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Re: please MORE English JV translations

From: James Keeline <keeline~at~yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 25 May 2011 06:56:42 -0700 (PDT)
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

The same half dozen or so are reprinted but not necessarily re-translated in the
cheap editions seen. As Rick has already noted, the public domain 19th Century
translations, which are often flawed, for a few books are deemed the most
marketable. These are the ones which come to my mind:

Five Weeks in a Balloon
Around the World in 80 Days
From the Earth to the Moon and a Trip Around It
Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
Mysterious Island

These also happen to be the ones which are filmed from time to time. I'm not
sure if it is because they are the most easily available text or the existence
of films causes them to be the most familiar stories to the English-speaking
public. Perhaps it is a little of both.

One thought about the reason for why those six titles and not the other later
ones might be tied to whether they seem like science fiction stories and the
general optimism towards technology for these and the pessimism seen in the
later stories. Only a small portion of the reading public wishes to read all or
as much as they can find by an author. If a larger slice are familiar with the
six stories through films or bad translations, perhaps they would find the
others to be less like the ones they know. Of course, many Verne stories are
more travelogues than science fiction in keeping with his interests and these
might not appeal to the reader interested in Victorian science fiction.

However, if publishers want to catch a trend, select the titles that will best
show representations of Victorian-era technology and market them to the growing
steampunk audience. Verne is already given as a touchstone for explaining just
what steampunk is. As it becomes more mainstream, it may be a short-lived
enthusiasm. However, a percentage those who are involved in it now will
probably stick with it in some form, whether in terms of literature or costuming
and Maker culture.

Publishing the other stories is a bit of a risk for a publisher, especially when
it comes to a new translation commission. Will the general public buy it? Is
there a large enough audience such as the academic/textbook market to support
the project? Obviously the current new translation projects are aiming for the
latter. Oxford University Press and Bison are geared towards this. That is
part of the reason for the price. However, the price is not so high as to make
them completely out of reach unlike the vintage copies can be for some titles.

There have been attempts to publish the lesser-known Verne titles in the past.
One of these is the Vincent Parke edition of 1915 which was issued in large sets
of varying quality of bindings. For a couple stories these seem to be the
earliest English translations (or at least available in America) but that might
require more study to be certain. I think all 15 volumes (with more stories
than that included) are available on Google Books in scanned-page PDF files.

Another example is the Fitzroy edition edited and translated by I.O. Evans of
the 1960s. These are abridged to fit their format. When they can be found they
are not especially expensive. There is quite a list of them
(http://keeline.com/Verne/Fitzroy.html) and, as seen in the first column "X"
marks, I am well on my way to completing this set. Some of these are the first
English translations for these texts though I am sure better ones could be made
today by the current generation of Verne translators.

However, if you are looking for new translations, your post here is probably the
first good step since most of the publishers and translators interested in Verne
seem to read this list. Of course, if you consider a story like Captain Grant,
which is rather long, that is riskier for a translator and publisher than
shorter one.

One of the best things you can do to encourage more translations is to buy the
current generation of good translations. If you are in a position to assign
them for classroom reading (requiring multiple purchases) then that will help as
well. Make sure that the people in your circle but outside the JVF and NAJVS
and SJV know about Verne and the differences between translations. After all,
have they read the story if it is not complete or is mangled? Encourage them to
be selective in the Verne books they buy. Who's translation? Is it a good one
or a tired flawed one? Can the larger public, perhaps the ones who read airline
magazines, be informed about this? A larger market will generally mean lower
prices for the new translations completed.

 James D. Keeline
_____


http://www.Keeline.com
http://Stratemeyer.org




________________________________

Dear JVF,

Interested to know of any future JV title translations.

And forgive the following naive question.

Why do the same five or so classic JV titles continue to be re-translated, when
there are dozens more we really, really, would like to read?

Captain Grant
Michel Strogoff
Castle in The Carpathians
Hector Z
Robur

Et cetera, etc...

Univ of Nebraska, Wesleyan, Bison, etc,...have done superb, outstanding
editions. Money is a factor of course. However, it would be wonderful to read
all the Extraordinary Voyages in a lifetime.

Regards.

Cyrus
Received on Wed 25 May 2011 - 16:56:51 IDT

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