“Often, too, she amused herself by staring into my eyes fixedly, until I would be obliged to look aside, thus implicitly admitting my inferiority. Sometimes I could hold out for a good minute, but I always ended up by giving way, and this defeat both exasperated me and gave me a confused indefinable pleasure. She enjoyed demanding my kisses at inopportune moments (as for instance when I was hurried or when she was expecting a visitor) and if I resisted, she triumphed over my objections by force. The very way she took me in her arms, the very methods of our love-making had changed. She forced me to comply to certain refinements of depravity which I would rather have avoided;”
Le Rempart des Béguines (known in English under titles The Illusionist, The Loving and the Daring, and Into the Labyrinth) the 1951 debut novel by Belgium author Françoise Mallet-Joris is one of the more memorable novels to be viewed under the category of lesbian fiction. Indeed, one such pulp paperback tagline “a compelling novel of secret love” is fairly apt. Written only at 19 the book has endured, later in 1972 also adapted to film.
The story is written from the perspective of Hélène, an extremely lonely and emotionally neglected 15-and-a-half-year-old, falling into a toxic relationship with her father’s Russian mistress. Tamara, is a woman more than double Hélène’s age, running in bohemian libertine circles plus afoul of the hypocritical standards of the well-to-do of society.
First translated in 1952 the English translation by Herma Briffault reprinted in 2006 has a cover with the image of a lady, eyes obscured, in a well-tailored black dress with hat and pearls that gives a more sophisticated air versus some previous editions. Not entirely undeserved. The book is adroit when it comes to the inner life of its characters, teenage emotions especially. While Hélène is caught in an eroticized net of Tamara’s, women’s relationships are not being romanticized by Mallet-Joris. (Nor did she think of the relationship she wrote as a lesbian one.) Apparently, the plot was inspired by events involving a school friend of the author. Blurbs also compare the painted prose to the likes of Colette’s work. But when considering the story there was another parallel, I couldn’t help thinking of. Colette didn’t just write about a May-December relationship but in real life was a woman who seduced her stepson. Mallet-Joris as a teenager was caught in an affair with an older man and during her life had others, (including with women) and three marriages.
The edition also boasts an introduction by American literary scholar Terry Castle. Which at one-point touches on the story of a friend who had an experience akin to the character of Hélène. Later while the friend was seeing a psychiatrist, the psychiatrist “as if stating the obvious, she remarked ‘And now you will do the same to someone else.’” Castle writes “My friend made it her subsequent business to disprove the oracle”. Oracle?! How is that a fitting word? Words too do not begin to cover the psychiatrist’s statement and the damage of it either. Maybe survivors would not be so haunted by the possibility of perpetuating a cycle if society did not reinforce “the monster the monster creates”. I don’t believe Hélène qualifies as a monster at all. As if sexuality wasn’t complicated enough, so many people must sort through all types of traumas, stereotypes and how it does or doesn’t affect them. Insightfulness, identity (though not necessarily sexual), and maturity are at the fore of the novel. Castle’s also makes an assertion of the book that there is “not a trace of feminist sentiment— any residual notion Women are Somehow Better. Most of the time they seem Much Worse.” This feels strange as well. Yes, a woman is at the zenith of brutal influence in this novel. Besides Tamara’s past mixing with events, abuse masquerades as a D/s dynamic. There are also various female side characters living their own complex lives one might evaluate too. Yet, Hélène begins to feel contempt for Tamara because of how Tamara gives in to security, submits and converts herself in a sexist, classist world. The myth of relationships between women being something higher than other forms is gender essentialism. So, one might do well to skim over the introduction.
Afterwards If one is curious of how the young Hélène fares after the ending, well there is a sequel The Red Room. Françoise Mallet-Joris while still a teen created a complex novel. Going on towards a notable career. Works of which are still compelling many years on.
The Illusionist by Françoise Mallet-Joris is available in English, translation by Herma Briffault, in print and audio
I started reading “The Illusionist” by Francoise Mallet after having seen “Le Rempart des Béguines” in French (I didn’t understand anything since there weren’t any subtitles) and OH MY I love it. It is basically another version of Carol!?!?! What is it about lesbian age gap novels from the 1950s???
In the final episode of Kakegurui Kari from the October 2022 release of Gangan Joker (released September 22nd, 2022), the gang gets together to take a big group photo.
The final episode of Kakegurui Kari from Manga UP will be released within the next week.
