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Antisemitisme: Servadac Frewer vs Munro; and other mysteries

From: <1001~at~atlanticbb.net>
Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 23:31:42 -0400
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

I found this interesting statistic in comparing the Frewer and Munro translations of HS:

Munro:
         "Jew" 51 times
        "Isaac" 173 times

Frewer:
        "Jew" 100 times
        "Isaac" 51 times

I assume the Munro would fairly reflect the French original since a literal translation.

I do not know when Jews were allowed to own property in England, perhaps Victoria.. In Europe it was not until Napoleon I believe who eliminated the ghettos. Ahead of his time in many ways.

Then in comparing the Munro and Frewer translations we find that in part II, chapters 11--20, the last chapter, are identical. This seems to indicate that both Sampson Low and Scribners copied the Munro translation when it came out. We will have to know from J-M Margot the history of the French translations. The time line as I find it is as follows:

JAN 1 1877 - DEC 15 1877, Magazin publishes HS in French.
MAR 1877 Frank Leslie announces they will publish HS (it does not appear)
JUL 19 1877 In 18 (small size) version of Vol. I available for sale in France by Hetzel
AUG 27 1877--FEB 11 1888 Munro publishes weekly version of I + II of HS
SEP 13 1877 In 8 (large size) version of Vol I + II available by subscription in France by Hetzel
SEP 1877 (JVE) Munro publishes #43 Seaside Library Ed of HS I + II 39 pp.
NOV 1 1877 Sampson Low publishes Vol I + II of Hector Servadac in London
NOV 7 1877 In 18 (small size) version of Vol II available for sale in France by Hetzel
NOV 16 1877 In 8 (large size) version of Vol I + II + illustrations available in France.
NOV 24 1877 Scribners publishes Vol I + II in New York (English sheets)

The French text of the Magazin version is different from the other versions which are identical. (French info from Gondolo della Riva)

My conclusion, if the above is correct, is that Munro was translating the Magazin version from Aug 27 and that as soon as Vol. II became available SEP 13 it was immediately translated and the whole published as #43 Seaside Library. Sampson Low then copied Chapters 11-20 of Vol II from the Munro edition and included them in the Frewer translation thus having the volume available for the Christmas trade. Thus 1/3 of the Frewer edition is actually the Munro translation. Scribners printed the identical text later.

Although the Munro after Ch II-10 is also quite literal, the style there is a little more polished than in the earlier part, perhaps showing that extra hands were laid on to finish the translation quickly.

At some later time apparently some extra lines were added to the Hetzel edition as there are some lines not in the Frewer/Munro part of HS (Poche Ed) and of course the Recontre Edition may be different too.

Adam Roberts in his recent (2007) rewrite of HS also uses the Munro/Frewer version of Chaps 11-20 of Vol II. Roberts was apparently using the online Project Gutenberg version of the Frewer as he says the chapter 27 (ch 3 in part 2) on comets was omitted. Gutenberg uses the Parke (1911) version of the translation and it is this reprint that uses the title he quotes ("Off on a Comet") and omits the comet chapter. The Parke is well known for condensing the texts for that 15 volume edition. Actually the chapter is there in the original and in the Munro version as well. He also fudges a bit on the anti-semitic portions and leaves out some dialogue. Well, no one is perfect..

All in all, given that the Munro (up to II-10) may be from the "magazin" original, I still feel that it gives the closest feel to the Verne original.

With Verne, nothing is simple!




nwolcott2~at~post.harvard.edu
Received on Tue 25 Sep 2007 - 05:33:45 IST

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