https://noumenapedia.net/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=David_BellosDavid Bellos - Revision history2026-10-27T14:00:52ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.44.0https://noumenapedia.net/index.php?title=David_Bellos&diff=73&oldid=prevDeleatur yhe: Created page2026-08-30T06:26:19Z<p>Created page</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|British academic, translator and biographer (1945–2025)}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}<br />
'''David Michael Bellos'''<ref name=nyt /> (25 June 1945 – 26 October 2025) was a British academic, translator and biographer.{{r|bnf}} He was the Meredith Howland Pyne professor of [[French literature|French]] and [[comparative literature]] at [[Princeton University]] in the United States,<ref name="self">{{Cite web |title=David Bellos |url=https://fit.princeton.edu/people/david-bellos |access-date=21 November 2025 |website=Department of French & Italian |publisher=Princeton University}}</ref> and was the co-founder and first director, from 2007, of its translation and [[intercultural communication]] program.<ref name=saxon>{{Cite web |last=Saxon |first=Jamie |date=14 November 2025 |title=David Bellos (1945-2025) |url=https://fit.princeton.edu/people/memoriam |access-date=21 November 2025 |website=Department of French & Italian |publisher=Princeton University}} Expand from "David Bellos (1945-2025)".</ref><br />
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== Early life and education ==<br />
Bellos was born in Rochford, England, on 25 June 1945, and educated in nearby Southend-on-Sea. He earned an undergraduate degree in medieval and modern languages (French and Russian) in 1967 and a D.Phil in [[French literature]] in 1971, both at the [[University of Oxford]].<ref name=saxon /><br />
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==Career==<br />
Bellos wrote [[biography in literature|literary biographies]] of [[Romain Gary]] and [[Georges Perec]], and published work on [[Honoré de Balzac]]; and his ''The Novel of the Century'' tells the story of the writing of ''[[Les Misérables]]'' by [[Victor Hugo]]. He composed a biography of the filmmaker [[Jacques Tati]], ''[[Jacques Tati: His Life and Art]]'', and appeared in the documentary ''The Magnificent Tati.''<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Magnificent Tati |url=https://www.film-documentaire.fr/4DACTION/w_fiche_film/41135 |access-date=21 November 2025 |website=film-documentaire.fr |language=French}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bellos |first=David Michael |date=October 2025 |title=Vita |url=https://fit.princeton.edu/document/8931 |access-date=21 November 2025 |website=Department of French & Italian |publisher=Princeton University}}</ref><br />
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Other works include an introduction to [[translation studies]], ''Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and The Meaning of Everything'' (2011)<ref>[http://www.janklowandnesbit.co.uk/david-bellos/fish-your-ear-translation-and-meaning-everything ''Is That A Fish In Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724054956/http://www.janklowandnesbit.co.uk/david-bellos/fish-your-ear-translation-and-meaning-everything |date=24 July 2013 }} at [[Morton L. Janklow|Janklow & Nesbit]]</ref> and ''Who Owns This Sentence. A History of Copyrights and Wrongs'', written with Alexandre Montagu and published in 2024.<br />
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He translated much of the work of Perec into English, including the novel ''[[Life: A User's Manual]]''.<br />
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Bellos won the first [[Man Booker International Prize]] for translation in 2005 for his translations of works by Albanian author [[Ismail Kadare]], despite not speaking Albanian. His translations were done from previous French translations.<ref name=cr>[http://www.complete-review.com/quarterly/vol6/issue2/bellos.htm "The Englishing of Ismail Kadare"] by David Bellos, ''[[complete review]] Quarterly'', vol. VI, issue 2 – May 2005</ref><br />
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== Personal life and death ==<br />
