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Re: Rating/translations

From: Ralf Tauchmann <ralf.tauchmann~at~t-online.de>
Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 10:40:49 +0200
To: jvf~at~math.technion.ac.il

Christian Sánchez schrieb:
> >I think you will find disagreement with some of your choices, particularly
> >with underrating Robur and Master of the World,
>
> I gave Robur only 1 star because it's a novel with the same structure that
> "20000 leagues" and the result is disappointing. I insist, it's bad,
> compared with "20000".

Dear fellow Vernians,

Ratings are of course critical, be it in figure skating or in literature. I am
now puzzled whether the rating actually refers to the translations or to the
novels themselves. I cannot say much about the English translations. As to
the novels, it is actually true that Robur is kind of an echo of 20000 leagues,
but chiefly with regard to the persons (Robur and his "guests" on board).
Structurally and in terms of contents, it has at least as much of 5 weeks in a
balloon as of 20000 leagues. When I read it first, I didn't have Nemo in mind
and enjoyed its humorous tone (in so far, I see a rather big difference).

I'd like to add two personal remarks, the first on translation of titles:

In German, the original title "20 000 lieues sous les mers" is rendered -
similar to the English version(s) - by "20000 Meilen unterm Meer" (20000 leagues
under the sea). So in Germany a lot of non-Verne readers have built up the
misunderstanding, because the original plural (sous les MERS) is rendered by the
singular (under the SEA), that the dimension refers to depth and not to travel,
and as none of the oceans is that deep, this tends to strengthen (very vaguely)
the general belief that Verne is nonsense for children.

The second point is that I, very personally, cannot read the novels of Jules
Verne with the same enthousiasm as I did when I was young. To take Robur as an
example, the rather cynical description of Frycollin as a ridiculous person and
his punishment are cruel, and I regret very much this rigid bourgeois view. The
same is for the description of Soun (the domestic of Kin-Fo in "Tribulations
d'un Chinois en Chine") and the progressing cutting of his pigtail. So, in terms
of literature, if being asked which is the best author or novelist, I would
never say Jules Verne, but if the question is what books I enjoyed most reading,
then Jules Verne would be my first choice.

> >and overrating Keraban.
>
> Yes, maybe Keraban is overrated. That's because I read it in a special
> moment...

Keraban cannot be overrated. It is among the best books written by Jules Verne.
What is very important is that Jules Verne has always remained a librettist.
Keraban is pure theatre, pure vaudeville, from Jules Verne's very first idea.
That is why I find it critical if en editor says that the "superfluous"
dialogues "had to" be cut out. The dialogues refer to Verne as librettist, and
that is why light-hearted and humoristic novels like "Hector Servadac",
"Keraban", "Antifer" are so full of dialogues. And they are my favourites
immediately after the "big" ones: Journey to the Centre of the Earth, From the
Earth to the Moon (which is also theatre!), Captain Grant, 2000k, Mysterious
Island, Michel Strogoff, Mathias Sandorf...

But, to conclude, ratings are very personal.

Best regards

Ralf Tauchmann
Received on Mon 03 Jul 2000 - 11:42:06 IDT

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