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b_jonas
b_jonas
8:55 AM
I was just comparing the two modern translations of Jules Verne's L'île mystérieuse, to decide which one I should buy. The more common edition is from 1999, translated by Majtényi Zoltán. The rarer one is from 1955, translated by Vázsonyi Endre. They seem to be similar enough quality of translations. But luckily I found the discriminating factor, so I know I want to buy the 1999 edition. Guess what it is.
In chapter 2:2, the settlers find a chest that suspiciously contains a lot of useful objects that they need and have no way to make for themselves. The novel gives an itemized list of all the contents. Among the objects is a Bible. So that evening, they ask the leader to read aloud from the Bible. The 1955 edition censors that one part, so the chest does not contain a Bible, and the settlers spend the evening reading the other new books instead.
Anyway, now I'll have to look up if there's any Jules Verne novel that I've read only from such an edition, in case I totally missed a scene related to Christianty because it was censored.
 
 
3 hours later…
Napoleon Wilson
Napoleon Wilson
12:22 PM
@Bookworm How is this a question about oral-tradition?
 
Rand al'Thor
Rand al'Thor
@NapoleonWilson I hesitated about that tag.
It is a question about some oral literature being transferred to the written page ... just in a fictional universe.
If you or someone edits it out, I won't object, though.
 
Rand al'Thor
Rand al'Thor
12:41 PM
Awkward moment when you get an answer from the author himself but you apparently offended him by a poor choice of words in the question :-/
 
b_jonas
b_jonas
@Randal'Thor Ah, you're talking about literature.stackexchange.com/a/12389/139
 
Napoleon Wilson
Napoleon Wilson
Phew, I'm glad it's not Nalo Hopkinson taking umbrage at your interpretation of Shift. ;-)
 
IkWeetHetOokNiet
IkWeetHetOokNiet
1:12 PM
@NapoleonWilson Well, we already had a user named LitProf doing something like that. But that was probably not Nalo Hopkinson.
 
Napoleon Wilson
Napoleon Wilson
That was the incident I was alluding to, yes (combined with Ms. Hopkinson's genuine interest in this site).
 
IkWeetHetOokNiet
IkWeetHetOokNiet
@GarethRees And sometimes there simply is no English translation, so you need to come up with your own.
 
Napoleon Wilson
Napoleon Wilson
And no, I'm sure that wasn't her. ;-)
 
IkWeetHetOokNiet
IkWeetHetOokNiet
By the way, Lin Yutang's My Country and My People (cf reading challenge) is really worth reading if you want to gain some understanding of Chinese culture. Of course, it was written before the communists tried to obliterate much of it, but I find it more interesting than some of the modern China-for-business-people type of books.
I few years ago, I overheard Chineses students talking about someone who had explained yin-yang to Westerners. They were sniggering about it. I have the impression that introductions to Chinese culture tell us that sort of stuff because their authors know that Westerners expect that type of cliché.
There may be something similar with novels and autobiographies about the Cultural Revolution. Not that these books necessarily contain lies (the Cultural Revolution really was horrific) but the awareness of demand in the West may have stimulated the publication of more such books.
@b_jonas That makes you wonder why they translated L'île mystérieuse in the first place. Unless the translator did not expect the part about the Bible to be censored.
 
b_jonas
b_jonas
1:43 PM
@IkWeetHetOokNiet It's still a good story without that small part. They'd have had to cut more references to Christianty from some other Verne books, though it doesn't really play an important role in any of them.
@IkWeetHetOokNiet And I think they might actually have liked the rest of the book for ideological reasons.
 
IkWeetHetOokNiet
IkWeetHetOokNiet
@b_jonas I see. I hadn't thought of that. It's been too long I've read any Jules Verne novels.
 
Rand al'Thor
Rand al'Thor
2:27 PM
@IkWeetHetOokNiet I wish I had more time these days to read these things for the topic challenges :-/
 
IkWeetHetOokNiet
IkWeetHetOokNiet
@Randal'Thor I know. So many books, so little time ...
I might skip the Haruki Murakami challenge entirely. I'm still reading translations of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
I have read two English translations so far (one of which is completely outdated) and I'm reading a German one. And a second German translation is already waiting.
After that I plan to move on to more "modern" stuff, such as the Old Testament and ancient Greek Literature.
 
 
9 hours later…
Bookworm
Bookworm
11:35 PM
0
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Jay Lee"Wall!" he said, "I guess I've not had enjoyment like this since I left Noo York. Bar a scrap with a French sailor at Wapping-an' that warn't much of a picnic neither-I've not had a show fur real pleasure in this dod-rotted Continent, where there ain't no b'ars nor no Injuns, an' wheer nary m...

meaning
0
Q: What is the children's Ark?

Jay LeeBut the central object in the whole of this chamber of horrors was the engine known as the Iron Virgin, which stood near the centre of the room. It was a rudely-shaped figure of a woman, something of the bell order, or, to make a closer comparison, of the figure of Mrs. Noah in the children's...

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