Bellos' marriages to Hélène Roth-Laszlo and Susan Lendrum ended in divorce. At the time of his death he was married to Pascale Voilley Bellos.<ref name=nyt>{{Cite news |last=Risen |first=Clay |date=20 November 2025 |title=David Bellos, 80, Dies; Wrestled French Wordplay Into English |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/books/david-bellos-dead.html |access-date=21 November 2025 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> He was the father of three children (and seven grandchildren), including writer and broadcaster [[Alex Bellos]].<ref name="whoswho">{{Who's Who | author=Anon | year = 2017| title=Bellos, Alexander | id = U289184 | edition = online [[Oxford University Press]]|location=Oxford|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.289184}}</ref> David Bellos died at his vacation home in Doussard, France, on 26 October 2025, at the age of 80.<ref name=nyt /><ref>Denis Cosnard: [https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2025/10/31/david-bellos-traducteur-et-grand-specialiste-de-georges-perec-est-mort_6650665_3382.html "David Bellos, traducteur et grand spécialiste de Georges Perec, est mort"]. ''lemonde.fr'', 3 November 2025 (in French). Retrieved 5 November 2025.</ref><br />
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==Awards and honours==<br />
* 1988 [[French-American Foundation]] prize for translation{{r|self}}<br />
* 1994 [[Prix Goncourt de la Biographie]]{{r|self}}<br />
* 2005 [[Man Booker International Prize]], for translation of works by [[Ismail Kadare]]<ref name=cr/><br />
* 2015 ''Officier'' of the [[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]]{{r|self}}<br />
* 2017 [[American Library in Paris Book Award]] winner for ''The Novel of the Century''<ref>{{cite press release |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=The 2017 American Library in Paris Book Award goes to The Novel of the Century |url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/14yIj4FyaH722w6v3LFUqzZdFZXy4T6lj/view |publisher=American Library in Paris |agency=[[Google Drive]] |date=2017-11-03 |access-date=2018-01-03}}</ref><br />
* 2019 Howard T. Behrman Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Humanities, Princeton University<ref>{{Cite web |last=Saxon |first=Jamie |date=6 May 2019 |title=David Bellos and Sean Wilentz receive Behrman Award for the humanities |url=https://www.princeton.edu/news/2019/05/06/david-bellos-and-sean-wilentz-receive-behrman-award-humanities |access-date=21 November 2025 |website=Princeton University}}</ref><br />
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==Publications==<br />
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===Translations===<br />
*[[Georges Perec]]: ''[[Life A User's Manual]]'', 1987 (French-American Foundation's translation prize); new edition, 2008<br />
*Georges Perec: ''[[W, or the Memory of Childhood]]'', 1988<br />
*Georges Perec: ''[[Things: A Story of the Sixties]]'', 1990<br />
*Georges Perec: ''53 Days'', 1992<br />
*[[Ismail Kadare]]: ''[[The Pyramid (Kadare novel)|The Pyramid]]'', 1995<br />
*Ismail Kadare:''[[The File on H]]'', 1996<br />
*[[Georges Ifrah]]: ''A Universal History of Numbers'', 2000<br />
*Ismail Kadare: ''[[Spring Flowers, Spring Frost]]'', 2001<br />
*[[Fred Vargas]]: ''Have Mercy On Us All'', 2003<br />
*Fred Vargas: ''Seeking Whom He May Devour'', 2004<br />
*Ismail Kadare: ''[[The Successor (Kadare)|The Successor]]'', 2005<br />
*Ismail Kadare: ''[[Agamemnon's Daughter]]'', 2006<br />
*Ismail Kadare: ''[[The Siege (Kadare novel)|The Siege]]'', 2008<br />
*[[Hélène Berr]]: ''Journal'', 2008<br />
*Georges Perec: ''Thoughts of Sorts'', 2009<br />
*[[Romain Gary]]: ''[[Hocus Bogus]]'', 2010<br />
*Georges Perec: ''[[The Art and Craft of Approaching Your Head of Department to Submit a Request for a Raise]]'', 2011<br />
*[[Georges Simenon]]: ''Pietr the Latvian'', 2013<br />
*Daniel Anselme: ''On Leave'', 2014<br />
*[[Ismail Kadare]]: ''[[Twilight of the Eastern Gods]]'', 2014<br />
*[[Georges Perec]]: ''Portrait of a Man'', 2014 (UK), 2015 (USA)<br />
*[[Georges Perec]]: ''I Remember'', 2014 (USA) (with Philip Terry)<br />
*[[Paul Fournel]], ''Dear Reader'', 2014 (UK)<br />
*Georges Simenon: ''The Pitards'', 2015<br />
*[[Frédéric Dard]], ''Bird in a Cage''2016 (UK)<br />
*[[Delphine Horvilleur]], ''Anti-Semitism Revisited'', 2021 (UK)<br />