If you like these translations and want to support them (I have lots of past Karis to get to!), I have a tip jar on Ko-fi here! Thank you!
Also, I've seen some absolutely bizarre takes on why Kirari covered Sayaka like this... (Kirari being overly possessive, Kirari not knowing how to act like a normal human, Sayaka being sensitive to light in that state, etc.)
Y'all...the reason is super simple and also very sweet: She covered Sayaka's head to shield her face from being filmed on the broadcast. Everything since Kirari won the seat in the last half of ch. 94 has been streamed live to the entire academy. She's obscuring Sayaka's face to save her from everyone seeing her at one of her lowest moments, to save her the humiliation.
Welcome back for another comparison of the original Japanese text against the official English translations! We’ll also be doing a bit of analysis too.
This month, Yumeko's opening speech was heavily sanitized in the English release, compared to the original Japanese. There are also some points of clarification for words used, tone, and things that just don't have a 1:1 in English.
This one will be a bit longer, so let’s get into it.
Right away, the title breaks convention a bit this month. Normally the title refers to one singular "woman" (or "girl," as Yen Press insists on translating 女 — literally "woman" — as for some reason). This month it's women, plural.
Specifically, it's "Kakegurui Women" / 賭け狂い女たち
Specifically, it's the proper kanji form of "kakegurui"/賭け狂い, as opposed to the title version (賭ケグルイ) we see regularly, which has kanji followed by a string of katakana, likely for emphasis.
In English, "kakegurui" has been translated as "compulsive gambler." This isn't necessarily wrong, but some nuance gets left out. Kakegurui / 賭け狂い literally translates to any of the following, based on context:
Betting madness/insanity
Betting deviant/irregularity
Betting fanatic/enthusiast
One could make the argument that Yumeko is overtaken with a gambling insanity (closer to a true compulsive gambler), whereas Kirari, while still technically a kakegurui as well, is more of a gambling enthusiast: she uses gambling as a means to achieve her goals. I say this because the main difference between Yumeko and Kirari appears to be restraint. Yumeko must gamble or she withers and/or goes stir crazy, but Kirari can refuse a gamble and, as far as we've seen, be no worse for wear.
All of this to say, I'm not sure I would've chosen "Compulsive Girls" as the title for this chapter. Had it been up to me, I likely would've left it as "Kakegurui Women," so that all the different meanings of the term "kakegurui" could remain for the reader to interpret its layered meaning.
Next up is just a point of clarification:
Kirari does indeed say "Sayaka, come here, please," with the implication being "Sayaka, you should move away from Yumeko." Kirari seems to know something terrible is coming, and Yumeko is the harbinger. We joke about Kirari bringing up Yumeko when Sayaka is expressing her adoration and loyalty for Kirari, and it's definitely funny in a terrible sort of way, but Kirari has been shown to be someone who keeps her eyes on her goals, even if she has to wait and be patient: she knows Yumeko is up to no good and she needs to keep tabs on her. It explains why she insisted on knowing Yumeko's vote count last chapter even with the election decided, and I bet she knew what was coming as soon as Runa told her Yumeko didn't have any left.
What really inspired me to do a write-up for this month's release is how heavily sanitized Yumeko's opening speech was. While it is technically not wrong, the original Japanese kanji provides layered meanings, especially when coupled with the visuals we get for this speech.
In the official English release, Yumeko says this:
Why do so many religions make self-control one of their core tenets? They prohibit the emotion of desire...They prohibit venting your desires...They tell you to live as if desire doesn't even exist. I could never understand that. I've never done it before. I never even thought about doing it. But now I understand. The more I restrain my desires, the greater the thrill is! That must be why god has ordered me to hold them back!
What Yumeko actually says in the original Japanese is:
何故数多の宗教がが禁欲を戒律とするのでしょうか？
欲を抱くことを禁じ。欲を発散することも禁じ。さも欲ななど存在しないかのように生きよと。理解できませんでした。やったこともない。やろうとも思わなかったから。でも今なら解ります。禁欲するほどに快感が増すから、神は禁欲を命ぜられたのですね！
Why do so many religions have abstinence/self-control as a commandment? It is forbidden to have desire. It is forbidden to give vent to/radiate our desire. They want us to live as if desire does not exist. I couldn't understand it. I've never done it. I had never even thought of doing it. But now I understand. God commanded me to be celibate/have self-control because the more I abstain, the more pleasure I feel, don't I!?
