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Re: Hector Servadac

From: Jan Rychlík <jan.rychlik~at~seznam.cz>
Date: Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:12:20 +0200 (CEST)
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

Dear Jan-Pierre,

there is no point of disagreement. I didn't discuss the quality of Frewer's translation, but only drew attention to the fact, that the two English translations Norm tends to compare are probably not based on the same text.

As for "renégat," I do not think that bad to translate it "miserable Jew". I feel that "renégat" as related to Hakhabut means someone who is (purposely) not christian, as if the New Testament preceded the Old Testament. But for some - JV probably too - "Jew" (or "renégat") means the same as "miserable Jew."

Salutations

Jan

> ------------ Původní zpráva ------------
> Od: Jean-Pierre Boutin <boutin~at~versailles.inra.fr>
> Předmět: Re: Hector Servadac
> Datum: 05.9.2007 11:55:13
> ----------------------------------------
> Dear Jan,
> I am sorry to disagree with you about the Frewer's translation of the
> French word "renégat" into "miserable Jew". To my knowledge, there is,
> in French, absolutely no relation between the two words "renégat" and
> "Juif" (Jew). The Frewer's translation adds a racist connotation that
> did not exist in the text of JV (in this sentence of course).
>
> Amitiés,
> Jean-Pierre
>
> A ma connaissancz
> Le mercredi, 5 sep 2007, à 10:07 Europe/Paris, Jan Rychlík a écrit :
>
> > Dear Norm,
> >
> > I think it should be noted that Munro translation is probably based on
> > the Magasin version of the novel. See Vol. 1, end chpt. 18:
> >
> > Munro translation:
> >
> > "In fact, captain," replied Count Timascheff, "there are, on this
> > fragment of our old globe, the nations of France, Russia, Italy.
> > Spain, England, and Germany. As for the last, it must be allowed that
> > she is very badly represented by this Jew."
> > " No, I do not think so," replied Captain Servadac.
> >
> > Ellen Frewer's translation:
> >
> > “True, captain,” answered the count; “we have only a fragment of a
> > world, but it contains natives of France, Russia, Italy, Spain, and
> > England. Even Germany may be said to have a representative in the
> > person of this miserable Jew.”
> > “And even in him,” said Servadac, “perhaps we shall not find so
> > indifferent a representative as we at present imagine.”
> >
> > conform to the French book version:
> >
> > – En effet, capitaine, répondit le comte Timascheff, il y a, sur ce
> > fragment de notre ancien globe, des nationaux de France, de Russie,
> > d’Italie, d’Espagne, d’Angleterre, d’Allemagne. Quant à celle-ci, il
> > faut convenir qu’elle est assez mal représentée par ce renégat!
> > – Ne nous montrons pas trop difficiles!» répondit le capitaine
> > Servadac.
> >
> > Sincerely
> >
> > Jan
> >
> >> ------------ Původní zpráva ------------
> >> Od: Norm Wolcott <nwolcott2ster~at~gmail.com>
> >> Předmět: Hector Servadac
> >> Datum: 04.9.2007 22:12:51
> >> ----------------------------------------
> >> By now I am sure everyone has looked at the Munro version of Hector
> >> Servadac on the Library of Congress web site. However, the magazine is
> >> a little difficult to read online, and so I have posted a preliminary
> >> version of chapters 1-5 on ibiblio at
> >>
> >> http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/sherwood/Servadac_001-005.htm
> >>
> >> As is known the Sampson Low translation by Ellen Frewer , although it
> >> follows the story line faithfully, is defective in that it paraphrases
> >> much of the action and conversations, and much of the detail is lost.
> >> In addition she seems almost to be trying to explain the story to the
> >> English readers as if afraid they will not get the point at all if
> >> translated literally. That may be true. We do not have to venture very
> >> far into the novel to see how much of the original flavor has been
> >> lost in the Frewer version. Miss Frewer has also softened down much of
> >> Verne's descriptions of Isaac Hakhabut perhaps noting a little
> >> overkill.
> >>
> >> The Munro translation about which I shall have more to say later is
> >> much more of a literal translation giving us the unvarnished Verne.
> >> Unfortunately there is much error in the typography requiring much
> >> editorial redaction, in addition to the normal OCR difficulties and
> >> spelling variations from page to page.
> >>
> >> One interesting feature of the Seaside Library edition is the
> >> confusion of "u" with "n". These two letters are identical
> >> typographically, but there are notches indicating the top and bottom.
> >> It appears that after typesetting a junior or apprentice distributed
> >> the type into the type boxes, carelessly confusing several "u"
> >> 'sand"n" 's. There was obviously not much opportunity for proof
> >> reading in this high speed operation.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Norman Wolcott, nwolcott2 at post.harvard.edu
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> __________________________________________
> Jean-Pierre Boutin
> Laboratoire de Biologie des Semences (Seed Biology Lab.)
> UMR 204 INRA-INA PG
> INRA, Centre de Versailles-Grignon, RD 10
> 78026 Versailles cedex
> Tel. 33(0)1 30 83 33 39 Fax. 33(0)1 30 83 30 96
> ___________________________________________
>
>
>
Received on Wed 05 Sep 2007 - 14:12:26 IDT

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