the money,” I say. “Did you —Maldito dinero —digo—. ¿Ha oído ever hear of me worrying a fellow de alguna vez que molestase a un vecino before he was ready to pay?” porque no me pagara?

30 “Hit ain’t begrudgin’ the money,” he —No trataba de ahorrar dinero — says. “I jest kept a-thinkin’ . . . . She’s dice—. Sólo pensaba que... ¿Es que goin’, is she?” The durn little tyke is se nos va? —el condenado chico está sitting on the top step, looking sentado en el escalón de arriba y pa- smaller than ever in the rece más pequeño que nunca a la 35 sulphur-coloured light. That’s the one luz color azufre. Ese es el problema trouble with this country everything, con esta comarca: todo, el tiempo, weather, all, hangs on too long. Like todo, dura demasiado. Como nuestros our rivers, outland: opaque, slow, ríos, nuestras tierras, opacas, lentas, violent; shaping and creating the life violentas; modelando y creando la 40 of man in its implacable and vida del hombre a su implacable brooding image. “I knowed hit,” X ______imagen. Lo sabía —dice Anse says. “All the while I made sho. Anse—. Todo el tiempo estuve seguro. sot: (Am. col.) set Her mind is sot on hit.” Ella no piensa más que en eso.

45 “And a damn good thing, too,” I —Pues hace muy bien —digo—. Una say. “With a trifling——” He sits on pizca más y... —está entado en el esca- the top step, small, motionless in lón de arriba, pequeño, inmóvil en su faded overalls. . When I came out mono descolorido. Cuando salí alzó la he looked up at me, then at Anse. vista hacia mi, luego hacia Anse. Pero 50 But now he has stopped looking at ya ha dejado de mirarnos. Se limita a es- us. He just sits there. tar allí sentado. yit: (Am. col.) yet “Have you told her yit?” Anse says. —¿Se lo ha dicho ya? —dice Anse.

55 “What for?” I say. “What the —¿Para qué? —digo yo—. ¿Para qué devil for?” demonios? hit: (Am. col.) it “Shell know hit. I knowed that —Ya lo sabrá. Yo sabía que en cuanto when she see you she would know hit, le viera a usted, lo sabría igual que si 60 same as writing. You wouldn’t need estuviera escrito. No tenía ninguna ne- to tell her. Her mind ——” cesidad de decírselo. Sólo piensa en...

Behind us the girl says, “Paw.” I Detrás de nosotros la chica dice: look at her, at her face. —Padre. 65 La miro, a la cara. “You better go quick,” I say. —Será mejor que vaya enseguida —digo.

When we enter the room she is Cuando entramos en el cuarto, está watching the door. She looks at me. mirando a la puerta. Me mira a mí. Sus 70 Her eyes look like lamps blaring up ojos parecen lámparas que chisporrotean just before the oil is gone. justo antes de que se les termina el aceite. “She wants you to go out,” the —Quiere que salga usted —me dice girl says. la chica.

75 “Now, Addie,” Anse says, “when —Vamos, vamos, Addie —dice he come all the way from Jefferson Anse—, si ha venido desde Jerferson to git you well?” She watches me: I para que te pongas buena... —ella me can feel her eyes. It’s like she was mira: noto sus ojos. Es como si me es-

21 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

shoving at me with them. I have seen tuviera barriendo de allí con ellos. Ya it before in women. Seen them drive lo he visto antes en las mujeres. Las he from the room them coming with visto echar del cuarto a las que vienen sympathy and pity, with actual help, con simpatia y piedad, con ayuda efec- 5 and clinging to some trifling animal tiva, y aferrarse a un insignificante to whom they never were more than animal para el que nunca fueron más pack-horses. That’s what they mean que bestias de carga. Eso es lo que para by the love that passeth ellas significa amar por encima de todo: understanding: that pride, that furious orgullo, ese furioso deseo de esconder ABJECT, - Qui inspire l'aversion, le dégoût, la répulsion; qui attire le mépris, l'opprobre.“ 10 desire to hide that abject nakedness esa abyecta desnudez que traemos con Abject adj.1 miserable, wretched. 2 degraded, self-abas- which we bring here with us, carry nosotros, que arrastramos hasta la sala ing, humble. 3 despicable. Miserable, bestial, vil. Abjecto 1. adj. Despreciable, vil en extremo. 2. desus. with us into operating rooms, carry de operaciones, que terca y Humillado, abatido. Acobardado stubbornly and furiously with us furiosamente arrastramos de nuevo con into the earth again. I leave the nosotros a la tierra. Salgo del cuarto. 15 room. Beyond the porch Cash’s saw Más allá del porche la sierra de Cash snores steadily into the board. A ronca con fuerza en la tabla. Un minu- minute later she calls his name, her to después, ella dice su nombre, con voz voice harsh and strong. áspera y enérgica.

20 “Cash,” she says; “you, Cash!” —Cash —dice—. Oye, Cash. [83]

12 X ___ DARL (5) DARL

25 PA stands beside the bed. From PADRE está de pie al lado de la cama. Darl (5) behind his leg Vardaman peers, Desde detrás de su pierna Vardaman atis- with his round head and his eyes ba, con su cabeza redonda y sus ojos re- In this section, Darl imaginatively reconstructs the round and his mouth beginning to dondos y la boca que se le empieza a scene around his mother’s death- open. She looks at pa; all her abrir. Ella mira a padre; toda su desfalle- bed. He becomes so preoccupied 30 failing life appears to drain into ciente vida parece derramársele por los with his imaginings that he her eyes, urgent, irremediable. ojos, urgente, irremediablemente. scarcely seems to notice either the “It’s Jewel she wants,” Dewey —Es a Jewel a quien quiere —dice wagon on which he is travelling Dell says. Dewey Dell. or his companion, Jewel.

35 “Why, Addie,” pa says, “him and —Oye, Addie —dice padre—, él y Darl went to make one more load. Darl fueron a traer una carga más. Pen- They thought there was time. That saron que había tiempo. Que los espe- you would wait for them, and that rarías; y esos tres dólares, además... three dollars and all . . .” He stoops, —se agacha descansando su mano en 40 laying his hand on hers. For a while las de ella. Durante un rato ella toda- yet she looks at him, without vía le mira, sin reproche alguno, sin reproach, without anything at all, as niguno en absoluto, como si sólo sus if her eyes alone are listening to the ojos esperasen el irrevocable cese de irrevocable cessation of his voice. la voz de padre. Luego se incorpora, COMMENTARY: It is 45 Then she raises herself, who has not aunque lleva diez días sin moverse. tempting to think that Darl moved in ten days. Dewey Dell leans Dewey Dell se inclina, tratando de intuitively knows when his down, trying to press her back. obligarla a tumbarse de nuevo. mother dies, but it is quite likely that he would imagine the scene “Ma,” she says, “ma.” —Madre —le dice—; madre. around her death-bed in precise 50 detail without knowing that she is She is looking out the window, at Está mirando afuera por la ventana; a in fact dead. It is easy for him to imagine the reactions of his Cash stooping steadily at the board Cash inclinado continuamente sobre la family to her death as extensions in the failing light, labouring on tabla a la luz del anochecer, trabajando of their habitual patterns of toward darkness and into it as though hacia la oscuridad y dentro de ella como behaviour. The whole scene as he 55 the stroking of the saw illumined its si el sonido de la sierra iluminase su pro- imagines it is convincing because own motion, board and saw pio movimiento, engendrase tabla y sie- it is based on his observations of engendered. rra. his family and on their predictable reactions and customary attitudes. One observation in this “You, Cash,” she shouts, her voice —Oye, Cash —grita ella; su voz es section, ‘He (Cash) looks up at 60 harsh, strong, and unimpaired. “You, áspera, enérgica, e inalterable—. ¡Oye, the gaunt face framed by the Cash!” Cash! window in the twilight. It is a composite picture of all time since He looks up at the gaunt face framed Cash levanta la vista hacia la cara de- he was a child’, stresses the predictability of experience which by the window in the twilight. It is a macrada que enmarca la ventana en el marks the lives of the Bundrens. 65 composite picture of all time since he crepúsculo. Es el mismo cuadro de todas It also echoes the significant was a child. He drops the saw and lifts las veces desde que era niño. Deja la sie- statement by Peabody about the board for her to see, watching the rra y levanta la tabla para que ella vea, ‘things hanging on in this land’. window in which the face has not mirando hacia la ventana en la que el ros- moved. He drags a second plank into tro no se ha movido. Alza con esfuerzo 70 position and slants the two of them into un segundo tablón y pone a los dos en su their final juxtaposition, gesturing unión definitiva, señalando a los que to- toward the ones yet on the ground, davía están en el suelo e imitando con la shaping with his empty hand in mano que tiene libre la forma de la caja pantomime the finished box. For a while cuando esté terminada. Durante un rato 75 still she looks down at him from the ella todavía le mira desde su cuadro de composite picture, neither with censure nor la ventana, sin censura, ni aprobación. approbation. Then the face disappears. Luego la cara desaparece.

22 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

She lies back and turns her head Se vuelve a tumbar y gira la ca- without so much as glancing at pa. beza sin siquiera mirar a [84] padre. She looks at Vardaman; her eyes, the Mira a Vardaman; sus ojos, la vida life in them, rushing suddenly upon en ellos, regresa a toda prisa; las 5 them; the two flames glare up for a dos llamas chisporrotean durante steady instant. Then they go out as un intenso instante. Luego se apa- though someone had leaned down and gan como si alguien se hubiera aga- blown upon them. chado y soplado.

10 “Ma,” Dewey Dell says; —Madre, ¡madre! —dice Dewey Dell, “ma!” Leaning above the bed, e inclinándose sobre la cama, con las her hands lifted a little, the fan manos un poco levantadas, moviendo to- stiff moving like it has for ten davía el abanico como viene haciendo days, she begins to keen. Her desde hace diez días, empieza a proferir 15 voice is strong, young, lamentos. Su voz es sonora, juvenil, tré- tremulous and clear, rapt with its mula y clara, arrobada en su propio tim- own timbre and volume, the fan still bre y volumen, mientras el abanico toda- moving steadily up and down, vía se mueve enérgicamente arriba y aba- whispering the useless air. Then she jo, haciendo susurrar al aire ya inútil. 20 flings herself across Addie Bundren’s Luego se echa sobre las rodillas de Addie knees, clutching her, shaking her with Bundren, la agarra, la sacude con la fu- the furious strength of the young riosa energía de los jóvenes antes de des- before sprawling suddenly across the parramarse de repente entre el manojo de handful of rotten bones that Addie huesos carcomidos que dejó Addie 25 Bundren left, jarring the whole bed Bundren, haciendo crujir toda la cama into a chattering sibilance of mattress con el seco chirrido de las hojas del jer- shucks, her arms outflung and the fan gón; sus brazos están extendidos y el in one hand still beating with expiring abanico todavía se mueve en una de sus breath into the quilt. manos como sin aliento sobre la colcha. 30 From behind pa’s leg Vardaman Desde detrás de la pierna de padre atis- peers, his mouth full open and all colour ba Vardaman, boquiabierto y con todo el draining from his face into his mouth, color de la cara asomándosele a la boca, as though he has by some means como si de alguna manera se hubiera cla- 35 fleshed his own teeth in himself, vado los dientes en su propia carne, chu- sucking. He begins to move slowly pando. Se aparta poco a poco de la cama, backward from the bed, his eyes round, redondos los ojos, pálida la cara que se his pale face fading into the dusk like a desvanece en las sombras como un trozo piece of paper pasted on a failing wall, de papel pegado a una pared que se cae, y 40 and so out of the door. así sale por la puerta.

Pa leans above the bed in the Padre inclina sobre la cama en el cre- twilight, his humped silhouette púsculo su silueta encorvada que com- partaking of that owl-like quality of parte esa cualidad propia de la lechuza 45 awryfeathered, disgruntled outrage de plumas ahuecadas ofendida, que es- within which lurks a wisdom too conde dentro una sabiduría demasiado profound or too inert for even profunda o demasiado inerte para poder thought. ser comprendida.

50 “Durn them boys,” he says. —¡Condenados chicos! —dice.

Jewel, I say. Overhead the day Jewel, digo yo. El día pasa liso y gris drives level and grey, hiding the sun por encima, ocultando el sol con un vue- by a flight of grey spears. In the lo de lanzas grises. Bajo la lluvia las 55 rain the mules smoke a little, mulas humean un poco, salpicadas del splashed yellow with mud, the off amarillo del barro, la de la derecha se one clinging in sliding lunges to the agarra con arremetidas deslizantes al side of the road above the ditch. borde del camino, sobre la cuneta. The tilted lamber gleams dull La leña inclinada brilla amarillo apa- 60 yellow, water-soaked and heavy as gado, empapada de agua y pesada como lead, tilted at a steep angle into the plomo, volcada en un ángulo empinado ditch above the broken wheel; en la cuneta encima de la rueda rota; about the shattered spokes and entre los radios rotos y entre los to- about Jewel’s ankles a runnel of billos de Jewel corre un arroyo ama- 65 yellow neither water nor earth swirls, rillento, ni de agua ni de tierra, curving with the yellow road neither of ______X earth nor water, down the hill dissolving ______cerro abajo, disolviéndose en into a streaming mass of dark green una [85] masa que fluye verde oscuro, neither of earth nor sky. Jewel, I say. ni de tierra ni de cielo. Jewel, digo. 70 Cash comes to the door, carrying Cash aparece en la puerta, trae la sie- the saw. Pa stands beside the bed, rra. Padre está de pie al lado de la cama, humped, his arms dangling. He turns encorvado; le cuelgan los brazos. Vuel- his head, his shabby profile, his chin ve la cabeza y muestra su perfil ajado, su 75 collapsing slowly as he works the barbilla que se hunde poco a poco mien- snuff against his gums. tras aprieta el rapé contra las encías.

“She’s gone,” Cash says. —Se nos ha ido —dice Cash.

23 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

“She taken and left us,” pa says. —Se ha ido y nos deja —dice padre. Cash does not look at him. “How nigh Cash no le mira. ¿Cuánto te falta? — are you done?” pa says. Cash does not dice padre. Cash no responde. Entra, con 5 answer. He enters, carrying the saw. la sierra—. Para mí que es mejor que “I reckon you better get at it,” pa says. sigas con eso —dice padre—. Tienes “You’ll have to do the best you can, que hacerla lo mejor que puedas, mien- with them boys gone off that-a-way.” tras los chicos estén de camino —Cash Cash looks down at her face. He is baja la vista hacia la cara de madre. No 10 not listening to pa at all. He does not escucha en absoluto a padre. No se acer- approach the bed. He stops in the ca a la cama. Se detiene en medio del middle of the floor, the saw against cuarto, con la sierra junto a la pierna, his leg, his sweating arms powdered los brazos sudorosos ligeramente espol- lightly with sawdust, his face voreados de serrín, el rostro tranquilo— 15 composed. “If you get in a tight, . Si andas corto de tiempo, a lo mejor maybe some of them’ll get here mañana viene alguien a ayudarte —dice to-morrow and help you,” pa says. padre—. Puede que Vernon —Cash no “Vernon could.” Cash is not listening. escucha. Está mirando el rostro pacífi- He is looking down at her peaceful, co y rígido de madre que se desvanece 20 rigid face fading into the dusk as en el crepúsculo como si la oscuridad though darkness were a precursor of fuera precursora de la tierra primordial, the ultimate earth, until at last the face hasta que por fin el rostro parece flotar seems to float detached upon it, desprendido por encima de ella, leve lightly as the reflection of a dead leaf. como el reflejo de una hoja seca—. Que- 25 “There is Christians enough to help dan suficientes cristianos que te ayuden you,” pa says. Cash is not listening. —dice padre. Cash no escucha. Al cabo After a while he turns without looking de un rato se vuelve sin mirar a padre y at pa and leaves the room. Then the sale del cuarto. Luego la sierra empieza saw begins to snore again. “They will a roncar de nuevo—. Nos ayudarán en 30 help us in our sorrow,” pa says. nuestra desgracia —dice padre.

The sound of the saw is steady, El sonido de la sierra es seguro, com- competent, unhurried, stirring the petente, reposado, y remueve la mori- dying light so that at each stroke her bunda claridad de modo que a cada gol- 35 face seems to wake a little into an pe parece despertar en el rostro de ma- expression of listening and of waiting, dre una expresión de atención y espera, as though she were counting the como si estuviera contando los golpes. strokes. Pa looks down at the face, at Padre baja la vista a su rostro, al pelo the black sprawl of Dewey Dell’s hair, negro y lacio de Dewey Dell, a sus bra- 40 the outflung arms, the clutched fan zos extendidos, al abanico cerrado e in- now motionless on the fading quilt. “I móvil de encima de la colcha borrosa. reckon you better get supper —Para mí que es hora de que prepares on,” he says. la cena —dice él.

45 Dewey Dell does not move. Dewey Dell no se mueve.

“Git up, now, and put supper on,” —Venga, vete a preparar la cena — pa says. “We got to keep our strength dice padre—. Tenemos que recobrar fuer- up. I reckon Doctor Peabody’s right zas. Para mí que el doctor Peabody tiene 50 hungry, coming all this way. And hambre, después de la caminata. Y Cash Cash’ll need to eat quick and get back tiene [86] que comer rápido para volver to work so he can finish it in time.” al trabajo y terminarlo a tiempo.

Dewey Dell rises, heaving to her Dewey Dell se levanta apoyándose en 55 feet. She looks down at the face. It los pies. Baja la vista hacia el rostro. Este is like a casting of fading bronze es como un molde de bronce que se desva- upon the pillow, the hands alone nece encima de la almohada; sólo las ma- still with any semblance of life: a nos conservan algo parecido a la vida: una curled, gnarled inertness; a spent inercia retorcida, nudosa; una cierta cuali- 60 yet alert quality from which dad consumida, aunque todavía alerta, de weariness, exhaustion, travail has la que todavía no sé han ausentado el cannot yet departed, as though they sancio ni el agotamiento, ni el trabajo, actual (En) real, verdadera, efectivo, concreto, au- téntico, mismo [very], doubted even yet the actuality of como si todavía dudasen de la realidad del actual (Sp) 1. adj. presente, en el mismo momen- rest, guarding with horned and reposo, manteniendo con encorvada to. 2. Que existe, sucede o se usa en el tiempo de que se habla. Reciente, reinante, palpitante 65 penurious alertness the cessation y avara vigilancia el cese de lo que actuality n. (pl. -ies) 1 reality; what is the case [constatación, implementación]. 2 (in pl.) which they know cannot last. saben que no puede durar. existing conditions. Dewey Dell stoops and slides the Dewey Dell se agacha y le quita la quilt from beneath them and draws it colcha de debajo de las manos y estira 70 up over them to the chin, smoothing aquélla sobre éstas, hasta la barbilla, it down, drawing it smooth. Then alisándola, estirándola con suvaidad. without looking at pa she goes around Luego, sin mirar a padre, rodea la the bed and leaves the room. cama y sale del cuarto.

75 She will go out where Peabody is, Irá hasta donde está Peabody, where she can stand in the twilight donde pueda permanecer en penum- and look at his back with such an bra y mirarle la espalda con tal ex- expression that, feeling her eyes and presión que él, al notar sus ojos y

24 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

turning, he will say; I would not let it volverse, dirá: Yo no me apenaría grieve me, now. She was old, and sick tanto. Era vieja, y además estaba en- too. Suffering more than we knew. She ferma. Sufría más de lo que nos ima- couldn’t have got well. Vardaman’s ginamos. Nunca podría curarse. 5 getting big now, and with you to take Vardaman ya es bastante mayor, y tú good care of them all. I would try not puedes ocuparte de todos. Yo trataría to let it grieve me. I expect you’d de no apenarme tanto. Creo que es me- better go and get come supper ready. jor que vayas a preparar algo de cenar. It don’t have to be much. But they’ll No importa que no sea mucho. Pero ne- 10 need to eat, and she looking at him, cesitan comer, y ella con la mirada de- saying You could do so much for me cía: Usted podría hacer mucho por mí if you just would. If you just knew. I sólo con quererlo. Si usted lo supiera. am I and you are you and I know it Yo soy yo y usted es usted y yo lo sé y and you don’t know it and you could usted no lo sabe y usted podría hacer 15 do so much for me f you just would mucho por mí con sólo quererlo y si and if you just would then I could tell usted quisiera entonces yo se lo diría you and then nobody would have to it y entonces nadie tendría que saberlo except you and me and Darl. a no ser usted y yo y Darl

20 Pa stands over the bed, Padre está de pie junto a la cama, los dangle-armed, humped, motionless. brazos caídos, encorvado, inmóvil. Se He raises his hand to his head, lleva la mano a la cabeza, rascándose el scouring his hair, listening to the saw. pelo, escuchando la sierra. Se acerca He comes nearer and rubs his hand, más y se restriega la mano, palma y dor- 25 palco and back, on his thigh and lays so, en el muslo y la deja descansar en la it on her face and then on the hump cara de madre y luego en el bulto de la of quilt where her hands are. He colcha donde están sus manos. Toca touches the quilt as he saw Dewey la colcha como vio que hacía Dell do, trying to smoothe it up to the Dewey Dell, tratando de alisarla 30 chip, but disarranging it instead. He hasta la barbilla, pero la desarre- tries to smoothe it again, clumsily, gla. Intenta alisarla de nuevo, his hand awkward as a claw, desmañadamente, con mano torpe smoothing at the wrinkles which he como una garra, alisando las arrugas mude and which continue to emerge que hizo él y que continúan perverse 1 perverso, malvado, depravado 35 beneath his hand with perverse X emergiendo bajo su mano con perversa 2 obstinado, terco, caprichoso, contumaz, adverso, contrario ubiquity, so that at last he desists, his ubicuidad, conque al final desiste, deja hand falling to his side and stroking caer la mano a un lado y se la restrie- itself again, palm and back, on his ga otra vez, palma y dorso, en el mus- thigh. The sound of the saw snores lo. [87] El sonido de la sierra ronca 40 steadily into the room. Pa breathes constante dentro del cuarto. Padre res- with a quiet, rasping sound, pira con un sonido tranquilo, rasposo, mouthing the snuff against his gums. mascando el tabaco entre las encías. “God’s will be done,” he says. “Now —Que sea lo que Dios quiera —dice— I can get them teeth.” . Ahora podré conseguir la dentadura. 45 Jewel’s hat droops limp about A Jewel le cuelga el sombrero flácci- his neck, channelling water on do hasta el cuello, canalizando el agua to the soaked tow-sack tied hacia el empapado saco de arpillera ata- about his shoulders as, do en torno a sus hombros mientras, con 50 ankle-deep in the running ditch, el agua que corre por la cuneta hasta los he pries with a slipping tobillos, hace palanca en el eje con un two-by-four, with a piece of rebaladizo tronco, usando un trozo de fulcro punto de apoyo de la palanca. rotting log for fulcrum, at the madero podrido como punto de apoyo. axle. Jewel, I say, she is dead, Jewel, digo yo, madre ha muerto, Jewel. 55 Jewel. Addie Bundren is dead. Addie Bundren está muerta

13 VARDAMAN (1) VARDAMAN

60 THEN I begin to run. I run ENTONCES empiezo a correr. Corro Vardaman (1) toward the back and come to the hacia la parte de atrás y llego al borde edge of the porch and stop. Then I del porche y me paro. Entonces me pon- This section consists of the begin to cry. I can feel where the go a llorar. Noto dónde estuvo el pez, en unspoken thoughts of the youngest of Addie’s children as fish was in the dust. It is cut up into el polvo. Ahora está cortado en pedazos he strives to come to grips with 65 pieces of not-fish now, not-blood y ya no es pez, y no tengo sangre en las the idea that she is dead. He runs on my hands and overalls. Then it manos ni en el mono. Entonces no era from the house and sees the spot wasn’t so. It hadn’t happened then. así. Eso entonces no había pasado. Y aho- where Vernon Tull saw him drop And now she is getting so far ahead ra madre me ha tomado tanta delantera the dead fish. He thinks that the fish, which he has cut up, is now ruffle I cannot catch her. que no la puedo alcanzar. — v. arrugar, agitar, rizar, despeinar encrespar, eri- ‘not-fish’, a childish way of zar, descomponer, perturbar, ofender, alisar 70 describing death. 1tr. disturb the smoothness or tranquillity of. 2tr. upset the calmness of (a person). The trees look like chickens when Los árboles parecen pollos cuando 3tr. gather (lace etc.) into a ruffle. they ruffle out into the cool dust on se revuelcan en el polvo fresco los días 4tr. (often foll. by up) (of a bird) erect (its feathers) in anger, display, etc. the hot days. If I jump off the porch I de calor. Si saltara del porche estaría 5intr. undergo ruffling. COMMENTARY: Vardaman 6intr. lose smoothness or calmness. will be where the fish was, and it all donde estuvo el pez que ahora está cor- — n. arruga, volante fruncido, rizo has not so far contributed to the 75 cut up into not-fish now. I can hear tado en pedazos y ya no es pez. Distin- 1 an ornamental gathered or goffered frill of lace etc. book but has been glimpsed in worn at the opening of a garment esp. round the the bed and her face and them and I go el sonido, el de la cama, y veo su wrist, breast, or neck. ruffled skirt=falda de other sections as ‘a poor little volantes;(o pechera o manga de volantes) can feel the floor shake when he cara y las de ellos y noto que el suelo tyke’. Here, Faulkner brilliantly 2 perturbation, bustle. 3 a rippling effect on water. walks on it that came and did it. That hace ruido cuando él entró y lo hizo. portrays the unreasoning violence 4 the ruff of a bird etc. (see ruff 1 2). of the child who is suffering a 5Mil. a vibrating drum-beat. 25 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

came and did it when she was all right Que entró y lo hizo cuando ella estaba shock it cannot understand. but he came and did it. buena. Entró y lo hizo. Vardaman runs about, finding life in Jewel’s horse, remembering death in relation to the fish and “The fat son of a bitch.” —Ese hijo de la gran puta. striking out at the world in gene- 5 ral, especially Peabody. The I jump from the porch, running. Salto de porche y corro. La parte difficulties Vardaman will have in The top of the barn comes swooping de arriba del granero cae como un ave getting the idea of death into up out of the twilight. If I jump I can surgiendo del crepúsculo. Si doy un perspective are underlined when go through it like the pink lady in the salto puedo atravesarlo como la seño- we realise that he is still not quite sure of his own status in the 10 circus, into the warm smelling, ra de rosa del circo y llegar al olor world; he feels that the sound of without having to wait. My hands cálido sin tener que esperar. Me aga- crying is separate from himself, grab at the bushes; beneath my feet rro al matorral; bajo mis pies, piedras ‘the crying makes a lot of noise’, the rocks and dirt go rubbling down. y barro se desprenden hacia abajo. and wonders what gives the horse an existence separate from his own, ‘an is different from my is’. 15 Then I can breathe again, in the Luego puedo volver a respirar en el It is part of Faulkner’s strategy warm smelling. I enter the stall, trying olor caliente. Entro [88] en la cuadra, tra- that the family, being isolated and to touch him, and then I can cry then to de tocarle, y luego ya puedo llorar; of necessity close-knit, should I vomit the crying. As soon as he gets luego vomito los lloros. Puedo en cuan- share certain personality through kicking I can and then I can to deja de soltar coces, y luego puedo llo- characteristics among its 20 cry, the crying can. rar, puedo soltar los lloros. members. For example, Darl and Vardaman share the same kilt: (Am. col.) killed uneasiness about their own “He kilt her. He kilt her.” —La mató él. La mató él. existences and both tend to record experiences as though they, as The life in him runs under the skin, La vida le corre debajo de la recorders, were no part of those 25 under my hand, running through the piel bajo mi mano, le corre por experiences. splotches, smelling up into my nose las manchas; me echa olor a la na- where the sickness is beginning to riz donde el mareo está empezando cry, vomiting the crying, and then I a llorar, a vomitar los lloros, y lue- can breathe, vomiting it. It makes a go puedo respirar, vomitarlos. Hace 30 lot of noise. I can smell the life mucho ruido. Huelo la vida corrién- running up from under my hands, up dome debajo de las manos, por las my arms, and then I can leave the manos arriba, y luego ya puedo irme stall. de la cuadra.

35 I cannot find it. In the dark, No lo consigo encontrar. Ni en lo os- along the dust, the walls I cannot curo, ni en el polvo, ni en las paredes lo find it. The crying makes a lot of consigo encontar. Los lloros hacen mu- noise. I wish it wouldn’t make so cho ruido. Quisiera que no hicieran tan- much noise. Then I find it in the to ruido. Luego lo encuentro en el cober- 40 wagon-shed, in the dust, and I run tizo de la carreta, en el polvo, y echo a across the lot and into the road, correr por el descampado y llego al ca- jounce bump, bounce, jolt, bounce up and the stick jouncing on my mino con el palo dándome saltos en el down repeatedly, traquetear, oscilar shoulder. hombro.

45 They watch me as I run up, Me miran mientras corro cuesta arri- beginning to jerk back, their eyes ba, empiezan a dar tirones, reculando; a rolling, snorting, jerking back on the abrir mucho los ojos, a resoplar, dando hitch rein. I strike. I can hear the stick tirones de la riendas. Pego. Oigo cómo striking; I can see it hitting their pega el palo. Veo cómo les pega en la 50 heads, the breastyoke, missing cabeza, en las colleras, y aunque no les altogether sometimes as they rear and alcanza cuando se encabritan y plunge, but I am glad. corcovean, estoy contento.

“You kilt my maw!” —¡Vosotros matasteis a mi madre! 55 The stick breaks, they rearing and El palo se rompe, ellos se encabritan snorting, their feet popping loud on X y resoplan, sus cascos ______fuerte en the ground; loud because it is going el suelo; fuerte porque va a llover y el to rain and the air is empty for the aire tiene ganas de lluvia. Pero todavía 60 rain. But it is still long enough. I run falta mucho. Corro de aquí para allá this way and that as they rear and jerk mientras se encabritan y dan tirones de at the hitch-rein, striking. las riendas, pegándoles.

kilt: (Am. col.) killed “You kilt her! —¡Vosotros la matasteis! 65 I strike at them, striking, they wheeling Les pego, les pego; ellos giran de una in a long lunge, the buggy wheeling on embestida, la calesa gira sobre dos rue- to two wheels and motionless like it das y sigue sin moverse como si estu- is nailed to the ground and the horses viera clavada al suelo y los caballos si- 70 motionless like they are nailed by the guen sin moverse como si estuvieran hind feet to the centre of a clavados por las patas traseras en el cen- whirling-plate. tro de una plancha que gira.

I run in the dust. I cannot see, Corro por el polvo. No veo al co- 75 running in the sucking dust where the X rrer por el polvo que se levanta hasta buggy vanishes tilted on two wheels. donde la calesa desaparece basculan- I strike, the stick hitting into the do sobre dos ruedas. Pego, el palo pega ground, bouncing, striking into the al suelo, rebota, pegando en el polvo

26 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

dust and then into the air again and y luego de nuevo al aire y el polvo que the dust sucking on down the road se levanta se va camino abajo más de faster than if a car was in it. And then prisa que si fuera un carro. Y [89] en- I can cry, looking at the stick. It is tonces lloro mirando al palo. Está roto 5 broken down to my hand, not longer poco más abajo de mi mano y no es than stove wood that was a long stick. más largo que una astilla lo que fue I throw it away and I can cry. It does un palo largo. Lo tiro por ahí y lloro. not make so much noise now. Ahora ya no hace tanto ruido.

10 The cow is standing in the barn La vaca está asomada a la puerta del door, chewing. When she sees me granero, rumia. Cuando me ve llegar come into the lot she lows, her mouth por el descampado muge con la boca full of flopping green, her tongue llena de baba verdosa y la lengua flopping. babeando. 15 I ain’t a-goin’ to: (Am. col.) I am not going to “I ain’t a-goin’ to milk you. I ain’t —No te voy a ordeñar. No voy a ha- a-goin’ to do nothing for them.” cer nada por ellos.

I hear her turn when I pass. When La oigo volverse cuando paso. Cuan- 20 I turn she is just behind me with her do me vuelvo está justo detrás de mí con sweet, hot, hard breath. X su dulce, caliente, acre ____.

“Didn’t I tell you I wouldn’t?” —¿No te dije que no lo haría?

25 She nudges me, snuffing. She moans Me empuja, olfateando. Se queja muy deep inside, her mouth closed. I jerk adentro, con la boca cerrada. Muevo la my hand, cursing her like Jewel does. mano, amenazándola como hace Jewel.

“Git, now.” —Vete. 30 I stoop my hand to the ground and Dejo caer la mano al suelo y co- run at her. She jumps back and whirls rro hacia ella. Da un salto atrás y se away and stops, watching me. She gira y se para, sin perderme de vis- moans. She goes on to the path and ta. Muge. Se va al sendero y se que- 35 stands there, looking up the path. da allí, mirando sendero arriba.

It is dark in the barn, warm, Está oscuro dentro del establo, calien- maloliente smelling, silent. I can cry quietly, te, oloroso, callado. Lloro tranquilamente watching the top of the hill. mirando a lo más alto del cerro. 40 Cash comes to the hill, limping Cash llega al cerro, cojea por where he fell off of the church. He donde se hizo daño al caer de la looks down at the spring, then up the iglesia. Mira abajo, al manantial, road and back toward the barn. He luego arriba, al camino, y atrás, ha- 45 comes down the path stiffly and looks cia el granero. Baja el sendero muy at the broken hitchrein and at the dust tieso y mira las riendas rotas y el in the road and then up the road, polvo del camino y luego el camino where the dust is gone. por donde se marchó el polvo.

50 “I hope they’ve got clean past —Espero que ya habrán dejado bien Tull’s by now. I so hope hit.” atrás casa de Tull. Eso espero.

Cash turns and limps up the path. Cash se vuelve y cojea sendero arriba.

55 “Durn him. I showed him. —El condenado. Lo he visto. El Durn him.” condenado.

I am not crying now. I am not Ya no lloro. No hago nada. anything. Dewey Dell comes to the Dewey Dell llega al cerro y me 60 hill and calls me. “Vardaman.” I am llama. «Vardaman.» No hago not anything. I am quiet. “You, nada. Estoy callado. «Oye, Vardaman.” I can cry quiet now, Vardaman.» Ahora lloro en silen- feeling and hearing my tears. cio, noto y oigo mis lágrimas.

65 “Then hit want. Hit hadn’t —Entonces no había pasa- happened then. Hit was a-layin’ right do. Entonces estaba ahí mis- there on the ground. And now she’s mo, en el suelo. Y ahora lo gittin’ ready to cook hit.” prepara para cocinarlo.

70 It is dark. I can hear wood, Está oscuro. Oigo el bosque, el silen- silence: I know them. But not living cio: los conozco bien. Pero ningún soni- sounds, not even him. It is as though do vivo; ni siquiera a él. Era como [90] the dark were resolving him out of si la oscuridad lo sacara de su integridad his integrity, into an unrelated convirtiéndose en una dispersión inco- 75 scattering of components-snuffings nexa de elementos: mucosidades y pa- and stampings; smells of cooling taleos; olor de carne tibia y pelo apes- flesh and ammoniac hair; an illusion tando a amoniaco; una ilusión de un con- of a coordinated whole of splotched junto coordinado de piel con manchas y

27 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

hide and strong bones within which, huesos poderosos dentro de la cual, dis- detached and secret and familiar, an perso y secreto y familiar, hay un ser di- is different from my is. I see him ferente de mi ser. Le veo disolverse—las dissolve—legs, a rolling eye, a patas, un ojo muy abierto, manchas ale- 5 gaudy splotching like cold flames— gres como llamas frías— y flotar en la and float upon the dark in fading oscuridad en solución que se desvanece; solution; all one yet neither; all either todo uno y sin embargo ninguno; todos yet none. I can see hearing coil los dos pero ninguno. Veo con el oído que toward him, caressing, shaping his se enrosca hacia él, le acaricia, le da su 10 hard shape—fetlock, hip, shoulder forma definitiva: cernejas, lomo, and head; smell and sound. I am not brazuelo y cabeza; olor y sonido. No es- afraid. toy asustado.

“Cooked and et. Cooked and et.” —Guisado y comido. Guisado y comido. 15 14 DEWEY DELL (2) DEWEY DELL

HE could do so much for me if PODRÍA hacer tanto por mí sólo con Dewey Dell (2) 20 he just would. He could do quererlo. Sí, podría hacer cualquier cosa everything for me. It’s like por mí. Es como si para mí todo lo que Here we find Dewey Dell’s unspoken thoughts as she tub full of guts: an unpleasant everything in the world for me is hay en el mundo estuviera metido en un longingly watches Peabody, metaphor for a human being, a inside a tub full of guts, so that tonel lleno de tripas, de modo que uno wishing that he knew she needs body containing organs you wonder how there can be any se maravillaría de que en él hubiera sitio an abortion. Her reflections about 25 room in it for anything else very para cualquier otra cosa, por muy impor- the gulf between herself and the important. He is a big tub of guts tante que fuera. Sí, el mundo es un tonel Doctor make her aware of the and I am a little tub of guts and de tripas grande y yo soy un tonel de tri- separateness of their existences, and this leads to a more general if there is not any room for pas pequeño y si en un tonel de tripas consideration of the distance anything else important in a big grande no hay sitio para ninguna otra between herself and other people. 30 tub of guts, how can it be room cosa importante, ¿cómo puede haber si- in a little tub of guts. But I know tio en un tonel de tripas muy pequeño? it is there because God gave Pero yo sé que lo hay porque Dios les women a sign when something dio a las mujeres una señal para cuando has happened bad. ocurre algo malo. 35 COMMENTARY: It is It’s because I am alone. If I could Bueno, pues estoy sola. Si al me- apparent that the outwardly placid just feel it, it would be different, nos lo notara, sería distinto, porque Dewey Dell has been affected by because I would not be alone. But if I no estaría sola. Pero si no estuviera her mother’s death as deeply as were not alone, everybody would sola, todos lo sabrían. Y él podría Vardaman. Like her brother, she evinces an awareness of the 40 know it. And he could do so much hacer tanto por mí, y entonces yo no separateness of other people, ‘It’s for me, and then I would not be alone. estaría sola. Entonces incluso esta- because I am alone . . . alright Then I could be all right alone. ría bien aunque estuviera sola. alone’, but it is less acute than Vardaman’s and hinges on her I would let him come in between Le dejaría ponerse entre mí y sense of isolation. The ‘he’ to whom she refers in these lines is 45 me and Lafe, like Darl came in Lafe, como Darl se puso entre mí Peabody, who seems to her to between me and Lafe, and so Lafe is y Lafe, y por tanto Lafe también have her salvation in his hands but alone too. He is Lafe and I am Dewey está solo. El es Lafe y yo Dewey who is oblivious to her needs. In Dell, and when mother died I had to Dell, y cuando murió madre tuve que the third paragraph, Dewey Dell go beyond and outside of me and Lafe salir más allá y fuera, de mí y de Lafe y repeats the same ideas in a 50 and Darl to grieve because he could de Darl para sufrir [91]porque él podría different way, ‘he is Lafe and 1 do so much for me and he don’t know hacer tanto por mí y no se da cuenta. am Dewey Dell, and when mother died I had to go beyond and it. He don’t even know it. Ni siquiera se da cuenta. outside of me’. The idea of ‘going beyond’ herself in order to grieve From the back porch I cannot see Desde el porche de atrás no alcanzo a implies that Dewey Dell sees 55 the barn. Then the sound of Cash’s ver el granero. Luego el sonido de Cash herself as consisting of a complex sawing comes in from that way. It is serrando llega de esa dirección. Es como of feelings centred on her own like a dog outside the house, going un perro que, fuera de la casa, va de un predicament; to feel anything beyond that predicament involves back and forth around the house to sitio a otro alrededor de la casa, hacia going beyond the circle that is whatever door you come to, waiting cualquier puerta a la que uno se dirija, herself. It is clear from all this that 60 to come in. He said I worry more than esperando entrar. Dijo él: Me preocupa her mother’s death has made you do and I said You don’t know más que a ti y yo dije: No sabes lo que es Dewey Dell feel very isolated, what worry is so I can’t worry. I try preocuparse, así que no puedo preocupar- surrounded by men who do not to but I can’t think long enough to me. Lo intento pero no puedo concentrar- know and can never hope to understand her situation. worry. me lo bastante como para preocuparme. Dewey Dell is left, at the end 65 of the section, to face the I light the kitchen lamp. The Enciendo la lámpara de la cocina. El problems which she cannot really jagged adj. 1 with an unevenly cut or torn edge. 2 deeply indented; with sharp points. fish, cut into jagged pieces, pescado, cortado en trozos irregulares, formulate. The cow seems to act Lacerated irregularly. Dentado, mellado, raí- as a reminder of her own do, rasgado, irregular, bleeds quietly in the pan. I put it sangra tranquilamente en la sartén. Lo into the cupboard quick, listening meto rápidamente en la alacena, prestan- femininity, both because of its actual sex and because its breath 70 into the hall, hearing. It took her do oído al zaguán, escuchando. Le llevó make Dewey Dell aware of her ten days to die; maybe she don’t diez días morir; puede que todavía no own shape, ‘the cow breathes know it is yet. Maybe she won’t sepa que ya le ha llegado la hora. Puede upon my hips and back, her breath go until Cash. Or maybe until que no quiera irse hasta que venga Cash. warm, sweet, stertorous, Jewel. I take the dish of greens O puede que hasta que venga Jewel. Saco moaning’. The world around her is threatening with the coming 75 from the cupboard and the el plato de verdura de la alacena y la ban- storm, but it is also as a result of bread-pan from the cold stove, deja del pan del horno apagado, y me Addie’s death, ‘dead earth, dead and I stop, watching the door. paro, mirando la puerta. darkness, dead air’. Inside herself, Dewey Dell feels utterly lost, unable to sense whether or not she

28 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

“Where’s Vardaman?” Cash says. —¿Dónde está Vardaman? —dice is worrying, unable to know In the lamp his sawdusted arms look Cash. A la luz de lámpara sus brazos cu- whether or not she can cry. Her like sand. biertos de serrín parecen de arena. sneak: final words are ‘I feel like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth’, an image which evokes her 5 “I don’t know. I ain’t seen him.” —Y yo qué sé. No lo he visto. fecundity, her sadness (she lees herself as wet) and the fact that “Peabody’s team run away. See if —El tiro de Peabody se ha escapado. the world seems to be you can find Vardaman. The horse A ver si encuentras a Vardaman. El ca- uncomfortable and oblivious to will let him catch him.” ballo se dejará coger por él. her troubles, ‘the hot blind earth’. 10 “Well. Tell them to come to supper.” —Bueno. Diles que vengan a cenar.

I cannot see the barn. I said, I don’t No alcanzo a ver el granero. Dije: know how to worry. I don’t know how No sé cómo preocuparme. No sé cómo 15 to cry. I tried, but I can’t. After a while llorar. Lo intenté, pero no puedo. Al the sound of the saw comes around, cabo de un rato llega el ruido de la coming dark along the ground in the sierra, llega a ras del suelo entre dustdark. Then I can see him, going la oscuridad polvorienta. Entonces le veo, up and down above the plank. arriba y abajo sobre el tablón. 20 “You come in to supper,” I say. —Entra a cenar —digo—. Avísale — “Tell him.” He could do everything lo podría hacer todo por mí. Y no se da for me. And he don’t know it. He is cuenta. El es sus tripas y yo soy las mías. his guts and I am my guts. And I am Y yo soy las tripas de Lafe. Eso es. No 25 Lafe’s guts. That’s it. I don’t see consigo entender por qué no se ha que- why he didn’t stay in town. We are dado en la ciudad. Somos gente del cam- country people not as good as town po, no tan buenos como la gente de la people. I don’t see why he didn’t. ciudad. No consigo entender por qué no Then I can see the top of the barn. se quedó. Luego alcanzo a ver la parte 30 The cow stands at the foot of the de arriba del granero. La vaca está al pie path, lowing. When I turn back, del sendero, mugiendo. Cuando me vuel- Cash is gone. vo, Cash se ha ido.

I carry the buttermilk in. Pa and Les llevo la cuajada. Padre y Cash y 35 Cash and he are at the table. él están a la mesa. [92]

“Where’s that big fish Bud caught, —¿Dónde está ese pez tan grande que sister?” he says. pescó Bud, hermana? —dice.

40 I set the milk on the table. Pongo la leche en la mesa. “I never had no time to cook it.” —No he tenido tiempo de guisarlo.

turnip greens: the leaves of a root “Plain turnip greens is mighty —Sólo nabos verdes es una comida vegetable used as food; grelos spindling eating for a man my size,” demasiado escasa para un hombre de mi spindling: (Am. English) long and thin, 45 he says. Cash is eating. About his tamaño —dice. Cash come. Alrededor de like a spindle (huso) head the print of his hat is sweated la cabeza el sombrero le ha dejado una into his hair. His shirt is blotched señal sudorosa en el pelo. Tiene la cami- with sweat. He has not washed his sa manchada de sudor. No se ha lavado hands and arms. las manos ni los brazos. 50 “You ought to took time,” pa says. —Debería haberte dado tiempo — “Where’s Vardaman?” dice padre—. ¿Dónde anda Vardaman?

I go toward the door. “I can’t find Voy hacia la puerta. 55 him.” —No lo encuentro.

“Here, sister,” he says; “never —Ven, hermana —dice él—, no te mind about the fish. It’ll save, I preocupes del pez. Para mí que no se es- reckon. Come on and sit down.” tropeará. Ven a sentarte. 60 minding: (Am. col.) caring about “I ain’t minding it,” I say. “I’m going —No me preocupa eso —digo yo—. Voy to milk before it sets in to rain.” a ordeñar antes de que empiece a llover.

Pa helps himself and pushes the Padre se sirve y pasa la fuen- 65 dish on. But he does not begin to te. Pero no empieza a comer. eat. His hands are half-closed on Tiene las manos medio cerradas either side of his plate, his head a cada lado del plato, la cabeza bowed a little, his awry hair un poco agachada, el pelo re- standing into the lamplight. He vuelto a la luz de la lámpara. Pa- the maul hits the steer: (Am. English) the wooden-headed 70 looks like right after the maul hits rece que es un buey al que le acaban hammer hits the cow the steer and it no longer alive and de dar la puntilla y ya no vive y sin maul to handle roughly. Atacar y malherir, maltratar, don’t yet know that it is dead. embargo no sabe que está muerto. estropear, magullar, destrozar BEAT, BRUISE, MAN- GLE But Cash is eating, and he is too. Pero Cash come, y él también. 75 “You better eat something,” he says. —Mejor comes algo —dice. Está He is looking at pa. “Like Cash and mirando a padre—.Como Cash y yo. me. You’ll need it.” Lo necesitas.

29 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

“Ay,” pa says. He rouses up, like a —Eso —dice padre. Se despabila steer that’s been kneeling in a pond como un buey que ha estado arrodillado and you run at it. “She would not junto a la alberca y que se espanta—.Ella begrudge me it.” no me lo reprocharía. 5 When I am out of sight of the Cuando ya no me ven desde la casa, house, I go fast. The cow lows at the echo a correr. La vaca muge al pie del foot of the bluff. She nuzzles at me, despeñadero. Me empuja con el morro, snuffing, blowing her breath in a olfatea, echa una bocanada de aliento 10 sweet, hot blast, through my dress, dulce y caliente a través de mi vestido, against my hot nakedness, moaning. contra mi caliente desnudez; se queja. “You got to wait a little while. Then —Tienes que esperar un poco. Te I’ll tend to you.” She follows me into atenderé luego —me sigue dentro del the barn where I set the bucket down. granero donde dejo el cubo. Resopla en 15 She breathes into the bucket, el cubo, se queja—. Ya te lo dije. Tienes moaning. “I told you. You just got to que esperar. Tengo más cosas que hacer wait, now. I got more to do than I can de las que puedo atender. tend to.” The barn is dark. When I El granero está oscuro. Cuando pass, he kicks the wall a single blow. paso, da una coz a la pared [93]. Sigo. 20 I go on. The broken plank is like a La tabla rota es como una pálida tabla pale plank standing on end. Then I en punta. Entonces alcanzó a ver la la- can see the slope, feel the air moving dera, vuelvo a sentir el aire en la cara, on my face again, slow, pale, with lentamente; pálidos donde está menos lesser dark and with empty seeing, the oscuro, distingo los brotes de pino 25 pine clumps blotched up the tilted X que salpican de manchas la _____ slope, secret and waiting. ladera, en secreto y esperando.

The cow in silhouette against the La vaca, en silueta contra la puer- door puzzles at the silhouette of the ta, empuja con el morro la silueta del 30 bucket, moaning. cubo; se queja.

Then I pass the stall. I have almost Luego paso junto al establo. Casi lo passed it. I listen to it saying for a long he pasado. Escuchó largo rato lo que dice time before it can say the word and antes de que diga nada y la parte que es- 35 the listening part is afraid that there cucha tiene miedo de que no tenga tiem- may not be time to say it. I feel my po de decirlo. Noto que mi cuerpo, hue- body, my bones and flesh beginning sos y piel, empiezan a separarse y a abrir- to part and open upon the alone, and se a la soledad, y el proceso de interrum- the process of coming unalone is pir la soledad es terrible. Lafe. Lafe. 40 terrible. Lafe. Lafe. “Lafe” Lafe. Lafe. —Lafe —Lafe. Lafe. I lean a little forward, one foot Me inclino un poco hacía delante, avan- advanced with dead walking. I feel zando un pie con paso muerto. Noto que la the darkness rushing past my breast, oscuridad me pasa rápida por delante del past the cow; I begin to rush upon pecho, de la vaca; me pongo a correr ha- 45 the darkness but the cow stops me cia la oscuridad pero la vaca me para and the darkness rushes on upon the y la oscuridad me trae la dulce bo- sweet blast of her moaning breath, canada de su aliento quejumbroso, filled with wood and with silence. lleno de bosque y de silencio.

50 “Vardaman. You, Vardaman.” —Vardaman. Oye, Vardaman. sneak: (Am. English) a person who He comes out of the stall. “You Sale del pesebre. reveals another’s secrets durn little sneak! You durn little sneak!” —¡Maldito soplón! ¡Maldito soplón!

55 He does not resist; the last of No se resiste; la última acometida de rushing darkness flees whistling oscuridad se aleja volando y silbando. away. “What? I ain’t done nothing.” —¿Qué pasa? No he hecho nada. durn: (Am. col.) darned (mild cur- “You durn little sneak!” My hands —¡Maldito soplón! se) 60 shake him, hand. Maybe I couldn’t Mis manos le dan meneos. Puede que stop them. I didn’t know they could no consiga pararlas. No sabía que podían shake so hard. They shake both of us, dar unos meneos tan fuertes. Nos dan shaking. meneos a los dos al darle meneos.

65 “I never done it,” he says. “I never —Yo no lo hice —dice él—. Nunca touched them.” los he tocado.

My hands stop shaking him, but I Mis manos dejan de darle meneos, still hold him. “What are you doing pero todavía lo tengo agarrado. 70 here? Why didn’t you answer when I —¿Qué hacías aquí? ¿Por qué no res- called you?” pondiste cuando te llamaba?

“I ain’t doing nothing.” —No estaba haciendo nada.

75 “You go on to the house and get your supper.” —Vete a casa y ponte a cenar.

He draws back. I hold him. “You Se echa hacia atrás. Le agarro.

30 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

quit now. You leave me be.” —Estate quieta. Déjame en paz. [94]

“What were you doing down here? You —¿Qué estabas haciendo aquí? didn’t come down here to sneak after me?” ¿Has venido a espiarme? 5 “I never. I never. You quit, now. I —No. No. Estate quieta. Ni si- didn’t even know you was down here. quiera sabía que estabas aquí. You leave me be.” Déjame en paz.

10 I hold him, leaning down to see his Le tengo agarrado; al agacharme a verle la face, feel it with my eyes. He is about cara, lo noto con los ojos. Está a punto de llorar. to cry. “Go on, now. I done put supper —Anda, vete. Te he puesto la cena y on and I’ll be there soon as I milk. volveré en cuanto ordeñe. Será mejor que You better go on before he eats vayas antes de que él se lo coma todo. team: a pair of horses for pulling a 15 everything up. I hope that team runs Espero que el tiro ya haya llegado hasta wagon or cart clean back to Jefferson.” el mismo Jefferson.

“He kilt her,” he says. He begins —La mató él —dice. Se pone a to cry. llorar. 20 “Hush.” —A callar.

“She never hurt him and he come —Ella nunca le hizo daño y él va y la and kilt her.” mata. 25 “Hush.” He struggles. I hold him. —A callar —se resiste. Le sujeto—. “Hush.” A callar.

“He kilt her.” The cow comes up —La mató él —la vaca se nos acerca 30 behind us, moaning. I shake him por detrás quejándose. Vuelvo a darle un again. meneo.

“You stop it, now. Right this —Déjalo ya. Ahora minute. You’re fixing to make mismo. Te vas a poner 35 yourself sick and then you can’t go malo y entonces no podrás ir a to town. You go on to the house and la ciudad . Ve t e a c a s a y eat your supper.” tómate la cena.

“I don’t want no supper. I don’t —No quiero cenar. No quiero ir a la 40 want to go to town.” ciudad.

“We’ll leave you here, then. —Bueno, entonces te dejaremos lessen: (Am. col.) unless Lessen you behave, we will aquí. O te portas bien, o te deja- leave you. Go on, now, before mos. Anda ya, antes de que ese 45 that old green-eating tub of guts viejo cubo de tripas comeverduras eats everything up from you.” se coma todo lo tuyo. He goes on, disappearing slowly into Echa a andar, y desaparece lentamen- the hill. The crest, the trees, the roof te en el cerro. La cresta, los árboles, el of the house stand against the sky. techo de la casa se destacan en el cielo. 50 The cow puzzles at me, moaning. La vaca me empuja, quejándose. “You’ll just have to wait. What you —Tendrás que esperar. Lo que tienes got in you ain’t nothing to what I got dentro no es nada comparado con lo que lle- in me, even if you are a woman too.” vo dentro yo, aunque también seas hembra. She follows me, moaning. Then the Me sigue, se queja. Luego el aire ca- 55 dead, hot, pale air breathes on my face liente, muerto, pálido me vuelve a so- again. He could fix it all right, if he plar en la cara. Si quisiera, podría just would. And he don’t even know arreglarlo todo. Y ni siquiera lo sabe. it. He could do everything for me if Podría hacerlo todo por mí si lo su- he just knowed it. The cow breathes piera. La vaca resopla en mis caderas 60 upon my hips and back, her breath y espalda su aliento caliente, dulce, stertorous: (of breathing) making warm, sweet, stertorous, moaning. jadeante, quejumbroso. El cielo se ha snoring noises, estertóreo The sky lies flat down the slope, upon posado en la ladera, sobre los secre- the secret clumps. Beyond the hill tos brotes. Más allá del cerro relám- sheet-lightning stains upward and pagos tiñen la parte de arriba y se des- 65 fades. The dead air shapes the dead vanecen. Aire muerto envuelve a la earth in the dead darkness, further tierra muerta en la oscuridad muerta, away than seeing shapes the dead y fuera de la vista envuelve a la tie- earth. It lies dead and warm upon me, rra muerta. El aire muerto y caliente touching me naked through my X pesa _____ sobre mí, y me alcanza por 70 clothes. I said You don’t know what debajo de la ropa. Yo dije: No sabes worry is. I don’t know what it is. I lo que es estar [95] preocupado. Yo don’t know whether I am worrying no sé lo que es. No sé si me pre- or not. Whether I can or not. I don’t ocupo o no. Si puedo o no. No sé know whether I can cry or not. I don’t si puedo llorar o no. No sé si lo he 75 know whether I have tried to or not. I intentado o no. Me siento como feel like a wet seed wild in the hot una semilla silvestre húmeda enci- blind earth. ma de la tierra caliente y ciega.

31 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

15 15 VARDAMAN (2) VARDAMAN

WHEN they get it finished CUANDO la tengan terminada, irán Vardaman (2) 5 they are going to put her in it y la meterán dentro, y luego, durante and then for a long time I coudn’t mucho tiempo, no podré decirlo. He vis- This section consists of say it. I saw the dark stand up and to a la oscuridad que se levantaba y se Vardaman’s unspoken and go whirling away and I said marchaba haciendo remolinos y dije: unverbalised thoughts as he “Are you going to nail her up in —¿La vas a clavar dentro, Cash? watches his mother’s body being put into the coffin. 10 it, Cash? Cash? Cash?” I got shut ¿Cash? ¿Cash? —me quedé encerra- up in the crib the new door it was do en el pesebre. La nueva puerta era COMMENTARY: The too heavy for me it went shut I demasiado pesada para mí y se cerró confusion in this section indicates couldn’t breathe because the rat y no podía respirar porque la rata res- the enormous difficulties was breathing up all the air. I said piraba todo el aire. Dije—: ¿Vas a cla- Vardaman is having in trying to find some shape in his world now 15 “Are you going to nail it shut, varla y cerrarla, Cash? ¿La vas a cla- that it no longer contains his Cash? Nail it? Nail it?” var? ¿La vas a clavar? mother. The disorganisation of his thoughts is reflected in the Pa walks around. His shadow walks Padre anda por ahí. Su sombra anda breakdown of grammar and around, over Cash going up and down por ahí, por encima de Cash que sube y sense, ‘Because I am a country 20 above the saw, at the bleeding plank. baja la sierra sobre la tabla que sangra. boy because boys in town. Bicycles. Why do flour and lugar and coffee cost so much when he Dewey Dell said we will get some Dewey Dell dijo que tomaremos pláta- is a country boy’. The thoughts bananas. The train is behind the nos. El tren está detrás del cristal, rojo en- which crowd in upon him do glass, red on the track. When it runs cima de la vía. Cuando corre, la vía brilla contain some sort of perverted 25 the track shines on and off. Pa said aquí y allá. Padre dijo que la harina y el logic. In a separate grouping, we flour and sugar and coffee costs so azúcar y el café cuestan mucho. Porque yo find thoughts of confinement, of much. Because I am a country boy soy un chico del campo por culpa de los his own inability to breathe when enclosed in a small space and of because boys in town. Bicycles. Why chicos de la ciudad. Bicicletas. ¿Por qué the problems his mother will do flour and sugar and coffee cost so cuestan tanto la harina y el azúcar y el café experience in breathing in the 30 much when he is a country boy. cuando uno es un chico del campo? coffin. ruther: (Am. col.) would rather “Wouldn’t you ruther have some —¿No preferirías plátanos en lugar de From this, he goes on to think bananas instead?” Bananas are gone, eso? —los plátanos se han ido, comidos. that the object in the bed is not eaten. Gone. When it runs on the track Idos. Cuando corre, la vía brilla otra vez. his mother, ‘she went away when the other one laid down in her bed shines again. “Why ain’t I a town boy, —¿Por qué no soy un chico de la and drew the quilt up’, and begins 35 ‘ pa?” I said God made me. I did not ciudad, padre? —dije. Me hizo Dios. to wonder where his real mother said to God to made me in the No le dije a Dios que me hiciera chico has gone, whether she has gone country. If He can make the train, why del campo. Si puede hacer el tren, ¿por farther than the town. In the final can’t He make them all in the town qué no hace que todos sean chicos de paragraph, Vardaman links up the because flour and sugar and coffee. ciudad con harina y azúcar y café? dead fish with his dead mother, ‘then it wasn’t and she was, and 40 “Wouldn’t you ruther have bananas?” —¿No preferirías los plátanos? now it is and she wasn’t’, trying all the time to find where she is He walks around. His shadow Anda por ahí. Su sombra and what death means. He seems walks around. anda por ahí. to believe that the death of his mother and the fish are closely linked and that Vernon Tull, who 45 It was not her. I was there, looking. Eso no era ella. Yo estaba allí, mira- saw the dead fish, will be able to I saw. I thought it was her, but it was ba. Lo vi. Creí que eso era ella, pero no confirm this. not. It was not my mother. She went era. Eso no era mi madre. Ella se marchó away when the other one laid down in [96] cuando la otra se echó en la cama y her bed and drew the quilt up. She went estiró la colcha. Se marchó. 50 away. “Did she go as far as town?” —¿Habrá llegado hasta el pueblo? “She went farther than town.” —Se fue más lejos todavía. “Did all those rabbits and —¿Y todos esos conejos y possums: (Am. English) opossums, possums go farther than zarigüeyas se van tan lejos? small animals town?” God made the rabbits Dios hizo a los conejos y a las 55 and possums. He made the train. zarigüeyas. Hizo el tren. ¿Para qué va a Why must He make a different place for hacer un sitio diferente para que vayan them to go if she is just like the rabbit. si ella es igual que los conejos?

Pa walks around. His shadow Padre anda por ahí. Lo mismo su som- 60 does. The saw sounds like it is bra. La sierra suena como si estuviera asleep. durmiendo.

And so if Cash nails the box up, Y entonces Cash clava la caja por arri- she is not a rabbit. And so if she is ba y ella no es un conejo. Y si ella no es 65 not a rabbit I couldn’t breathe in the un conejo y yo no podía respirar en el crib and Cash is going to nail it up. pesebre y Cash se pone a clavarla por And so if she lets him it is not her. I arriba. Y si ella le deja es que no es ella. know. I was there. I saw when it did Lo sé. Yo estaba allí. Yo vi cuando eso not be her. I saw. They think it is and ya no era ella. Lo vi. Ellos creen que sí 70 Cash is going to nail it up. es y Cash va a clavar la tapa.

It was not her because it was laying Eso no era ella porque eso estaba right yonder in the dirt. And now it’s tirado por ahí, entre la porquería. Y all chopped up. I chopped it up. It’s ahora todo está cortado en pedazos. Lo 75 laying in the kitchen in the corté yo. Está en la cocina, sangrando bleeding pan, waiting to be cooked en la sartén, esperando a que lo coci- and et. Then it wasn’t and she was, nen y se lo coman. Entonces eso no and now it is and she wasn’t. And estaba aquí y ella sí estaba, y ahora

32 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

to-morrow it will be cooked and et está eso y ella no está. Y mañana lo and she will be him and pa and Cash cocinarán y se lo comerán y ella será and Dewey Dell and there won’t be él, y padre y Cash y Dewey Dell, y en anything in the box and so she can la caja no habrá nada y así podrá res- 5 breathe. It was laying right yonder on pirar. Eso estaba por ahí tirado en el the ground. I can get Vernon. He was suelo. Puedo preguntarle a Vernon. El there and he seen it, and with both of estaba allí y lo vio, y eso estará con us it will be and then it will not be. nosotros dos y luego no estará.

10 16 TULL (2) TULL

IT was nigh to midnight and it had ERA cerca de la medianoche y ya Tull (2) set in to rain when he woke us. It had estaba lloviendo cuando nos despertó. misdoubtful: (Am. col.) disturbing This section consists of Vernon 15 been a misdoubtful night, with the Había sido una noche inquietante, Tull’s unspoken thoughts on the storm making; a night when a fellow amenazando tormenta; una noche en evening of Addie’s death. After looks for most anything to happen que uno espera que pase algo antes de midnight, Vernon hears a noise before he can get the stock fed and poder recoger el ganado y llegar a casa and finds Vardaman standing himself to the house an supper et and y cenar y meterse en cama, con la llu- outside, soaking wet and talking 20 in bed with the rain starting, and via empezando a caer, así que cuando unintelligibly about a fish. Cora when Peabody’s team come up, llega el tiro de Peabody, cubierto de and Vernon take him back to his home where Vernon is put to work lathered: covered in sweat lathered, with the broke harness espuma, con los arneses rotos arras- nailing Addie into her coffin. dragging and the neck-yoke betwixt trando y con el yugo entre las patas del Vardaman tries to make it easier critter’s: (Am. col.) creature’s the off critter’s legs, Cora says animal de la derecha, Cora dice: [97] for her to ‘breathe’ by boring 25 “It’s Addie Bundren. She’s gone at —Es Addie Bundren. Por fin se ha holes in the coffin lid. After dawn, last.” ido. Vernon gets home, still upset by Vardaman’s odd behaviour, but mought: (Am. col.) might trying to accept Cora’s insistence “Peabody mought have been to ere —Peabody podría estar en cualquie- that Vardaman’s behaviour is the a one of a dozen houses hereabouts,” ra de la docena de casas de los alrededo- judgement of God on Anse 30 I says. “Besides, how do you know res —digo yo—. Además, ¿cómo sabes Bundren but that they, the Tulls, it’s Peabody’s team?” que es el tiro de Peabody? are so good that no such judgement will ever be passed on “Well, ain’t it?” she says. “You —Pero ¿es que no lo es? —dice ella— them. hitch up, now.” . Anda, ve enganchando. 35 “What for?” I says. “If she is gone, —¿Para qué? —digo yo—. Si Addie we can’t do nothing till morning. And se ha ido, hasta mañana no podemos ha- it fixing to storm too. cer nada. Amenaza tormenta, además. COMMENTARY: The impression that Vernon Tull is a sympathetic man is continued in 40 “It’s my duty,” she says. “You put —Es mi obligación —dice ella—. this section. Vardaman’s distress the team in. Trae la yunta. upsets him deeply, making him think about ‘the sorrows and But I wouldn’t do it. “It Pero yo no quería. afflictions in this world’. Tull’s stands to reason they’d send for —Es más sensato que manden por attempts at thought, however, serve only to reveal how limited 45 us if they needed us. You don’t nosotros si nos necesitan. Todavía no he is in his potential for thought. even know she’s gone yet.” sabes si se ha ido. He relies heavily on the words of his wife and generally believes “Why, don’t you know that’s —¿No sabes que es el tiro de that ‘the Lord aimed for him Peabody’s team? Do you claim it Peabody? ¿Atrévete a decir que no lo es? (man) to do and not to spend too 50 ain’t? Well, then.” But I wouldn’t go. Por lo tanto... —pero yo no quería ir. much time thinking’. When folks wants a fellow, it’s best Cuando la gente necesita a un vecino, es Apart from giving an insight into Tull’s character, this section to wait till they sends for him, I’ve mejor, según mi experiencia, esperar has- shows the reader the outward found. “It’s my Christian duty,” Cora ta que manden por él—. Es un deber de efects of the inner turmoil which says. “Will you stand between me and cristiana —dice Cora—. ¿Te vas a meter we saw in Vardaman (2). Having 55 my Christian duty?” entre mis deberes de cristiana y yo? seen what is going on in Vardaman’s mind, we now see the “You can stay there all day —Mañana, si quieres, puedes pasarte little boy set against the background of other people, people to-morrow, if you want,” I says. allí el día entero —digo yo. who fail to understand what he feels. 60 So when Cora waked me it had Conque cuando Cora me despertó set in to rain. Even while I was go- había empezado a llover. Ni cuando ing to the door with the lamp and it iba a la puerta con la lámpara y ésta shining on the glass so he could see brillaba en el cristal para que pudiera I am coming, it kept on knocking. ver que me acercaba dejó de llamar. 65 Not loud, but steady, like he might No fuerte, pero sin parar, como si se hu- sleep thumping: banging whilst have gone to sleep thumping, but I biera quedado dormido mientras llamaba, walking in sleep never noticed how low down on the pero no me di cuenta de lo abajo que door the knocking was till I opened llamaban de la puerta hasta que abrí it and never seen nothing. I held the y no vi nada. Levanté la lámpara y 70 lamp up, with the rain sparkling across la lluvia relucía delante de ella y de it and Cora back in the hall saying Cora que, detrás, en el zaguán, decía: “Who is it, Vernon?” but I —¿Quién es, Vernon? couldn’t see nobody a-tall Pero al principio no conseguí ver a at first until I looked down nadie en absoluto; no hasta que me aga- 75 and around the door, lower- ché y miré la parte de abajo de la puerta, ing the lamp. bajando la lámpara.

He looked like a drowned puppy, Parecía un perrillo ahogado, con su

33 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

in them overalls, without no hat, mono, sin gorro, salpicado hasta las ro- splashed up to his knees where he had dillas pues había tenido que andar seis walked them four miles in the mud. kilómetros por el barro. “Well, I’ll be durned,” I says. —Bueno, que me maten... —digo yo. 5 “Who is it, Vernon?” Cora says. —¿Quién es, Vernon? —dice Cora.

He looked at me, his eyes round Me miraba con sus ojos redondos y and black in the middle like when negros como cuando se lanza un rayo de 10 you throw a light in a owl’s face. luz a la cara de una lechuza. [98] “You mind that ere fish,” he says. —Tenga cuidado con el pez —dice.

“Come in the house,” I says. “What —Entra a casa —digo yo—. ¿Qué is it? Is your maw——” pasa? Es que tu madre... 15 “Vernon,” Cora says. —Vernon —dice Cora.

He stood kind of around behind the Seguía más o menos a un lado de la door, in the dark. The rain was puerta, en la oscuridad. La lluvia golpea- 20 blowing on to the lamp, hissing on it ba la lámpara, sonando en ella de tal modo so I am scared every minute it’ll que a cada minuto temía que se rompiera. break. “You was there,” he says. “You —Usted estaba allí —dice él—. Us- seen it.” ted lo vio.

25 Then Cora come to the door. “You Entonces Cora sale a la puerta. come right in outen the rain,” she —Ven ahora mismo y quítate de la says, pulling him in and him watching lluvia —le dice, tirando de él que me me. He looked just like a drowned miraba. Parecía un perrillo ahogado— puppy. “I told you,” Cora says. “I told .Ya te lo había dicho —dice Cora—. Te 30 you it was a-happening. You go and había dicho lo que estaba pasando. Vete hitch.” a aparejar.

“But he ain’t said——” I says. —Pero si él no ha dicho... —digo yo.

35 He looked at me, dripping on to Me miraba, chorreando en el suelo. the floor. “He’s a-raining the rug,” —Me está destrozando la estera — Cora says. “You go get the team while dice Cora—. Vete a traer la yunta mien- I take him to the kitchen.” tras me lo llevo a la cocina.

40 But he hung back, dripping, Pero él se soltó, chorreando, obser- watching me with them eyes. vándome sin quitarme ojo. “You was there. You seen it laying —Usted estaba allí. Usted lo ha visto there. Cash is fixing to nail her allí tirado. Cash lo está preparando todo up, and it was a-laying right there para clavarla y el pez estaba allí mismo 45 on the ground. You seen it. You tirado en el suelo. Usted lo vio. Vio la seen the mark in the dirt. The rain marca que dejó en el polvo. La lluvia no never come up till after I was empezó hasta después de venir camino a-coming here. So we can get back de aquí. Así que puede que lleguemos a in time.” tiempo. 50 I be durn if it didn’t give me the ______the creeps: (col.) an unnerving feeling creeps, even when I didn’t know yet. ______But Cora did. “You get that team X ______quick as you can,” she says. “He’s ______55 outen his head with grief and worry.” ______

I be durn if it didn’t give me the Maldita sea, me dieron escalofríos. creeps. Now and then a fellow gets De vez en cuando se piensan cosas. to thinking. About all the sorrows and En el dolor y tristeza de este mundo; 60 afflictions in this world; how it’s en cómo son capaces de golpear en liable to strike anywhere, like cualquier parte, como el relámpago. lightning. I reckon it does take a Para mí que hay que confiar mucho powerful trust in the Lord to guard a en el Señor para estar prote- fellow, though sometimes I think that gido, aunque a veces creo que a mite: a little, small quantity, pizca 65 Cora’s a mite over-cautious, like she Cora es un poquito precavida en exceso, [ácaro / chiquillo] was trying to crowd the other folks como si tratara de apartar a los de- away and get in closer than anybody más y estar más cerca que nadie. Pero else. But then, when something like luego, cuando pasa algo como esto, this happens, I reckon she is right and para mí que tiene razón y hay que 70 you got to keep after it and I reckon hacer lo que dice y para mí que es una I am blessed in having a wife that bendición tener una mujer que siem- ever strives for sanctity and pre se esfuerza por conseguir la san- well-doing like she says I am. tidad y que me dice cómo obrar bien.

