Cover not available

Article In: Translation Spaces: Online-First Articles

Authorship, creativity and the English subtitles of Rappeneau’s Cyrano de Bergerac

ORCiD logo with link | University of Bristol
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
Subtitling is a highly specialized craft. It is rare that a well-known writer is given a subtitle credit. I analyse one such case, where Anthony Burgess was credited with the English subtitles for the 1990 film Cyrano de Bergerac. The article combines genetic and textual criticism, drawing on press and archival sources to show how the much-praised subtitles were also authored by Ian Burley, a British subtitler who adapted Burgess’s translation of the dialogue. I explore how the two translators’ creativity is manifested in the subtitles, arguing that both of their very different skillsets were necessary to produce the high-quality subtitles. This article complicates what we know about Burgess’s engagement with Cyrano de Bergerac, and shows for the first time how his subtitler credit for the film masks Burley’s important creative as well as technical contribution. The article underlines the crucial role played by high-quality subtitling in the film’s success.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Reception of the film with English subtitles
  • Complications of authorship
  • “One of the great tricksters of English letters”
  • Adapting Burgess’s draft into subtitles
  • Subtitling, authorship and creativity
  • Notes
  • Author queries
  • References
References (43)
References
Alberge, Dalya. 1972. “Anthony Burgess translation of Molière’s The Miser comes to light for first time.” Guardian, 6 November. Accessed December 20, 2025. [URL]
Andersen, Soren. 1990. “Heroic proboscis: Depardieu plays superb ‘Cyrano’.” News Tribune, 27 December, 461. Accessed 20 December 2025. [URL]
Andrews, Nigel. 1991. “Thrills and spills.” Financial Times, 10 January, 171.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Anon. 1991. “Review of Cyrano de Bergerac.” Monthly Film Bulletin 58, no. 684, January, 14.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biswell, Andrew. 2005. The real life of Anthony Burgess. Picador.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blancart-Cassou, Jacqueline. 1993. “L’alexandrin et le comique de Hugo à Rostand.” Revue de la Société d’histoire du théâtre 45(2): 93–104.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brunette, Peter. 1990. “The Rhyme and Reason of ‘Cyrano’: Jean-Paul Rappeneau and His Verse-atile New Film.” Washington Post, 23 December, G1, G7.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Burgess, Anthony. 1991 [1985]. “Introduction.” Edmond Rostand. Cyrano de Bergerac, translated and adapted by Anthony Burgess. London: Nick Hern Books, unpaginated.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1983. “Rhyme and Panache.” Theatre programme, RSC Barbican.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1990. “Cyrano: more panache than nosiness.” Sunday Telegraph, 16 December, xiii1.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Canby, Vincent. 1990. “Depardieu as the Blustery Yet Wistful Cyrano de Bergerac.” New York Times 16 November, C141.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carrière, Jean-Claude. undated. “Cyrano is everyone’s dream.” In Artificial Eye/W.H.Smith special edition VHS box set release of Cyrano de Bergerac. ART WHS1.
Carroll, Kathleen. 1990. “Classic ‘Cyrano’ returns as tornado.” Daily News 16 November, 571. Accessed 20 December 2025. [URL]
Cauthorn, Robert S. 1991. “A glorious Cyrano.” Arizona Daily Star, 29 March, 721. Accessed 20 December 2025. [URL]
Dickinson, Chris. 1994. “Language Barriers.” Televisual, March1, 101–103.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dwyer, Michael. 1991. “Swashbuckling romance with a proboscis.” Irish Times, 1 February, 101.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fawcett, Peter. 1996. “Translating film.” In On translating French literature and film, edited by Geoffrey T. Harris, 65–88. Rodopi. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1979. “Authorship: what is an author?” Screen 20 (1): 13–34. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frodon, Jean-Michel. 1991. “Nez pour gagner.” Le Monde, 7 March.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Guthmann, Edward. 1990. “No muzzle on new ‘Cyrano’”. San Francisco Examiner 16 December, 2061. Accessed 20 December 2025. [URL]
Horton, Marc. 1990. “Toronto’s movie binge lived up to billing.” Edmonton Journal, 22 September, 131. Accessed 20 December 2025. [URL]
Jaivin, Linda. 2013. “Found in Translation: In Praise of a Plural World.” Quarterly Essay 621: 1–69.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clive James. 2004. “Cyrano’s lesson.” Times Literary Supplement 30 April. Accessed 20 December 2025. [URL]
Jillett, Neil. 1990. “Swaggering French costume drama gets to the heart of popular play.” The Age, 6 December, 141. Accessed 20 December 2025. [URL]
Korman, Lenny and Denis Seguin. 1998. “War of the words.” Screen International, 3 July, 101Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
King, Francis. 1983. “Nose job.” Sunday Telegraph 31 July, 121.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Malcolm, Derek. 1991. “Sub-titles spell success.” Guardian 8 February, 351.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mazdon, Lucy and Catherine Wheatley. 2013. French Film in Britain: Sex, Art and Cinephilia. Berghahn. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Noh, David. 1991. “Rappeneau Directs Depardieu: Cyrano Never Looked Better.” Film Journal 94 (1): 10, 84.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nornes, Abé Mark. 2007. Cinema Babel. University of Minneapolis Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
O’Sullivan, Carol. 2008. “Acts of Literary Impertinence: Translating Belli’s romanesco sonnets.” In Twentieth-century poetic translation: literary cultures in Italian and English, edited by Daniela Casella and Daniela La Penna, 85–98; 189–191. Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2018. “‘New and Improved Subtitle Translation’: Representing Translation in Film Paratexts.” In Linguistic and Cultural Representation in Audiovisual Translation, edited by Irene Ranzato and Serenella Zanotti, 265–279. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rappeneau, Jean-Paul, and Jean-Claude Carrière. 1989. Cyrano de Bergerac, d’après l’oeuvre d’Edmond Rostand. Unpublished screenplay dated 19 January.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pidduck, Julianne. 2000. “Versions, Verse and Verve: Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s Cyrano de Bergerac (1990).” In French Film: Texts and Contexts, edited by Susan Hayward and Ginette Vincendeau, 281–296. Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reader, Keith. 1993. “Le phénomène Cyrano: Perceptions of French Cinema in Britain”. Franco-British Studies 151: 3–8.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rostand, Edmond. 1978 [1971]. Cyrano de Bergerac, Translated and adapted for the modern stage by Anthony Burgess. Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1991 [1985]. Cyrano de Bergerac, translated and adapted by Anthony Burgess. Nick Hern Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shulman, Milton. 1983. “Staying ahead by a nose.” The Standard, 28 July, 22. Accessed 20 December 2025. [URL]
Strickler, Jeff. 1991. “Movie Cyrano is impressive in action, but lacks emotion.” Star Tribune, 15 February, 571. Accessed 20 December 2025. [URL]
Travers, Peter. 1990. “Cyrano de Bergerac.” Rolling Stone, 1 December. Accessed 25 December 2025. [URL]
Geoff Woollen. 1994. “Introduction.” Cyrano de Bergerac. Bristol: Bristol Classical Press, v–xxxv.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zanotti, Serenella, and Rosa Maria Bollettieri Bosinelli. 2015. “Exploring the Backstage of Translations: A study of translation-related manuscripts in the Anthony Burgess archives.” Linguistica Antverpiensia 141: 127–148.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue