Wtf? Why is MVGyOSz's audiobook of the Kalevala made from the Vikár Béla translation, when there are three complete modern translations available, and the audiobook was recorded in 2002 so the translations would already have been available by then.
I don't listen to audiobooks much, I was just trying to look up the correct text of an error in the printed edition in Rácz Béla's translation by the way.
@b_jonas Copyright is the most likely reason. In order to publish an audiobook, you need permission from the copyright holder (and you may not be able to afford it). But if a work is out of copyright then that's not a problem.
I don't know what the copyright rules were in Hungary in 2002, but if they were the minimum under the Berne Convention (which Hungary was a signatory to) then copyright would have been life plus 50 years, and since Béla died in 1945, his works would have entered the public domain in 1995.
@ChristopheStrobbe Depends what kind of book you are looking for. The "Earthsea" series is probably the most engaging and entertaining. Like Rowling's "Harry Potter" books it begins as a book for a young audience but grows in philosophical and moral complexity as the series goes on.
The Left Hand of Darkness was a hugely influential science fiction novel about gender; if it doesn't have the same effect now then that's because everyone writing about gender in sf has been influenced by Le Guin.
My personal favourite is Always Coming Home which is a kind of anthropological study of a fictional society in post-apocalypse California. (Le Guin's parents were anthropologists). But it won't suit every reader.
@GarethRees Yes, they would probably need the permission of the translator to make the audiobook, even if they're only circulating one or a very few copies and that too only to a closed audience. (The few dozen audiobooks on MEK are the exception, they have over 3500 audiobooks in their catalog.) But I think they could probably have obtained permission from the translators, that is, either Rácz Béla or Szente Imre, and either of their translations would have been better than the old Vikár one.
Also, the audiobook was recorded in 2002, and they probably started to distribute it soon after that, and in 2002 the Vikár Béla translation wasn't yet in public domain. Vikár Béla died in 1945.
@GarethRees The rule is 70 years from the death of the author for works published in (most of) Europe.
(And yes, it's 70 years from death even in Finland, which can be relevant because Rácz István's translation was first published in Helsinki in 1976.)
The point is, the MVGySz recorded over 3500 audiobooks, they would need a license from the author or agent of the book for most of them, so it's not an obstacle they haven't climbed, and I think for the case of the Kalevala it shouldn't be too hard, at least in the case of Szente Imre. (Rácz István is dead so there's a very small chance of a difficulty there if he has heirs but they are uncooperative.)
Although it is possible that they might be able to make their audiobooks without a license from the copyright owner, given that they serve a restricted audience. There is an exception specifically for them in the copyright law (I had looked earlier but missed it): 1999. évi LXXVI. törvény 41. § (1) net.jogtar.hu/jogszabaly?docid=99900076.TV#pr234id
@GarethRees EU isn't relevant, life plus 70 years is also the rule in Hungary, and in most European countries.
Or perhaps the EU is relevant, but that doesn't matter. The rule is definitely 70 years after death, and it applies to earlier works too, as long as they were published in Hungary first. The Rácz István translation was first published in Finland, and I'm not sure about the Szente Imre translation, it could be Sweden or something ... let me check
Szente Imre's translation was first published in München in 1987.
I would guess that par 33 and 41 of the law mentioned above means that MVGyOSz doesn't need the author's permission to make an audiobook version of a book in most cases, but I'm not a lawyer.
They would certainly need permission of the author and the actor to publish the audiobook on MEK of course, and that is probably the main reason why only a few dozen works are published there.
@ChristopheStrobbe I know someone who's a massive Le Guin fan, and her all-time favourite is The Dispossessed. Although the Earthsea series which Gareth mentioned (probably the most famous Le Guin work) is also good. I'll ask her which book she'd recommend to start with.
@Randal'Thor - I threw a comment on your question. I can't get enough hard evidence to post it as an answer, but it looks like it was put on paper soon after it happened.
> Whether the contest was purely legend or had some basis in an actual event has been debated since the Middle Ages. Local Thuringian historians, such as Dietrich von Apolda (1220 or 1230–1302) and Johannes Rothe (c.1360-1434), in the 14th and 15th centuries respectively, suggested the poems referred to an actual historical event.
So there is at least a few corroborations that Vita S. Elizabeth by Apolda is the first reference.
@Randal'Thor I think I found enough corroborating evidence for an answer. I think it also covers both 1 and 2, as there are two poems/songs listed as having been perfromed.
Grats! Still gaming, still taking care of my dad, been reading a lot more speculative fiction since I started seeking out less Campbellian/Tolkienian corners of the genre.
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