I'm only going to touch on this briefly because I know this can be a point of contention with some of the fans of the series (and honestly because this topic could be an entire thesis on its own), but Yumeko's compulsion for gambling has, from the beginning, been visually and verbally portrayed as being an intrinsic and irresistible urge, synonymous with hunger, or — in Yumeko's case — sexual desire. The kanji being used fluctuates based on context, or exists as a way to convey multiple things at once.
For example, the kanji that was translated into "self-control" (禁欲) means "abstinence; self-control; celibacy; abnegation; asceticism."
The kanji for "desire" (欲) also means "greed; craving; desire; appetite; hunger; avarice; wants," and is the first half of the kanji used for "lust."
The English release says the more she can hold back, the bigger the thrill is, which can be interpreted in a few ways. The Japanese more explicitly says that her abstinence results in more pleasure / 快感.
The overall takeaway is this: Yumeko suppressed her irresistible desire and craving to gamble with Kirari until she found a way to circumvent it; by directing that energy into the destruction of the house pet system and, as such, Kirari's aquarium.
Which leads to minor, yet still scuffed translation...
In the official English release, Yumeko says this:
President, you figured you could take me one after you took on everyone else. But Igarashi-san was with you as well.
What Yumeko actually says in the original Japanese is:
生徒会長貴女は他の方と戦った後で、私の相手をすれば良いと考えた。しかしそこには五十嵐さんがいた。
Student council president, after fighting the others, you thought that then you could deal with me. However, there was Igarashi-san.
The English release is confusing, insinuating that Sayaka was acting on Kirari's behalf somehow, when we know she acted of her own volition, even if it was ultimately intended to be for Kirari's benefit. The original Japanese is clearer: Yumeko was spiraling, until she noticed that Sayaka was out in the open, making moves that were all but certainly to benefit Kirari, and that Yumeko could use that to her advantage.
As for this next part, I just want to provide the original Japanese for comparison purposes. Again, the English here isn't necessarily wrong, but the Japanese paints a clearer picture, specifically in how Kirari asks what Yumeko got up to once she was rejected.
In the official English release, Yumeko and Kirari say this:
Yumeko: Then you misjudged Igarashi-san's love.
Kirari: Yes, I did. Hee hee! It all works out. ...So? Once you realized that you cannot take me on... What did you do then?
What Yumeko and Kirari actually said in the original Japanese is:
Yumeko: 見誤りましたね。五十嵐さんの愛を。
Kirari: そうね。フフ。だから良いのよ。。。。それで？私と戦えないと悟った貴女は、一体何をしたの？
Yumeko: You misjudged it, didn't you? Igarashi-san's love.
Kirari: Yeah, I did. [chuckle] But it's fine/good. ...So? When you realized you couldn't fight me, what on earth did you do?
The "what on earth/what the hell did you" phrasing speaks volumes: Kirari knows Yumeko has done something terrible, she's just waiting for the other shoe to drop at this point.
Next up is after Sayaka has been mobbed by the house pets. I've seen some...uh, interesting, takes on Sayaka's state during this part. Everything ranging from trying to scrounge up a DSM diagnosis to trying to trying to fabricate any reason why her nose was bleeding other than "she got hit in the face with like a hundred bricks of cash thrown by pissed off students."
I mean this in the nicest way possible: just look at what happened on the pages.
Dozens if not hundreds of house pets just threw bricks of cash AT Sayaka, many of them with quite a bit of force – you can see several students winding their arms all the way back to pitch the cash at her like they're throwing a fastball. If you don't think that would cause some damage, imagine being pelted with hundreds of inch-thick, paperback novels from just a foot or two away. You could probably come away unscathed from a few with nothing more than a few paper cuts, sure, but dozens? Hundreds? Thrown with force and vengeance? Aims at your head? She's shown actively taking cash bricks to the face. She's bleeding because she got slammed with solid objects moving with speed and force, just that simple.
Anyway. Let's keep moving, we only have a few more points of clarification to go.
There's a bit of nuance that gets lost when Kirari tells Sayaka she doesn't need to worry.
In the official English release, Kirari says this:
Sayaka. It's nothing for you to fret over. I'm fine being the emperor with no clothes...as long as you're there with me.
What Kirari actually says in the original Japanese is:
清華気に病むことではないわ。私は裸の王様でもいいの。貴女が付いてきてくれるなら。
Sayaka. It's nothing to worry yourself sick about. I don't care if I'm the emperor with no clothes [literally: a naked king], as long as you're with me...