75 Now and then a fellow gets to De vez en cuando se piensan co- thinking about it. Not often, sas. No con demasiada frecuencia, though. Which is a good thing. For sin embargo. Lo que es una buena the Lord aimed for him to do and cosa. Pues el Señor quiere que obre-

34 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

not to spend too much time think- mos y no perdamos demasiado tiem- ing, because his brain it’s like a po pensando, porque nuestro cerebro piece of machinery: it won’t stand es como una pieza [99] de relojería: racking: stretching a whole lot of racking. It’s best no necesita estar siempre en marcha. 5 when it all runs along the same, Es mejor cuando funciona siempre doing the day’s work and not no igual, cuando hace su tarea diaria y one part used no more than needful. no usa ninguna de sus partes más de I have said and I say again, that’s lo necesario. Lo he dicho y lo vuel- ever living thing the matter with vo a decir, que eso es lo que le pasa 10 Darl: he just thinks by himself too a Darl: piensa demasiado. Cora tie- much. Cora’s right when she says ne razón cuando dice que lo único all he needs is a wife to straighten que necesita es una mujer que lo en- him out. And when I think about derece. Y cuando pienso en eso, that, I think that if nothing but pienso que si sólo el matrimonio pue- 15 being married will help a man, he’s de ayudar a un hombre, este hombre durn nigh hopeless. But I reckon está casi perdido. Pero para mí que Cora’s right when she says the Cora tiene razón cuando dice que la reason the Lord had to create razón por la que el Señor creó a la women is because man don’t know mujer es porque el hombre no sabe 20 his own good when he sees it. lo que le conviene aunque lo vea.

When I come back to the house Cuando vuelvo a casa con el with the team, they was in the tiro, estaban en la cocina. Ella se kitchen. She was dressed on top of había vestido encima del camisón, 25 her nightgown with a shawl over y se había puesto un chal en la ca- her head and her umbrella and her beza, y llevaba el paraguas y la Bible wrapped up in the oilcloth, Biblia envuelta en hule, y él, sen- and him sitting on a up-turned tado en un cubo boca abajo enci- bucket: pail bucket on the stove-zinc where she ma del fogón, donde le había pues- 30 had put him, dripping on to the floor. to ella, seguía goteando al suelo. “I can’t get nothing outen him except —No consigo sacarle más que algo about a fish,” she says. “It’s a de un pez —dice Cora—. Es un casti- judgment on them. I see the hand of go de Dios. Veo que Dios ha puesto the Lord upon this boy for Anse su mano sobre este chico para casti- 35 Bundren’s judgment and warning.” go y advertencia de Anse Bundren.

“The rain never come up till after —No empezó a llover hasta después I left,” he says. “I had done left. I was de irme —dice él—. Ya me había mar- on the way. And so it was there in the chado. Estaba de camino. Y eso estaba 40 dust. You seen it. Cash is fixing to allí, en el polvo. Usted lo vio. Cash se nail her, but you seen it.” prepara a clavarla, pero usted lo vio.

When we got there it was raining Cuando llegamos llovía con fuerza, hard, and him sitting on the seat y él iba en el asiento entre nosotros, en- 45 between us, wrapped up in Cora’s vuelto en el chal de Cora. No había di- shawl. He hadn’t said nothing else, cho nada más, limitándose a sentarse just sitting there with Cora holding allí con Cora tapándole con el paraguas. the umbrella over him. Now and then De cuando en cuando Cora dejaba de Cora would stop singing long enough canturrear lo suficiente para decir: «Es 50 to say “It’s a judgment on Anse un castigo de Dios a Anse Bundren. Bundren. May it show him the path Puede que esto le enseñe que no se debe of sin he is a-trodding.” Then she seguir el camino del pecado.» Luego would sing again, and him sitting volvía a canturrear, y él sentado entre there between us, leaning forward a nosotros, un poco inclinado hacia de- 55 little like the mules couldn’t go fast lante como si las mulas no fueran lo enough to suit him. bastante deprisa para su gusto.

“It was laying right yonder,” he —Eso estaba por allí tirado — says, “but the rain come up after I dice—, pero la lluvia no empezó has- 60 taken and left. So I can go and open ta que cogí y me fui. Conque puedo the windows, because Cash ain’t ir y abrir las ventanas, porque Cash nailed her yet.” todavía no la ha clavado.

It was long a-past midnight when Hacía tiempo que había pasado la 65 we drove the last nail, and almost medianoche cuando pusimos el último dust-dawn when I got back home clavo, y casi amanecía cuando volví and taken the team out and got back casa y desuncí el tiro y volví a acostar- in bed, with Cora’s nightcap laying me; el gorro de dormir de Cora descan- on the other pillow. And be durned saba en la otra almohada. Y que me 70 if even then it wasn’t like I could condene si incluso entonces no parecía still hear Cora singing and feel that que seguía oyendo canturrear a Cora y boy leaning forward between us notando al niño echado hacia adelante, like he was ahead of the mules, and entre nosotros como si fuera delante de still see Cash going up and down las mulas, y todavía veía a Cash dale 75 with that saw, and Anse standing que dale a la sierra, y a Anse allí de pie there like a scarecrow, like he was como un espantapájaros, como un a steer standing knee-deep in a buey que se hubiera hundido hasta el pond and somebody come by and corvejón en un charco y se le acercara

35 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

set the pond up on edge and he ain’t al guien y lo sacara al borde y él si- missed it yet. guiera sin reaccionar.

It was nigh toward daybreak when Casi iba a romper el día cuando pu- 5 we drove the last nail and toted it into simos el último clave y llevamos la caja the house, where she was laying on dentro de la casa, donde ella estaba the bed with the window open and the tumbada en la cama con la ventana rain blowing on her again. Twice he abierta y la lluvia cayéndo le encima. did it, and him so dead for sleep that Dos veces la abrió y estaba tan muerto 10 Cora says his face looked like one of de sueño que Cora dice que su cara pa- these here Christmas masks that had recía una careta de Navidad que han done been buried a while and then dug tenido enterrada y luego la sacaron, up, until at last they put her into it hasta que por fin la metieron dentro y and nailed it down so he couldn’t la clavaron de modo que él no pudiera 15 open the window on her no more. And volver a dejarla a la intemperie. Y a la the next morning they found him in mañana siguiente lo encontraron tum- felled steer: (Am. English) a dead his shirt-tail laying asleep on the floor bado en el suelo en camisa dormido cow like a felled steer, and the top of the como un buey muerto, y la tapa de box bored clean full of holes and la caja llena de agujeros y el auger: an instrument for making 20 Cash’s new auger broke off in the berbiquí nuevo de Cash roto en el úl- holes in wood last one. When they taken the lid timo de ellos. Cuando levantaron la off they found that two of them tapa descubrieron que dos de los had bored on into her face. taladros le habían agujereado la cara.

25 If it’s a judgment, it ain’t right. Si esto es un castigo de Dios, no es Because the Lord’s got more to do justo. Porque el Señor tiene cosas mejo- than that. He’s bound to have. res que hacer. A la fuerza tiene que te- Because the only burden Anse nerlas. Porque la única carga de Anse Bundren’s ever had is himself. Bundren no ha sido más que él mismo. Y 30 And when folks talks him low, I cuando la gente habla mal de él pienso think to myself he ain’t that less para mis adentros que de haber sido me- of a man or he couldn’t a bore nos hombre de lo que es no habría aguan- himself this long. tado tanto.

35 It ain’t right. I be durn if it is. No hay derecho. Que me condene Because He said Suffer little si lo hay. Porque que El dijera: De- children to come unto Me don’t jad que los niños se acerquen a Mí, make it right, neither. Cora said, no lo arregla tampoco. Cora dijo: “I have bore you what the Lord God —Te he dado lo que me mandó Dios 40 sent me. I faced it without fear nor Nuestro Señor. Lo he afrontado sin mie- terror because my faith was strong in do ni terror porque mi fe en el Señor bolster cabezal m; almohadón m (con forma cilíndri- ca) (also bolster up) reforzar [+ morale] levantar the Lord, a-bolstering and sustaining era firme, y me sostuvo y ayudó. Si no 1 : a long pillow or cushion 2 : a structural part designed to eliminate friction me. If you have no son, it’s because tienes un hijo es porque el Señor, con or provide support or bearing the Lord has decreed otherwise in His su sabiduría, ha decretado que no lo 1 : to support with or as if with a bolster : REINFORCE 2 : to give a boost to been a open book to ere a man or un libro abierto para cualquier hom- woman among His creatures because bre o mujer, criaturas suyas, porque I trust in my God and my reward.” confío en mi Dios y en mi recompensa.

50 I reckon she’s right. I reckon if Para mí que ella tiene sazón. Para there’s ere a man or woman anywhere mí que si hay un hombre o una mujer that He could turn it all over to and en que É1 pueda descansar y confiar, go away with His mind at rest, it no puede ser nadie más que Cora. Y would be Cora. And I reckon she para mí que ella haría unos cuantos 55 would make a few changes, no matter cambios sin importarle cómo había how He was running it. And I reckon dispuesto É1 las cosas. Y para mí que they would be for man’s good. redundarían en bien de los hombres. Leastways, we would have to like Al menos, nos tendrían que gustar. Al them. Leastways, we might as well menos podríamos comportarnos así y 60 go on and make like we did. hacer como si nos gustaran.

17 D A R L (6) DARL

a stump: the remains of a tree trunk 65 THE lantern sits on a stump. EL farol está encima de un tocón. Darl (6) Rusted, grease-fouled, bits cracked Oxidado, sucio de grasa, con el chimney smeared on one side with a tubo roto y manchado de barro, y This section consists of Darl’s soaring smudge of soot, it sheds a uno de los lados tiznado de hollín, unspoken and unverbalised feeble and sultry glare upon the arroja una luz débil y cálida sobre thoughts as he reconstructs in great detail the scene which takes 70 trestles and the boards and the los caballetes y las tablas y la tierra place after the Tulls have returned adjacent earth. Upon the dark ground adyacente. Encima del oscuro suelo las with Vardaman to the farm. At the the chips look like random smears virutas parecen borrones de color páli- end of the section, he returns to of soft pale paint on a black canvas. do suave pintados al azar en un lienzo the present and wonders about the The boards look like long smooth negro. Las tablas parecen largos y pu- status of the words ‘is’ and ‘was’ in relation to people. 75 tatters torn from the flat darkness lidos andrajos desgarrados de la chata and turned backside out. oscuridad y puestos al revés.

Cash labours about the trestles, Cash se afana junto a los caballetes,

36 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

moving back and forth, lifting and placing va y viene, levanta y coloca las tablas que COMMENTARY: Instead of clatter estrépito n. a rattling noise (often produced the planks with long clattering producen largas reverberaciones restallantes allowing the reader to see these by rapid movement); “the shutters clattered against events directly, Faulkner chooses the house”; “the clatter of iron wheels on reverberations in the dead air as en el aire muerto igual que si estuvie- cobblestones” to present them through the eyes v. clatter hacer ruido estrepitoso, clack, brattle though he were lifting and dropping ra levantándolas y luego dejándolas of the absent Darl. This serves a make a rattling sound; “clattering dishes” 5 them at the bottom of an invisible caer al fondo de un pozo invisible, 1 : to make a rattling sound 2 : to talk noisily or rapidly 3 : to well, the sounds ceasing without donde cesan los sonidos sin desapare- strengthens our idea of how move or go with a clatter pound, thump departing, as if any movement might cer del todo, como si algún movimiento obsessed Darl is with his home dislodge [stone, obstruction] sacar, extraer dislodge them from the immediate los desalojara del aire inmediato con and his mother and it gives the [party, ruler] desbancar = cause to fall) hacer caer reader a description of the events to remove from or leave a lodging place, hiding pla- air in reverberant repetition. He saws reverberaciones repetidas. Vuelve a se- ce, or previously fixed position in the words of the best observer 10 again, his elbow flashing slowly, a rrar, su codo relampaguea lentamente, in the book. Absent though he is, thin thread of fire running along una fina hebra de fuego recorre los Darl’s imaginings are as the edge of the saw, lost and dientes de la sierra, se pierde y se re- meticulous as his actual recovered at the top and bottom of cupera en cada uno de los extremos con observations. In Darl’s each stroke in unbroken elongation, cada golpe en continua prolongación, reconstruction, the scene takes on surrealistic undertones, grotesque 15 so that the saw appears to be six de modo que la sierra parece que mide shadows throwing things out of feet long, into and out of pa’s dos metros de largo, al entrar y salir de proportion, the image lit by the shabby and aimless silhoutte. la silueta miserable e inútil de padre. lurid (fantasmagórica) light of the “Give me that Plank,” Cash —Deme esa tabla —dice lightning and the rain sweeping says. “No; the other one.” Cash—. No; la otra. the figures along in a way which 20 He puts the saw down and comes and Deja la sierra y va y coge la ta- anticipates the scene in the river. picks up the plank he wants, sweeping bla que quiere, borrando a padre con Of all the characters in the book, only Darl could credibly be given pea away with the long swinging el alargado resplandor oscilante the unverbalised response to the gleam of the balanced board. de la tabla equilibrada. events which brings out all the macabre and surreal elements in 25 The air smells like sulphur. Upon E1 aire huele como a azufre. Encima them. impalpable: incapable of being the impalpable plane of it their de su impalpable superficie las sombras The last paragraph contains touched or felt shadows form as upon a wall, as se disponen como encima de una pared, Darl’s personal attempt to resolve the problem of his own existence, though like sound they had not gone como si, al igual que los sonidos, no fue- a problem brought to mind not ruffle very far away in falling but had ran a caer muy lejos, sino que meramen- only by the impending death of — v. arrugar, agitar, rizar, despeinar encrespar, eri- zar, descomponer, perturbar, ofender, alisar 30 merely congealed for a moment, te se cuajaran durante un momento, in- his mother but also by his own 1tr. disturb the smoothness or tranquillity of. situation. Settling down to sleep 2tr. upset the calmness of (a person). immediate and musing. Cash works mediato y contemplativo. Cash trabaja 3tr. gather (lace etc.) into a ruffle. on, half turned into the feble light, one medio vuelto hacia la débil luz, un mus- in a strange place, Darl wonders 4tr. (often foll. by up) (of a bird) erect (its feathers) in about the difference between the anger, display, etc. thigh and one pole-thin arm braced, lo y un brazo delgado como un palo en 5intr. undergo ruffling. sleeping state and the state of not- 6intr. lose smoothness or calmness. his face sloped into the light with a tensión, la cara hundida en la luz con being, that is, death. ‘And when — n. arruga, volante fruncido, rizo 1 an ornamental gathered or goffered frill of lace etc. 35 rapt, dynamic immobility above his arrobada y dinámica inmovilidad enci- you are filled for sleep . . . And worn at the opening of a garment esp. round the tireless elbow. Below the sky ma de su codo infatigable. Bajo el cielo then I must be . . .’, these lines wrist, breast, or neck. ruffled skirt=falda de volantes;(o pechera o manga de volantes) sheet-lightning slumbers lightly; los relámpagos se adormecen levemen- contain an odd, apparently 2 perturbation, bustle. unintelligible reflection on the 3 a rippling effect on water. against it the trees, motionless, are te; contra éste los árboles, inmóviles, 4 the ruff of a bird etc. (see ruff 1 2). ruffled out to the last twig, swollen, agitan hasta su última rama, hinchados, meaning of existence. They hinge 5Mil. a vibrating drum-beat. on the words ‘is’ and ‘was’ and quick with young: pregnant 40 increased as though quick with desarrollados como una súbita juven- on the confirmation of the young. tud existence of anything or anyone by some agency beyond that thing It begins to rain. The first Se pone a llover. Las primeras gotas, or person. Thus the wagon sitting harsh, sparse, swift drops rush desaparecidas, dispersas, repentinas, re- outside in the rain ‘is’ in Darl’s terminology because the falling 45 through the leaves and across the corren rápidamente las hojas y caer al rain takes on the shape of the ground in a long sigh, as though suelo con un largo suspiro, como libera- wagon. When he sets out to go to of relief from intolerable sus- das de una incertidumbre insoportable. sleep, he abandons his ‘shape’, buckshot: the pellets used in a gun pense. They are big as buckshot, Son como grandes perdigones, calientes ceases to have his existence warm as though fired from a gun; igual que si las hubiera disparado una confirmed by any outside agency. 50 they sweep across the lantern in a escopeta; se deslizan por el farol con un In the end, Darl uses a variation vicious 1 bad-tempered, spiteful (a vicious dog; vicious vicious hissing. Pa lifts his face, siseo maligno. Padre levanta la cara, bo- of the ‘I think therefore I am’ remarks). 2 violent, severe (a vicious attack). 3 of the notion to confirm his own nature of or addicted to vice. 4 (of language or slackmouthed, the wet black rim of quiabierto, el cerco negro y húmedo del reasoning etc.) faulty or unsound. existence, ‘I must be, or I could Malicioso, horroroso, feroz, despiadado snuff plastered close along the base rapé emplastado a lo largo de la base de not empty myself for sleep’. This vicious feroz, salvaje, fiero, despiadado, sangui- nario, virulento, atroz, malicioso, malintencio- of his gums; from behind his sus encías; desde detrás de su boca abier- meditation on the nature of nado, nefasto, fatal, abominable, depravado 55 slackfaced astonishment he muses as ta por el asombro suelta palabras existence takes place at an though from beyond time, upon the entrecortadas, como si llegaran desde unspoken but not an unverbalised ultimate outrage. Cash looks once más allá del tiempo, acerca de esta afren- level, for the terms are simple although the ideas are complex. at the sky, then at the lantern. ta definitiva. Cash mira al cielo, luego al When we come to Addie’s The saw has not faltered, the running farol. La sierra no ha callado, el resplan- section, we see that Darl’s doubts pistoning: (neologism) going back 60 gleam of its pistoning edge unbroken. dor móvil de sus dientes no se ha roto. about his own existence have a and forwards like a piston “Get something to cover the —Traiga algo para tapar el great deal to do with the tension lantern,” he says. farol —dice. between words and deeds, between terms and ideas. This sections gives us an early Pa goes to the house. The rain Padre va a casa. La lluvia aumenta indication of the nature of his 65 rushes suddenly down, without de repente, sin truenos, sin aviso de nin- problem and also, in passing, thunder, without warning of any sort; gún tipo; la lluvia lo barre contra el bor- reveals the lonely inner depths of he is swept on to the porch upon the de del porche, y en un instante Cash his character. edge of it and in an instant Cash is wet queda calado hasta los huesos. Con todo, to the skin. Yet the motion of the saw no ha cesado el movimiento de la sie- 70 has not faltered, as though it and the rra, como si ésta y el brazo funciona- arm functioned in a tranquil conviction sen con la tranquila convicción de que that rain was an illusion of the mind. la lluvia era una ilusión mental. Lue- Then he puts down the saw and goes go deja la sierra y va y se agacha en- and crouches above the lantern, cima del farol, potegiéndolo con el 75 shielding it with his body, his back cuerpo; su espalda aparece flaca y scrawny bony, lean, scraggy ( 1 thin and bony, des- shaped lean and scrawny by his wet esquelética bajo la camisa empapada carnado adj. 2 Enjuto, flaco y descolorido 3 being lean and long) shirt as though he had been abruptly como si se le hubiese vuelto bruscamente turned wrong-side out, shirt and all. del revés, con camisa y todo. [103]

37 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

Pa returns. He is wearing Jewel’s Padre vuelve. Se ha puesto el imper- raincoat and carrying Dewey Dell’s. meable de Jewel y trae el de Dewey Dell. Squatting over the lantern, Cash Protegiendo el farol, Cash se echa hacia 5 reaches back and picks up four sticks atrás y coge cuatro palos y los clava en and drives them into the earth and el suelo y le quita a padre el impermea- takes Dewey Dell’s raincoat from pa and ble de Dewey Dell y lo despliega encima spreads it over the sticks, forming a roof de los palos, formando un techo sobre el above the lantern. Pa watches him. farol. Padre le mira. 10 “I don’t know what you’ll do,” he —No sé lo que vas a hacer —dice—. says. “Darl taken his coat with him.” Darl se la llevado su impermeable.

“Get wet,” Cash says. He takes —Empaparme —dice Cash. Vuelve up the saw again; again it moves a coger la sierra; vuelve a moverla 15 up and down, in and out of that arriba y abajo, dentro y fuera de esa impervious 1 a : not allowing entrance or passage : IMPENETRABLE b : not capable of being damaged or ton moves in the oil; soaked, scrawny, pistón se mueve en el aceite; empapado, harmed 2 : not responsive to an argument tireless, with the lean light body of a esquelético, infatigable, tiene el cuerpo etc ; not capable of being affected or disturbed = impermeable, im- boy or an old man. Pa watches him, flaco y ligero de un muchacho o un an- penetrable, insensible impervious adj. (usu. foll. by to) 1 not responsive 20 blinking, his face streaming; again he ciano. Padre le mira, pestañea, le chorrea to an argument etc. 2 not affording passage looks up at the sky with that expres- la cara; vuelve a levantar la vista al cielo to a fluid. sion of dumb and brooding outrage con esa expresión de idiota y de ultraje and yet of vindication, as though he y, con todo, de vindicación, como si no had expected no less; now and then esperase menos; de vez en cuando se agi- 25 he stirs, moves, gaunt and streaming, ta, se mueve, demacrado y chorreando, picking up a board or a tool and then para coger una tabla o una herramienta laying it down. Vernon Tull is there que luego deja caer. Vernon Tull ahora now, and Cash is wearing Mrs. Tull’s está allí, y Cash se ha puesto el imper- raincoat and he and Vernon are hunt- meable de Mrs. Tull y él Vernon buscan 30 ing the saw. After a while they find it la sierra. A1 cabo de un rato la encuen- in pa’s hand. tran en la mano de padre.

“Why don’t you go on in the house, —¿Por qué no se mete en casa al abri- caricaturist: one who makes grotesque representations of people out of the rain?” Cash says. Pa looks go de la lluvia? —dice Cash. Padre le or things by exaggerating certain 35 at him, his face streaming slowly. It mira, su cara chorrea lentamente. Es features of them is as though upon a face carved by a como si sobre una cara tallada por un burlesque: imitation for the purpose savage caricaturist a monstrous caricaturista brutal fluyera una of deriding or amusing burlesque of all bereavement burla monstruosa de la aflicción. bereave deprive of a relation, friend, etc., esp. by death. Luto, duelo, desgracia, aflicción flowed. “You go on in,” Cash says. —Métase dentro —dice Cash—. Yo 40 “Me and Vernon can finish it.” y Vernon la podemos terminar.

Pa looks at them. The sleeves Padre les mira. Las mangas del im- of Jewel’s coat are too short for permeable de Jewel le quedan dema- him. Upon his face the rain siado cortas. Sobre la cara le chorrea 45 stream, slow as cold glycerine. “I la lluvia, lenta como glicerina fría. don’t begrudge her the wetting,” he says. —No voy a regatearle la mojadura —dice. He mover again and falls to shifting Vuelve a moverse y se agacha a the planks, picking them up, laying remover los tableros, los levanta y them down again carefully, as though luego los deja de nuevo cuidadosamen- 50 they are glass. He goes to the lantern te como si fueran de cristal. Va hasta el fa- and pulls at the propped raincoat X rol y estira el ______impermeable until he knocks it down and Cash hasta que lo tira y Cash va y lo comes and fixes it back. vuelve a poner como estaba.

55 “You go on to the house,” Cash says. —Entre en casa —dice Cash. He leads pa to the house and returns Lleva a padre a casa y vuelve con el with the raincoat and folds it and impermeable y lo dobla y lo coloca de- places it beneath the shelter where the bajo de la protección donde está el [104] lantern sits. Vernon has not stopped. farol. Vernon no ha parado. Levanta la 60 He looks up, still sawing. vista, sin dejar de serrar.

“You ought to done that at first,” he says. —Deberías haberlo hecho al princi- “You knowed it was fixing to rain.” pio —dice—. Sabía que iba a llover.

65 “It’s his fever,” Cash says. He —Tiene fiebre —dice Cash, y looks at the board. mira la tabla.

“Ay,” Vernon says. “He’d a come, —Sí —dice Vernon—. De todos mo- anyway.” dos hubiera venido. 70 Cash squints at the board. On Cash enfila la tabla con la vista. fluctuant: falling and rising the long flank of it the rain crashes En su largo costado 1a lluvia choca irregularly steadily, myriad, fluctuant. firme, espesa, agitada. bevel: make sloping bisel. Corte oblicuo en el borde o en la extremidad “I’m going to bevel it,” he says. —La voy a contar a bisel —dice. de una lámina o plancha, como en el filo de una 75 herramienta, en el contorno de un cristal labrado, etc. “It’ll take more time,” Vernon says. —Eso te llevará más tiempo —dice Vernon. Cash sets the plank on edge; a Cash coloca la tabla de canto, moment longer Vernon watches him, Vernon le mira durante un momento,

38 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

then he hands him the plane. luego le da el cepillo.

Vernon holds the board steady Vernon sostiene la tabla con fuerza while Cash bevels the edge of it with mientras Cash bisela el canto con el 5 the tedious and minute care of a cuidado aburrido y minucioso de un jeweller. Mrs. Tull comes to the joyero. Mrs. Tull sale al borde del edge of the porch and calls Vernon. porche y llama a Vernon. “How near are you done?” she says. —¿Os falta mucho? —dice.

10 Vernon does not look up. Vernon no levanta la vista. “Not long. Some, yet. —No mucho. Pero todavía un poco.

She watches Cash stooping Ella contempla a Cash encorvado turgid hinchado, abultado, túrgido, turgente, cam- at the plank, the turgid savage sobre la tabla; el túrgido y brutal res- panudo, ampuloso, rimbombante, cargado (aire) 15 gleam of the lantern slicking plandor del farol hace brillar el im- on the raincoat as he moves. permeable cada vez que se mueve. “You go down and get some planks —Anda, baja y trae unos tableros del off the barn and finish it and come in granero y termina y entra a ponerte a cu- out of the rain,” she says. “You’ll both bierto de la lluvia —dice ella—. O vais 20 catch your death.” Vernon does not a quedar tiesos —Vernon no se mueve— move. “Vernon,” she says. . Vernon —dice ella.

“We won’t be long,” he says. —No tardaremos mucho —dice él—. “We’ll be done after a spell.” Lo terminaremo en un santiamén. 25 Mrs. Tull watches them a while. Then Mrs. Tull le mira durante un rato. Lue- she re-enters the house. go vuelve a entrar en la casa.

“If we get in a tight, we could take —Si nos vemos en un aprieto, podemos come of them planks,” Vernon says. coger alguno de esos tableros —dice 30 “I’ll help you put them back.” Vernon—. Yo te ayudaría a reponerlos.

Cash ceases the plane and squints Cash deja de cepillar y enfila la tabla con along the plank, wiping it with his palm. la vista, secándola con la palma de la mano. “Give me the next one,” he says. —Deme el siguiente —dice. 35 Some time toward dawn the rain Casi al amanecer deja de llover. ceases. But it is not yet day when Pero todavía no es de día cuando Cash Cash drives the last nail and stands clava el último clavo y se estira entu- stiffly up and looks down at the mecido y baja la vista hacia el ataúd 40 finished coffin, the others ya terminado, mientras los otros le watching him. In the lanternlight observan. A la luz del farol tiene la his face is calm, musing; slowly he cara tranquila, pensativa; se restriega strokes his hands on his raincoated lentamente las manos en el impermea- thighs in a gesture deliberate, final ble, a la altura de las caderas, con un 45 and composed. Then the four of gesto decidido, final y sereno. Luego them —Cash and pa and Vernon and los cuatro —Cash y padre y Vernon y Peabody—raise the coffin to their Peabody— cogen el ataúd a hombros shoulders and turn toward the house. y se dirigen a casa. No pesa mucho, It is light, yet they move slowly; pero se mueven despacio; está vacío, 50 empty; yet they carry it carefully; pero lo llevan con cuidado; carece de lifeless, yet they move with hushed vida, pero se mueven diciéndose unos precautionary words to one another, a otros palabras de advertencia, ha- speaking of it as though, complete, it blando de él como si, ya terminado, now slumbered lightly alive, waiting ahora estuviera medio dormido a la 55 to come awake. On the dark floor espera del despertar. Sobre el oscuro their feet clump awkwardly, as suelo sus pies andan pesados como though for a long time they have not si llevaran mucho tiempo sin andar walked on floors. sobre suelos de madera.

60 They set it down by the Lo dejan junto a la cama. Peabody bed. Peabody says quietly: dice en voz baja: “Let’s eat a snack. It’s almost —Vamos a comer algo. Ya casi es daylight. Where’s Cash?” de día. ¿Dónde está Cash?

65 He has returned to the trestles, Éste ha vuelto a los caballetes; incli- stooped again in the lantern’s feeble nado nuevamente al débil resplandor del glare as he gathers up his tools and wipes farol, recoge sus herramientas y las seca them on a cloth carefully and puts them cuidadosamente con un trapo y las guar- into the box with its leather sling to go da en la caja que tiene una correa para 70 over the shoulder. Then he takes up box, colgársela del hombro. Luego, coge caja, lantern and raincoat and returns to the farol e impermeable y vuelve a casa, su- house, mounting the steps into faint biendo los escalones con su tenue silhouette against the paling east. silueta destacándose sobre el pálido este.

75 In a strange room you must empty En un cuarto extraño, para dor- yourself for sleep. And before you are mir, tienes que vaciarte. Y antes de emptied for sleep, what are you. And vaciarte para dormir, ¿qué eres? Y when you are emptied for sleep, you cuando te vacías para dormir, no

39 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

are not. And when you are filled with eres. Y cuando estás lleno de sueño, sleep, you never were. I don’t know nunca fuiste. No sé lo que soy. No what I am. I don’t know if I am or sé si soy yo o no lo soy. Jewel sabe not. Jewel knows he is, because he que es, porque no sabe que él no sabe 5 does not know that he does not know si es o no. No puede vaciarse para whether he is or not. He cannot empty dormir porque no es lo que es y es lo himself for sleep because he is not que no es. Más allá de la pared os- what he is and he is what he is not. cura oigo la lluvia dar forma a la ca- Beyond the unlamped wall I can hear rreta que es nuestra, a la carga que 10 the rain shaping the wagon that is ya no es de los que la cortaron y se- ours, the load that is no longer theirs rraron ni siquiera de los que la com- that felled and sawed it nor yet theirs praron y que tampoco es nuestra, that bought it and which is not ours aunque yace en nuestra carreta, pues- either, lie on our wagon though it to que sólo el viento y la lluvia le 15 does, since only the wind and the rain dan forma y sólo para Jewel y para shape it only to Jewel and me, that mí, que no estamos dormidos. Y como are not asleep. And since sleep is el sueño es no ser y la lluvia y el vien- is-not and rain and wind are was, it is to son fue, la carreta no es. Sin em- not. Yet the wagon is, because when bargo, la carreta es, porque cuando la 20 the wagon is was, Addie Bundren will carreta es fue, Addie Bundren no será. Y not be. And Jewel is, so Addie Jewel es, conque Addie Bundren tiene que Bundren must be. And then I must be, ser. Y entonces yo tengo que ser, o no po- or I could not empty myself for sleep dría vaciarme a mí mismo para dormir e in a strange room. And so if I am not un cuarto extraño. Y así si yo todavía no 25 emptied yet, I am is. estoy vacío, es que soy.

How often have I lain Cuántas veces he estado acostado a beneath rain on a strange cubierto de la lluvia bajo un techo extra- roof, thinking of home. ño, pensando en el hogar. 30 18 CASH (1) CASH

I MADE it on the bevel. Lo he hecho en bisel. Cash (1) 35 1 . There is more surface for the 1. Hay más superficie para que aga- This brief section takes the nails to grip. rren los clavos. form of a list, reflecting Cash’s unspoken thoughts about the 2. There is twice the 2. Hay el doble de superficie de aga- coffin and about the shape of things. 40 gripping-surface to each seam. rre para cada junta. seep ooze out; percolate slowly, flow, rezuma. US a place where petroleum etc. oozes slowly 3. The water will have to seep into 3. Él agua tendría que colarse out of the ground. filtrarse, rezumar, esca- it on a slant. Water moves easiest up oblicuamente. Él agua se desliza más fácil- parse, penetrar, aflorar, brotar, manar and down or straight across. mente de arriba abajo u horizontalmente. COMMENTARY: The appearance of this section gives 45 the impression that Cash is a very 4. In a house people are upright 4. Dentro de una casa la gente está de pie organised, practical and rather two-thirds of the time. So the seams dos terceras partes del tiempo. De modo que las limited thinker. Closer inspection and joints are made up-and-down. juntas y h uniones están hechas de arriba abajo. reveals, however, that there is a Because the stress is up-and-down. Porque la presión viene de arriba abajo. tension between the numbers in 50 the list and what is put alongside 5. In a bed where people lie down 5. En una casa donde la gente está the numbers. For example, we find ‘6. Except.’ This suggests all the time, the joints and seams are tumbada todo el tiempo, las juntas y unio- that Cash tries to think in an made sideways, because the stress nes se hacen de lado, porque la presión organised, numerical way, but that is sideways. viene de lado. his thoughts often run contrary to 55 the imposed organisation. He 6. Except. 6. Excepto. thinks in terms of his first love, carpentry, but within this framework he is not without 7. A body is not square like a 7. Un cuerpo no es cuadrado como imagination or fancy. cross-tie. una traviesa. 60 8. Animal magnetism. 8. El magnetismo animal.

9. The animal magnetism of a dead 9. El magnetismo animal de un cuer- body makes the stress come slanting, po muerto hace que la presión venga de 65 so the seams and joints of a coffin are lado, de modo que las juntas y uniones made on the bevel. de un ataúd tienen que hacerse en bisel.

10. You can see by an old grave 10. Se ve que en una tumba vieja la that the earth sinks down on the bevel. tierra se hunde en bisel. 70 11. While in a natural hole it sinks 11. Mientras que en un agujero nor- by the centre, the stress being mal se hunde por e centro, la presión es up-and-down. de arriba abajo.

75 12. So I made it on the bevel. . 12. De modo que lo he hecho en bisel.

13. It makes a neater job. 13. Es un trabajo mejor hecho.

40 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

19 19 VARDAMAN (3) VARDAMAN Vardaman (3)

MY mother is a fish. Mi madre es un pez. This section consists of one 5 line, showing that Vardaman has finally consolidated the idea of his 20 20 mother and the idea of the dead TULL (3) TULL fish and made them into one.

