Jules Verne Forum

<jvf@Gilead.org.il>

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010

Re: Old Favorites in New English Translations --THANK YOU!

From: Rick Walter~at~comcast.net <rick1walter~at~comcast.net>
Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2010 06:44:48 -0700
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

Dear Art, Bill, Peter, Mark, Craig, and Harry--

Many thanks for your kind words. And still more thanks for all your
invaluable Vernian contributions over the years -- without them this book
wouldn't have been possible!

Warmest regards,

Rick

Frederick Paul Walter
Albuquerque, New Mexico


----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Weatherhill" <craig~at~agantavas.org>
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>
Sent: Thursday, February 04, 2010 5:04 AM
Subject: Re: Old Favorites in New English Translations


> Has anyone bought 'Nautilus' yet (available on Amazon)?
>
> Craig
>
>
> On 4 Whe 2010, at 11:56, Mark Eckell wrote:
>
>> Congratulations Rick. I'm sure it will be successful. I will order
>> mine today.
>>
>> Mark
>>
>> From: rick1walter~at~comcast.net
>> To: jvf~at~Gilead.org.il
>> Subject: Old Favorites in New English Translations
>> Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2010 18:11:05 -0700
>>
>> Dear Friends,
>>
>> I’m pleased and proud to announce the publication of a handy omnibus of
>> some of Jules Verne’s best-loved novels, available now from SUNY
>> Press/Excelsior Editions ($24.95 pb; ISBN 978-1-4384-3238-0). Amazing
>> Journeys: Five Visionary Classics offers my new, complete translations
>> of Journey to the Center of the Earth; From the Earth to the Moon;
>> Circling the Moon; 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas; and Around the World
>> in 80 Days. The book also includes a foreword celebrating Verne’s unique
>> mix of science and show business, individual introductions to each
>> novel, textual notes, recommendations for further reading, and dozens of
>> classic engravings by Riou, Montaut, Roux, de Neuville, Férat, and
>> others.
>>
>> Over recent decades, as you know, Verne has fared tremendously well in
>> America, and scholarly editions of many less-familiar titles are now
>> available on the U.S. market. This item, however, is for the general
>> reader. America is full of smart people who aren’t literary scholars but
>> who would love to get acquainted or reacquainted with Verne’s essential
>> works. Amazing Journeys is aimed at them.
>>
>> Over the years, I’ve translated six full novels and three fragments by
>> Verne, and in the process, I recall hobnobbing with scores of scientists
>> and engineers. One thing popped up time and again: they adore Jules
>> Verne. They grew up with his tales, he shaped their lives and careers.
>> The same goes for science fiction buffs, today’s high school students,
>> and countless others. These readers aren’t literary scholars, yet they,
>> too, deserve the authentic Verne. But there are so many watered-down
>> adaptations and condensations out there, and a good modern English
>> translation of Autour de la Lune hasn’t been commercially available for
>> three decades!
>>
>> Since Verne was a science buff with a showbiz background, he also shaped
>> my own life: for decades I’ve earned my living as a scriptwriter &
>> broadcaster, and my lifelong hobby has been fossil hunting. So, as the
>> first factor in this dual equation, I’ve worked to make Verne’s science
>> clear and accurate—something that’s far easier now that the internet is
>> so enormously developed. In the early 90s I did a lot of Vernian
>> research, but it was on my hands and knees in dingy library stacks or in
>> front of museum specimen drawers—many problems never got solved at all.
>> But today I can pay electronic visits to original French sources that
>> Verne himself consulted, so the litanies of fish in 20,000 Leagues Under
>> the Seas or the catalogs of craters in Circling the Moon can finally
>> make sense to English-speaking readers.
>>
>> As for the showbiz half of the equation, I’ve put extra energy into
>> rendering the wit, humor, and comic hijinks in Verne’s yarns. Few
>> readers realize that he scripted sitcoms in his early career and was a
>> top-flight gag writer. Not surprisingly, that gift for comedy carried
>> over into the novels, yet much of it has gotten lost in translation.
>> Hopefully not here—Verne is one of literature’s slyest humorists and
>> satirists, and I’ve been burning calories to put this over in these new
>> translations.
>>
>> All five, needless to say, are complete down to the smallest substantive
>> detail, benefiting immeasurably from the many available online texts,
>> the electronic accessibility of the manuscripts housed in the Nantes
>> municipal library, and the countless achievements of contemporary Verne
>> scholarship.
>>
>> Here are the book’s vitals:
>>
>> Jules Verne: Amazing Journeys: Five Visionary Classics
>> $24.95 paperback; ISBN 978-1-4384-3238-0
>> 680 pages; 40 b/w illustrations
>> Excelsior Editions, an imprint of State University of New York Press
>>
>> Ordering details and additional information are available at the
>> publisher’s site, http://www.sunypress.edu/p-5036-amazing-journeys.aspx .
>> Or you can visit Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/ Amazing-
>> Journeys-Visionary-Classics-Excelsior/dp/1438432380/ref=sr13?
>> ie=UTF8&s=books&qid= 1263075919&sr=1-3
>>
>> I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed channeling it!
>>
>> All the best,
>>
>> Frederick Paul Walter
>> Albuquerque, New Mexico
>>
>>
>> Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. Get it now.
>
> --
> Craig Weatherhill
>
>
Received on Thu 04 Feb 2010 - 15:45:11 IST

JV.Gilead.org.il
Copyright © Zvi Har’El
$Date: 2010/02/04 20:00:04 $$