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Re: Greyhound/Forward/Sloughi? (Deux ans de vacances)

From: Garmt de Vries <G.deVries~at~phys.uu.nl>
Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2005 16:20:14 +0200 (CEST)
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>

Hi Peter,

> Dear friends, do you have any opinion which one I
> should choose? Myself, I would prefer the name Jules
> Verne choosed. Could I be sure the french version is
> the right one?

Yes, the ship's name is Sloughi. A lot of the geographic names in the
novel are in English (just like in L'Ile mysterieuse and other novels). I
think you should keep them as they are, so don't translate Family Lake to
Familjsjön, etc.

> Beside this, do you have any comments about this story — perhaps some
> trevia about Hetzels input in this work?

Not much. In a recent bulletin of the SJV there was a reproduction of a
map of the Magellanic islands, that Verne had wanted to include in the
novel, but which was left out in the end.

In a letter dated 2 december 1885, Pierre-Jules Hetzel suggests a story
about some 100 schoolkids stranded on an island. One of them would have
escaped the sinking of their ship, and spent 5 or 10 years to look for his
friends and his brother. The 100 kids would build a colony, under the
leadership of 3 or 4 of them. It's not clear from the correspondence if
this is originally Hetzel's or Verne's idea.

In the correspondence with Hetzel fils there's not much discussion on the
contents of the novel. One or two letters in which Hetzel suggests to make
the kids more playful, especially the small ones, and Verne agrees with
that. Also on the role of Briant vs Gordon as the small boys' favourite,
and a suggestion to have Webb or Wilcox stay behind when Doniphan
separates from the others. The rest is all the usual stuff ("Do you have
the proofs for me?" "I sent you the proofs, can you send me a telegramme?"
etc.)

Good luck with your translation!

Garmt.
Received on Thu 07 Apr 2005 - 17:20:21 IDT

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