Tull (3) 10 IT was ten o’clock when I got ERAN las diez cuando volví, con el back, with Peabody’s team hitched on tiro de Peabody atado a la parte de atrás In this section, Tull recalls the to the back of the wagon. They had de la carreta. Ya habían sacado la calesa funeral service for Addie already dragged the buckboard back de donde la encontró Quick, volcada, Bundren conducted by the from where Quick found it upside hundida en la cuneta, a unos dos kilóme- minister, Whitfield. 15 down straddle of the ditch about a mile tros del manantial. La arrastraron fuera from the spring. It was pulled out of del camino junto al manantial, y ya ha- the road at the spring, and about a dozen bía como una docena de carretas allí. Fue wagons was already there. It was Quick Quick el que la encontró. Dijo que el río found it. He said the river was up and iba crecido y seguía creciendo. Dijo que 20 still rising. He said it had already ya había subido por encima de la señal covered the highest water-mark on más alta del pilar del puente, algo que COMMENTARY: Here, as elsewhere, Faulkner gives the the bridge-piling he had ever seen. nunca se había visto. reader a sense of time hanging “That bridge won’t stand a whole —Ese puente no va a resistir tal can- heavily on the hands of people lot of water,” I said. “Has tidad de agua —dije yo—. ¿Le ha conta- who are sitting waiting for 25 somebody told Anse about it?” do alguien a Anse lo que pasa? something to happen. The men feel awkward in their best clothes “I told him,” Quick said. “He says —Se lo conté yo —dijo Quick—. Dice and their conversation shows that they all think and react in much he reckons them boys has heard and que cree que los chicos ya lo habrán oído the same way as Tull. When the unloaded and are on the way back by y que habrán descargado y que deben de service starts, they move as one 30 now. He says they can load up and estar de camino. Dice que pueden cargar towards the front steps but not get across.” y cruzar. into the house. There is a sense of community evoked by this “He better go on and bury her at —Mejor sería que fuera y la enterra- section but the Bundrens are not really a part of that community. New Hope,” Armstid said. “That bridge ra en New Hope —dijo Armstid—. Ese monkey 1 tr. mimic or mock. 2 intr. (often foll. 35 is old. I wouldn’t monkey with it.” puente es viejo. Yo no jugaría con él. by with) tamper or play mischievous tricks. 3 intr. (foll. by around, about) fool around. “His mind is set on taking her to —Está decidido a llevarla a Jefferson Jefferson,” Quick said. —dijo Quick.

40 “Then he better get at —Entonces será mejor que se ponga it soon as he can,” en marcha lo más pronto que pueda — Armstid said. dijo Armstid.

Anse meets us at the door. He has Anse nos recibe a la puerta. Se ha afei- 45 shaved, but not good. There is a long tado, pero no bien. Hay un gran corte en cut on his jaw, and he is wearing his su mandíbula y lleva los pantalones de Sunday pants and a white shirt with los domingos y una camisa blanca con la the neckband buttoned. It is drawn tira del cuello abrochada. Está suavemen- smooth over his hump, making it te tirante sobre su joroba, haciendo que 50 look bigger than ever, like a white ésta parezca mayor que nunca, por lo shirt will, and his face is different blanco de la camisa; y su cara también too. He looks folks in the eye now, está distinta. Ahora mira a la gente a los dignified, his face tragic and ojos, digno, con cara trágica y serena, y composed, shaking us by the hand nos estrecha la mano según vamos llegan- 55 as we walk up on to the porch and do al porche y nos restregamos los zapa- scrape our shoes, a little stiff in our tos, un tanto envarados con nuestra ropa Sunday clothes, our Sunday clothes de los domingos, una ropa de los domingos rustling: crackling, susurrante, rumoroso, making rustling, not looking full at him que cruje, sin mirarle directamente cuan- a sound as dry leaves blown in the wind, susurrar, crujir as he meets us. do nos acercamos a él. 60 “The Lord giveth,” we say. —El Señor nos lo dio —decimos.

“The Lord giveth.” —El Señor nos lo dio.

65 That boy is not there. Peabody El chico no anda por ahí. told about how he come into the Peabody nos contó que entró en la swarm 2 v. intr. (foll. by up) & tr. climb (a rope or tree kitchen, hollering, swarming and X cocina gritando, muy nervioso, y etc.), esp. in a rush, by clasping or clinging with the hands and knees etc. clawing at Cora when he found her que arañó a Cora cuando vio que claw 1 a a pointed horny nail on an animal’s or bird’s cooking that fish, and how Dewey guisaba ese pez, y que Dewey Dell foot. b a foot armed with claws. 2 the pincers of a shellfish. 3 a device for grappling, holding, etc. 70 Dell taken him down to the barn. se lo llevó al granero. “My team all right?” Peabody says. —¿Está bien mi tiro? —dice Peabody.

“All right,” I tell him. “I give them —Está bien —le contestó—.Les di de a bait this morning. Your buggy comer esta mañana. Y su calesa también 75 seems all right too. It ain’t hurt.” parece que está bien. No ha sufrido daño.

“And no fault of somebody’s,” he —No será porque alguien no lo haya says. “I’d give a nickel to know pretendido —dice él—. Daría dinero por

41 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

where that boy was when that team saber dónde estaba ese chico cuando se broke away.” escapó el tiro.

“If it’s broke anywhere, I’ll fix it,” —Si se ha roto algo, yo se lo arreglaré 5 I say. —digo.

The women folks go on into the Las mujeres entran en la casa. Las house. We can hear them, talking and oímos hablar y abanicarse. Los aba- fanning. The fans go whish, whish, nicos hacen fis, fis, fis, y ellas hablan 10 whish and them talking, the talking y su charla suena a algo así como el sounding kind of like bees murmuring murmullo de las abejas dentro de un in a waterbucket. The men stop on the cubo de agua. Los hombres, parados porch, talking some, not looking at en el porche, hablan sin mirarse unos one another. a otros. 15 “Howdy, Vernon,” they say. —¿Qué tal, Vernon? —dicen—. ¿Qué “Howdy, Tull.” tal, Tull?

“Looks like more rain.” —Parece que va a volver a llover. 20 “It does for a fact.” —Es seguro.

“Yes, sir. It will rain some more.” —Sí, señor. Va a volver a llover.

25 “It come up quick.” —Y pronto.

“And going away slow. It don’t fail.” —Y tardará en parar. Nunca falla.

I go around to the back. Cash is Voy a la parte de atrás de la casa. 30 filling up the holes he bored in the top Cash está tapando los agujeros que el of it. He is trimming out plugs for chico hizo en la tapa. Está cortando ta- them, one at a time, the wood wet and cos para meterlos, uno a uno, la made- hard to work. He could cut up a tin ra mojada y difícil de trabajar. Podría can and hide the holes and nobody cortar una hojalata y tapar los agujeros 35 wouldn’t know the difference. y nadie notaría la diferencia. O a nadie Wouldn’t mind, anyway. I have seen le importaría, en todo caso. Le he visto him spend a hour trimming out a wedge pasarse una hora cortando una cuña like it was glass he was working, when como si estuviese trabajando con cris- he could have reached around and tal, cuando podría darse la vuelta y co- 40 picked up a dozen sticks and drove ger una docena de palos y meterlos en them into the joint and made it do. la grieta, y harían el mismo papel.

When we finished I go back to the Cuando terminamos volví a la parte front. The men have gone a little delantera. Los hombres se habían aleja- 45 piece from the house, sitting on the do un poco de la casa, sentándose en los ends of the boards and on the extremos de los tableros y en los caba- saw-horses where we made it last lletes donde hicimos la caja la noche pa- night, some sitting and some squatting. sada, unos sentados y otros en cuclillas. Whitfield ain’t come yet. Whitfield todavía no ha llegado. 50 They look up at me, their Levantan la vista hacia mí, interrogán- eyes asking. dome con la mirada.

“It’s about,” I say. “He’s ready —Ya casi está —digo yo. Está listo 55 to nail.” para clavarla.

While they are getting up Anse Mientras se ponen de pie, Anse sale comes to the door and looks at us a la puerta y nos mira y volvemos al and we return to the porch. We porche. Otra vez nos restregamos los 60 scrape our shoes again, careful, zapatos cuidadosamente, esperando que waiting for one another to go in first, sea otro el que entre el primero mien- mill intransitive verb 1 : to hit out with the fists 2 : to move in a circle or in an eddying mass; move in milling a little at the door. Anse tras nos apiñamos a la puerta. Anse an aimless manner, esp. in a confused mass; also stands inside the door, dignified, sigue en el umbral, digno, : WANDER 3 : to undergo milling verb transitive verb 1 : to subject to an operation composed. He waves us in and sereno. Con la mano hace señas de que entremos or process in a mill: as a : to grind into flour, meal, or powder b : to shape or dress by means of a 65 leads the way into the room. y nos precede hasta el cuarto. rotary cutter c : to mix and condition (as rubber) by passing between rotating rolls 2 : to give a raised rim or a ridged or corrugated edge to (a They had laid her in it reversed. La habían metido en la caja al revés. coin) 3 : to cut grooves in the metal surface of (as a knob) Cash made it clock-shape, like Cash la ha hecho en forma de reloj de pa- mill around arremolinarse mill grind with a mill; «mill grain» this with every joint red, así con todas sus mill move about in a confused manner ; movérse por todas partes 70 and seam bevelled and scrubbed with juntas y uniones en bisel y bien cepilla- the plane, tight as a drum and neat as das, estanca como un tambor y pulcra como a sewing basket, and they had laid her un costurero, y la han acostado dentro, con in it head to foot so it wouldn’t crush la cabeza a los pies para que el vestido no se her dress. It was her wedding dress arrugue. Era su vestido de novia y tenía 75 and it had a flare-out bottom, and they mucho vuelo en la falda y la habían acosta- had laid , her head to foot in it so the do con la cabeza a los pies de la caja para dress could spread out, and they had poder extender el vestido, y habían hecho made her a veil out of a mosquito bar un velo con un trozo de mosquitero para

42 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas auger n. 1 a tool resembling a large corkscrew, for so the auger* holes in her face que no se le vieran los agujeros del taladro en boring holes in wood. 2 a similar larger tool for boring wouldn’t show. la cara. holes in the ground.

When we are going out, Cuando salimos, llega 5 Whitfield comes. He is wet and Whitfield. Está empapado y lle- muddy to the waist, coming in. no de barro hasta la cintura. “The Lord comfort this house,” he —Que el Señor consuele a los de esta says. “I was late because the bridge casa —dice al entrar—. Llego tarde por- has gone. I went down to the old que el puente ha desaparecido. Bajé has- 10 ford and swum my horse over, the ta el viejo vado y crucé nadando a caba- Lord protecting me. His grace be llo. El Señor me protegió. Que su gracia upon this house.” descienda sobre esta casa.

We go back to the trestles and Volvemos a los caballetes y los tablones 15 plank-ends and sit or squat. y nos sentamos o nos ponemos en cuclillas.

“I knowed it would go,” Armstid —Sabía que se lo llevaría el río —dice says. Armstid.

20 “It’s been there a long time, that —Ya estaba durando demasiado, ese ere bridge,” Quick says. puente —dice Quick.

“The Lord has kept it there, you —Querrás decir que el Señor lo mean,” Uncle Billy says. “I don’t conservaba —dice el tío Billy—. No 25 know ere a man that’s touched sé de nadie que le haya hecho la menor hammer to it in twenty-five years.” reparación en veinticinco años.

“How long has it been there, Uncle —¿Y cuánto llevaba allí, tío Billy? — Billy?” Quick says. dice Quick. 30 “It was built in . . . let me see . . . It —Lo construyeron... vamos a ver... was in the year 1888,” Uncle Billy Fue el año 1888 [110] —dice el tío says. “I mind it because the first man Billy—. Me acuerdo porque el primer to cross it was Peabody coming to my hombre que lo cruzó fue Peabody que 35 house when Jody was born.” venía a mi casa cuando nació Jody.

“If I’d a crossed it every time —Si lo hubiera cruzado todas las ve- your wife littered since, it’d a been ces que parió tu mujer desde entonces, wore out long before this, Billy,” se habría venido abajo mucho antes, Billy 40 Peabody says. —dice Peabody.

We laugh, suddenly loud, then Nos reímos, primero muy alto; luego suddenly quiet again. We look a little de repente bajito. Nos miramos unos a aside at one another. otros de reojo. 45 “Lots of folks has crossed it that —Muchas personas de las que lo cru- won’t cross no more bridges,” zaron ya no cruzarán más puentes —dice Houston says. Houston.

50 “It’s a fact,” Littlejohn says. “It’s so.” —Cierto —dice Littlejohn—. Así es.

“One more ain’t, no ways,” —Y sin duda, hay una más que no Armstid says. “It’d taken them lo cruzará —dice Armstid—. Les cos- two-three days to got her to town in tará de dos a tres días llevarla al pue- 55 the wagon. They’d be gone a week, blo en la carreta. Y toda una semana getting her to Jefferson and back.” llevarla a Jefferson y volver.

“What’s Anse so itching to take her to —¿Por qué insiste tanto Anse en lle- Jefferson for, anyway?” Houston says. varla a Jefferson? —dice Houston. 60 “He promised her,” I say. “She —Se lo prometió —digo yo—. Era lo wanted it. She come from there. Her que quería ella. Procedía de allí. Estaba mind was set on it.” empeñada en ello.

65 “And Anse is set on it, too,” Quick —Y Anse está empeñado también — says. dice Quick.

“Ay,” Uncle Billy says. “It’s like —Sí —dice el tío Billy—. Es como si a man that’s let everything slide all un hombre que nunca en toda su vida se 70 his life to get set on something that ha preocupado de nada, se empeñara en will make the most trouble for hacer algo que sólo trae problemas a to- everybody he knows.” dos los que le conocen.

“Well, it’ll take the Lord to get her —Bueno, ahora a ver si el Señor les 75 over that river now,” Peabody says. ayuda a cruzar ese río —dice Peabody—. “Anse can’t do it.” Anse solo no va a poder.

“And I reckon He will,” Quick —Para mí que Dios querrá —dice

43 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

says. “He’s took care of Anse a long Quick—. Lleva tiempo protegiendo a time, now.” Anse.

“It’s a fact,” Littlejohn says. —Cierto —dice Littlejohn. 5 “Too long to quit now,” Armstid —Demasiado para abandonarle aho- says. ra —dice Armstid.

“I reckon He’s like everybody —Para mí que el Señor es igual que 10 else around here,” Uncle Billy todos los de por aquí —dice el tío Billy— says. “He’s done it so long now He . Lleva tanto ayudándole que ahora no lo can’t quit.” puede abandonar.

Cash comes out. He has put on a Cash sale. Se ha puesto una camisa 15 clean shirt; his hair, wet, is combed limpia; su pelo, mojado, está peinado smooth down on his brow, smooth suavemente sobre su frente, suave y ne- and black as if he had painted it on to gro como si se lo hubiese pintado en la his head. He squats stiffly among us, cabeza. Se acuclilla tenso entre nosotros we watching him. que le miramos. 20 “You feeling this weather, ain’t —¿No te molesta con este tiempo? — you?” Armstid says. dice Armstid.

Cash says nothing. Cash no dice nada. 25 “A broke bone always feels it,” —Un hueso roto siempre lo nota —dice Littlejohn says. “A fellow with a Littlejohn—. Alguien con un hueso roto broke bone can tell it a-coming.” puede decir el tiempo que va a hacer.

30 “Lucky Cash, got off with just a —Por suerte Cash sólo se rom- broke leg,” Armstid says. “He might pió una pierna —dice Armstid—. have hurt himself bedrid. How far’d Podría haberse quedado inútil. ¿Te you fall, Cash?” caíste de muy alto, Cash?

35 “Twenty-eight foot, four and a half —Desde unos nueve metros y cin- inches, about,” Cash says. I move cuenta y cinco centímetros, más o me- over beside him. nos —dice Cash. Me acerco a él.

“A fellow can sho slip quick on —Cualquiera puede resbalar en un 40 wet planks,” Quick says. tablón mojado —dice Quick.

“It’s too bad,” I say. “But you —Es una pena —digo yo—. Pero no couldn’t a holp it!” lo pudiste evitar.

45 “It’s them durn women,” he says. —Es por esas condenadas mujeres — “I made it to balance with her. I made dice él—. Lo hice para quedar en paz con it to her measure and weight.” ella. Lo hice a su peso y medida.

If it takes wet boards for folks to Si basta con un tablero mojado para que 50 fall, it’s fixing to be lots of falling la gente caiga, seguro que van a caerse before this spell is done. muchos antes de que cambie el tiempo.

“You couldn’t have holp it,” I say. —No lo pudiste evitar —digo yo.

55 I don’t mind the folks falling. It’s No me importa que se caiga la gente. Lo the cotton and corn I mind. que me importa es el algodón y el maíz.

Neither does Peabody mind the Tampoco a Peabody le importa que la gen- folks falling. How ’bout it, Doc? te se caiga. ¿Qué me dice a eso, doctor? 60 It’s a fact. Washed clean outen the Cierto. El campo quedará total- ground it will be. Seems like something mente arrasado. Parece como si is always happening to it. siempre le pasara algo.

65 ’Course it does. That’s why it’s Claro que parece. Por eso vale lo worth anything. If nothing didn’t que vale. Si no pasara nada y todos happen and everybody mude a big tuvieran una gran cosecha, ¿para crop, do you reckon it would be worth usted que merecería la pena culti- the raising? var la tierra? 70 Well, I be durn if I like Bueno, que me condene si a mí me to see my work washed gusta ver mi trabajo arrasado por la ria- outen the ground, work I da, un trabajo que tantos sudores me ha swat — v.tr.1 crush (a fly etc.) with a sharp blow. 2 swat over. costado. hit hard and abruptly. — n. a swatting blow. 75 It’s a fact. A fellow wouldn’t mind Cierto. A nadie le importaría seeing it washed up if he could just verlo anegado si pudiera él turn on the rain himself. controlar la lluvia.

44 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

Who is that man can do that? ¿Qué hombre puede hacer eso? ¿De Where is the color of his eyes? qué color tiene los ojos?

5 Ay. The Lord made it to grow. It’s Hisn Sí. El Señor hace que crea. Y Él inun- to wash up if He sees it fitten so. da los campos cuando le parece.

“You couldn’t have holp it,” I say. —No pudiste evitarlo —digo yo.

10 “It’s them durn women,” he says. —Es por esas condenadas mujeres —dice él.

In the house the women begin to En la casa las mujeres empiezan a can- sing. We hear the first line tar. Oímos el comienzo de la primera lí- commence, beginning to swell as nea y se ponen a cantar más alto según 15 they take hold, and we rise and move se animan, y nos levantamos y nos diri- toward the door, taking off our hats gimos a la puerta, quitándonos los som- and throwing our chews away. We breros y escupiendo nuestro tabaco de do not go in. We stop at the steps, mascar. No entramos. Nos detenemos en clump 1 (foll. by of) a cluster of plants, esp. trees clumped, holding our hats between los escalones, vacilando, con los som- or shrubs. 2 an agglutinated mass of blood- X cells etc. 3 a thick extra sole on a boot or 20 our lax hands in front or behind, breros en nuestras indecisa manos, pues- shoe. 1a intr. form a clump. b tr. heap or plant standing with one foot advanced and tas delante o detrás, parados con un pie together. 2 intr. (also clomp) walk with heavy tread. 3 tr. colloq. hit. our heads lowered, looking aside, adelantado y la cabeza gacha, mirando down at our hats in our hands and at de reojo, bien a los sombreros de nues- the earth or now and then at the sky tras manos o al suelo o de vez en cuando 25 and at one another’s grave, al cielo y a las caras de los demás, gra- composed face. ves, tranquilas.

The song ends; the voices quaver Termina el cántico; las voces tiem- away with a rich and dying fall. blan en un final poderoso y moribun- 30 Whitfield begins. His voice is bigger do. Empieza Whitfield. Su voz es más than him. It’s like they are not the grande que él. Es como si no fuese same. It’s like he is one, and his voice suya. Es como si él y su voz fueran co- is one, swimming on two horses side sas diferentes que cruzaran el vado by side across the ford and coming uno a lado de la otra, en caballos dis- 35 into the house, the mud-splashed one tintos, y llegaran a la casa, uno cubier- and the one that never even got wet, to de barro y la otra ni tan siquiera triumphant and sad. Somebody in the mojada triunfante y triste. En la casa house begins to cry. It sounds like her alguien empieza a llorar. Suena como eyes and her voice were turned back si sus ojos y su voz se le hubieran 40 inside her, listening; we move, metido en el cuerpo, escuchando; nos shifting to the other leg, meeting one movemos, apoyándonos en 1a otra another’s eye and making like they pierna, cruzando nuestras miradas y hadn’t touched. haciendo como si no nos viéramos.

45 Whitfield stops at last. The women Por fin Whitfield se calla. Las muje- sing again. In the thick air it’s like res vuelven a cantar En la espesa atmós- their voices come out of the air, fera es como si sus voces salieran de aire, flowing together and on in the sad, fluyendo juntas y siguieran en tristes cán- comforting tunes. When they cease ticos de consuelo. Cuando cesan es como 50 it’s like they hadn’t gone away. It’s si no hubieran desaparecido. Es como si like they had just disappeared into the acabasen de desaparecer en el aire y air and when we moved we would cuando nos moviésemos pudiéramos vol- loose them again out of the air around ver a oírlas en el aire que nos rodea, tris- us, sad and comforting. Then they tes y reconfortantes. Han terminado y nos 55 finish and we put on our hats, our ponemos el sombrero con movimientos movements stiff, like we hadn’t never tensos, como si anteriormente nunca hu- wore hats before. biéramos llevado sombrero.

On the way home Cora is still singing. Camino de casa, Cora todavía canta. 60 “I am bounding toward my God and —Voy hacia mi Dios y espero Su my reward,” she sings, sitting on the recompensa —canta sentada en la wagon, the shawl around her shoulders carreta, con el chal sobre los hom- and the umbrella open over her, though bros y el paraguas abierto aunque it is not raining. no llueve. 65 “She has hern,” I say. “Wherever —Ella se ha ganado la suya —digo she went, she has her reward in being yo—. Esté donde esté, se ha ganado su free of Anse Bundren.” She laid there recompensa al verse libre de Anse three days in that box, waiting for Bundren. Tres días tumbada en esa caja, 70 Darl and Jewel to come clean back esperando a que Darl y Jewel vuelvan home and get a new wheel and go por fin a casa y traigan una rueda nueva back to where the wagon was in the y vuelvan a la cuneta donde estaba la ca- ditch. Take my team, Anse, I said. rreta. Llévate mi tiro, Anse, dije yo.

75 We’ll wait for ourn, he said. Esperaremos el nuestro, dijo él. Ella She’ll want it so. She was ever a así lo hubiera querido. Siempre fue una particular woman. mujer especial.

45 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

On the third day they got back and Al tercer día volvieron y la cargaron they loaded her into the wagon and en la carreta y se pusieron en marcha started and it already too late. You’ll [113] y ya era demasiado tarde. Tendréis have to go all the way round by que dar un rodeo por el puente de junto a 5 Samson’s bridge. It’ll take you a day casa de Samson. Os llevará un día llegar to get there. Then you’ll be forty miles hasta allí. Luego serán setenta kilómetros from Jefferson. Take my team, Anse. harta Jefferson. Coge mi tiro, Anse.

We’ll wait for ourn. She’ll Esperaremos el nuestro. Ella así lo 10 want it so. hubiera querido.

It was about a mile from the house A un par de kilómetros más o me- we saw him, sitting on the edge of nos de nuestra casa le vimos, sentado a slough: n 1 cenagal 2 n abismo (tristeza) 3 (skin) vt mudar la piel slough off v mudar the slough. It hadn’t had a fish in it la orilla de la charca. Nunca hubo ni slough n. 1 any outer covering that can be shed or cast off (such as the cast-off skin of a snake) 2 a 15 never that I knowed. He looked un pez en ella, que yo sepa. Nos miró stagnant swamp (especially as part of a bayou) 3 around at us, his eyes round and calm, con ojos redondos y tranquilos, la cara a hollow filled with mud 4 gangrene, sphacelus necrotic tissue; a mortified or gangrenous part or his face dirty, the pole across his sucia, la caña entre las rodillas. Cora mass v. 1 shed, molt, exuviate, moult, cast off hair, skin, knees. Cora was still singing. todavía cantaba. horn, or feathers; «out dog sheds every Spring» slouch 1. andar o sentarse encorvado 2. nombre 20 “This ain’t no good day to fish,” I said. —No es un buen día para pescar — with a slouch, con los hombros caídos, encorvado, she’s no slouch, no es manca “You come on home with us and me and dije yo—. Vente a casa con nosotros, y slouch hat a hat with a wide flexible brim. you’ll go down to the river first thing in yo y tú bajaremos al río a primera hora the morning and catch some fish.” de la mañana y pescaremos algún pez.

25 “It’s one in here,” he said. “Dewey —Hay uno aquí —dijo él—. Lo vio Dell seen it. Dewey Dell.

“You come on with us. The river’s —Ven con nosotros. El río es el sitio the best place.” mejor. 30 “It’s in here,” he said. “Dewey Dell —Hay uno qui dentro —dijo—. Lo seen it.” vio Dewey Dell.

“I’m bounding toward my God and —Voy hacia mi Dios y espero su re- 35 my reward,” Cora sung. compensa —cantaba Cora.

21 21 DARL (7) DARL 40 Darl (7) “IT’S not your horse —No es tu caballo el que se ha muer- that’s dead, Jewel,” I say. to, Jewel —digo. This section contains Darl’s He sits erect on the seat, leaning a Va erguido en el asiento, echado un poco spoken words and unspoken little forward, wooden-backed. The hacia delante, con la espalda envarada. El thoughts as he and Jewel approach the house. The most 45 brim of his hat has soaked free of the ala de su sombrero está empapada y se significant line of this section, crown in two places, drooping across ha soltado de la copa por dos sitios, col- which ends with Darl cursing his wooden face so that, head gándole delante de su cara de palo de Jewel, is his remark ‘I cannot love lowered, he looks through it like modo que, agachada la cabeza, mira a my mother because I have no through the visor of a helmet, través de ella como por el visor de un mother. Jewel’s mother is a 50 looking long across the valley to casco al mirar el valle hasta donde el gra- horse’. where the barn leans against the nero se apoya contra los riscos, evocan- bluff, shaping the invisible horse. do al invisible caballo. “See then?” I say. High —¿Los ves? —digo. above the house, against the En lo alto de la casa, contra el cie- 55 quick thick sky, they hang in lo cambiante y espeso, se ciernen en narrowing circles. From here they círculos cada vez más estrechos. Des- are no more than specks, de aquí no son más que motas, impla- COMMENTARY: The remark portentous adj. 1 grandiloquent, overblown, implacable, patient, portentous. cables, pacientes, amenazadoras. pompous, pontifical, portentous puffed up with ‘Jewel’s mother is a horse’ might vanity; «a grandiloquent and boastful manner»; “But it’s not your horse —Pero si no es tu caballo el que se seem to indicate that Darl is «overblown oratory»; «a pompous speech»; 60 that’s dead.” ha muerto. «pseudo-scientific gobbledygook and pontifical suffering from a confusion of hooey»- Newsweek 2 fateful, foreboding(a), ideas similar to the one which led portentous of ominous significance 3 portentous, prodigious of momentous or ominous “Goddamn you,” he says. —Maldito seas —dice él—. Vardaman to say ‘my mother is a significance; «such a portentous...monster raised fish’, but when the remark is all my curiosity»- Herman Melville; «a prodigious “Goddamn you.” Maldito seas. vision» taken in the context of the portentous : boding evil, threatening, siniestro, de preceding words, ‘I cannot love mal agüero, ominoso, 65 I cannot love my mother because I No puedo querer a mi madre porque my mother because I have no portentoso maravilloso, prodigioso have no mother. Jewel’s mother is a no tengo madre. La madre de Jewel es mother’, it becomes apparent that horse. un caballo. Darl is using the word ‘mother’ to refer to an object which allows Motionless, the tall buzzards hang Inmóviles, los enormes buitres se cier- the individual to focus complex feelings of love. Jewel has his soaring encumbrándose, remontándose, creciente 70 in soaring circles, the clouds giving nen en círculos que se elevan; las nubes horse as a substitute for Addie. them an illusion of retrograde. les prestan una ilusión de retroceso. Darl, as we later discover, has never had the love of Addie Motionless, wooden-backed, Inmóvil, con la espalda encorvada, herself and, now that she is dead, wooden-faced, he shapes the horse in con cara de palo, él evoca al caballo, en lacks even her physical being as an object of love. 75 a rigid stoop like a hawk, un rígido arco como un halcón, con alas hook-winged. They are waiting for en forma de gancho. Nos esperan a no- us, ready for the moving of it, waiting sotros, listos para moverlo; le espe- for him. He enters the still and waits ran a él. Entra en el establo y espe-

46 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

until it kicks at him so that he can slip ra a que le tire una coz para poder co- past and mount on to the trough and larse por detrás y subir al pesebre y pause, peering out across the espera, mirando por encima de los intervening stall-tops toward the demás pesebres hacia el sende- 5 empty path, before he reaches into the ro desierto, antes de subir al loft. pajar.

“Goddamn him. Goddamn him.” —Maldito sea. Maldito sea.

10 22 CASH (2) CASH

“IT won’t balance. If you —NO se mantendrá el equili- Cash (2) carry transport want it to tote and ride on a brio. Si queréis cargarlo y mante- This very short section 15 balance, we will have——” ner el equilibrio, tendremos que... contains only Cash’s frustrated “Pick up. Goddamn you, pick up.” —Agarra. Maldita sea, agarra. thoughts and words as the family try to load the coffin on the wagon “Im telling you it won’t tote and it —Os digo que no lo podréis cargar y in a way which makes it liable to won’t ride on a balance unless——” mantener el equilibrio si no... overbalance. No one listens to 20 him. “Pick up! Pick up, goddamn your —¡Agarra! ¡Agarra, maldito condena- thick-nosed soul to hell, pick up!” do, agarra!

It won’t balance. If they want it to No se mantendrá en equilibrio. Si 25 tote and ride on a balance, they will quieren cargarla y mantener el equilibrio have—— tendrán que

23 DARL (8) DARL 30 HE stoops among us above it, two SE inclina entre nosotros encima de la Darl (8) of the eight hands. In his face the caja, dos de las ocho manos. La sangre le blood goes in waves. In between them sube a la cara en oleadas. En los intervalos This section consists of Darl’s observations of the same scene as his flesh is greenish looking, about su carne tiene aspecto verdoso, como ese the one which was dealt with in 35 that smooth, thick, pale green of verde, pálido y uniforme del bocado que Cash (2). Darl’s observations are cow’s cud: the material chewed by cow’s cud; his face suffocated, rumia una vaca; su cara sofocada, furio- much more detailed than those of a cow furious, his lip lifted upon his teeth. sa, con el labio levantado sobre dientes. Cash. “Pick up!” he says. “Pick up, —¡Agarra! —dice—. ¡Agarra, goddamn your thick-nosed soul!” maldito condenado! 40 He heaves, lifting one whole side Tira hacia arriba, alzando uno de los so suddenly that we all spring into lados tan repentinamente que todos los the lift to catch and balance it before demás saltamos para levantarla y equili- he hurls it completely over. For an brarla antes de que la vuelque del todo. 45 instant it resists, as though Durante un instante la caja se resiste, volitional: having a will of its own volitional, as though within it her como si tuviera voluntad, como si dentro pole-thin body clings furiously, de ella su cuerpo delgado como un palo COMMENTARY: As usual, even though dead, to a sort of mantuviera con furia, incluso muerta, una Darl is much concerned with modesty, as she would have tried to especie de pudor; como si tratara de ocul- Jewel’s reactions and here, 50 conceal a soiled garment that she tar un vestido sucio que no había podido amongst his fanciful and could not prevent her body soiling. evitar que le manchara el cuerpo. Luego unverbalised ideas that the coffin seems to be impelled by the emaciation: wasting away Then it breaks free, rising suddenly se alza libre, subiendo repentinamente modesty of Addie who is inside as though the emaciation of her como si la extenuación de su cuerpo hu- it, the reader is given a vision of body had added buoyancy to the biese añadido ligereza a las tablas o como Jewel acting with a violence 55 planks or as though, seeing that the si, al ver que estaban a punto de arran- which covers his very deep garment was about to be torn from carle el vestido, ella se precipitara repen- emotions, ‘the furious tide of her, she rushes suddenly after it in tinamente detrás de la caja en un vuelco Jewel’s despair’. a passionate reversal that flouts its apasionado que menospreciase su propio own desire and need. Jewel’s face deseo y necesidad. La cara de Jewel se 60 goes completely green and I can pone completamente verde y oigo el roce hear teeth in his breath. de su respiración en los dientes.

We carry it down the hall, our feet harsh Sacamos la caja por el zaguán, pi- and clumsy on the floor, moving with sando firme y torpemente el suelo, y 65 shuffling steps, and through the door. arrastramos los pies al cruzar la puerta.

“Steady it a minute, now,” pa says, —Esperad un minuto —dice padre, letting go. He turns back to shut and soltándo. Se vuelve para cerrar la puerta y lock the door, but Jewel will not wait. echar la llave, pero Jewel no quiere esperar. 70 “Come on,” he says in that —Vámonos —dice con esa voz suffocating voice. “Come on.” ahogada—. Vámonos.

We lower it carefully down the La bajamos cuidadosamente por los 75 steps. We move, balancing it as escalones. Avanzamos, balanceándola though it were something infinitely como si se tratara de algo infinitamen- precious, our faces averted, breathing te precioso, apartando la cara, respi- through our teeth to keep our nostrils rando por la boca para mantener la

47 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

closed. We go down the path, toward nariz cerrada. Bajamos el sendero ha- the slope. cia la ladera.

“We better wait,” Cash says. “I tell —Será mejor que esperemos —dice 5 you it ain’t balanced now. We’ll need Cash—. Te digo que así no se equilibra. another hand on that hill.” Necesitaremos otra mano en ese cerro.

turn loose: (Am. English) let go “Then turn loose,” Jewel says. —Entonces suéltala —dice Jewel. hobble 1 intr. a walk lamely; limp. b proceed He will not stop. Cash begins to fall No se quiere parar. Cash empieza a haltingly in action or speech (hobbled lamely to his conclusion). 2 tr. a tie together the legs of (a 10 behind, hobbling to keep up, X quedarse atrás; se esfuerza por seguir- horse etc.) to prevent it from straying. b tie (a horse’s etc. legs). 3 tr. cause (a person etc.) to breathing harshly; then he is dis- nos y respira con dificultad; luego se dis- limp. 1 an uneven or infirm gait. 2 a rope, clog, etc. used tanced and Jewel carries the en- tancia y Jewel aguanta toda la parte de- for hobbling a horse etc. tire front end alone, so that, tilt- lantera él solo, de modo que, inclinán- Renquear, ing as the path begins to slant, it dose a medida que el sendero empieza a 15 begins to rush away from me and bajar, la caja empieza a escapárseme y slip down the air like a sled upon se desliza por el aire como un trineo so- invisible snow, smoothly evacuat- bre nieve invisible, retirándose suave- ing atmosphere in which the sense mente de la atmósfera en la que todavía of it is still shaped. se nota la huella de su forma. 20 “Wait, Jewel,” I say. But he will —Espera, Jewel —digo. not wait. He is almost running now Pero él no quiere esperar, Casi ha and Cash is left behind. It seems to echado a correr y Cash se queda detrás. me that the end which I now carry Me parece que la parte que ahora aguan- 25 alone has no weight, as though it to yo solo no tiene peso, como si la caja coasts like a rushing straw upon the navegara igual que una paja lanzada a la furious tide of Jewel’s despair. I am furiosa marea de la desesperación de not even touching it when, turning, Jewel. Ni siquiera la toco cuando, do- he lets it overshoot him, swinging, blándose, deja que pase por encima de sloughs: casts (it) off 30 and stops it and sloughs it into the X él, oscilando, y la para y la deja caer den- wagon-bed in the same motion tro de la carreta con el mismo movimien- and looks back at me, his face to, y se vuelve a mirarme con la cara suffuse 1 (of colour, moisture, etc.) spread from suffused with fury and despair. arrebatada de furia y desesperación. within to colour or moisten (a blush suffused her cheeks). 2 cover with colour etc. Impreg- nar, saturar, bañar, inundar, empañar 35 suffuse 1 (of colour, moisture, etc.) spread from “Goddamn you. Goddamn you.” —Maldito seas. Maldito seas. within to colour or moisten (a blush suffused her cheeks). 2 cover with colour etc. suffuse [light] bañar [colour, flush] teñir 24 [delight, relief] inundar suffused with light bañado de luz VARDAMAN (4) VARDAMAN

40 WE are going to town. Dewey Dell VAMOS a la ciudad. Dewey Dell Vardaman (4) says it won’t be sold because it dice que no lo quieren vender porque belongs to Santa Claus and he has pertenece a Santa Claus que se lo ha This section consists of taken it back with him until next quedado hasta las Navidades que vie- Vardaman’s unspoken thoughts Christmas. Then it will be behind the nen. Entonces volverá a estar detrás and his spoken words as the family prepare to leave for town. 45 glass again, shining with waiting. del cristal, brillando y esperando.

