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Re: best English translation: 5 Weeks Balloon

From: Arthur B. Evans <aevans2~at~tds.net>
Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2008 1:07:23 -0600
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>
Cc: Brian Taves <briantaves1879~at~yahoo.com>

Dear Cyrus and all,

Yes, the Chambers translation of this novel is, next to the Lackland, the most faithful to Verne's original text. The reason why I prefer the Lackland is that the Chambers and some others have the unfortunate habit of referring to most Africans as "niggers" instead of "negroes" (as in Verne). For example, in the 1926 Dent/Dutton Everyman's Library edition:
“‘Over there. Niggers attacking the balloon.’” (§14:58)
“Men, women, children, slaves, merchants, Arabs and niggers all vanished” (§15:63)
“‘But this nigger—?’” (§15:68)
“‘Those niggers look pretty astonished.’” (§20:92)
“Joe, leaning towards Kennedy’s ear and pointing to the lower part of the tree, said: ‘Niggers!’” (§21:98)
“‘I'd stick a note on it, or I could simply shout, for these niggers wouldn't understand.’” (§21:100)
“‘It would give these niggers a different idea of European power.’”(§30:140)
“‘They’re niggers, not crocodiles!’” (§35:161)

As I said in my article on Verne's English translations (available on Zvi's website):
"As readers we must not, of course, fall into the trap of making anachronistic value judgments and condemning certain words that we find offensive but that were acceptable (albeit colloquial) at the time they were published. But it is nevertheless true that if these translators had been more competent in French and/or had chosen to be more faithful to what Verne had originally written, such terms would never have found their way into the English versions of these novels in the first place" (96).

Best,
Art



--- Brian Taves <briantaves1879~at~yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Cyrus,
>  
> The Wordsworth softcover dual volume a few years back, of 80 Days / 5 Weeks, seems to contain the Chambers trans of the latter.
>  
> Brian Taves
>
> --- On Tue, 11/25/08, Cyrus <cloudcity~at~lavabit.com> wrote:
>
> From: Cyrus <cloudcity~at~lavabit.com>
> Subject: Re: best English translation: 5 Weeks Balloon
> To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>
> Date: Tuesday, November 25, 2008, 7:05 AM
>
> Thanks for the info. Will search for Chambers's edition but may have to
> settle for Lackland's.
> On Nov 23, 2008, at 4:39 PM, Norm Wolcott wrote:
>
> > I don't know if anyone has replied to your request. My personal
> opinions
> > follow:
> >
> > Most translations are accepetable except the Sampson Low, Chapman Hall, or
> > Routledge ones fortunately not often reprinted.
> >
> > The original US translation, by "William Lackland", is quite
> complete, with
> > a few errors, and all of the "interjections" replaced by
> "By Jove" etc. and
> > is available on Project Gutenberg.
> >
> > A somewhat better translation again with some changes in Verne's frank
> > vocabulary is the Everyman paperback by Arthur Chambers last reprinted in
> > 1963, but maybe there are some later repriints. This 1922 translation is
> > still in copyright (forever it appears) so you may need to search used
> book
> > sites.
> >
> > Also Barnes and Noble has just published a Jules Verne compendium of 7
> > public domain novels for about $10 which contains the Lackland translation
> > and some of the better editions of the other works (i.e. the Malleson
> > Journey into the Interior of the Earth). This is a great improvement over
> > the old 1930's "Jules Verne Omnibus" which contains the
> worst of everything.
> >
> > The only illustrated edition I know of is the 1970's by Aeonian.
> >
> > Hope this helps to answer your question.
> >
> >
> > nwolcott2~at~post.harvard.edu
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Cyrus" <cloudcity~at~lavabit.com>
> > To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>
> > Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2008 5:53 PM
> > Subject: best English translation: 5 Weeks Balloon
> >
> >
> >> Dear Forum,
> >>
> >> Interested to hear any thoughts on the definitive English translation
> >> of Five Weeks in A Balloon. Which I look forward to reading.
> >>
> >> William Lackland?
> >>
> >> Thank you.
> >>
> >> Cyrus
> >>
> >
> >
> >
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Received on Sat 29 Nov 2008 - 09:08:05 IST

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