© 2021 Georges Michelson Dupont
© 2021 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
Sixtieth anniversary
By Georges Michelson-Dupont,
Vice President and Director of Translations, Urantia Foundation
Reclosed, France
July 1971 (Personal photo)
60 years ago, in the fourth quarter of the year of grace 1961, the first volume of The Cosmogony of Urantia came out of the presses of the Tournon printing house. The second volume came out in the first quarter of 1962 and the third in the second quarter of the same year.
I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Jacques Weiss who, thanks to his tenacity, his intelligence and his open-mindedness, left us the translation of the revelation. Jacques Weiss died on January 27, 1987.
¶ A few words about the Weiss Weiss family.
Jacques Weiss was born into a remarkable family, established near Strasbourg before 1871. Following the conflict of 1870, and the annexation of Alsace by the Germans, she had to go into exile and settle in Arras (?); For those interested in the history of this family, refer to the following address:
http://www.annales.org/archives/x/weiss.html
Jacques’ father, Paul Louis Weiss (1867-1945), industrialist, Director of Mines; X in 1914 and later Inspector of Finances) gave birth to 6 children, all illustrious or great servants of the State and to name just one Louise Weiss. (For more information on Louise Weiss, write “Louise Weiss File” in your browser and download the ENA file.)
Émile Jean Jacques WEISS was born in Arras (?) in 1894, second of Paul Louis Weiss’ siblings. He was Inspector of Finance, Director of the Charbonnages de France, Resistance fighter during the Second World War. He was also a great sportsman, the first man to fly above 10,000 m without a mask. Besides that, Jacques was a seeker of truth all his life and, mastering English perfectly, he translated many books on spirituality including the famous “The Life of the Masters” and “I Lived on Two Planets”.
¶ A short history of Translation
Immediately after the publication of The Urantia Book in September 1955, Mrs. Caroline Brown, a member of the Forum, sent a copy of the book to her friend Jacques Weiss whom she had met during a visit of Jacques to New York.
Jacques began reading The Urantia Book and, after a few months, was certain of its nature, origin and importance, which convinced him to translate it. In 1956, Jacques wrote to the Urantia Brotherhood, expressing his interest in translating it into French. A flood of correspondence ensued, and in response to Mrs. Rowley, dated December 1956, this is what Jacques wrote:
“I have done several translations, such as The Lives of the Masters by Spadling, published in 1946, and more recently Esoteric Healing by Alice Bayley.” thus showing that he had solid experience in translating works of a spiritual nature.
Jacques therefore began the translation in late 1956 or early 1957. On November 13, 1957, he wrote to Miss Christensen (Christy) the following:
“As a test, I translated the first half of the 1st part. This work took me several hours a day for many months… It is an arduous task because you have to create new terminology and therefore have to meditate on many sentences. There are also the ”false friends“ from English to French. Among many examples, I cite ”realize“. In French it mainly means ”to understand clearly“ but in English ”realize“ means ”to actualize".
In this paragraph, Jacques lists some of the challenges and difficulties experienced by all translators. Not only does a translator translate ideas and not words, but, in the case of The Urantia Book, new concepts must be understood clearly and must be translated accurately.
¶ Who participated in the translation?
Jacques hired several people to complete the translation and its result was a team effort. The following names appear on the first edition of the book:
Lysie Guionic and Simone Leclerc. Mrs. Guionic was responsible for the French syntax and punctuation, while Simone Leclerc (who later became his wife), not speaking English, was more involved in the spiritual flavor of the translation.
It is also possible that other people participated in the translation. In the next paragraph of the letter to Christy below, Jacques wrote the following:
“Because the entire translation is much more than the work of one man, I contacted two men and asked them to translate the third and fourth parts for a fee. The first man is a Hungarian refugee, a spiritualist who speaks German, English, and French equally well. The second is a French expert on the Bible and he taught me some elements of the Hebrew language in the early forties. Neither of them gave me a definitive answer.”
In a letter, dated June 16, 1958, Mr. Weiss wrote:
“As for the French translation, I took full responsibility for it and bear all the burden, all the work, all the costs, the supervision, the corrections, the unified terminology and the choice of the team. I translated parts I and II myself. A good professional translator will soon start part III and an amateur woman has started part IV.”
On March 8, 1960, Mr. Weiss completed the translation and received a congratulatory telegram from Urantia Foundation. He sent his work to Chicago for review by Mr. Gelsey, a “proofreader” hired by Urantia Foundation.
April 1961, a contract was signed between Urantia Foundation and Mr. Weiss and 2625 copies of Part I of “Urantia Cosmology” were printed on November 28, 1961, followed by the printing of Part II on March 14, 1962 and Part III on April 12, 1962.
Through the tenacity and persuasive attitude of one man and the exceptional circumstances associated with the translation effort, the French translation came into being and new potentials for spiritual growth were offered to the French-speaking world. It was a team effort, led by a man of conviction and a group of five responsible individuals who with courage and patience, transformed a dream into reality. The French translation was the first translation of The Urantia Book. Subsequently, many translators referred to this translation for their own translation as a reference and source of inspiration.
Jacques, we owe you a lot. Thank you again for your work. To date, more than 60,000 copies have been sold in the French-speaking world.
>ON THE PRESSES OF THE TOURNON PRINTING HOUSE 20, RUE DELAMBRE, PARIS-XIVe
ON BEHALF OF URANTIA EDITIONS
Legal deposit no. 1055, 4th quarter 1961