Pa and Cash are coming down the Padre y Cash van cerro abajo, pero hill, but Jewel is going to the barn. Jewel se dirige al granero. “Jewel,” pa says. Jewel does not stop. Jewel —dice padre. ______50 “Where you going?” pa says. But X ______. Pero Jewel does not stop. “You leave that Jewel no se para—. Deja ese caballo COMMENTARY: Darl’s horse here,” pa says. Jewel stops and aquí —dice padre. Jewel se para y mira remark that ‘Jewel’s mother is a looks at pa. Jewel’s eyes look like a padre. Los ojos de Jewel parecen ca- horse’ leads Vardaman to marbles. “You leave that horse here,” nicas—. Deja ese caballo aquí —dice question Darl,’ Then mine will 55 pa says. “We’ll all go in the wagon padre—. Iremos todos en la carreta con have to be a horse, too’, reasoning with ma, like she wanted.” madre, como ella quería. that he and Jewel must have the same mother because they are brothers. Exploring the matter But my mother is a fish. Vernon Pero mi madre es un pez. Vernon lo further, Vardaman elicits from seen it. He was there. vio. Estaba allí. Darl the remark that he, Darl, 60 does not have a mother. Although “Jewel’s mother is a horse,” Darl —La madre de Jewel es un caballo — Vardaman appears to agree to this said. dijo Darl. and to the proposition that Darl himself does not exist, he contradicts this with ‘But you “Then mine can be a fish, can’t it, —Entonces la mía puede ser un pez, are,’ and gets the response, ‘ «I 65 Darl?” I said. ¿verdad Darl? —dije yo. know it,» Darl said. «That’s why 1 am not is. Are is too many for Jewel is my brother. Jewel es hermano mío. one woman to foal.» ‘ Although neither brother can fully “Then mine will have to be a horse, —Entonces la mía también tiene que understand what the other is saying, the reader, who has been 70 too,” I said. ser un caballo —dije yo. ‘inside’ both their minds, can appreciate the roots of “Why?” Darl said. “If pa is your —¿Por qué? —dijo Darl—. Si padre es Vardaman’s confusion between pa, why does your ma have to be a tu padre, ¿por qué tu madre va a tener que ser his mother and a fish and sees horse just because Jewel’s is?” un caballo sólo porque lo sea la de Jewel? here that Darl suffers from the being excluded from his mother’s 75 affections. In this section, he “Why does it?” I said. “Why does —¿Por qué lo es? —dije yo—. ¿Por attributes this withholding of it, Darl?” qué lo es, Darl? affection to the fact that Addie had too many children to love. The role played by Addie in

48 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

Darl is my brother. Darl es hermano mío. confirming or denying the existence of her respective “Then what is your ma, Darl?” I —Entonces, ¿qué es tu madre, Darl? children comes across strongly here and is reinforced in Addie said. —dije yo. (1). 5 “I haven’t got ere one,” Darl said. —No tengo ninguna —dijo Darl—. “Because if I had one, it is was. And Porque si la he tenido, fue. Y si if it is was, it can’t be is. Can it?” fue, no puede ser es. ¿O puede?

10 “No,” I said. —No —dije yo.

“Then I am not,” Darl said. —Entonces yo no soy es —dijo “Am I?” Darl—, ¿verdad?

15 “No,” I said. —No —dije yo.

I am. Darl is my brother. Yo sí soy. Darl es hermano mío.

“But you are, Darl,” I said. —Pero nosotros somos, Darl —dije yo. 20 “I know it,” Darl said. “That’s why —Ya lo sé —dijo Darl—. Por eso no I am not is. Are is too many for one soy es. Somos es demasiados para woman to foal.” parirlos una sola mujer.

25 Cash is carrying his Cash lleva su caja de herra- tool-box. Pa looks at him. mientas. Padre le mira. “I’ll stop at Tull’s on the way —Cuando volvamos me detendré en back,” Cash says. “Get on that casa de Tull —dice Cash—. Me ocuparé barn roof.” del techo de ese granero. 30 “It ain’t respectful,” pa says. “It’s —Eso no es nada respetuoso —dice a deliberate flouting of her and of padre—. Es un insulto deliberado a ella me.” y a mí.

35 “Do you want him to come all —¿Quieres que vuelva hasta aquí y the way back here and carry them que luego lleve a pie las herramientas up to Tull’s afoot?” Darl says. hasta casa de Tull? —dice Darl. Pa looks at Darl, his mouth chewing. Padre mira a Darl, mascando tabaco. Pa shaves every day now because Ahora padre se afeita todos los días por- 40 my mother is a fish. que mi madre es un pez.

“It ain’t right,” pa says. —Eso no está bien —dice padre.

Dewey Dell has the package in her Dewey Dell tiene el envoltorio en la 45 hand. She has the basket with our mano. También tiene la cesta con nues- dinner too. tra comida.

“What’s that?” pa says. —¿Qué es eso? —dice padre.

50 “Mrs. Tull’s cakes,” Dewey Dell —Los bollos de Mrs. Tull —dice says, getting into the wagon. “I’m Dewey Dell, subiendo a la carreta—. Se taking them to town for her.” los llevo a la ciudad.

“It ain’t right,” pa says. “It’s a —Eso no está bien —dice padre—. Es 55 flouting of the dead.” insultar a la muerta.

It’ll be there. It’ll be there come Estará allí. Estará allí hasta que lle- Christmas, she says, shining on the gue Navidad, dice ella, brillando en la track. She says he won’t sell it to no vía. Dice que no se lo venderán a ningún 60 town boys. chico de la ciudad.

25 DARL (9) DARL

65 HE goes on toward the barn, VA hacia el granero, entra con la Darl (9) entering the lot, wooden-backed. espalda envarada. In this section, we find Darl’s Dewey Dell carries the basket on Dewey Dell lleva la cesta en un bra- unspoken and unverbalised one arm, in the other hand something zo, en la otra mano algo cuadrado en- thoughts as he observes the same scene as in Vardaman (4). 70 wrapped square in a newspaper. Her vuelto en papel de periódico. Tiene la face is calm and sullen, her eyes cara tranquila y sombría, los ojos pen- brooding and alert; within them I can sativos y al acecho; dentro de ellos veo see Peabody’s back like two round la espalda de Peabody como dos gui- peas in two thimbles perhaps in santes redondos en dos dedales: pue- COMMENTARY: Darl is, as 75 Peabody’s back two of those worms de que en la espalda de Peabody haya usual, concerned with Jewel’s which work surreptitious and steady dos de esos gusanos que, subrepticia actions, but in this section he through you and out the other side and y constantemente, se abren camino focuses on Dewey Dell. His you waking suddenly from sleep or dentro de uno y salen por el otro lado unverbalised thoughts as Dewey Dell climbs into the wagon stress

49 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

from waking, with on your face an y tú te despiertas de pronto del sueño her sexuality, ‘her leg . . . that expression sudden, intent, and o la vigilia con una expresión repenti- lever which moves the world; one concerned. She sets the basket into na, resuelta e inquieta, en la cara. Co- of that caliper which measures the length and breadth of life’. the wagon and climbs in, her leg loca la cesta en la carreta y salta den- Obviously Darl, who is much 5 coming long from beneath her tro: la pierna le aparece por debajo del concerned with the nature of tightening dress: that lever which vestido ajustado como una palanca que existence, is fascinated by the moves the world; one of that caliper mueve el mundo; uno de esos compa- source of life which, now that which measures the length and ses que miden la vida a lo largo y a lo Addie is dead, lies at the juncture breadth of life. She sits on the seat ancho. Ocupa el asiento de al lado de of Dewey Dell’s legs. He attributes to women a role which 10 beside Vardaman and sets the parcel Vardaman y se coloca el paquete en el is absolutely central in dictating on her lap. regazo. the dimensions of existence, and this once again indicates that he Then he enters the barn. He has not Luego él entra en el granero. No se believes his problems stem from looked back. ha vuelto a mirar. his mother, the source of his life who denied him the affection he 15 needed in order to take on a solid “It ain’t right,” pa says. “It’s little —Eso no está bien —dice padre—. No le shape. enough for him to do for her.” hubiera costado demasiado hacerlo por ella.

“Go on,” Cash says. “Leave him —Venga —dice Cash—. Déjale que- 20 stay if he wants. He’ll be all right here. darse si quiere. Estará bien aquí. Puede Maybe he’ll go up to Tull’s and stay.” que vaya a casa de Tull y se quede allí.

“He’ll catch us,” I say. “He’ll cut —Nos alcanzará —digo yo—. Cogerá across and meet us at Tull’s lane.” el atajo y se nos unirá en la senda de Tull. 25 “He would have rid that horse, —Se hubiera venido montado en ese too,” pa says, “if I hadn’t a stopped caballo —dice padre—, si no se lo hu- him. A durn spotted critter wilder biese impedido. Un maldito pinto,, más than a cattymount. A deliberate salvaje que un gato montés. Un insulto 30 flouting of her and of me.” deliberado contra ella y contra mí.

The wagon moves; the mules’ ears La carreta arranca; las orejas de las mulas begin to bob. Behind us, above the empiezan a moverse. Detrás de nosotros, por house, motionless in tall and soaring encima de la casa, inmóviles en grandes círcu- 35 circles, they diminish and disappear. los que se elevan, disminuyen y desaparecen.

26 ANSE (2) ANSE

40 I TOLD him not to bring that horse LE dije que no trajera ese caballo por Anse (2) out of respect for his dead ma, respeto a su difunta madre, pues no pare- because it wouldn’t look right, him cería nada bien que anduviera haciendo This section contains Anse’s prancing along on a durn circus corvetas por ahí montado en ese maldito spoken words and unspoken animal and her wanting us all to be in animal de circo cuando ella quería que to- thoughts as the wagon sets off up the lane from the farm. 45 the wagon with her that sprung from dos estuviéramos en la carreta con ella, que her flesh and blood, but we hadn’t no los trajo al mundo; pero no habíamos he- more than passed Tull’s lane when cho más que llegar a la senda de Tull cuan- Darl begun to laugh. Setting back do Darl empezó a reírse. Ahí está, sentado there on the plank seat with Cash, en el banco al lado de Cash, con su difunta 50 with his dead ma lying in her coffin madre tumbada en el ataúd a sus pies, rién- COMMENTARY: Anse’s at his feet, laughing. How many times dose. Ya ni sé cuántas veces le he dicho responses are, as usual, muted. Although he is concerned that the I told him it’s doing such things as que esas cosas son las que hacen que la family will present an odd or that that makes folks talk about him, gente hable de él. Digo: Me importa lo offensive spectacle to the rest of I don’t know. I says I got some regard que dice la gente de los que llevan mi the community, he does nothing 55 for what folks says about my flesh and sangre aunque eso a ti no te importe, to prevent this happening. blood even if you haven’t, even if I aunque sea yo el que haya criado a ese It appears that Darl is prone to passel: (Am. col.) a crowd, a parcel have raised such a durn passel of condenado grupo de chicos, y cuan- fits of uncontrolled and inexpli- cable laughter, for Anse says, fixes it so: (Am. col.) arranges it so boys, and when you fixes it so folks do haces cosas por las que la gente ‘how many times I told him it’s that can say such about you, it’s a habla de ti, eso recae en tu madre, doing such things as that makes 60 reflection on your ma, I says, not me: digo, no en mí: yo soy un hombre folks talk about him’, but as ever, I am a man and I can stand it; it’s on y lo puedo soportar; es en las mu- Anse can exercise no authority your womenfolks, your ma and sister jeres de la casa, en tu madre y tu over his family and contents that you should care for, and I turned hermana, en quien deberías pensar; himself with selfcongratulation for his own efforts, ‘1 done my and looked back at him setting there, y me vuelco a mirarle y ahí está, best’. 65 laughing. riéndose.

“I don’t expect you to have no —No espero que me tengas respeto respect for me,” I says. “But with your —digo—. Pero con tu madre, que to- own ma not cold in her coffin yet.” davía no está fría, en el ataúd... 70 “Yonder,” Cash says, jerking —Allá abajo —dice Cash, señalando his head toward the lane. con la cabeza hacia la senda. The horse is still a right smart piece El caballo todavía es una cosa que away, coming up at a good pace, but se mueve a lo lejos y sube a buen paso, 75 I don’t have to be told who it is. I just pero nadie me tiene que decir quién es. looked back at Darl, setting there Sólo vuelvo a mirar a Darl, sentado ahí, laughing. riéndose.

50 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

“I done my best,” I says. “I tried —Hice lo que pude —digo yo—. Tra- to do as she would wish it. The Lord té de hacer lo que a ella le hubiera gusta- will pardon me and excuse the do. El Señor me perdonará y disculpará conduct of them He sent me.” And la conducta de los que Él me dio. 5 Darl setting on the plank seat right Y Darl, sentado en el banco, justo above her where she was laying, encima de donde ella está tumbada, laughing. ríe.

27 10 DARL (10) DARL

HE comes up the lane fast, yet we SUBE deprisa por el sendero pero Darl (10) flicker 1 brillar con luz mortecina, quiver, waver. Va- cilar, oscilar, titilar, centellear, flamear, are three hundred yards beyond the nosotros estamos a más de trescientos 1 (of light) shine unsteadily or fitfully. 2 (of a flame) As the wagon moves away burn unsteadily, alternately flaring and dying down. mouth of it when he turns into the metros del comienzo de la carretera cuan- 3 a (of a flag, a reptile’s tongue, an eyelid, etc.) from the farm, Darl reflects at an 15 road, the mud flying beneath the do él la enfila, con el barro revoloteando move or wave to and fro; quiver; vibrate. b (of the unspoken and an unverbalised wind) blow lightly and unsteadily. 4(of hope etc.) flickering drive of the hooves. Then X bajo los enérgicos golpes de los cascos. increase and decrease unsteadily and level on the events happening intermittently. he slows a little, light and erect in the Luego afloja el paso, ágil y erguido en la around him. He sees Jewel hace remilgos o gestos afectados en saddle, the horse mincing through the silla, mientras el caballo chapotea en el mounted on his horse, Tull exceso X mud. barro. waving as they pass, the sign 20 board to New Hope, Dewey Dell Tull is in his lot. He looks at us, Tull está en el corral. Nos mira, le- gazing straight ahead of her and, once again, Jewel racing past, lifts his hand. We go on, the wagon vanta la mano. Seguimos, la carreta re- spattering [salpicando] the creaking, the mud whispering on the china, el barro susurra en las ruedas. coffin with mud. wheels. Vernon still stands there. He Vernon sigue allí de pie. Mira a Jewel 25 watches Jewel as he passes, the horse cuando éste pasa, y al caballo que cami- moving with a light, high-kneed na con trote ligero, unos trescientos me- driving gait, three hundred yards back. tros detrás de nosotros. Seguimos con un We go on, with a motion so soporific, movimiento tan soporífero, tan como en so dreamlike as to be uninferant of un sueño que no parece marcar nuestro 30 progress, as though time and not space progreso, como si el tiempo y no el espa- COMMENTARY: We know were decreasing between us and it. cio disminuyera entre nosotros y él. from Anse (2), that during the events recorded above Darl is It turns off at right angles, the La carreta toma las curvas en ángulo laughing. Yet he himself makes no mention of the fact, nor does wheel-marks of last Sunday healed recto; las marcas de las ruedas del do- he show any sign of amusement 35 away now: a smooth, red scoriation mingo pasado ya se han borrado: son una in his unspoken and unverbalised curving away into the pines; a white lisa escoriación roja que se pierde hacien- thoughts. This would appear to signboard with faded lettering: New do curvas entre los pinos; un cartel blan- indicate that he is unaware of his Hope Church. 3 mi. It wheels up like co con letras descoloridas: Iglesia de own laughter, just as at the end of a motionless hand lifted above the New Hope, 4 kilómetros. Señala como the novel one part of him feels quite separate from the Darl who 40 profound desolation of the ocean; una mano inmóvil alzada sobre la pro- is laughing hysterically. beyond it the red road lies like a funda desolación del océano; más allá, For Darl, time itself takes on spoke of which Addie Bundren is el rojo camino se extiende como un ra- an odd quality during this journey, the rim. It wheels past, empty, dio cuya llanta fuera Addie Bundren. ‘we go on, . . . as though time and unscarred, the white signboard turns Vacío, sin huellas, pasa de largo, el blan- not space were decreasing between us and it (the road)’. As 45 away its fading and tranquil co cartel queda atrás con su descolorida the road is the major element in assertion. Cash looks up the road y tranquila afirmación. Cash mira el ca- his current environment, it is on quietly, his head turning as we pass mino tranquilamente y vuelve la cabeza the road that he focuses most of it like an owl’s head, his face cuando lo rebasamos como si fuera la de his attention, noting its composed. Pa looks straight ahead, una lechuza, con el rostro sereno. Padre smoothness after the rain, and 50 humped. Dewey Dell looks at the mira al frente, encorvado. Dewey Dell seeing it as ‘a spoke of which road too, then she looks back at me, también mira el camino, luego vuelve a Addie Bundren is the rim’, an image which suggests that Addie her eyes watchful and repudiant, not mirarme con ojos escrutadores y de re- contains and controls the road. like that question which was in chazo, sin aquella interrogación que ha- Eventually, Darl begins to talk as smouldering incandescente, latente, en ascuas, abrasadora, encandeci- those of Cash, for a smouldering bía en los de Cash, durante un intenso if it is the road and not the wagon do, 55 while. The signboard passes; the momento. El cartel queda atrás; el cami- which is moving, ‘it wheels past . smoulder 1 burn slowly with smoke but without a flame; slowly burn unscarred road wheels on. Then no sin huellas sigue uniforme. Luego . . the unscarred road wheels on’. internally or invisibly; burn withing, . This is not a symptom of his 2 (of emotions etc.) exist in a Dewey Dell turns her head. The Dewey Dell vuelve la cabeza. La carreta suppressed or concealed state. 3 (of deranged senses but simply an a person) show silent or suppressed wagon creaks on. sigue rechinando. accurate record of what anger, hatred, etc. apparently happens when a road 60 Cash spits over the wheel. Cash escupe por encima de la rueda. is seen from a moving vehicle. “In a couple of days now it’ll be —Dentro de un par de días empezará smelling,” he says. a oler —dice.

“You might tell Jewel that,” I say. —Deberías decírselo a Jewel —digo yo. 65 He is motionless now, sitting the Ahora está inmóvil, montado en horse at the junction, upright, el caballo, en el cruce, tieso, mi- watching us, no less still than the rándonos, no menos quieto que el signboard that lifts its fading cartel que levanta sus descoloridas 70 capitulation opposite him. letras frente a él.

“It ain’t balanced right for no long —No está bien equilibrada para un ride,” Cash says. viaje largo —dice Cash.

75 “Tell him that, too,” I say. —Dile eso también —digo yo. The wagon creaks on. La carreta sigue rechinando.

A mile farther along he passes us, Un par de kilómetros después nos ade-

51 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

the horse, arch-necked, reined back lanta; el caballo, con el cuello en arco, to a swift single-foot. He sits lightly, va frenado para que mantenga un paso poised, upright, wooden-faced in the ligero. Jewel va sentado en la silla, ágil, saddle, the broken hat raked at a derecho, tieso, con cara de palo, y el som- 5 swaggering angle. He passes us brero roto inclinado en un ángulo desa- swiftly, without looking at us, the fiante. Nos adelanta rápido, sin mirarnos, horse driving, its hooves hissing in el caballo tirando, sus cascos silbando en the mud. A gout of mud, back-flung, el barro. Una salpicadura de barro sale plops on to the box. Cash leans despedida y cae a plomo sobre la caja. 10 forward and takes a tool from his box Cash se echa hacia delante y saca una and removes it carefully. When the herramienta de su caja y quita el barro road crosses Whiteleaf, the willows cuidadosamente. Cuando el camino cru- leaning near enough, he breaks off a za Whiteleaf, los sauces lo bastante cer- branch and scours at the stain with ca, arranca una rama y limpia la mancha 15 the wet leaves. con las hojas húmedas.

28 ANSE (3) ANSE

20 IT’S a hard country on man; it’s Es una comarca dura para el hombre, hard. Eight miles of the sweat of his es dura. Trece kilómetros del sudor de Anse (3) body washed up outen the Lord’s su cuerpo barrido de la tierra del Señor, This section is an unspoken earth, where the Lord Himself told donde el propio Señor le dijo que lo de- lament by Anse in which he him to put it. Nowhere in this sinful jase caer**9. Un hombre honrado y tra- blames the world for his 25 world can a honest, hard-working bajador no puede sacar nada de prove- misfortunes, thinks of the man profit. It takes them that runs the cho en este mundo pecador. Lo sacan esos salvation which awaits him in stores in the towns, doing no que tienen las tiendas de la ciudad, que heaven for enduring his troubles and of the set of false teeth which sweating, living off of them that no sudan, que viven de los que sudan. No will offer him more immediate sweats. It ain’t the hard-working man, el que trabaja de firme, el campesino. A comfort. 30 the farmer. Sometimes I wonder why veces me pregunto por qué seguimos en enduring duradero, definitivo, perdurable, sub- we keep at it. It’s because there is a ello. Es porque para nosotros hay una sistente, imperecedero, lasting, resistente endure v. 1 tr. undergo (a difficulty, hardship, reward for us above, where they can’t recompensa en lo alto, donde ellos no etc.). Aguantar 2 tr. a tolerate, soportar (a person) (cannot endure him). b (esp. with take their motors and such. Every man pueden llevar sus autos y lo demás. Allí neg.; foll. by to + infin.) bear. 3 intr. remain in will be equal there and it will be taken todos los hombres serán iguales y el Se- existence; last, perdurar 4 tr. submit to. 35 from them that have and give to them ñor les quitará a los que tienen y se lo COMMENTARY: Anse is that have not by the Lord. dará a los que no tienen**10. [122] clearly convinced that he is hard- working. He is tempted to But it’s a long wait, seems like. It’s Pero es una larga espera, o eso parece. No upbraid [reproach] God for his bad that a fellow must earn the reward está bien que uno tenga que ganarse la recom- hard lot, but decides instead that all his suffering must mean that 40 of his right-doing by flouting hisself pensa de su bien obrar despreciándose a sí mis- he is precious to God, ‘I am the and his dead. We drove all the rest of mo y a sus muertos. Viajamos lo que quedaba chosen of the Lord, for who He the day and got to Samson’s at de día y llegamos a casa de Samson al oscure- loveth, so doeth He chastiseth’. dust-dark and then that bridge was cer y entonces ese puente también se lo habían These archiac expressions show gone, too. They hadn’t never seen the llevado las aguas. Nunca habían visto el río tan how the language of religion and the ideas it propounds serve to 45 river so high, and it’s not done raining crecido y eso que todavía no ha dejado de reconcile the impoverished and yet. There was old men that hadn’t llover. Los más viejos del lugar nunca unthinking Anse to his lot in life. never seen nor heard of it being so in han visto ni oído hablar, en lo que re- They form a species of the memory of man. I am the chosen cuerdan, de algo semejante. Soy un ele- comforting litany, so that even the of the Lord, for who He loveth, so gido del Señor, pues Este corrige a aquel fact that the bridge he hoped to 50 doeth He chastiseth. But I be durn if a quien ama**11. ______cross has been washed away can He don’t take some curious ways to ______be accepted as significant. X show it, seems like. ______

But now I can get them teeth. That Pero ahora tendré los dientes. Será un 55 will be a comfort. It will. gran alivio. Lo será.

29 SAMSON (1) SAMSON

60 IT was just before sundown. We Fue justo antes de ponerse el were sitting on the porch when the sol. Estábamos sentados en el por- Samson (1) wagon came up the road with the five che cuando la carreta llegó aquí of them in it and the other one on the arriba con cinco dentro y el otro a This long section allows the reader to see the Bundren family horse behind. One of them raised his caballo detrás. Uno de ellos alzó through the eyes of Samson, with 65 hand, but they was going on past the la mano, pero dejaron atrás la tien- whom they spend the first night store without stopping. da sin detenerse. of their journey.

“Who’s that?” MacCallum says: I —¿Quién es ése? —dice MacCallum. can’t think of his name: Rafe’s twin; No me acuerdo de su nombre: es el ge- 70 that one it was. melo de Rafe; eso seguro**12—. COMMENTARY: Samson’s “It’s Bundren, from down beyond —Es Bundren, el de más allá de New membership of a different group New Hope,” Quick says. “There’s one Hope —dijo Quick—. El caballo que from that of the Bundrens is of them Snopes horses Jewel’s riding.” monta Jewel es uno de los de Snopes. stressed at the outset of this section, when we see him sitting 75 amongst a group of men whom “I didn’t know there was ere a one —No sabía que todavía quedaran he knows well. All of them are of them horses left,” MacCallum says. caballos de ésos —dice MacCallum— watching with curiosity the “I thought you folks down there . Creía que los de allá abajo por fin approach of the Bundren wagon. The similarities between the two

52 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

finally contrived to give them all habíais decidido desprenderos de groups, the Bundrens on their away.” ellos. wagon and the men on the steps of the country store, are used to underline the fact that the country “Try and get that one,” Quick says. —Trata de hacerte con ése —dice has an identity which is stamped 5 The wagon went on. Quick. La carreta seguía. on its inhabitants. Both groups share a curiosity about events in “I bet old man Lon never gave it —Para mí que no se lo ha dado el vie- their little world and both are slow to him,” I says. jo Lon —digo. [123] to act. From Samson’s point of view, the Bundrens present a blackly 10 “No,” Quick says. “He bought it —No —dice Quick—. Se lo com- comic spectacle, spending the from pappy.” The wagon went on. pró a mi padre —la carreta seguía— night squatting round Addie’s “They must not a heard about the . No deben de saber lo del puente coffin in the barn, attracting a bridge,” he says. —dice. crowd of buzzards with the smell of death which they carry with them, led by the lazy yet 15 “What’re they doing up here, —De todos modos, ¿qué hacen por determined Anse and embarked anyway?” MacCallum says. aquí? —dice MacCallum. on a ludicrous enterprise.

“Taking a holiday since he —Para mí que tomándose un des- got his wife buried, I reckon,” canso después de enterrar a su mujer 20 Quick says. “Heading for town, —dice Quick—. Para mí que van al I reckon, with Tull’s bridge pueblo, y el puente de Tull también se gone too. I wonder if they ain’t lo llevó la riada. Me extraña que no heard about the bridge.” hayan oído lo del puente.

25 “They’ll have to fly, then,” I says. —Entonces tendrán que cruzar vo- “I don’t reckon there’s ere a bridge lando —digo yo—. Para mí que no hay between here and Mouth of otro puente entre aquí y Mouth of Ishatawa.” Ishatawa.

30 They had something in the wagon. Llevaban algo en la carreta. But Quick had been to the funeral Pero Quick había estado en el three days ago and we naturally funeral hacía tres días y natural- never thought anything about it mente no pensábamos en nada except that they were heading away más que en que habían salido 35 from home mighty late and that tarde de casa y no se habían en- they hadn’t heard about the bridge. terado de lo del puente. “You better holler at them,” —Será mejor darles una voz —dice MacCallum says. Durn it, the name is MacCallum. Maldita sea, tengo el nom- right on the tip of my tongue. So Quick bre en la punta de la lengua. De modo que holler: (Am. col.) shout 40 hollered and they stopped and he went Quick los llamó y ellos se pararon y lue- to the wagon and told them. go él fue hasta la carreta y se lo contó.

He come back with them. “They’re Volvió con ellos. going to Jefferson,” he says. “The —Van a Jefferson —dice—. El puen- 45 bridge at Tull’s is gone, too.” Like we te de Tull también se lo llevó la riada. didn’t know it, and his face looked Como si nosotros no lo supiéramos. funny, around the nostrils, but they En su cara, junto a las ventanas de la just sat there, Bundren and the girl nariz, había algo raro, pero ahí seguían and the chap on the seat, and Cash sentados, Bundren y la chica y el peque- 50 and the second one, the one folks talks ño en el banco, y Cash y el segundo, ése about, on a plank across the tail-gate, del que habla la gente, en una tabla de and the other one on that spotted la parte de atrás, y el otro montando ese horse. But I reckon they was used to caballo pinto. Para mí que ya lo sabían, it by then because when I said to Cash porque cuando le dije a Cash que ten- 55 that they’d have to pass by New Hope drían que volver a New Hope para cru- again and what they’d better do, he zar y que era lo mejor que podían hacer, just says, sólo dice:

“I reckon we can get there.” —Para mí que podremos llegar. 60 I ain’t much for meddling. Let No me gusta andar entrometiéndose. every man run his own business to suit Que cada uno se ocupe de sus cosas digo himself, I say. But after I talked to yo siempre. Pero después de haber habla- a regular man to fix her: a Rachel about them not having a do con Rachel de que no habían tenido professional undertaker to prepa- 65 regular man to fix her and it being July a nadie que se la preparase, y encima re Addie’s corpse and all, I went back down to the barn estamos en julio, volví a bajar al granero and tried to talle to Bundren about it. y traté de hablar con Bundren de eso.

“I givc her my promise,” he says. —Se lo prometí —dice él—. Sólo 70 “Her mind was set on it.” pensaba en eso.

I notice how it takes a lazy man, a Me doy cuenta de que hace falta un hom- man that hates moving, to get set on bre perezoso, un hombre que odie moverse, moving once he does get started off, para seguir adelante una vez que se pone en 75 the same as he was set on staying marcha; y la misma persona que siempre still, like it ain’t the moving he hates quiere estarse quieta, parece que odia más so much as the starting and the ponerse en marcha y pararse que seguir en stopping. And like he would be kind movimiento. Y es como si se sintiera

53 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

of proud of whatever come up to orgulloso o algo así de que parezca make the moving or the setting still difícil ponerse en marcha o estarse look hard. He set there on the quieto. Ahí está en la carreta, joro- wagon, hunched up, blinking, bado, pestañeando, oyéndonos contar- 5 listening to us tell about how quick le lo deprisa que se hundió el puente the bridge went and how high the y lo grande que era la riada, y que me water was, and I be durn if he didn’t condene si no se comporta como si es- act like he was proud of it, like he tuviera orgulloso de eso, como si él had made the river rise himself. mismo hubiera hecho crecer el río. 10 “You say it’s higher than you ever see —Dice que antes nunca había visto it before?” he says. “God’s will be done,” una tan grande? —dice—. Que sea lo que he says. “I reckon it won’t go down much Dios quiera —dice—. Para mí que tam- by morning, neither,” he says. poco disminuirá mucho por la mañana. 15 “You better stay here to-night,” I —Sería mejor que se quedasen aquí says, “and get a early start for New esta noche —digo yo—, y salieran a pri- Hope to-morrow morning.” I was mera hora de la mañana para New Hope bone-gaunted: (neologism) thin to just sorry for them bone-gaunted —sólo lo sentía por las esqueléticas mu- the point where the bones show 20 mules. I told Rachel, I says, “Well, las. Se lo conté a Rachel, le digo—: Bue- through the skin would you have had me turn them no, ¿te habría parecido bien que les hu- away at dark, eight miles from biera hecho volver de noche y estando a home? What else could I do,” I says. diez kilómetros de su casa? ¿Qué otra “It won’t be but one night, and cosa podían hacer? —digo—. Sólo va a 25 they’ll keep it in the barn, and ser una noche y la meterán en el granero, they’ll sholy get started by y se pondrán en marcha en cuanto ama- daylight.” and so I says, “You stay nezca. —Total, que les digo—: Quéden- here to-night and early to-morrow se aquí esta noche y mañana temprano you can go back to New Hope. I got podrán volver a New Hope. Tengo sufi- 30 tools enough, and the boys can go cientes herramientas y los chicos pueden on right after supper and have it dug empezar después de la cena y cavar y ter- and ready if they want,” and then I minar pronto —y entonces veo que la found that girl watching me. If her chica me está mirando. Si sus ojos hu- eyes had a been pistols, I wouldn’t bieran sido pistolas, ahora no lo estaría I be dog: (Am. col.) I swear that 35 be talking now. I be dog if they contando. Que me maten si no me dis- didn’t blaze at me. And so when I paraba con la mirada. De modo que cuan- went down to the barn I come on do bajé al granero y me acerqué a ellos, them, her talking so she never ella estaba hablando y no se fijó en que noticed when I come up. yo había entrado. 40 “You promised her,” she says. —Usted se lo prometió —le dice “She wouldn’t go until you promised. ella—. No quiso irse hasta que se lo pro- She thought she could depend on you. metió. Pensaba que podría confiar en us- If you don’t do it, it will be a curse ted. Si no lo hace, su maldición caerá 45 on you.” sobre usted.

“Can’t no man say I don’t aim to —No hay hombre capaz de decir que no keep my word,” Bundren says. “My mantengo mi palabra —dice Bundren—. heart is open to ere a man.” Tengo el corazón abierto a cualquiera. 50 “I don’t care what your heart is,” —No me importa cómo está su cora- she says. She was whispering, kind zón —dice ella. Susurraba, o algo así, of, talking fast. “You promised her. hablando muy deprisa—. Se lo prome- You’ve got to. You——” Then she tió. Tiene que hacerlo. Usted... —luego 55 leen me and quit, standing there. If me vio allí parado y se calló. Si sus they’d been pistols, I wouldn’t be ojos hubieran sido pistolas ahora no talking now. So when I talked to him lo contaría. Conque cuando le hablé about it, he says, de eso, dice: [125]

60 “I give her my promise. Her mind —Se lo prometí. Estaba empeñada en is set on it.” ello.

“But seems to me she’d rather —Pero a mí me parece que ella prefe- have her ma buried close by, so she riría tener a su madre enterrada cerca, por 65 could——” tanto podríamos...

“It’s Addie I give the promise to,” —Es a Addie a quien se lo prometí — he says. “Her mind is set on it.” dice él—. Estaba empeñada en ello.

70 So I told them to drive it into the Conque les dije que la metieran en el barn because it was threatening rain granero, porque otra vez amenazaba llu- again, and that supper was about ready. via y la cena casi estaba lista. Lo que pasa Only they didn’t want to come in. es que no querían entrar en la casa.

75 “I thank you,” Bundren says. “We —Se lo agradezco —dice Bundren— wouldn’t discommode you. We got a . Pero no queremos incomodarles. Tene- little something in the basket. We can mos algunas cosas en la cesta. Nos las make out.” podemos arreglar.

54 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

“Well,” I says, “since you are so —Muy bien —digo yo—, si ustedes particular about your womenfolks, son tan especiales con las mujeres de su I am too. And when folks stops casa, yo también lo soy con la mía. Y 5 with us at meal-time and won’t cuando alguien llega a la hora de comer come to the table, my wife takes it y no quiere sentarse a nuestra mesa, mi as a insult.” mujer lo considera un insulto.

So the girl went on to the kitchen De modo que la chica fue a la cocina 10 to help Rachel. And then Jewel - a ayudar a Rachel. Y luego Jewel se me come to me. acerca.

“Sho,” I says. “Help yourself —De acuerdo —digo yo—. Cógelo tú outen the loft. Feed him when you mismo del pajar. Dale de comer cuando 15 bait the mules.” les hayas dado el pienso a las mulas.

“I rather pay you for him,” —Prefiero pagarle lo del caballo — he says. dice él.

20 “What for?” I says. “I wouldn’t —¿Y por qué? —digo yo—. A nadie begrudge no man a bait for his horse.” le escatimo el pienso de un caballo. a bait: a bale of hay “I rather pay you,” he says; I —Prefiero pagarle —dice él; pensé thought he said extra. que hablaba de algo especial. 25 “Extra for what?” I says. “Won’t —¿Por algo especial? —digo yo—. he eat hay and corn?” ¿Es que no come heno y maíz?