Kirari seems to know that Sayaka will go beyond her usual fretting and worrying over this. The kanji Kirari uses mentions "illness/sickness," so she knows that Sayaka is going to be so shaken by this it might make her ill. And she's unfortunately right, but it's beyond the degree she may have expected, judging by her shocked expression. Sayaka is bloodied, tear-stained, and in deep shock from the experience, explaining why she's drooling, staring off into space, and muttering an apology over and over. And when I say "shock" I don't mean the "oh she got super surprised," kind of shock, I mean the clinical term used for someone who just endured trauma and needs medical attention kind of "shock" that can happen to anyone who experiences a traumatic event. And make no mistake, this is very traumatic for Sayaka: she just inadvertently destroyed the very thing she moved heaven and earth to try and protect: Kirari's beloved aquarium. Kirari doesn't care, because her love is in Sayaka, but Sayaka doesn't seem to understand that just yet.
Also as a petty aside: Enormous Ls to any and everyone who has been saying Kirari doesn't care about Sayaka for years. It says a lot that one of the first things Kirari did when she was finally fully detached from Ririka is go to dote on Sayaka in front of everyone (credits go to RayDaug for that observation), let alone the fact that she's just freely admitted — again, in front of everyone! — that she doesn't care if she looks like a fool and is powerless, just so long as Sayaka is with her.
Which leads us into Yumeko's declaration. This is one of Yumeko's classic "Sa, kakegurui mashou!"/"Now, let's get our gambling freak on!" moments. However, in this instance, the official English translates it as "Now, let us give in to our compulsion!" instead of the usual "Now, let's get our gambling freak on!" it's been using for basically the rest of the series up until this point. For the same reason as the one I gave with the title of this chapter, I'm not sure I personally would've gone with that if for the simple reason that Kirari doesn't seem to have gambling as a true addiction or compulsion the way Yumeko does. If I personally had to choose a way to bring this over into English, I might err on the side of "Now, let's give in to our gambling madness!" instead.
And now for the final speech, which I'm including because some people were wondering about the phrasing used, and that's part of the reason why I do these – for comparison! The content is more or less fine, though "love confession," is never outright said, however "love letter" is.
In the official English release, the final speech goes like this:
This is nothing short of a confession of love for her. A love letter the general public could never understand. Only its recipient would comprehend it. That...or perhaps she's forced to now? But either way, just one thing is clear. She...or they...they just aren't normal. They're completely obsessed. They're just compulsive gamblers.
In the original Japanese, the final speech goes like this:
これは告白だ。公衆は誰一人として理解できないラブレター。解るのは相手だけ、それとも彼女が理解らせたのか！？いずれにせよ、ただひとつ明らかなこと。彼女はもしくは彼女らはまともじゃないギャンブル狂。賭ケグルイだ。
This is a confession. A love letter that none of the public could ever understand. Only the other person/recipient can understand it...Or did she make her understand it!? Either way, only one thing is clear. She, or they, are not sane – they're gamblers. They're kakegurui.
The implication of the English translation is that Kirari is the same as Yumeko – she's just a compulsive gambler with the same intrinsic, irresistible craving as Yumeko. Whereas with the original Japanese there's room for interpretation. So far in the series, Kirari has shown shades of that gambling madness, but it isn't quite the same. The text itself admits that perhaps Kirari didn't fully grasp the depths of Yumeko's madness until now, when Yumeko has taken advantage of Sayaka's recklessness and inability to see the forest for the trees as a way to get to Kirari. For me, personally, I see Kirari's surprise and weariness here as evidence that she isn't driven by the same compulsion that Yumeko is. They may both be kakegurui, but they aren't the same kind of kakegurui.
That's it for this chapter's Lost in Translation. Hope you enjoyed reading and comparing the texts, and — until next time — I'll keep chipping away at karis. :)
In another Manga UP! exclusive, Yumi tries out Kirari's hairdo! Terano is not pleased...
If you like these translations and want to support them (especially since Manga UP requires credits to view many of the chapters), I have a tip jar on Ko-fi here! Thank you!
In another Manga UP! exclusive, Sayaka tells Yumemi she wants to write a fan letter to Kirari…and Yumemi becomes a very reluctant wing man.
If you like these translations and want to support them (especially since Manga UP requires credits to view many of the chapters), I have a tip jar on Ko-fi here! Thank you!
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