Jean-Luc Champerret, edited/translated by Philip Terry | THE LASCAUX NOTEBOOKS
Derek Says: Terry’s editing and translation recuperates Jean-Luc Champerret’s WWII transcriptions and translation of the Magdalenian-age visuals of the caves of Lascaux, offering decisive insight into how these cave markings—key images in the history of European artwork and mark-making—are, in fact, literary texts, unlocking the narrative between visuality, poetry, and a rich, elusive, history. Terry creates a nested conversation of poetic swerves; each translation moves from reproduced cave drawing through Champerret’s studied (though often illegible) French, and into a graceful, poetic English, creating a series of ateliers and chambers as one metaphorically wanders deep into the dark Ice age caves, lit only by flickering torchlight.