“Extra feed,” he says. “I feed him —Come mucho —dice él—. Le doy 30 a little extra and I don’t want him de comer mucho y no quiero que tenga beholden to no man.” que agradecérselo a nadie.

“You can’t buy no feed from me, —Yo no te voy a vender comida, chico boy,” I says. “And if he can eat that —digo yo—. Y si come tanto que puede 35 loft clean, I’ll help you load the barn vaciar el pajar, por la mañana te ayudaré a on to the wagon in the morning.” cargar el granero entero en la carreta.

“He ain’t never been beholden to —Nunca le ha tenido que agradecer no man,” he says. “I rather pay you nada a nadie —dice él—. Prefiero pa- 40 for it.” gar.

And if I had my rathers, you Si yo siguiera mis preferencias, wouldn’t be here a-tall, I no estarías aquí ni un minuto, me wanted to say. But I just says, apeteció decir. Pero sólo digo: 45 “Then it’s high time he commenced. —Entonces llegó la hora de que em- You can’t buy no feed from me.” piece. No te voy a vender comida.

When Rachel put supper on, her Cuando Rachel terminó de servir la and the girl went and fixed some beds. cena, ella y la chica fueron a preparar unas 50 But wouldn’t any of them come in. camas. Pero ninguno de ellos quería entrar. “She’s been dead long enough to get —Lleva muerta lo suficiente para over that sort of foolishness,” I says. dejarse de tonterías —digo. Porque los Because I got just as much respect for muertos me imponen respeto como al the dead as ere a man, but you’ve got que más, pero también hay que ser res- 55 to respect the dead themselves, and a petuoso con los muertos, y a una mu- woman that’s been dead in a box four jer que lleva muerta cuatro días den- days, the best way to respect her is to tro de una caja, el mejor modo de res- get her into the ground as quick as petarla es darle tierra lo más pronto you can. But they wouldn’t do it. posible. Pero ellos no querían. 60 “It wouldn’t be right,” Bundren —No estaría bien —dice Bundren—. says. “Course, if the boys wants to Claro que si los chicos quieren acostar- go to bed, I reckon I can set up with se, da igual, puedo quedarme yo solo con her. I don’t begrudge her it.” ella. No le regatearé eso. 65 So when I went back down there Conque cuando volví abajo es- they were squatting on the ground taban en cuclillas en el suelo al- around the wagon, all of them. rededor del carro, todos ellos. “Let that chap come to the house and —Por lo menos dejen que ese chico 70 get some sleep, anyway,” I says. “And entre en casa y duerma un poco —digo you better come too,” I says to the yo—. Y tú, mejor entras también —le girl. I wasn’t aiming to interfere with digo a la chica. No trataba de meterme sholy: (Am. col.) surely them. And I sholy hadn’t done en sus asuntos. Y que yo supiera nunca nothing to her that I knowed. le había hecho nada a ella. 75 “He’s done already asleep,” —Ya se ha dormido —dice Bundren says. They had done put him Bundren. Le habían acostado en uno to bed in the trough in a empty stall. de los pesebres vacíos de la cuadra.

55 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

“Well, you come on, then,” I says —Muy bien, entonces entra tú —le to her. But still she never said nothing. digo a la chica. Pero ella seguía sin decir They just squatted there. You couldn’t nada. Se limitaban a estar allí en cuclillas. 5 hardly see them. “How about you Casi ni se los podía ver—. ¿Y vosotros, boys?” I. says. “You got a full day chicos? —digo—. Mañana tendréis un día to-morrow.” After a while Cash says, difícil —al cabo de un rato, Cash dice:

“I thank you. We can make out.” —Gracias. Nos las arreglaremos. 10 “We wouldn’t be beholden,” —No quisiéramos tener que agradecer Bundren says. “I thank you nada —dice Bundren—. Se lo agradezco kindly.” de verdad.

15 So I left them squatting there. I Conque los dejé allí en cuclillas. Para reckon after four days they was mí que después de cuatro días se habían used to it. But Rachel wasn’t. acostumbrado. Pero Rachel se negó.

“It’s a outrage,” she says. “A —Es un insulto —dice—. Un 20 outrage.” insulto.

“What could he ‘a’ done?” I says. —¿Y qué podría hacer él? —digo “He give her his promised word.” yo—. Se lo ha prometido.

25 “Who’s talking about him?” she —¿Y quién habla de él? —dice says. “Who cares about him?” she ella—. ¿A quién le preocupa él? — says, crying. “I just wish that you dice ella, llorando—. Sólo quiero que and him and all the men in the tú y él y todos los hombres de este world that torture us alive and mundo que nos atormentáis vivas y nos 30 flout us dead, dragging us up and insultáis muertas, arrastrándonos por down the country——” el campo arriba y abajo...

“Now, now,” I says. “You’re —Oye, oye —le digo—. Te has en- upset.” fadado. [127] 35 “Don’t you touch me!” she says. —¡No me toques! —dice ella—. “Don’t you touch me!” ¡No me toques!

A man can’t tell nothing about Un hombre nunca puede decir qué van 40 them. I lived with the same one a hacer. Llevo viviendo con la misma fifteen years and I be durn if I quince años y que me condene si lo sé. Y can. And I imagined a lot of si imaginé un montón de cosas que nos things coming up between us, but pueden separar, que me condene si pen- I be durn if I ever thought it sé alguna vez en que pudiera hacerlo un 45 would be a body four days dead cuerpo que lleva cuatro días muerto, y and that a woman. But they make encima el de una mujer. Pero se hacen life hard on them not taking it as difícil la vida al no tomarla como viene, it comes up, like a man does. que es lo que hacen los hombres.

50 So I laid there, hearing it Conque me tumbé allí, oyendo commence to rain, thinking about cómo empezaba a llover, pensando en them down there, squatting around los que estaban allá abajo, en the wagon and the rain on the roof, cuclillas alrededor de la carreta. Y oía and thinking about Rachel crying la lluvia en el tejado y pensaba en 55 there until after a while it was like I Rachel que lloró tanto rato que era could still hear her crying even after como si la siguiese oyendo después she was asleep, and smelling it even de dormirse; y olía aquello aunque when I knowed I couldn’t. I couldn’t sabía que era imposible. Entonces ni decide even then whether I could or siquiera hubiera podido decidir si era 60 not, or if it wasn’t just knowing it was posible o no, o si sólo era que sabía what it was. lo que era.

So next morning I never went Conque a la mañana siguiente no down there. I heard them hitching up bajé hasta allí. Les oí enganchar y 65 and then when I knowed they must después, cuando me di cuenta de que be about ready to take out, I went out estaban preparados para irse, salí de the front and went down the road la casa y seguí camino abajo hacia toward the bridge until I heard the el puente hasta que oí salir del co- wagon come out of the lot and go back rral la carreta de vuelta a New Hope. 70 toward New Hope. And then when I Y luego, cuando volví a casa, come back to the house, Rachel Rachel se me echó encima porque no jumped on me because I wasn’t there estaba en casa para hacerles entrar to make them come in to breakfast. a desayunar. Con ellas nunca se You cant tell about them. Just about sabe. Justo cuando decides que pien- 75 when you decide they mean one thing, san una cosa, que me condene si no I be durn if you not only haven’t got tienes que cambiar de idea, y aguan- to change your mind, like as not you tar que te despellejen vivo sólo por got to take a raw-hiding for thinking pensar que se referían a lo que tú

56 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

they meant it. pensabas.

But it was still like I could smell Pero todavía era como si lo estuvie- it. And so I decided then that it wasn’t ra oliendo. Y por eso decidí entonces 5 smelling it, but it was just knowing it mismo que no lo olía, sino que sólo was there, like you will get fooled sabía que había estado allí, pues de vez now and then. But when I went to the en cuando uno se engaña. Pero cuan- barn I knew different. When I walked do entré en el granero pensé otra cosa. into the hallway I saw something. It Cuando me encontraba en el zaguán vi 10 kind of hunkered up when I come in algo. Algo que estaba en cuclillas and I thought at first it was one of cuando entré, y al principio pensé que them got left, then I saw what it was. era uno de ellos; luego vi lo que era. It was a buzzard. It looked around and Era un buitre. Miró alrededor y me vio saw me and went on down the hall, y se dirigió al zaguán, con las patas 15 spraddle-legged, with its wings kind separadas, las alas como arrastrando, of hunkered out, watching me first mirándome primero por encima de un over one shoulder and then over the hombro y luego por encima del otro, other, like a old bald-headed man. como un viejo calvo. Cuando llegó When it got outdoors it begun to fly. fuera se echó a volar. Tuvo que ale- 20 It had to fly a long time before it ever tear bastante tiempo antes de remon- got up into the air, with it thick and tarse en el aire, de lo espeso y pesado heavy and full of rain like it was. y lleno de lluvia que estaba.

If they was bent on going to Si se dirigen a Jefferson, para mí 25 Jefferson, I reckon they could have que podían haber rodeado Mount gone around up by Mount Vernon, like Vernon, como hizo MacCallum. Pue- MacCallum did. He’ll get home about de estar en casa pasado mañana, a day after to-morrow, horse-back. Then caballo. Y ellos estaban a veintisie- they’d be just eighteen miles from te kilómetros de la ciudad. Pero pue- 30 town. But maybe this bridge being de que ese puente que también se gone too has learned him the Lord’s llevó la riada lo tome como un avi- sense and judgment. so que le manda el Señor.

That MacCallum. He’s been Ese MacCallum. Lleva tratando conmi- 35 trading with me off and on for twelve go a intervalos desde hace doce años. Lo years. I have known him from a boy conozco desde niño; sé cómo se llama tan up; know his name as well as I do my bien como yo mismo. Pero que me condene own. But be durn if I can say it. si soy capaz de recordar su nombre.

40 30 DEWEY DELL (3) DEWEY DELL

THE signboard comes in sight. It EL cartel ya está a la vista. Aho- is looking out at the road now, ra se asoma al camino, porque pue- Dewey Dell (3) 45 because it can wait. New Hope. 3 mi. de esperar. New Hope, 5 kms, dirá. This section records Dewey it will say. New Hope. 3 mi. New New Hope, 5 kms. New Hope, 5 Dell’s unspoken and unverbalised Hope. 3 mi. And then the road will kms. Y luego empezará el camino thoughts as the wagon leaves the begin, curving away into the trees, que serpentea entre los árboles, va- Tull farm and heads back along empty with waiting, saying New cío con la espera, y que dice New the road it travelled the previous 50 Hope three miles. Hope cinco kilómetros. day. The girl sits in a sort of reverie, recalling dreams and pondering on the difference I heard that my mother is dead. Oí que mi madre ha muerto. Quisiera ha- between dream and reality. I wish I had time to let her die. I ber tenido tiempo para dejarla morir. Quisiera wish I had time to wish I had. It is haber tenido tiempo para querer tenerlo. Es 55 because in the wild and outraged porque en la tierra salvaje y ultrajada demasia- earth too soon too soon too soon. do pronto, demasiado pronto, demasiado pron- It’s not that I wouldn’t and will not to. Y no es que yo no quisiera o no querré, es COMMENTARY: Here, as in Dewey Dell (2), we see that the it’s that it is too soon too soon too que es demasiado pronto, demasiado pronto, girl is so engrossed in her own soon. demasiado pronto. situation that everything else 60 seems beyond the reach of her Now it begins to say it. New Ahora lo empieza a decir. New Hope feelings. In the lines ‘I heard that Hope three miles. New Hope three cinco kilómetros. New Hope cinco kiló- my mother . . . too soon’ she tries miles. That’s what they mean by metros. Esto es lo que quieren decir to work out why she cannot make her mother’s death a reality and the womb of time: the agony cuando se refieren al vientre del tiempo: realises that it is because of her 65 and the despair of spreading la agonía y la desesperación de los hue- own situation. The timing of her bones, the hard girdle in sos distendidos, la rígida faja donde ya- mother’s death is ‘too soon’ which lie the outraged entrails cen las ultrajadas entrañas de los acon- before she has had time to work of events. Cash’s head turns slowly tecimientos. La cabeza de Cash se vuel- out her own, all-absorbing as we approach, his pale, empty, sad, ve lentamente según nos acercamos, su problem. It is significant that Dewey Dell should think again of 70 composed and questioning face cara pálida, vacía, triste e interrogante the ‘wild and outraged earth’, following the red and empty curve; sigue la roja curva vacía; junto a una de something which to her parallels beside the back wheel Jewel sits the las ruedas de atrás, Jewel va montado a her womb, a place of growth. For horse, gazing straight ahead. caballo, mirando al frente. Addie, the earth is a place of death and not of life. In the third paragraph an 75 The land runs out of Darl’s eyes; La tierra surge de los ojos de Darl que italicised passage repeats the they swim to pin-points. They begin se mueven hasta clavarse en algún pun- notion that the earth is a place of at my feet and rise along my body to. Comienzan por mis pies y suben por life and death, ‘That’s what they to my face, and then my dress is el cuerpo hasta la cara, y luego me que- mean by the womb of time; the agony and despair of spreading

57 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

gone: I sit naked on the seat do sin vestido: estoy sentada desnuda en bones, the hard girdle in which above the unhurrying mules, el banco, encima de las mulas cansinas, lie the outraged entrails of above the travail. Suppose I tell encima de todas las fatigas. Supón que events’. At an unverbalised level, Dewey Dell is sensing the him to turn. He will do what I say. le digo que se dé la vuelta. Hará lo que difference between the ‘bones’, 5 Don’t you know he will do what I yo le diga. ¿No sabes que hará lo que le which endure, and the ‘entrails’, say? [Once I waked with a black diga [129] yo? Una vez me desperté con which decay. void rushing under me. I could not un oscuro vacío que se hundía a mis pies. As usual, the musing character see.] I saw Vardaman rise and go No podía ver. Vi a Vardaman levantarse moves between the depths of to the window and strike the knife e ir a la ventana y hundir el cuchillo en inner thoughts and the actuality around them. Dewey Dell returns 10 into the fish, the blood gushing, el pez que chorreaba sangre que siseaba from the contemplation of ‘the hissing like steam but I could not como el vapor aunque yo no podía ver. womb of time’ to look at her see. He’ll do as I say. He always Hará lo que yo le diga. Siempre lo brothers, focusing on Darl and does. I can persuade him to hace. Puedo convencerle de lo que sea. seeing that he has the ability, anything. You know I can. Suppose Sé que puedo. Supón que le digo: Vuél- metaphorically, to strip her bare, ‘I sit naked . . . above the travail’. 15 I say turn here. That was when I vete aquí. Eso fue aquella vez en que Worried by this exposure, she died that time. Suppose I do. We’ll morí. Supón que lo hago. Iríamos a New recalls a dream in which she go to New Hope. We won’t have to Hope. No tendríamos que ir a la ciudad. killed Darl. This memory leads on go to town. I rose and took the Me levanté y saqué y saqué el cuchillo to the memory of another dream knife from the streaming fish still del chorreante pez que todavía siseaba y in which she did not know what 20 hissing and I killed Darl. maté a Darl. she was, ‘I couldn’t think of my name I couldn’t even think I am a girl I couldn’t even think I . . .’. When I used to sleep with Cuando acostumbraba a dormir Her sense of reality was restored Vardaman I had a nightmare once I con Vardaman una vez tuve una pesadi- by feeling the wind blowing on thought I was awake but I couldn’t lla y creí que estaba despierta, pero no her legs, a confirmation by an 25 see and couldn’t feel I couldn’t feel podía ver ni notar ni notar la cama de- outside agency which recalls the bed under me and I couldn’t bajo de mí y no podía pensar qué era yo Darl’s idea that the wagon’s think what I was I couldn’t think of no podía pensar en cómo me llamo ni si- existence is confirmed by the rain. my name I couldn’t even think I am quiera podía pensar que soy una chica a girl I couldn’t even think I nor ni tampoco podía tan siquiera pensar, ni 30 even think I want to wake up nor tampoco podio pensar que quería des- remember what was opposite to pertar ni tampoco recordar qué era lo awake so I could do that I knew that opuesto a despertar de modo que pudie- something was passing but I se hacerlo yo sabía que algo se desliza- couldn’t even think of time then all ba, pero ni siquiera podía pensar en el 35 of a sudden I knew that something tiempo y entonces de repente me di cuen- was it was wind blowing over me it ta de que había algo que era como vien- was like the wind came and blew me to que soplaba sobre mí y era como si el back from where it was I was not viento viniera y me impulsara hacia atrás blowing the room and Vardaman desde donde estaba y yo no soplaba el 40 asleep and all of them back under cuarto y Vardaman dormía y todos deme again and going on like a piece bajo de mí otra vez como un trozo de seda of cool silk dragging across my fría que se arrastraba entre mis piernas naked legs. desnudas

45 It blows cool out of the pines, De los pinos sale un soplo fresco, un a sad steady sound. New Hope. triste y constante sonido. New Hope. Was 3 mi. Was 3 mi. I believe in Estaba a 5 kms. Estaba a 5 kms. Creo en God I believe in God. Dios, creo en Dios.

50 “Why didn’t we go to New Hope, —¿Por qué no fuimos a New Hope, pa?” Vardaman says. “Mr. Samson padre? —dice Vardaman—. Mr. Samson said we was, but we done dijo que iríamos, pero ya nos hemos passed the road.” pasado el camino.

55 Darl says, “Look, Darl dice: Jewel.” But he is not —Mira, Jewel. looking at me. He is looking Pero él no me estaba mirando a mí. at the sky. The buzzard is as still Miraba al cielo. El buitre está inmóvil as if he were nailed to it. como si lo hubieran clavado en él. 60 We turn into Tull’s lane. We Doblamos hacia el sendero de Tull. pass the barn and go on, the Pasamos delante del granero y seguimos, wheels whispering in the mud, las ruedas susurrando en el barro, pasa- passing the green rows of cotton mos por delante de los verdes surcos del 65 in the wild earth, and Vernon little algodón en la tierra salvaje, y de Vernon, across the field behind the plough. que se hace pequeño al otro lado del cam- He lifts his hand as we pass and po, detrás del arado. Levanta la mano stands there looking after us for a cuando pasamos y se queda allí mirán- long while. donos largo rato. 70 “Look, Jewel,” Darl says. Jewel —Mira, Jewel —dice Darl. [130] sits on his horse like they were both Jewel va montado en su caballo como made out of wood, looking straight si los dos fueran de madera, mirando al ahead. frente. 75 I believe in God, God. God, I Creo en Dios, Dios. Dios, creo en believe in God. Dios.

58 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

31 TULL (4) TULL

AFTER they passed I taken the DESPUÉS de que pasaran saqué la Tull (4) 5 mule out and up the trace chains and mula y le enrollé las cadenas del tiro followed. They were setting in the y los seguí. Estaban instalados e n This section consists of Tull’s wagon at the end of the levee. Anse la carreta, al final del malecón. Anse unspoken thoughts and his was setting there, looking at the estaba allí mirando al puente por spoken words as he sees the bridge where it was swagged down donde se lo había llevado el río con Bundrens pass his farm going towards the river. He follows 10 into the river with just the two ends sólo dos pilares a la vista. Lo miraba them on his mule. in sight. He was looking at it like he como si todo el tiempo hubiera creído had believed all the time that folks que la gente le mentía sobre que se lo had been lying to him about it being había llevado la riada y siempre hu- gone, but like he was hoping all the biera esperado que siguiera allí. Pare- 15 time it really was. Kind of pleased cía como agradablemente sorprendido, COMMENTARY: In this astonishment he looked, setting on the allí, sentado en la carreta con sus pan- section, Tull is made to feel the wagon in his Sunday pants, mumbling talones de los domingos, murmurando collective hostility of the Bundren his mouth. Looking like a uncurried algo. Era como un caballo sin cepillar vestido family. Each member looks at him horse dressed up: I don’t know. con sus mejores galas, o algo por el estilo. in turn, Dewey Dell ‘like I had 20 made to touch her’, Darl ‘like he The boy was watching the bridge El chico miraba el puente por don- had got inside you, someway’ and Cash ‘with that look in his eyes where it was midsunk and logs and de estaba medio hundido y a los tron- like when he was figuring out such drifted up over it and it swagging cos y demás cosas amontonadas enci- whether the planks would fit her and shivering like the whole thing ma que se agitaban y temblaban como that night.’ Only Anse pays no 25 would go any minute, big-eyed he si en cualquier momento todo fuera a particular attention to Tull, gazing was watching it, like he was to a desaparecer con los ojos muy abiertos instead at the river with a kind of circus. And the gal, too. When I come igual que si estuviera en el circo. Y la ‘pleased astonishment’. The violence of the river is echoed by up she looked around at me, her eyes chica lo mismo. Cuando llegué me the violent undercurrents now kind of blaring up and going hard like miró con ojos brillantes y duros como evident in the family itself. undercurrent 1 subdued 30 I had made to touch her Then she si la hubiera intentado tocar. Luego emotional quality underlying an looked at Anse again and then back volvió a mirar a Anse y luego volvió a utterance; implicit meaning, sobreentendido, tendencia at the water again. mirar al agua. oculta 2 a current below the surface of a fluid, corriente submarina, contracorriente 1 contracorriente 2 fig (de It was nigh [near] up to the levee Esta casi cubría el malecón en los descontento, etc) trasfondo. 35 on both sides, the earth hid except for dos lados, la tierra estaba cubierta por 3 (en el mar) corriente submarina the tongue of it we was on going out el agua excepto en la lengua por la que to the bridge and then down into the nos dirigíamos al puente y luego se water, and except for knowing how hundía, y a no ser porque sabíamos the road and the bridge used to look, dónde solían estar el camino y el puen- 40 a fellow couldn’t tell where was the te, nadie podría decir dónde estaba el river and where the land. It was just río y dónde la tierra. Era una mezco- a tangle of yellow and the levee not lanza amarilla y la lengua de tierra no less wider than a knife-back kind of, más ancha que el revés de un cuchillo with us setting in the wagon and on con todos nosotros instalados en la ca- 45 the horse and the mule. rreta y en el caballo y la mula.

Darl was looking at me, and then Darl me miraba, y luego Cash se Cash turned and looked at me with volvió a mirarme con aquella expre- that look in his eyes like when he was sión en los ojos que era como cuan- 50 figuring on whether the planks would do aquella noche pensaba si las ta- fit her that night, like he was blas se acoplarían a ella, igual que measuring them inside of him and not si las midiera interiormente y no te asking you to say what you thought preguntase lo que pensabas y ni si- and not even letting on he was quiera se dignase a escuchar si le 55 listening if you did say it, but listening dabas tu opinión, aunque de hecho es- all right. Jewel hadn’t moved. He sat cuchase. Jewel no se había movido. Es- there on the horse, leaning a little taba allí, montado a caballo, echado un forward, with that same look on his poco hacia delante, con la misma expre- face when him and Darl passed the sión en la cara de cuando él y Darl pasa- 60 house yesterday, coming back to get ron ayer por delante de casa camino de her. recogerla.

“If it was just up, we could drive —Si se hubiera mantenido podríamos across,” Anse says. “We could drive cruzar —dice Anse—. Podríamos cruzar 65 right on across it.” en un momento.

Sometimes a log would get A veces la corriente empujaba un tron- shoved over the jam and float on, co que saltaba el atasco y seguía flotan- rolling and turning, and we could do, girando y revolviéndose, y podíamos 70 watch it go on to where the ford used verlo seguir hacia donde solía estar el vado. to be. It would slow up and whirl Allí parecía detenerse y dar vueltas crossways and hang out of water for atravesado y asomaba fuera del agua du- a minute, and you could tell by that rante un momento, y por eso se podía that the ford used to be there. asegurar que el vado solía estar allí. 75 “But that don’t show —Pero eso no demuestra nada —digo nothing,” I say. “It could be a yo—. Podría ser un banco de arenas movedi- bar of quicksand built up there.” zas que se ha formado allí.

59 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

We watch the log. Then the gal Observábamos el tronco. Luego la is looking at me again. chica se puso a mirarme otra vez.

“Mr. Whitfield crossed it,” she says. —Mr. Whitfield lo cruzó —dice. 5 “He was a horse-back,” I say. —Iba a caballo —digo yo—. Y fue “And three days ago. It’s riz five hace tres días. Desde entonces ha subido foot since.” metro y medio.

10 “If the bridge was just up,” Anse —Si el puente siguiera en pie... —dice says. Anse.

The log bobs up and goes on again. El tronco reaparece y sigue adelante. There is a lot of trash and foam, and Hay muchos desechos y espuma, y se 15 you can hear the water. pueden ir al agua.

“But it’s down,” Anse says. —Pero se ha hundido —dice Anse.

Cash says, “A careful Cash dice: 20 fellow could walk across —Con mucho cuidado a lo mejor se yonder on the planks and podría cruzar por encima de los tablones logs.” y los troncos.

tote: (Am. English) carry “But you couldn’t tote —Pero no se podría llevar ninguna 25 nothing,” I say. “Likely time you carga —digo yo—. Probablemente si po- set foot on that mess, it’ll all go, nes el pie en ese revoltijo se hundiría tam- too. What you think, Darl?” . bién. ¿Qué opinas, Darl?

He is looking at me. He don’t say Me está mirando. No dice nada; se 30 nothing; just looks at me with them limita a mirarme con esos ojos suyos queer eyes of hisn that makes folks tan raros que tanto dan que hablar. talk. I always say it ain’t never been Siempre digo que eso no es tanto por what he done so much or said or lo que haga o diga o algo así, como por anything so much as how he looks at el modo en que te mira. Es como si te 35 you. It’s like he had got into the inside llegara hasta muy adentro, en cierto of you, someway. Like somehow you modo. Algo así como si uno se estu- was looking at yourself and your viera mirando a sí mismo y lo hace y lo doings outen his eyes. Then I can feel viera en sus ojos. Entonces noto que la that gal watching me like I had made to chica me mira como si hubiera intenta- 40 touch her. She says something to Anse. do tocarla. Le dice algo a Anse: “. . . Mr. Whitfield . . .” she says. —... Mr. Whitfield... —dice.[132]

“I give her my promised word in —Le di mi palabra ante Dios the presence of the Lord,” Anse says. —dice Anse—. Para mí que no 45 “I reckon it ain’t no need to worry.” hay de qué preocuparse.

But still he does not start the Pero sigue sin hacer andar a las mu- mules. We set there above the water. las. Estamos allí, al borde del agua. the jam: the obstructing clump of Another log bobs up over the jam and Otro tronco asoma sobre el atasco y logs 50 goes on; we watch it check up and sigue; lo vemos detenerse y oscilar swing slow for a minute where the lentamente durante un minuto donde ford used to be. Then it goes on. solía estar el vado. Luego se aleja.

“It might start falling to-night,” I —Puede que empiece a bajar esta no- 55 say. “You could lay over one more che —digo yo—. Podrían quedarse un día day.” más.

Then Jewel turns sideways on Entonces Jewel se vuelve encima del the horse. He has not moved until caballo. No se ha movido hasta enton- 60 then, and he turns and looks at me. ces; se vuelve y me mira. Tiene la cara His face is kind of green, then it como verde, luego se le pone roja y lue- would go red and then green again. go verde otra vez. “Get to hell on back to your damn —Váyase al infierno y siga arando — ploughing,” he says. “Who the hell dice—. ¿Quién demonios le pidió que nos 65 asked you to follow us here?” siguiera hasta aquí?

“I never meant no harm,” I say. —No quería molestar —digo yo.

“Shut up, Jewel,” Cash says. Jewel —Cállate, Jewel —dice Cash. Jewel 70 looks back at the water, his face vuelve a mirar el agua, su cara es una grit — n. 1 particles of stone or sand, esp. as gritted, going red and green and then mueca y se pone roja y verde y luego causing discomfort, clogging machinery, etc. 2 coarse sandstone. 3 colloq. pluck, red. “Well,” Cash says after a while, roja—. Bueno —dice Cash al cabo de un endurance; strength of character. — v. (gritted, gritting) 1 tr. spread grit on (icy “what you want to do?” rato—, ¿qué quiere que hagamos? roads etc.). 2 tr. clench (the teeth). 3 intr. make or move with a grating sound. grit 1 arena gravilla 2 coraje, agallas 3 clench the 75 Anse don’t say nothing. He sets Anse no dice nada. Sigue sentado, teeth, apretar los dientes, rechinar los dientes, decir apretando los dientes. humped up, mumbling his mouth. encorvado, murmurando entre dientes. “If it was just up, we could drive —Si solo se hubiera mantenido po- across it,” he says. dríamos cruzarlo —dice.

60 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

“Come on,” Jewel says, moving —Venga, vamos —dice Jewel, hacien- the horse. do andar al caballo.

5 “Wait,” Cash says. He looks at the —Espera —dice Cash. Mira el bridge. We look at him, except Anse puente. Todos le miramos menos and the gal. They are looking at the Anse y la chica que están mirando el water. “Dewey Dell and Vardaman agua—. Dewey Dell y Vardaman y and pa better walk across on the padre será mejor que pasen por el 10 bridge,” Cash says. puente —dice Cash.

“Vernon can help them,” Jewel —Vernon les puede ayudar —dice says. “And we can hitch his mule Jewel—. Y nosotros podemos engarchar ahead of ourn.” su mula delante de las nuestras. 15 “You ain’t going to take my mule —No vais a meter mi mula en esa into that water,” I say. corriente —digo yo.

Jewel looks at me. His eyes Jewel me mira. Sus ojos parecen tro- 20 look like pieces of a broken plate. zos de un plato roto. “I’ll pay for your damn mule. I’ll buy —Le pagaré su condenada mula. Se it from you right now.” la compro ahora mismo.

“My mule ain’t going into that —A mi mula no la meteréis en esa 25 water,” I say. corriente —digo yo.

“Jewel’s going to use his horse,” Jewel va a meter su caballo —dice Darl says. “Why won’t you risk your Darl—. ¿Por qué no quiere arriesgar su mule, Vernon?” mula, Vernon? [133] 30 “Shut up, Darl,” Cash says. “You —Cállate, Darl —dice Cash—. Tú y and Jewel both.” Jewel, callaos los dos.

“My mule ain’t going into that —Mi mula no se meterá en esa co- 35 water,” I say. rriente —digo yo. glare A 1. mirada feroz o llena de odio 2. luz deslumbrante, resplandor. B verbo intransitivo 1 mirar enfurecido [at, a] staring angrily and fiercely, (fulminándole con la mirada) 3. deslumbrar 1. To stare fixedly and angrily. See synonyms at 32 gaze. 2. To shine intensely and blindingly: A hot sun glared down on the desert. 3. To be DARL (11) DARL conspicuous; stand out obtrusively: The headline glared from the page. To express by staring 40 angrily: He glared his disapproval. HE sits the horse, glaring at MONTA su caballo, mirando a suffuse 1 (of colour, moisture, etc.) spread from within to colour or moisten (a blush suffused Vernon, his lean face suffused up to Vernon, con su flaco rostro empañado por Darl (11) her cheeks). 2 cover with colour etc. Impreg- and beyond the pale rigidity of his eyes. la pálida rigidez de sus ojos. El vera- nar, saturar, bañar, inundar, The summer when he was fifteen, he no en que tenía quince años, le dio As the family sit gazing at the swollen river, Darl is thinking of 45 took a spell of sleeping. One morn- un ataque de sueño. Una mañana Jewel. He remembers, at an ing when I went to feed the mules cuando yo iba a dar de comer a las unspoken and unverbalised level, the cows were still in the tie-up and mulas, las vacas todavía estaban ama- the time when Jewel used to then I heard pa go back to the house rradas y entonces oí a padre que vol- disappear mysteriously at night and call him. When we came on back vía a casa y le llamaba. Cuando vol- and return exhausted. 50 to the house for breakfast he passed vimos a casa para desayunar pasó jun- us, carrying the milk buckets, stum- to a nosotros llevando los cubos para bling along like he was drunk, and la leche y tambaleándose como si es- he was milking when we put the tuviera borracho, y estaba ordeñando mules in and went on to the field cuando arreglamos las mulas y sali- COMMENTARY: This section 55 without him. We had been there an mos al campo sin él. Llevábamos una begins with Darl thinking, as hour and still he never showed up. hora allí y seguía sin aparecer. Cuan- usual, of Jewel. The reason for When Dewey Dell came with our do Dewey Dell vino con el almuerzo, such thoughts is not simply his obsession with his brother but the lunch, pa sent her back to find Jewel. padre la mandó a buscar a Jewel. Lo fact that, in Tull (4), Darl was part They found him in the tie-up, sitting encontraron en el establo, sentado en of the family in its hostility 60 on the stool, asleep. el taburete, dormido. against Tull. Here he recalls another moment at which the After that, every morning pa Después de eso, padre tenía que ir to- family were united, a time when would go in and wake him. He das las mañanas a despertarle. Se dor- Jewel began to behave in a mysterious fashion. ‘That was the would go to sleep at the suppertable mía en la mesa durante la cena y, en first time ma . . . has happened to 65 and soon as supper was finished he cuanto terminábamos de cenar, se metía him’, these lines create an image would go to bed, and when I came en la cama, y cuando me acostaba yo, of the whole family acting as a in to bed he would be lying there allí me lo encontraba tumbado como un unit to protect their mother from like a dead man. Yet still pa would muerto. Sin embargo, padre también te- the knowledge that her favourite have to wake him in the morning. nía que despertarle por la mañana. Se son is behaving oddly. The image implies that the family are bound 70 He would get up, but he wouldn’t levantaba, pero casi no se enteraba de to one another by their concern hardly have half sense: he would lo que estaba pasando: se quedaba allí for Addie. Now that Addie is no stand for pa’s jawing and quieto sin decir ni palabra mientras pa- longer alive, they sit helplessly by complaining without a word and dre le reñía y se quejaba, y luego cogía the side of the river, each finding take the milk buckets and go to the los cubos de la leche e iba al establo, y it difficult to feel his or her own identity, yet all acting with a kind 75 barn, and once I found him asleep una vez me lo encontré dormido junto a of tacit strength against the at the cow, the bucket in place and la vaca con el cubo en su sitio y a medio outside world. half-full and his hands up to the llenar y las manos metidas en la leche At the end of the section, we wrists in the milk and his head hasta las muñecas y la cabeza apoyada discover that Darl himself had had a personal flash of insight as a

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against the cow’s flank. en el costado de la vaca. result of Jewel’s action. He had found his mother beside Jewel’s After that Dewey Dell had Después de eso tenía que ordeñar sleeping body, crying quietly. It was at this moment that Darl to do the milking. He still got Dewey Dell. El seguía levantándose realised that Jewel was not Anse’s 5 up when pa waked him, going cuando lo despertaba padre y se iba a son, that he is the product of about what we told him to do hacer lo que le decíamos como en un tran- deceit, ‘I knew that as plain on in that dazed way. It was like ce. Era como si estuviera intentando ha- that day as I knew about Dewey he was trying hard to do them; cer las cosas lo mejor posible. Como si Dell on that day’. that he was as puzzled as se sintiera tan confundido como todos los 10 anyone else. demás. [134]

“Are you sick?” ma said. “Don’t —¿Estás malo? —le decía madre—. you feel all right?” ¿No te encuentras bien?

15 “Yes,” Jewel said. “I feel all —Sí —decía Jewel—, me encuentro right.” perfectamente.

“He’s just lazy, trying me,” —Sólo es un perezoso que trata de pa said, and Jewel standing molestarme —decía padre, y Jewel se 20 there, asleep on his feet like as quedaba de pie allí, incluso a veces dor- not. “Ain’t you?” he said, mido—. ¿No tengo razón? —decía padre, waking Jewel up again to despertando a Jewel otra vez para que le answer. contestase.

25 “No,” Jewel said. —No —decía Jewel.

“You take off and stay in the house —Hoy quédate en casa sin hacer nada to-day,” ma said. —decía madre.