*[[Maxime Rovere]], ''How To Deal With Idiots (and stop being one yourself)'', 2021 (UK)<br />
*Victor Hugo, ''Seventeen Ninety-Three'', forthcoming 2026 (UK)<br />
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===Biographies===<br />
*''Georges Perec. A Life in Words'', 1993. ([[Prix Goncourt|Prix Goncourt de la biographie]]). French edition, 1994. Japanese edition, 2014. Hebrew edition, 2016. New edition in French, 2022; German translation, 2023; Turkish and Chinese translations in progress. <br />
*''[[Jacques Tati: His Life and Art]]'', 1999. French edition, 2002; Italian edition, 2022. German edition, 2024<br />
*''[[Romain Gary]]. A Tall Story'', Harvill Secker, November 2010<br />
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===Other books===<br />
*''Balzac Criticism in France, 1850–1900. The Making of a Reputation''. Oxford, 1976<br />
*''La Cousine Bette. A Critical Guide''. London, 1981<br />
*''Old Goriot'' (Landmarks of World Literature). Cambridge, 1987. Hebrew translation, Tek Aviv, 1990.<br />
*''Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything''. London and New York, 2011. Paperback edition, 2012.<br />French translation by Daniel Loayza as ''{{Lang|fr|Le poisson & le bananier}}'', Flammarion, 2012, republished in 2017 as ''La Traduction dans tous ses états''. Spanish translation by Vicente Campos, as ''{{lang|es|Un Pez en la higuera}}''. Ariel, 2012. German translation by Silvia Morawetz as ''{{Lang|de|Was macht der Fisch in meinem Ohr?}}'', Eichborn, 2013. Russian translation by Natalia Shahova, Azbuka, 2019. Traditional Chinese translation, Rye Field, Taipei, 2019. Also translated into Simplified Chinese, Korean, Japanese and [[Persian language|Persian]].<br />
*''The Novel of the Century: The Extraordinary Adventure of'' Les Misérables. London and New York, 2017. Korean edition, 2018. Japanese edition, 2018. Chinese edition, 2019<br />
*''Who Owns This Sentence? A History of Copyrights and Wrongs''. With Alexandre Montagu. London and New York, 2024. Italian edition 2024. Korean edition 2024. Spanish edition 2025.<br />
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==References==<br />
<references><br />
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<ref name=bnf>[https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb12129846q Bellos, David (1945-....)] (in French). ''Catalogue général''. Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de France. Accessed April 2024.</ref><br />
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</references><br />
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==External links==<br />
* {{YouTube|id=3y7A8-1WYvo|title=David Bellos: Linguistic Diversity {{em|is}} Language}}<br />
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/opinion/21bellos.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all "I, Translator"] by David Bellos, ''[[The New York Times]]'' (20 March 2010)<br />
* [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/mln/v111/111.4er_bellos.html Review of ''Georges Perec: A Life in Words''] by [[Alice Kaplan]]<br />
* [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/sep/22/is-that-a-fish-bellos-review Review] by Michael Hoffmann of ''Is That a Fish in Your Ear?'', ''[[The Guardian]]'' (22 September 2011)<br />
* [http://www.ideasroadshow.com/issues/david-bellos-2013-03-15 "Babbling Barbarians: How Translators Keep Us Civilized: A conversation with David Bellos"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019151848/http://www.ideasroadshow.com/issues/david-bellos-2013-03-15 |date=19 October 2014 }} ''Ideas Roadshow'', 2013<br />
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{{Authority control|state=collapsed}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellos, David}}<br />
[[Category:1945 births]]<br />
[[Category:2025 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:French–English translators]]<br />
[[Category:British biographers]]<br />
[[Category:Princeton University faculty]]<br />
[[Category:Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]]<br />
[[Category:Prix Goncourt de la Biographie winners]]<br />
[[Category:Place of birth missing]]<br />
[[Category:The New York Review of Books people]]</div>Deleatur yhe