30 “With that whole bottom piece to —¿Con todo ese terreno que hay be busted out?” pa said. “If you ain’t que arar? —decía padre—. Si no sick, what’s the matter with you?” estás malo, ¿qué te pasa?

“Nothing,” Jewel said. “I’m all —Nada —decía Jewel—. Estoy per- 35 right.” fectamente.

“All right?” pa said. “You’re —¿Perfectamente? —decía padre—. asleep on your feet this minute.” Si acabas de quedarte dormido de pie.

40 “No,” Jewel said. “I’m all —No —decía Jewel—. Me encuentro right.” perfectamente.

“I want him to stay at home —Quiero que se quede en casa hoy to-day,” ma said. —decía madre. 45 “I’ll need him,” pa said. —Le voy a necesitar —decía Padre—. “It’s tight enough, with all of Vamos ya bastante apurados, incluso con- us to do it.” tando con todos nosotros.

50 “You’ll just have to do the best you —Arréglatelas como puedas con Cash can with Cash and Darl,” ma said. “I y Darl —decía madre—. Hoy quiero que want him to stay in to-day.” se quede.

But he wouldn’t do it. “I’m Pero él no quería quedarse. 55 all right,” he said, going on. —Estoy perfectamente —dijo al salir. But he wasn’t all right. Anybody Pero no estaba bien. Cualquiera lo could see it. He was losing flesh, and podía ver. Perdía peso y le había visto I have seen him go to sleep chopping; dormirse mientras cavaba; yo veía que el watched the hoe going slower and azadón subía y bajaba cada vez más des- 60 slower up and down, with less and pacio y que el arco que describía se ha- less of an arc, until it stopped and cía más y más pequeño, hasta que se paró he leaning on it motionless in the y se quedó quieto, y él apoyado en el hot shimmer of the sun. mango, bajo el ardiente brillo del sol.

65 Ma wanted to get the doctor, but Madre quería llamar al médico, pa didn’t want to spend the money pero padre no quería gastar el dinero without it was needful, and Jewel did si no había necesidad, y Jewel parecía seem all right except for his thinness bien del todo a no ser por su delgadez and his way of dropping off to sleep y porque se quedaba dormido en cual- 70 at any moment. He ate hearty enough, quier momento. Comía con bastante except for his way of going to sleep apetito, pero a veces se quedaba dor- in his plate, with a piece of bread mido encima del plato con un trozo de half-way to his mouth and his jaws pan a medio camino de la boca y sin still chewing. But he swore he was dejar de masticar. Pero juraba que se 75 all right. encontraba bien.

It was ma that got Dewey Dell Madre tuvo que mandar a Dewey to do his milking, paid her Dell que ordeñara en lugar de él, y de

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somehow, and the other jobs around algún modo se lo pagaba, y las demás the house that Jewel had been faenas de la casa que Jewel hacía hasta doing before supper she found ahora antes de la hora de cenar, encon- some way for Dewey Dell and tró modo de que las hicieran Dewey Dell 5 Vardaman to do them. And doing y [135] Vardaman. O las hacía ella mis- them herself when pa wasn’t there. ma cuando padre no estaba delante. Le She would fix him special things to preparaba cosas de comer especiales a eat and hide them for him. And that escondidas de los otros. Y puede que may have been when I first found it haya sido entonces cuando descu- 10 out, that Addie Bundren should be brí que Addie Bundren, que siem- hiding anything she did, who had tried pre nos había enseñado que el en- to teach us that deceit was such that, gaño era lo peor de este mundo, in- in a world where it was, nothing else cluida la pobreza, nos ocultaba could be very bad or very important, algo. Y a veces cuando entraba para 15 not even poverty. And at times when I irme a dormir, me la encontraba went in to go to bed she would be sentada a oscuras junto al sitio don- sitting in the dark by Jewel where he de dormía, Jewel. Y comprendí que was asleep. And I knew that she was se odiaba a sí misma por tener que hating herself for that deceit and hating engañarnos, y que odiaba a Jewel 20 Jewel because she had to love him so porque le quería tanto que tenía que that she had to act the deceit. engañarnos.

One night she was taken sick and Una noche se puso mala y cuando when I went to the barn to put the fui al establo a preparar el tiro para ir 25 team in and drive to Tull’s, I couldn’t a casa de Tull, no conseguí encontrar find the lantern. I remembered el farol. Recordaba haberlo visto col- noticing it on the nail the night before, gado del clavo la noche anterior, pero but it wasn’t there now at midnight. ahora, a medianoche, no estaba allí. So I hitched in the dark and went on Conque enganché a oscuras y salí y 30 and came back with Mrs. Tull just volví con Mr. Tull justo después de after daylight. And there the lantern amanecer. Y allí estaba el farol, col- was, hanging on the nail where I gando del clavo donde yo lo recorda- remembered it and couldn’t find it ba y antes no había conseguido encon- before. And then one morning while trarlo. Y luego, una mañana, mientras 35 Dewey Dell was milking just before Dewey ordeñaba justo antes de salir sun-up, Jewel came into the barn from el sol, Jewel entró en el establo por la the back, through the hole in the back parte de atrás, a través de un agujero wall, with the lantern in his hand. de la pared, con el farol en la mano.

40 I told Cash, and Cash and I looked Se lo conté a Cash, y Cash y yo nos at one another. miramos.

“Rutting,” Cash said. —Está como en celo —dijo Cash.

45 “Yes,” I said. “But why the —Sí —dije yo—. Pero, ¿por lantern? And every night, too. No qué el farol? Y encima todas las wonder he’s losing flesh. Are you noches. No me extraña que adel- going to say anything to him?” gace. ¿Vas a decirle algo?

50 “Won’t do any good,” Cash said. —No serviría de nada —dijo Cash.

“What he’s doing now won’t do —Tampoco sirve de nada lo que está any good, either.” haciendo ahora.

55 “I know. But he’ll have to learn —Ya lo sé. Pero tiene que aprenderlo that himself. Give him time to por sí mismo. Dale tiempo para que se realize that it’ll save, that there’ll dé cuenta de que eso no se va a agotar, be just as much more to-morrow, de que mañana lo podría hacer igual, y and he’ll be all right. I wouldn’t tell se le pasará. Para mí que será mejor no 60 anybody, I reckon.” contárselo a nadie.

“No,” I said. “I told Dewey Dell —No —dije yo—. Le dije a Dewey Dell que not to. Not ma, anyway.” no lo contara. Por lo menos, no a madre.

65 “No. Not ma.” —No. A madre no.

After that I thought it was right Después de eso pensé que resultaba comical: he acting so bewildered hasta cómico: se comportaba como tan and willing and dead for sleep perplejo y ansioso y estaba tan muerto 70 and gaunt as a bean-pole, and de sueño y tan flaco como una vara en thinking he was so smart with it. un campo de judías; y creía que nos en- And I wondered who the girl was. gañaba... Y yo me preguntaba [136] quién I thought of all I knew that it podría ser la chica. Pensé en todas las que might be, but I couldn’t say for conocía, pero no estaba seguro de que 75 sure. fuera ninguna.

“’Taint any girl,” Cash said. “It’s —No es ninguna chica —dijo a married woman somewhere. Ain’t Cash—. Es una mujer casada de por

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any young girl got that much daring aquí cerca. Ninguna chica joven es tan and staying power. That’s what I atrevida ni resiste tanto. Eso es lo que don’t like about it.” no me gusta de todo esto.

5 “Why?” I said. “She’ll be safer for —¿Por qué? —dije yo—. Para él es him than a girl would. More más seguro que una chica. Siempre será judgment.” más discreta.

He looked at me, his eyes Me miró con ojos titubeantes 10 fumbling, the words fumbling y titubeaba con las palabras at what he was trying to say. ante lo que intentaba decir. “It ain’t always the safe things in this —En este mundo las cosas se- world that a fellow . . .” guras no siempre...

15 “You mean, the safe things are not —¿Quieres decir que las cosas segu- always the best things?” ras no son siempre las mejores?

“Ay; best,” he said, fumbling again. —Sí, no siempre —dijo volviendo a “It ain’t the best things, the things that titubear—. No son las cosas mejores las 20 are good for him . . . . A young boy. A que son buenas para él... Un chico joven. fellow kind of hates to see . . . A cualquiera le molestaría ver que... re- wallowing in somebody else’s mire . . .” volcándose en el lodazal de otro... That’s what he was trying to say. Uso es lo que trataba de decir. When something is new and hard and Cuando algo es nuevo y difícil y 25 bright, there ought to be something a brillante, es mejor que haya algo little better for it than just being safe, más que seguridad, pues las co- since the safe things are just the things sas seguras sólo son cosas que la that folks have been doing so long gente lleva haciendo tanto tiem- they have worn the edges off and po que tienen los bordes gastados 30 there’s nothing to the doing of them y no hay nada en ellas que per- that leaves a man to say, That was not mita decir a un hombre: eso nun- done before and it cannot be done ca se había hecho antes y no se again. puede volver a hacer.

35 So we didn’t tell, not even when Conque no lo contamos, ni siquiera after a while he’d appear suddenly cuando al cabo de un tiempo de repente in the field beside us and go to work, aparecía en el campo, a nuestro lado, y without having had time to get home se ponía a trabajar, sin haber tenido tiem- and make out he had been in bed all po de volver a casa y simular que se ha- 40 night. He would tell ma that he bía pasado toda la noche acostado. Le hadn’t been hungry at breakfast or contaría a madre que no tenía ganas de that he had eaten a piece of bread desayunar o que había tomado un trozo while he was hitching up the team. de pan mientras estaba unciendo el tiro. But Cash and I knew that he hadn’t Pero Cash y yo sabíamos que no había 45 been home at all on those nights and pasado en casa todas esas noches y que he had come up out of the woods venía directamente del bosque cuando when we got to the field. But we salíamos al campo. Pero nos lo callamos. didn’t tell. Summer was almost over Por entonces casi se había terminado el then; we knew that when the nights verano; sabíamos que cuando las noches 50 began to get cool, she would be done empezaran a ser frías, ella terminaría con if he wasn’t. el asunto aunque él no quisiera.

But when fall came and the Pero cuando llegó el otoño y las no- nights began to get longer, the only ches empezaron a hacerse más largas, la 55 difference was that he would única diferencia fue que siempre estaba always be in bed for pa to wake en la cama cuando padre iba a despertar- him, getting him up at last in that lo y le obligaba a levantarse en ese esta- first state of semi-idiocy like when do de semiidiotez en que se [137] levan- it first started, worse than when he taba antes, peor todavía que cuando ha- 60 had stayed out all night. bía pasado toda la noche fuera.

“She’s sure a stayer,” I told Cash. —Esa tiene aguante —le dije a “I oled to admire her, but I downright Cash—. Antes la admiraba, pero ahora respect her now.” le tengo respeto. 65 “It ain’t a woman,” he said. —No es una mujer —dijo él.

“You know,” I said. But he was —Lo sabes —dijo yo. Pero me estaba watching me. “What is it, then?” mirando—. ¿Entonces qué es? 70 “That’s what I aim to find out,” he —Eso es lo que voy a averiguar— dijo said. él.

“You can trail him through the —Puedes seguirle toda la noche por 75 woods all night if you want to,” I el bosque si quieres —dije yo—. Yo no said. “I’m not.” lo voy a hacer.

“I ain’t trailing him,” he said. —No le estoy siguiendo —dijo él.

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“What do you call it, —¿Entonces cómo llamas a lo que haces? then?” —dije yo.

5 “I ain’t trailing him,” he said. “I —No le estoy siguiendo —dijo él—. don’t mean it that way.” No es eso lo que quiero decir.

And so a few nights Iater I heard Total, que unas cuantas noches des- Jewel get up and climb out the pués oí que Jewel se levantaba y salía 10 window, and then I heard Cash get por la ventana, y luego oí que Cash se up and follow him. The next morning levantaba y le seguía. A la mañana si- when I went to the barn, Cash was guiente cuando fui al granero, Cash ya already there, the mules fed, and he estaba allí, las mulas habían comido, y was helping Dewey Dell milk. And estaba ayudando a Dewey Dell a orde- 15 when I saw him I knew that he knew ñar. Y en cuanto le vi me di cuenta de what it was. Now and then I would que sabía lo que pasaba. De vez en cuan- catch him watching Jewel with a do le sorprendía mirando a Jewel con queer look, like having found out una mirada rara, como si haber descu- where Jewel went and what he was bierto adónde iba Jewel y lo que hacía 20 doing had given him something to le proporcionara al fin algo en lo que really think about at last. But it was pensar. Pero no era una mirada de pre- not a worried look; it was the kind of ocupación; era el tipo de mirada que le look I would see on him when I would veía poner cuando le encontraba hacien- find him doing some of Jewel’s work do algunas de las tareas de casa que de- 25 around the house, work that pa still bía hacer Jewel, unas tareas que padre thought Jewel was doing and that ma todavía creía que hacía Jewel y que ma- thought Dewey Dell was doing. So I dre creía que hacía Dewey Dell. Con- said nothing to him, believing that when que no le dije nada, creyendo que cuan- he got done digesting it in his mind, he do lo hubiese digerido interiormente, me 30 would tell me. But he never did. lo contaría. Pero no me lo contó.

One morning—it was November Una mañana —era en noviembre, cin- then, five months since it started— co meses después de que aquello empe- Jewel was not in bed and he didn’t zara— Jewel no estaba en la cama ni vino 35 join us in the field. That was the first a unirse con nosotros en el campo. Fue time ma learned anything about what la primera vez que madre se enteró de had been going on. She sent algo de lo que había pasado. Mandó a Vardaman down to find where Jewel Vardaman que bajase a ver dónde estaba was, and after a while she came Jewel, y al cabo de un rato bajó ella tam- 40 down too. It was as though, so long bién. Era como si mientras el engaño su- as the deceit ran along quiet and cedía en silencio y monótonamente, to- monotonous, all of us let ourselves dos nosotros hubiéramos aceptado ser be deceived, abetting it unawares or engañados, favoreciéndolo con nuestra maybe through cowardice, since all inconsciencia o puede que cobardía, pues 45 people are cowards and naturally [138] toda la gente es cobarde y prefiere prefer any kind of treachery because de un modo natural cometer una traición, bland 1 amable, suave, afable 2 aburrido, cansino it has a bland outside. But now it ya que ésta tiene un aspecto cómodo. 3 templado (clima), suave 4 insípido, insulso X bland 1 a mild, not irritating, templado. b tasteless, was like we had all and by a kind of Pero ahora era como si todos nosotros — unstimulating, insipid. 2 gentle in manner; sua- telepathic agreement of admitted y por una especie de acuerdo telepático ve, amable, afable. 50 fear-flung the whole thing back de miedo admitido— hubiéramos quita- like covers on the bed and we all do el velo que ocultaba lo que pasaba sitting bolt upright in our como el que levanta una cama y todos nakedness, staring at one another estuviéramos allí sentados en nuestra and saying “Now is the truth. He desnudez mirándonos unos a otros y di- 55 hasn’t come home. Something has ciendo: «Ahora se va a saber todo. No ha happened to him. We let something vuelto a casa. Le ha pasado algo. Hemos happen to him.” permitido que le pasara algo.»

Then we saw him. He came up Entonces le vimos. Venía surco 60 along the ditch and then turned arriba y luego torció a la derecha, straight across the field, riding the campo a través, montado a caballo. horse. Its mane and tail were going, Las crines y la cola flotaban como si as though in motion they were al moverse desplegaran su piel man- carrying out the splotchy pattern of chada: parecía que Jewel cabalgara 65 its coat: he looked like he was riding en un gran remolino, a pelo, con un on a big pinwheel, barebacked, with cordel por brida y sin sombrero en a rope bridle, and no hat on his head. la cabeza. El caballo descendía de It was a descendant of those Texas aquellos potros tejanos que trajo ponies Flem Snopes brought here aquí Flem Stopes**13 hace veinticin- 70 twentyfive years ago and auctioned co años y que subastó a dos dólares off for two dollars a head and nobody la cabeza y que nadie excepto el vie- but old Lon Quick ever caught his and jo Lon Quick, pudo coger, y todavía still owned some of the blood because tenía alguno de esa casta porque nun- he could never give it away. ca pudo deshacerse de ellos. 75 He galloped up and stopped, his Galopó hasta arriba y se detuvo con heels in the horse’s ribs and it los talones apretando las costillas del dancing and swirling 7like the caballo que bailaba y hacía corvetas

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shape of its mane and tail and the como si sus crines y su cola y las man- splotches of its coat had nothing chas de su piel no tuvieran nada que ver whatever to do with the con el caballo de carne y hueso que ha- fleshand-bone horse inside them, bía dentro. Se quedó allí, montado en el 5 and he sat there, looking at us. caballo, mirándonos.

“Where did you get that horse?” —¿De dónde has sacado ese caballo? pa said. —dijo padre.

10 “Bought it,” Jewel said. “From Mr. —Lo compré —dijo Jewel—. A Mr. Quick.” Quick.

“Bought it?” pa said. “With —¿Lo compraste? —dijo padre—. what? Did you buy that thing ¿Con qué dinero? ¿No lo habrás compra- 15 on my word?” do a cuenta mía?

“It was my money,” Jewel said. “I —Con mi dinero —dijo earned it. You won’t need to worry Jewel—. Lo gané yo. No tiene de about it.” qué preocuparse. 20 “Jewel,” ma said; “Jewel.” —Jewel —dijo madre—. Jewel.

“It’s all right,” Cash said. “He —No pasa nada —dijo Cash—. Se earned the money. He cleaned up ganó el dinero. Le ha limpiado a Quick 25 that forty acres of new ground Quick las cuarenta fanegas de nueva tierra que laid out last spring. He did it roturó la primavera pasada. Lo hizo él single-handed, working at night by solo, trabajando de noche con el farol. lantern. I saw him. So I don’t reckon Yo le vi hacerlo. Conque para mí que ese that horse cost anybody anything caballo no le ha costado nada a nadie 30 except Jewel. I don’t reckon we excepto a Jewel. Para mí que no hay de need worry.” qué preocuparse.

“Jewel,” ma said. “Jewel——” Jewe1 —dijo madre—. Jewel... —lue- Then she said: “You come right to the go dijo—: Vete a casa inmediatamente y 35 house and go to bed.” acuéstate.

“Not yet,” Jewel said. “I ain’t got —Todavía no —dijo Jewel—. No ten- time. I got to get me a saddle and go tiempo. Tengo que ganar para la silla bridle. Mr. Quick says he——” y las riendas. Mr. Quick dice que... 40 “Jewel,” ma said, looking at —Jewel —dijo madre, mirán- him. “I’ll give—I’ll give—give— dole—. Yo te daré... Yo te daré... ” Then she began to cry. She cried —luego se echó a llorar. hard, not hiding her face, standing Lloraba con fuerza, sin ocultar la 45 there in her faded wrapper, looking cara, allí de pie en su desteñido chal at him and him on the horse, looking mirándole y él a caballo mirándola a down at her, his face growing cold ella con una cara que se le iba po- and a little sick looking until he niendo fría y como enferma, hasta looked away quick and Cash came que apartó la vista y Cash se acercó 50 and touched her. a madre y la tocó.

“You go on to the house,” —Vaya a casa —dijo Cash—. Esta tie- Cash said. “This here ground is rra de aquí es demasiado húmeda para too wet for you. You go on, now.” usted. Váyase ya. 55 She put her hands to her face then and Ella se llevó las manos a la cara after a while she went on, stumbling y al cabo de un rato se fue trope- a little on the ploughmarks. But pretty zando un poco en los surcos. Pero soon she straightened up and went on. enseguida se irgió y siguió adelan- She didn’t look back. When she te. No miró atrás. Cuando llegó a 60 reached the ditch she stopped and la zanja se detuvo y llamó a called Vardaman. He was looking at Vardaman, que estaba mirando al the horse, kind of dancing up and caballo y parecía bailar arriba y down by it. abajo a su alrededor.

65 “Let me ride, Jewel,” he said. “Let —Déjame montar, Jewel —decía—. me ride, Jewel.” Jewel, déjame montar.

Jewel looked at him, then he Jewel le miró, luego apartó looked away again, holding the horse la vista, manteniendo sujeto al 70 reined back. Pa watched him, caballo. Padre le observaba, mumbling his lip. murmurando entredientes.

“So you bought a horse,” he said. —Conque compraste un caballo — “You went behind my back and dijo—. Te has comprado un caballo a mis 75 bought a horse. You never consulted espaldas. No me preguntaste nada; sabes me; you know how tight it is for us to lo duro que nos resulta ganarnos la vida make by, yet you bought a horse for y sin embargo compras un caballo para me to feed. Taken the work from your que lo tenga que alimentar yo. A costa

66 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

flesh and blood and bought a horse de tu carne y de tu sangre te lo has com- with it.” prado.

Jewel looked at pa, his eyes paler Jewel miró a padre con unos ojos más 5 than ever. pálidos que nunca.

“He won’t never eat a mouthful of —No comerá ni un bocado de lo que yours,” he said. “Not a mouthful. I’ll sea suyo —le dijo—. Ni un bocado. kill him first. Don’t you never think Antes lo mataré. No piense en eso. 10 it. Don’t you never.” Nunca lo haga. [140]

“Let me ride, Jewel,” Vardaman —Déjame montar, Jewel —decía said. “Let me ride, Jewel.” He Vardaman—. Déjame montar —parecía sounded like a cricket in the grass, a un grillo en la hierba, uno pequeño—. 15 little one. “Let me ride, Jewel.” Déjame montar, Jewel.

That night I found ma sitting Esa noche encontré a madre sentada beside the bed where he was junto a la cama en que dormía Jewel, a sleeping, in the dark. She cried oscuras. Lloraba con fuerza, puede que 20 hard, maybe because she had to porque tenía que llorar tan en silencio; cry so quiet; maybe because she puede que porque sentía lo mismo sobre felt the same way about tears she las lágrimas de lo que había sentido so- did about deceit, hating herself for bre el engaño, y se odiaba a sí misma por doing it, hating him because she engañar, lo odiaba a él porque la habría 25 had to. And then I knew that I inducido a ello. Y entonces supe que lo knew. I knew that as plain on that sabía. Aquel día lo supe con tanta clari- day as I knew about Dewey Dell dad como supe lo de Dewey Dell aquel on that day. otro día.

30 33 TULL (5) TULL

SO they finally got Anse to say CONQUE por fin consiguieron que Tull (5) what he wanted to do, and him and Anse dijera lo que quería hacer y él y 35 the gal and the boy got out of the la chica y el pequeño se bajaron de la This section contains Tull’s wagon. But even when we were on carreta. Pero incluso cuando estábamos unspoken thoughts and spoken the bridge Anse kept on looking back, en el puente, Anse seguía mirando ha- words as the Bundren family sit like he thought maybe, once he was cia atrás, como pensando que a lo me- contemplating the river and outen the wagon, the whole thing jor, ahora que se había bajado de la finally make an attempt to cross it. 40 would kind of blow up and he would carreta, todo el problema había desapa- find himself back yonder in the field recido y él se encontraba otra vez allá again and her laying up there in the lejos, en el campo, y ella allí acostada house, waiting to die and it to do all esperando la muerte, como si todo vol- over again. viera a empezar. COMMENTARY: Anse is 45 seen in this section in his usual, “You ought to let them taken your —Debería de haberles dejado la indecisive pose, ‘even when we mule,” he says, and the bridge mula —me dice, y el puente tembla- were on the bridge Anse kept shaking and swaying under us, going ba y se tambaleaba bajo nosotros, looking back’, but the down into the moiling water like it hundiéndose en las turbias aguas observations made by Tull are 50 went clean through to the other side como si se dirigiese directamente al particularly pertinent when they of the earth, and the other and coming otro extremo de la tierra, y el extre- relate to the river itself and to the family’s motives for wanting to up outen the water like it wasn’t the mo opuesto elevándose por encima de cross it. The river he describes same bridge a-tall and that them that las aguas como si no fuera el mismo ‘like slush ice. Only it kind of would walk up outen the water on that puente en absoluto y los que quisie- lived’, expressing the amazement 55 side must come from the bottom of ran cruzarlo vinieran desde el fondo de of a man not used to changes in the earth. But it was still whole; you la tierra. Pero todavía estaba entero: se his environment and reflecting his could tell that by the way when podría decir por el modo en que este sense of the whole situation as swagged: suspended in a loop being one of impending doom, between two points this end swagged, it didn’t look extremo temblaba, que el otro extre- ‘the waiting and the threat’. like the other and swagged at all mo parecía no temblar en absoluto; After he has crossed the river, 60 just like the other trees and the como si los árboles y la orilla del otro Tull looks back and sees bank yonder mere swinging back lado fueran como el péndulo que osci- everything in a different and forth slow like on a big laba lentamente de un lado a otro en perspective, underlining the clock. And them logs scraping un enorme reloj de pared. Y los tron- baptismal elements of the scene, ‘t looked back at my mule it was and bumping at the sunk part and cos se arremolinaban y golpeaban con- like he was one of these here spy- 65 tilting end-up and shooting clean tra la parte hundida y asomaban la glasses . . .’ and the Red Sea outen the water and tumbling on punta y salían disparados del agua y undertones are picked up when he toward the ford and the waiting, seguían hacia el vado que esperaba con talks of ‘milk’. Moses crossed the slick 1 a (of a person or action) skilful or efficient; Red Sea to reach the land of milk dextrous (gave a slick performance). b superficially slick, whirling, and foamy. remolinos y espuma, resbaladizo. or pretentiously smooth and dextrous. c glib. 2 a and honey. The Bundrens cross sleek, smooth. b slippery. the swollen Ishatawa to reach the 1 a smooth patch of oil etc., esp. on the sea. 2 Mo- 70 “What good . would that ‘a’ —¿De qué iba a servir? — tor Racing a smooth tyre. 3 US a glossy magazi- land of toy trains, false teeth and ne. 4 US sl. a slick person. done?” I says. “If your team can’t digo yo—. Si su tiro no consi- abortions. 1 make sleek or smart. 2 (usu. foll. by down) flatten (one’s hair etc.). find the ford and haul it across, gue encontrar el vado para At the end of the section, Tull what good would three mules or cruzar, ¿de qué servirían tres has a species of revelation, when even ten mules do?” mulas, o incluso diez? he sees that the reason for crossing the river is not solely to 75 bury Addie, ‘Just going to town. “I ain’t asking it of you,”’ he —No se lo estoy pidiendo —dice él— Bent on it. They would risk the says. “I can always do for me and . Siempre me las arreglo con mis cosas y fire and the earth and the water mine. I ain’t asking you to risk your las de los míos. No le pido que arriesgue and all just to eat a sack of bananas’. If Faulkner is casting

67 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

mule. It ain’t your dead; I am not su mula. No se trata de su difunto. No se the Bundrens in a mock-biblical blaming you.” lo reprocho. role, then Tull must surely be seen as one of the prophets, for here he foresees that fire will play “They ought to went back and —Debieran dar marcha atrás a part in the saga and that earth laid over: (col.) waited 5 laid over until to-morrow,” I says. y esperar hasta manaña —digo yo. will be at the end of it. The water was cold. It was thick, El agua estaba fría. Estaba espesa, slush-ice: half-frozen water like slush-ice. Only it kind of lived. como nieve que se funde. Pero parecía One part of you knowed it was just como Viva. Una parte de uno sabía que water, the same thing that had been sólo era agua, lo mismo que llevaba co- 10 running under this same bridge for rriendo largo tiempo bajo este mismo a long time, yet when them logs puente, y sin embargo cuando los tron- spewing up: (literally) vomiting; would come spewing up outen it, cos salían despedidos de ella, uno no se rushing up you were not surprised, like they sorprendía de que fuera así, como si for- was a part of water, of the waiting maran parte del agua, de lo que esperaba 15 and the threat. amenazante.

It was like when we was across, La misma sorpresa tuve cuando, cru- up out of the water again and the hard zando el puente, de nuevo fuera del agua, earth under us, that I was surprised. noté tierra firme debajo. Era como si no 20 It was like we hadn’t expected the hubiera esperado que el puente termina- bridge to end on the other bank, on se en la otra orilla, en algo tranquilo something tame like the hard earth como la tierra firme que habíamos pisa- again that we had tromped on before do antes que ésta y conocíamos bien. this time and knowed well. Like it Como si no debiera haber podido ser yo 25 couldn’t be me here, because I’d have mismo, porque debí haber sido más sen- had better sense than to done what I sato y no haber hecho lo que acababa de just done. And when I looked back hacer. Y cuando volví la vista y vi la otra and saw the other bank and saw my orilla y vi a mi mula allí de pie donde mule standing there where I used to normalmente estaba yo y comprendí que 30 be and knew that I’d have to get back tenía que encontrar algún modo de vol- therer some way, I knew it couldn’t ver, comprendí que aquello no podía ser, be, because I just couldn’t think of porque no conseguía que se me ocurrriese anything that could make me cross nada que me hiciera volver a cruzar el that bridge ever even once. Yet here I puente ni siquiera una vez más. Y por 35 was, and the fellow that could make mucho que me encontrara aquí, yo no era himself cross it twice, couldn’t be me, el tipo que lo iba a cruzar dos veces, ni not even if Cora told him to. siquiera aunque me lo pidiera Cora.

It was that boy. I said “Here; Fue ese chico. Le dije: 40 you better take a holt of my hand,” —Ven aquí; mejor me agarras de la and he waited and held to me. I mano —y él esperó y se cogió a mí. Y be durn if it wasn’t like he come que me condene si no era como si él vol- back and got me; like he was viera atrás y me llevara; era igual que si saying They won’t nothing hurt me dijera: No le van a hacer daño. Igual 45 you. Like he was saying about a que si estuviera hablando de un sitio muy fine place he knowed where agradable que él conocía donde la Navi- Christmas come twice with dad llegaba dos veces y lo mismo la fies- Thanksgiving and lasts on through ta de Acción de Gracias que duraba todo the winter and the spring and the el invierno y la primavera y el verano, y 50 summer, and if I just stayed with donde si me quedaba con él todo saldría him I’d be all right too. bien. [142]

When I looked back at my mule it Cuando me volví a mirar a la mula was like he was one of these here era como si fuese con uno de esos spy-glasses: telescopes 55 spy-glasses and I could look at him catalejos y la pudiese ver allí quieta y standing there and see all the broad veía todas las tierras y mi casa que tan- land and my house sweated outen it to sudor me habían costado y era como like it was the more the sweat, the si a más sudor, más grandes se hicie- broader the land; the more the sweat, ran las tierras; como si a más sudor, 60 the tighter the house because it would más sólida fuera la casa, porque había take a tight house for Cora, to hold que tener una casa sólida para Cora, Cora like a jar of milk in the spring: para que Cora estuviese en ella como you’ve got to have a tight jar or you’ll una jarra de leche en primavera: uno need a powerful spring, so if you have necesita tener una jarra sólida o ne- 65 a big spring, why then you have the cesitará un gran manantial, porque incentive to have tight, well-made se necesitan jarras sólidas, bien he- jars, because it is your milk, sour or chas, porque es tu leche, cuajada o not, because you would rather have no, porque uno prefiere tener leche milk that will sour than to have milk que cuaje antes que tener leche que no 70 that won’t, because you are a man. lo haga, porque uno es hombre.

And him holding to my hand, his Y él cogido de mi mano con su mano confident es ‘trusting’, ‘showing assurance’, se- hand that hot and confident, so that I caliente y confiada, de modo que me sen- guridad o aplomo en sí mismo. «confidence» está basada en razones y pruebas de la expe- was like to say: Look-a-here. Can’t tía tentado a decir: Mira. ¿No ves a la riencia pasada. Confía en sí mismo o está seguro y ufano de sí mismo dada su experiencia 75 you see that mule yonder? He never mula al otro lado? No tiene nada que ha- pasada. Tener la certeza o confianza. Satisfecho, alegre, contento, ufano. had no business over here, so he never cer aquí, por lo que nunca vendrá, pues come, not being nothing but a mule. no es más que una mula. Because a fellow can see ever now Porque un tipo puede ver de vez

68 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

and then that children have more en cuando que los niños son más sen- sense than him. But he don’t like to satos que él. Pero al tipo no le gusta admit it to them until they have admitirlo hasta que les sale la bar- beards. After they have a beard, they ba. Después de que les sale la barba 5 are too busy because they don’t know están demasiado ocupados porque no if they’ll ever quite make it back to saben volver a la época en que tenían where they were in sense before they sentido común antes de que les sa- was haired, so you don’t mind liera la barba y entonces a uno no le admitting then to folks that are importa aceptar que la gente se pre- 10 worrying about the same thing that ocupe de la mismas cosas de las que ain’t worth the worry that you are no merece la pena que se preocupe yourself. ni uno mismo.

Then we was over and we stood Luego habíamos cruzado y nos que- 15 there, looking at Cash turning the damos allí quietos, mirando a Cash que wagon around. We watched them hacía dar la vuelta a la carreta. Les vi- drive back down the road to where mos cómo retrocedían camino abajo has- the trail turned off into the ta donde el sendero se desviaba hacia el bottom. After a while the wagon cauce. Al cabo de un rato la carreta se 20 was out of sight. había perdido de vista.

“We better get on down to the ford —Será mejor que bajemos al vado y es- and git ready to help,” I said. temos preparados para ayudarles —dije yo.

25 “I give her my word,” Anse says. —Le di mi palabra —dice Anse—. “It is sacred on me. I know you Para mí eso es algo sagrado. Sé que us- begrudge v.tr. 1 resent; be dissatisfied begrudge it, but she will bless you ted no lo valora, pero ella le bendecirá at. 2 envy (a person) the possession of. in heaven.” desde el cielo.

30 “Well, they got to finish —Bueno, creo que tendrán que termi- circumventing the land before nar de rodear la tierra antes de que se they can dare the water,” I said. arriesguen a meterse en el agua —dije “Come on.” yo—. Vamos.

35 “It’s the turning back,” he said. “It —Es el retroceder —dije yo—. No da ain’t no luck in turning back.” buena suerte retroceder. [143]

He was standing there, humped, Estaba allí de pie, encorvado, mo- mournful, looking at the empty híno, mirando el desierto camino de 40 road beyond the swagging and más allá del puente que se balanceaba swaying bridge. And that gal, too, y estremecía. Y esa chica, también, with the lunch-basket on one arm con la cesta del almuerzo colgada del and that package under the other. brazo y el paquete debajo del otro. Just going to town. Bent on it. Como si fuera a la ciudad. Decidida a 45 They would risk the fire and the ello. Se enfrentarían al fuego y a la earth and the water and all just to tierra y al agua y a lo que sea con tal eat a sack of bananas. “You ought de comer una bolsa de plátanos. to laid over a day,” I said. “It —Deberían esperar un día —dije yo— would ‘a’ fell some by morning. . La riada disminuirá algo por la maña- 50 It mought not ‘a’ rained to-night. na. Puede que esta noche no llueva. Ya And it can’t get no higher.” no puede crecer más.

“I give my promise,” he says. “She —Se lo prometí —dice él—. Ella con- is counting on it.” fía en mi palabra. 55 34 DARL (12) DARL

BEFORE us the thick dark current ANTE nosotros corre la oscura corrien- 60 runs. It talks up to us in a murmur te espesa. Nos habla con un murmullo que Darl (12) become ceaseless and myriad, the se hace incesante y múltiple; la amarilla yellow surface dimpled monstrously superficie monstruosamente abultada en This section consists of Darl’s into fading swirls travelling along the remolinos que se desvanecen y la reco- unspoken and unverbalised thoughts as he sits in the wagon surface for an instant, silent, rren durante un instante, silenciosos, efí- beside Cash. When they reach the 65 impermanent and profoundly meros y profundamente significativos, river Cash is reluctant to cross significant, as though just beneath the como si justo debajo de esa superficie algo because the coffin is unbalanced surface something huge and alive enorme y vivo se despertara durante un by Addie’s reversed body. But he waked for a moment of lazy alertness momento de vigilia perezosa y volviera a will not let Jewel take over. The out of and into light slumber again. caer en un ligero adormecimiento. wagon is swept off the ford, with Cash clinging to the cofn and 70 inthe middle of telling Darl to jump clear. It clucks and murmurs among the Cloquea y murmura entre los radios spokes and about the mules’ knees, de las ruedas y alrededor de las patas de yellow, skummed with flotsman and las mulas, amarilla, salpicada de restos with thick soiled gouts of foam as flotantes y con espesas y sucias gotas 75 though it had sweat, lathering, like a de espuma como si sudara, igual que COMMENTARY: For Darl, as driven horse. Through the cubre la espuma a un caballo. Corre en- for Tull, the swollen river is a li- undergrowth it goes with a plaintive tre la maleza con un sonido de queja, ving thing and a portent; it is sound, a musing sound; in it the un sonido meditabundo; sobre ella se ‘profoundly significant, as though just below the surface something

69 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

saplings half-grown trees unwinded cane and saplings lean as inclinan las sueltas cañas y renuevos huge and alive waked for a before a little gale, swaying without como ante un vendaval, doblándose sin moment of lazy alertness’. Darl reflections as though suspended on volverse hacia atrás como si estuvieran reflects on the scene calmly, watching unconcernedly as Jewel invisible wires from the branches sujetas por unos cables invisibles a las fights the current and the dead 5 overhead. Above the ceaseless ramas de arriba. Aparecen sobre la in- mules roll round in the water with surface they stand—trees, cane, vines cesante superficie —árboles, cañas, their legs ‘stiffly extended’. Even —rootless, severed from the earth, tallos— desarraigados, arrancados de la when he himself gets into the spectral above a scene of immense yet tierra, espectrales sobre una escena de water, he remains precise and circumscribed desolation filled with inmensa, aunque limitada, desolación unruffled [imperturbable], seeing the water as ‘hills’ and feeling no 10 the voice of the waste and mournful llena de la voz del agua devastadora y compunction about abandoning water. siniestra. [144] Addie’s corpse. The section exposes one new Cash and I sit in the wagon; Jewel Cash y yo vamos sentados en la ca- aspect of family sits the horse at the off rear-wheel. rreta; Jewel va a caballo junto a la rueda interrelationships. Darl and Cash appear to be close in a way not 15 The horse is trembling, its eye trasera derecha. El caballo tiembla y su hinted at before. This closeness rolling wild and baby-blue in its ojo, azul claro, gira fiero en su larga ca- may be simply the result of the long pink face, its breathing beza rosada, respirando en estertores, alteration in their joint world stertorous like groaning. He sits como si gimiera. Jewel va erguido, com- brought about by the death of poised 1(= self-possessed) sereno; ecuánime 2 to be poised (figurative) (= ready, all erect, poised, looking quietly and puesto, mirando tranquilamente y con Addie. It appears again at the end set)estar listo of the book, when Cash seems to 2 20 steadily and quickly this way and energía y viveza aquí y allá, con el ros- poise 1 a : BALANCE; especially : to hold or understand more than anyone else carry in equilibrium b : to hold supported what is wrong with Darl. or suspended without motion in a steady Cash’s face is also gravely cara de Cash también tiene una expresión position composed; he and I look at one grave; él y yo nos miramos uno al otro 2 : to hold or carry (the head) in a particu- another with long probing looks, con largas miradas inquisitivas, miradas compunction 1the pricking of the lar way 3 : to put into readiness : BRACE conscience. Reparo, repudio, intransitive senses 1 : to become drawn 25 looks that plunge unimpeded que se hunden sin disimulo en los ojos 2a slight regret; a scruple (without up into readiness 2 : HOVER compunction; have no compunction in through one another’s eyes and into del otro y llegan al interior del último refusing him). Remordimiento compunción 1. f. Sentimiento o dolor de the ultimate secret place where for lugar secreto donde durante un instante haber cometido un pecado. an instant Cash and Darl crouch Cash y Darl se acurrucan abiertamente, 2. Sentimiento que causa el dolor ajeno. flagrant and unabashed in all the old sin avergonzarse por todos los viejos te- 30 terror and the old foreboding, alert rrores y los viejos presentimientos, aler- and secret and without shame. When tas y secretos y sin pudor. Cuando ha- we speak our voices are quiet, blamos, nuestras voces son tranquilas, detached. desarraigadas.

35 “I reckon we’re still in the road, —Para mí que todavía seguimos en el all right.” camino.

“Tull taken and cut them two big —Tull cogió y cortó los dos grandes whiteoaks. I heard tell how at high robles. He oído contar por ahí que en las 40 water in the old days they used to line crecidas, antiguamente, aquellos árboles up the ford by them trees.” servían para señalar el vado.

“I reckon he did that two years ago —Para mí que los cortó hace dos años when he was logging down here. I cuando andaba talando por aquí abajo. 45 reckon he rever thought that anybody Para mí que nunca creyó que nadie vol- would ever use this ford again.” vería a usar este vado.

“I reckon not. Yes, it must have —Para mí que no. Sí, debe de haber been then. He cut a sight of timber sido entonces. Cortó bastante madera de 50 outen here then. Payed off that por aquí entonces. Terminó de pagar la mortgage with it, I hear tell.” hipoteca con ella, he oído contar.

“Yes. Yes, I reckon so. I reckon —Sí. Sí, para mí que así es. Para mí Vernon could have done that.” que Vernon fue capaz de hacer eso. 55 “That’s a fact. Most folks that —Así es. La mayoría de la gente que logs in this here country, they need tala árboles en esta comarca necesita una a durn good farm to support the granja bien buena para mantener el ase- sawmill. Or maybe a store. But I rradero. O puede que un almacén. Pero 60 reckon Vernon could.” para mí que pudo ser Vernon**14. [145]

“I reckon so. He’s a sight.” —Para mí que sí. Es capaz de eso y de más.

“Ay. Vernon is. Yes, it must —Claro que lo es. Sí, por aquí 65 still be here. He rever would have debe de estar todavía: Vernon nun- got that timber out of here if he ca habría podido sacar esa madera hadn’t cleaned out that old road. sin limpiar ese camino viejo. Para I reckon we are still on it.” He mí que todavía seguimos en él. looks about quietly, at the position Mira a su alrededor pausadamente, se 70 of the trees, leaning this way and fija en la situación de los árboles, doblán- that, looking back along the dose a un lado y a otro, volviéndose a floorless road shaped vaguely high mirar el camino vagamente señalado por lop 1 1 tr. a (often foll. by off, away) cut or remove (a part or parts) from a whole, esp. branches from a in air by the position of the lopped la situación de los árboles cortados y tree. b remove branches from (a tree). 2 tr. (often foll. by off, away) remove (items) as superfluous. 3 and felled trees, as if the road too caídos, como si el camino también hu- intr. (foll. by at) make lopping strokes on (a tree 75 had been soaked free of earth and biera sido arrancado de la tierra y flotase etc.). — n. parts lopped off, esp. branches and twigs of trees. floated upward, to leave in its hacia arriba para dejar con su huella es- lop 2 1 intr. & tr. hang limply. 2 intr. (foll. by about) slouch, dawdle; hang about. 3 intr. move with spectral tracing a monument to a pectral un monumento a una desolación short bounds. 4 tr. (of an animal) let (the ears) hang. still more profound desolation todavía más profunda que ésta encima de

70 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

than this above which we now sit, la que ahora vamos, hablando tranquila- talking quietly of old security and mente de la vieja seguridad y de viejas old trivial things. Jewel looks at cosas triviales. Jewel le mira a él, lue- him, then at me, then his face go a mí, luego su cara se concentra en 5 turns in in that quiet, constant, la escena con esa silenciosa interroga- questing about the scene, the ción constante, mientras su caballo horse trembling quietly and tiembla tranquila y constantemente steadily between his knees. entre sus rodillas.

10 “He could go on ahead slow and —Podría adelantarse despacio para sort of feel it out,” I say. tantearlo —digo yo.

“Yes,” Cash says, not looking at me. —Sí —dice Cash, sin mirarme. Su His face is in profile as he looks forward rostro está de perfil cuando mira hacia 15 where Jewel has moved on ahead. delante, adonde Jewel avanza.

“He can’t miss the river,” I say. —No puede dejar de ver el río —dije “He couldn’t miss seeing it fifty yo—. No podrá dejar de verlo cuarenta yards ahead.” metros por delante de él. 20 Cash does not look at me, his face in profile. Cash no me mira, su cara sigue de perfil. “If I’d just suspicioned it, I —Si lo hubiera sospechado, podría could ‘a’ come down last week haber bajado hasta aquí la semana pasa- and taken a sight on it.” da a echar una ojeada. 25 “The bridge was up then,” I say. —Entonces todavía estaba el puente He does not look at me. “Whitfield —digo yo. No me mira—. Whitfield lo crossed it a-horse-back.” cruzó a caballo.

30 Jewel looks at us again, his Jewel nos vuelve a mirar expression sober and alert and con expresión grave y alerta subdue 1 conquer, subjugate, or tame (an enemy, subdued. His voice is quiet. y mortificada. Su voz es tranquila. subdued dominada, controlada nature, one’s emotions, etc.). X 2 (as subdued adj.) softened; lacking in intensity; “What you want me to do?” —¿Qué queréis que haga? toned down (subdued light; in a subdued mood). (emotión: templado, suave,; voice: bajo; colour: apagado, suave; light: tenue; lighting: disminui- do; person -docile: manso, sumiso, -depressed: 35 “I ought to come down last week —Debí haber bajado la semana pasa- deprimido. and taken a sight on it,” Cash says. da a echar una ojeada —dice Cash.

“We couldn’t have known,” I say. —Entonces no lo sabíamos —digo “There wasn’t any way for us to yo—. No había modo de que lo supiéra- 40 know.” mos. [146]

“I’ll ride on ahead,” Jewel —Me adelantaré con el caballo —dice says. “You can follow where I am.” Jewel—. Podéis seguirme por donde vaya yo. He lifts the horse. It shrinks, Tensa las riendas del caballo. Este 45 bowed; he leans to it, speaking recula, bajando la cabeza; Jewel se in- to it, lifting it forward almost clina sobre él, le habla, le empuja hacia bodily, it setting its feet down delante con casi todo el cuerpo y el ca- with gingerly splashings, ballo hunde sus cascos con cautelosos trembling, breathing harshly. chapoteos, temblando, respirante con 50 He speaks to it, murmurs to it. fuerza. Jewel le habla, le murmura. “Go on,” he says. “I ain’t going to —Vamos —dice—. No voy a dejar get nothing hurt you. Go on, now.” que te hagas daño. Vamos.

“Jewel,” Cash says. Jewel does not Jewel —dice Cash. Jewel no vuelve 55 look back. He lifts the horse on. la vista. Sigue hostigando al caballo.

“He can swim,” I say. “If he’ll just —Puede nadar —digo yo—. Si diese give the horse time, anyhow . . .” ocasión al caballo... When he was born, he had a bad Cuando nació, Jewel pasó una mala 60 time of it. Ma would sit in the temporada. Madre tenía que sentarse a lamplight, holding him on a la luz de una lámpara, manteniéndole en pillow on her lap. We would wake el regazo encima de una almohada. A1 and find her so. There would be despertarnos la encontrábamos así. No no sound from them. hacían ningún ruido. 65 “That pillow was longer than —Aquella almohada era más larga him,” Cash says. He is leaning a que él —dice Cash. Está un poco little forward. “I ought to come echado hacia delante—. Debí bajar la down last week and sighted. I semana pasada a echar una ojeada. 70 ought to done it.” Debiera haberlo hecho.

“That’s right,” I say. “Neither —Tienes razón —digo yo—. Ni con his feet nor his head would los pies ni con la cabeza llegaba a los reach the end of it. You couldn’t extremos de la almohada. No podías 75 have known,” I say. haberlo sabido —dijo.

“I ought to done it,” he says. He —Pero debí haberlo hecho —dice. lifts the reins. The mules move, into Tira de las riendas. Las mulas avanzan

71 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

the traces; the wheels murmur alive entre los arneses; las ruedas murmuran in the water. He looks back and down vivas en el agua. Se vuelve y baja la vis- at Addie. “It ain’t on a balance,” he ta hasta Addie—. No está equilibrado — says. dice. 5 At last the trees open; A1 fin se aclaran los árboles; Jewel against the open river Jewel sits se enfrenta a la corriente a caballo me- the horse, half turned, it belly dio vuelto, el agua ya a la altura del vien- deep now. Across the river we can tre del animal. A1 otro lado del río dis- 10 see Vernon and pa and Vardaman tinguimos a Vernon y a padre y a and Dewey Dell. Vernon is Vardaman y a Dewey Dell. Vernon nos waving at us, waving us further hace señas, nos hace señas de que vaya- downstream. mos un poco más corriente abajo.

15 “We are too high up,” Cash says. —Vamos demasiado arriba —dice Vernon is shouting too, but we cannot Cash. Vernon también grita, pero no con- make out what he says for the noise seguimos saber lo que dice a causa del rui- of the water. It runs steady and deep do del agua que ahora corre intensa y pro- now, unbroken, without sense of funda, incesante, sin dar la sensación de 20 motion until a log comes along, que se mueva hasta que un tronco llega y turning slowly. “Watch it,” Cash says. gira lentamente—. Vigílalo —dice Cash. We watch it and see it falter and hang Lo miramos y vemos que vacila y queda for a moment, the current building en alto durante un [147] momento. La co- up behind it in a thick wave, rriente se alza por detrás de él en una ola 25 submerging it for an instant before espesa, hundiéndolo durante un instante it shoots up and tumbles on. antes de arrastrarlo y llevárselo.

“There it is,” I say. —Allí está —digo yo.

30 “Ay,” Cash says. “It’s there.” We look —Sí —dice Cash—. Allí está —y at Vernon again. He is now flapping his miramos a Vernon otra vez. Ahora sube arms up and down. We move on y baja los brazos. Seguimos corriente downstream, slowly and carefully, abajo lenta y cuidadosamente, mirando watching Vernon. He drops his hands. a Vernon que deja caer los brazos—. Este 35 “This is the place,” Cash says. es el sitio —dice Cash.

“Well, goddamn it, lets get across, —Bueno, maldita sea, vamos a cru- then,” Jewel says. He moves the horse zar, entonces —dice Jewel. Hace avan- on. zar al caballo. 40 “You wait,” Cash says. Jewel stops —Tú espera —dice Cash. Jewe1 se again. vuelve a parar.

“Well, by God——” he says. —Pero, por Dios... —dice. 45 Cash looks at the water, then he Cash mira el agua, luego se vuelve a looks back at Addie. mirar a Addie. “It ain’t on a balance,” he says. —No está equilibrado —dice.

“Then go on back to the goddamn —Entonces volved a ese condenado 50 bridge and walk across,” Jewel says. puente y cruzadlo a pie —dice Jewel— “You and Darl both. Let me on that . Los dos, tú y Darl. Dejadme a mí esa wagon.” carreta.

Cash does not pay him any Cash no le presta la menor atención. 55 attention. “It ain’t on a balance,” he —No está equilibrado —dice—. No, says. “Yes, sir. We got to watch it.” señor. Debemos tener mucho cuidado.

“Watch it, hell,” Jewel says. “You —Tenlo tú, si quieres —dice Jewel— get out of that wagon and let me . Bajaos de esa carreta y dejadme a mí. 60 have it. By God, if you’re afraid to Por Dios, que si tenéis miedo de cruzar drive it over . . .” His eyes are pale con ella... —en su cara sus ojos son tan as two bleached chips in his face. pálidos como dos virutas descoloridas. Cash is looking at him. Cash le está mirando.

65 “We’ll get it over,” he says. “I —Nosotros lo cruzaremos —dice— tell you what you do. You ride on . Te diré lo que tienes que hacer. Vuel- back and walk across the bridge ve atrás con el caballo y cruza el puen- and come down the other bank and te y bájate en la otra orilla y reúnete meet us with the rope. Vernon’ll con nosotros con la soga. Vernon se 70 take your horse home with him and llevará tu caballo a casa y lo cuidará keep it till we get back.” hasta que volvamos.

“You go to hell,” Jewel says. —Vete al infierno —dice Jewel.

75 “You take the rope and come down —Coge la soga y baja a la ori- the bank and be ready with it,” Cash lla y tenla preparada —dice says. “Three can’t do no more than Cash—. Tres no pueden más que two can—— one to drive and one to dos, uno conduciendo y el otro su-

72 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

steady it.” jetándolo.

“Goddamn you,” Jewel says. —Que el diablo te lleve —dice Jewel.

5 “Let Jewel take the end of the rope —Que Jewel coja un extremo de la and cross upstream of us and brace it,” soga y cruce aguas arriba y la ate —digo I say. “Will you do that, Jewel?” yo—. ¿Vas a hacerlo, Jewel?

Jewel watches me, hard. He Jewel me mira con dureza. Mira rápi- 10 looks quick at Cash, then back damente a Cash, luego se vuelve hacia at me, his eyes alert and hard. “I mí, con ojos alerta y duros. don’t give a damn. Just so we do —No me importa nada. Mientras ha- something. Setting here, not gamos algo. No tiene [148] sentido se- lifting a goddamn hand . . .” guir aquí sin mover ni un maldito dedo... 15 “Let’s do that, Cash,” I say. —Vamos a hacer eso, Cash —digo yo.

“I reckon we’ll have to,” Cash —Para mí que lo tendremos que ha- says. cer —dice Cash. 20 The river itself is not a hundred El propio río no tiene ni cien me- yards across, and pa and Vernon and tros de anchura, y padre y Vernon y Vardaman and Dewey Dell are the Vardaman y Dewey Dell son las únicas only things in sight not of that single cosas a la vista que no pertenecen a esa 25 monotony of desolation leaning with monotonía desolada que se extiende de that terrific quality a little from right manera aterradora a derecha e izquier- to left, as though we had reached the da, como si hubiéramos alcanzado un place where the motion of the wasted lugar donde el movimiento del desola- world accelerates just before the final do mundo se acelerara antes de hundir- 30 precipice. Yet they appear dwarfed. se en el precipicio final. Sin embargo It is as though the space between us aparecen como empequeñecidos. Es were time: an irrevocable quality. It como si el espacio que hay entre noso- is as though time, no longer running tros fuera tiempo: una cualidad irrevo- straight before us in a diminishing cable. Es como si el tiempo ya no co- 35 line, now runs parallel between us rriera derecho por delante de nosotros like a looping string, the distante en una línea menguante, sino que aho- being the doubling accretion of the ra corre paralelo a nosotros como una thread and not the interval between. cuerda que nos envuelve, duplicando la The mules stand, their forequarters distancia que nos separa. Las mulas 40 already sloped a little, their rumps están quietas con las patas delanteras high. They too are breathing now un poco hundidas y las grupas en alto with a deep groaning sound; looking Además, ahora jadean con ronco y pro- back once, their gaze sweeps across fundo sonido; miran hacia atrás una us with in their eyes a wild, sad, vez, y su mirada nos roza con unos ojos 45 profound and despairing quality as en los que hay algo salvaje, triste, pro- though they had already seen in the fundo y desesperado como si ya hubie- thick water the shape of the disaster sen visto en el agua espesa la imagen which they could not speak and we de desastre del que no pueden hablar y could not see. nosotros no podemos ver. 50 Cash turns back into the wagon. Cash vuelve al interior de la carreta. He lays his hands flat on Addie, Descansa las palmas de la mano encima rocking her a little. His face is de Addie, meciéndola un poco. Tiene el calm, down-sloped, calculant, rostro en calma, pero alargado, calcula- 55 concerned. He lifts his box of tools dor, preocupado. Alza la caja de las he- and wedges it forward under the rramientas y la encaja debajo del asien- seat; together we shove Addie to; juntos empujamos a Addie hacia forward, wedging her between the delante, encajándola entre las herra- tools and the wagon-bed. Then he mientas y el fondo de la carreta. Luego 60 looks at me. me mira.

“No,” I say. “I reckon I’ll stay. —No —digo yo—. Me quedaré. Pue- Might take both of us.” de que hagamos falta los dos.

65 From the tool-box he takes his De la caja de herramientas saca un ro- coiled rope and carries the end twice llo de cuerda y pasa uno de los extremos around the seat stanchion and passes X dos veces en torno al ______pescante y chafe 1 tr. & intr. make or become sore or damaged the end to me without tying it. The me 1o da sin atarlo. El otro extremo se lo by rubbing. 2 tr. rub (esp. the skin to restore other end he gays out to Jewel, who entrega a Jewel, que lo da una vuelta en el warmth or sensation). 3 tr. & intr. make or become annoyed; fret (was chafed by the 70 takes a turn about his saddle-horn. pomo de la silla de montar. delay). 1 a an act of chafing. b a sore resulting from this. 2 a state of annoyance. 1. rozar, raer (=raspar una superficie quitando pe- los, sustancias adheridas, pintura, etc., con ins- He must force the horse down Tiene que obligar al caballo a que se meta trumento áspero o cortante) into the current. It moves, en la corrien te. El caballo avanza excitado, 2. calentar frotando 3. desgastar,irritarse, impacientarse bore: push, make one’s way high-kneed, arch-necked, boring X ______braceando de mala gana transitive senses 1 : IRRITATE, VEX 75 and chafing. Jewel sits lightly for- ______. Jewel lo monta, ligeramente hacia de- 2 : to warm by rubbing especially with the hands 3 a : to rub so as to wear away : ABRADE b : to make his swift alert calm gaze sweeps rada inquieta, alerta y tranquila vuelve a caer sore by or as if by rubbing intransitive senses upon us and on. He lowers the horse sobre nosotros, y pasa de largo. Hunde al caba- 1 : to feel irritation or discontent : FRET 2 : to rub and thereby cause wear or irritation 73 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

into the stream, speaking to it in a llo en la corriente, hablándole con un mur- soothing murmur. The horse slips, mullo tranquilizador. El caballo resbala, goes under to the saddle, surges to its se hunde hasta la silla, vuelve a pisar feet again, the current building up firme mientras la corriente sube hacia 5 against Jewel’s thighs. los muslos de Jewel...

“Watch yourself,” Cash says. —Ten cuidado —Dice Cash.

“I’m on it now,” Jewel says. “You —Ya estoy —dice Jewel—. Ahora 10 can come ahead now.” podéis avanzar.

Cash takes the reins and lowers the Cash coge las riendas y obliga al tiro team carefully and skilfully into the a que baje a la corriente, con cuidado y stream. habilidad. 15 I felt the current take us and I knew Sentí que la corriente nos atrapa- we were on the ford by that reason. Since ba y por ese motivo me di cuenta de que it war only, by means of that slipping estábamos en el vado, pues sólo por ese contact that we could tell that we were contacto resbaladizo podíamos decir que 20 in motion at all. What had once been a nos movíamos de verdad. Lo que una vez flat surface war now a succession había sido una superficie lisa, ahora era of troughs and hillocks lifting una sucesión de altos y bajos que subían and falling about us, shoving y bajaban a nuestro alrededor, que nos at us, teasing at us with light empujaban, que nos fastidiaban con su 25 lazy touches in the vain leve contacto perezoso en los escasos instants of solidity underfoot. instantes en que bajo nuestros pies no- Cash looked brack at me, and tábamos algo sólido. Cash se volvió a then I knew that we were gone. mirarme y entonces comprendí que está- But I did not realise the bamos perdidos. Pero no me di cuenta 30 reason for the rope until I saw de la necesidad de la cuerda hasta que surge 1 [of sea] oleaje m; oleada [of people, sympathy] oleada 2 a power surge (electricity) the log. It surged up out of the water vi el tronco. Surgió del agua y se mantu- una subida de tensión 3 [water of sea] swell, levantarse; hincharse, encresparse, agitarse 4 and stood for an instant upright upon vo derecho durante un instante sobre [people, crowd] to surge in/out entrar/salir en tro- pel 5 the blood surged to her cheeks se le subió that surging and heaving desolation like aquella agitada y jadeante desolación, la sangre a las mejillas. Christ. Get out and let the currrent take como un Cristo. Salta fuera y deja que surgir 1. intr. Brotar el agua hacia arriba, surtir. 2. Dar fondo la nave. 3. fig. Alzarse, manifestarse, 35 you down to the bend, Cash said. You la corriente te lleve hasta el recodo, dijo brotar, aparecer. surge 1 : to rise and fall actively : TOSS 2 : to rise and move in waves or billows : SWELL 3 : to slip around a just as wet that way as this. ré lo mismo de un modo que de otro windlass, capstan, or bitts — used especially of a rope 4 : to rise suddenly to an excessive or abnormal value 5 : to move with a surge or in surges

Jewel shouts at the horse; again he Jewel le grita al caballo; parece que 55 appears to lift it bodily between his otra vez lo levanta a pulso con las rodi- knees. He is just above the top of the llas. Está casi en lo más alto del vado y el ford and the horse has a purchase of caballo ha encontrado algún apoyo por- some sort for it surges forward, que salta hacia delante brillando mojado shining wetly half out of water, medio fuera del agua en una sucesión de 60 crashing on in a succession of lunges. acometidas. Se mueve increíblemente rá- It moves unbelievably fast; by that pido; debido a eso Jewel se da cuenta de token Jewel realizes at last that the que al fin se ha soltado la cuerda, pues rope is free, for I can see him sawing puedo ver cómo tira de las riendas, con la back on the reins, his head turned, as cabeza vuelta, mientras el tronco se colo- 65 the log rears in a long sluggish funge ca con una perezosa embestida entre no- between us, bearing down upon the sotros, cayendo luego sobre el tiro. Las team. They see it too; for a moment mulas también lo ven; durante un momen- they also shine black out of water. to también ellas brillan negras fuera del Then the downstream one vanishes, agua. Luego la que está en la parte de aba- 70 dragging the other with him; the jo de la corriente desaparece, arrastrando wagon sheers crosswise, poised on a la otra con ella; la carreta se pone de the crest of the ford as the log strikes través, recostada en el vado mientras la it, tilting it up and on. Cash is half golpea el tronco que la hace tambalearse. turned, the reins running taut from his Cash se ha vuelto a medias, las riendas se 75 hand and disappearing into the water, le escapan de la mano y desaparecen en el the other hand reached back upon agua; echa la otra mano hacia atrás y Addie, holding her jammed over agarra a Addie manteniéndola apreta- against the high side of the wagon. da contra el fondo de la carreta.

74 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

“Jump clear,” he says quietly. —Salta —dice con tranquili- “Stay away from the team and dad—. Apártate del tiro y no trates don’t try to fight it. It’ll swing you de luchar contra la corriente. Te into the bend all right.” llevaré hasta el recodo. 5 “You come too,” I say. Vernon —Ven tú también —digo yo. and Vardaman are running along the Vernon y Vardaman corren por la ori- bank, pa and Dewey Dell stand lla, padre y Dewey Dell nos miran sin watching us, Dewey Dell with the moverse; Dewey Dell con la cesta y el 10 basket and the package in her arms. paquete en las manos. Jewel hace esfuer- Jewel is trying to fight the horse zos para que el caballo recule. Aparece back. The head of one mule appears, la cabeza de una mula con los ojos muy its eyes wide; it looks back at us for abiertos; nos mira durante un instante, an instant, making a sound almost emitiendo un sonido casi humano. La 15 human. The head vanishes again. cabeza vuelve a desaparecer.

“Back, Jewel,” Cash shouts. “Back, —Atrás, Jewel —grita Cash—. Atrás, Jewel. Jewel.” For another instant I see him Durante otro instante le veo incli- leaning to the tilting wagon, his arm nado junto al carro volcado con el 20 braced back against Addie and his brazo sujetando a Addie y a sus he- tools; I see the bearded head of the rramientas; veo la cabeza barbuda del rearing log strike up again, and tronco que se empina y golpea de nue- beyond it Jewel holding the horse vo, y más allá a Jewel que sujeta a su upreared, its head wrenched around, caballo encabritado y con la cabeza 25 hammering its head with his fist. I torcida a la que golpea con el puño. jump from the wagon on the Salto de la carreta por el lado en que downstream side. Between two hills se aleja la corriente. Entre dos ribazos I see the mules once more. They roll veo una vez más a las mulas. Dan up out of the water in succession, vueltas fuera del agua una después de 30 turning completely over, their legs otra, girando sobre sí mismas, con las stiffly extended as when they had lost patas tiesas como si hubieran perdi- contact with the earth. do contacto con la tierra.

35 35 VARDAMAN (5) VARDAMAN

CASH tried but she fell off and Cash hizo lo que pudo, pero ella Darl jumped going under he went cayó fuera y Darl saltó al caer y Vardaman (5) under and Cash hollering to catch her se hundió y Cash gritaba que la co- This section contains 40 and I hollering running and hollering giera y yo gritaba y corría y grita- Vardaman’s unspoken and and Dewey Dell hollering at me ba y Dewey Dell me gritaba unverbalised thoughts as he Vardaman you vardaman you Vardaman ven vardaman ven watches his mother’s coffin slip vardaman and Vernon passed me vardaman y Vernon me adelantó into the river. A complete contrast because he was seeing her come up porque la estaba viendo asomar y to Darl’s unconcerned observation of the scene, 45 and she jumped into the water again cómo se volvía a hundir y Darl to- Vardaman’s vision is frantic with and Darl hadn’t caught her yet davía no la había agarrado worry for he has not as yet grasped the fact that his mother He came up to see and I hollering Sacó la cabeza para mirar y yo le gri- is dead. When Darl emerges catch her Darl catch her and he didn’t taba cógela Darl cógela y él no podía without the coffin, Vardaman’s 50 come back because she was too heavy porque como ella pesaba demasiado él frenzy redoubles for he thinks, on he had to go on catching at her and I tenía que hundirse para cogerla y yo le the basis of the conversation in Vardaman (4), that Darl knows hollering catch her darl catch her darl gritaba cógela darl cógela darl porque en Addie is a fish and should because in the water she could go el agua ella podía ir más deprisa que un therefore appreciate that she will faster than a man and Darl had to hombre y Darl tenía que ir a tientas bus- try to escape into the water. 55 grabble for her so I knew he could cándola y yo sabía que la cogería porque catch her because he is the best él es muy bueno en eso de andar a tien- grabbler even with the mules in the tas incluso con las mulas estorbando allí way again they dived up rolling their hundidas otra vez se hundieron dando feet stiff rolling down again and their vueltas con las patas tiesas y seguían dan- 60 backs up now and Darl had to again do vueltas y ahora asomaban el lomo y because in the water she could go Darl tenía que hundirse de nuevo porque faster than a man or a woman and I en el agua ella podía ir más deprisa que passed Vernon and he wouldn’t get un hombre o una mujer y adelanté a in the water and help Darl he would Vernon que no se quería meter en el agua 65 grabble for her with Darl he knew but a ayudar a Darl a cogerla y aunque sabía he wouldn’t help no le quería ayudar

The mules dived up again diving Las mulas se sumergieron otra vez their legs stiff their stiff legs rolling sumergiendo sus patas tiesas y sus 70 slow and then Darl again and I patas tiesas daban vueltas despacio hollering catch her darl catch her head y entonces Darl apareció otra vez y her into the bank darl and Vernon yo le gritaba cógela darl cógela por wouldn’t help and then Darl dodged la cabeza a la orilla darl y Vernon no past the mules where he could he had quería ayudar y entonces Darl esqui- 75 her under the water coming in to the vó las mulas y llegó adonde la podía bank coming in slow because in the coger y la metió debajo del agua ella water she fought to stay under the intentaba quedar debajo del agua, water but Darl is strong and he was pero Darl es fuerte y se acercaba des-

75 ______Faulkner’s As I lay dying tr. de Javier Coy notas

coming in slow and so I knew he had pacio y me di cuenta de que la traía her because he came slow and I ran porque venía tan despacio y corrí al down into the water to help and I agua a ayudar y no podía dejar de couldn’t stop hollering because Darl gritar porque Darl era fuerte y la aga- 5 was strong and steady holding her rraba firme por debajo del agua y under the water even if she did fight aunque ella tratara de escapar él no he would not let her go he was seeing la dejaría y me estaba viendo y la me and he would hold her and it was tenía agarrada y por fin lo había con- all right now it was all right now it seguido por fin lo había conseguido 10 was all right lo había conseguido

Then he comes up out of the Luego él asomaba fuera del agua. water. He comes a long way up Saca despacio gran parte del cuerpo an- slow before his hands do but he’s tes de que le aparean las manos, pero tie- 15 got to have her got to so I can bear ne que tenerla la tiene que tener para que it. Then his hands come up and all yo pueda soportarlo. Luego salen sus ma- of him above the water. I can’t stop. nos y todo él del agua. No me puedo pa- I have not got time to try. I will try rar. No tengo tiempo para intentarlo. Lo to when I can but his hands came intentaré en cuanto pueda, pero sus ma- 20 empty out of the water emptying the nos salen vacías del agua deraguándose water emptying away desaguándose.

“Where is ma, Darl?” I said. —¿Dónde está madre, Darl? —dije “You never got her. You knew she yo—. No conseguiste cogerla. Sabías que 25 is a fish but you let her get away. es un pez, pero la has dejado escapar. No You never got her. Darl. Darl. Darl.” conseguiste cogerla. Darl. Darl. Darl. I began to run along the bank, Eché a correr por la orilla viendo watching the mules dive up slow a las mulas asomarse muy despacio again and then down again. y luego hundirse de nuevo. 30 36 TULL (6) TULL

WHEN I told Cora how Darl CUANDO le conté a Cora cómo saltó 35 jumped out of the wagon and left Darl de la carreta y dejó a Cash allí den- Tull (6) Cash sitting there trying to save it and tro tratando de salvarla y que la carreta the wagon turning over, and Jewel volcó, y que Jewel que casi estaba ya en In this section, Tull recalls the that was almost to the bank la orilla intentaba que el caballo volvie- incident after it has happened and fighting that horse back where it ra adonde el animal con muy buen senti- he has told Cora about it and, at the same time, goes over the event 40 had more sense than to go, she says do no quería ir, ella me dice: in his own mind. He realises that “And you’re one of the folks that says —Y tú eres de los que dicen que Darl leapt from the wagon to save Darl is the queer one, the one that Darl es un tipo raro, que no tiene lu- himself and he is troubled when ain’t bright, and him the only one of ces, cuando él fue el único de todos Cora, who usually puts things into them that had sense enough to get off ellos lo bastante sensato como para sal- an acceptable perspective, seems to be inconsistent in her view of 45 that wagon. I notice Anse was too tar de esa carreta. Ya veo que Anse es this incident, saying that Darl smart to been on it a-tall.” demasiado listo para subirse a ella. showed sense in abandoning the wagon yet insisting that Anse “He couldn’t ‘a’ done no good, if he’d —No habría servido de nada que hu- ought to have been on it. Even in been there,” I said. “They was going biera estado allí dentro —dije yo—. Lo retrospect, the scene strikes Tull 50 about it right and they would have made estaban haciendo muy bien y lo habrían as one of utter confusion, with it if it hadn’t a-been for that log.” conseguido de no ser por aquel tronco. wagon, horse, mules, Cash, Darl and Jewel all thrashing about in the water with the coffin and “Log, fiddlesticks,” Cora said. “It —El tronco, ¡tonterías! —dijo Cora— Vardaman being chased up and was the hand of God.” . Fue la mano de Dios. down the bank by Dewey Dell. 55 Jewel eventually emerged from “Then how can you say it was —¿Entonces cómo eres capaz de de- the confusion, holding the wagon foolish?” I said. “Nobody can’t guard cir que era una locura? —dije yo—. Na- with the rope, and Cash appeared grasping the saddle of Jewel’s against the hand of God. It would be die puede librarse de la mano de Dios. horse, half-drowned and sacrilege to try to.” Sería sacrilegio intentarlo. unconscious. 60 “Then why dare it?” Cora says. —¿Entonces por qué la desafían? — “Tell me that.” dice Cora—. Venga, contesta.