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Re: Children of Capt Grant

From: wbutcher <wbutcher~at~netvigator.com>
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2011 09:49:02 +0800
To: "'Jules Verne Forum'" <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

Hi Alex,

 

I hope you've found a publisher, as it would be a shame to do all that work
without finding the wide audience the novel deserves. Curiously enough, I
was contacted recently as a publisher on this side of the Pacific was
interested in CG: is a film planned or something?

 

The Routledge translation, while the least bad, can hardly be considered up
to scratch, as it seems to be missing about three chapters and 50,000 words.


 

While you won't go far wrong using any of the recent French editions, a
translator, and especially an annotator, should be aware that the novel has
never been properly edited ie published to a high standard. So I wish you
luck!

 

Bill

 

From: owner-jvf~at~Gilead.org.il [mailto:owner-jvf~at~Gilead.org.il] On Behalf Of
Alex Kirstukas
Sent: 27 August 2011 22:03
To: Jules Verne Forum
Subject: Re: Children of Capt Grant

 

Hi everyone,

 

I'm delighted to see Captain Grant come up on the Forum again - I believe
it's one of the most underrated of the Voyages Extraordinaires, especially
in the English-speaking world. That Verne thought enough of it to make it
his longest work, to adapt it for the stage, and to link it with two other
masterpieces (20L and MI) certainly speaks in its favor, and in the original
French it's a glorious comic adventure with some extraordinary
protofeminist, religious, and political undercurrents.

 

A note on translations: the Routledge version ("Voyage Round the World") is
definitely the best of the three existing English versions, but it does have
its problems. Volume 1 is very lively and readable, but messes up some of
Verne's descriptive passages; volume 2 is a little more clumsily written,
but still pretty good; and volume 3, which is drastically abridged and full
of errors, seems to have been translated by a different writer altogether.
All three volumes also carry the usual problems of Victorian translations -
most of the facts, figures, proper names, and historical details haven't
been researched, leading to some unfortunate mistranslations and omissions.

 

The one-volume Vincent Parke version (available on the JVC, Project
Gutenberg, and elsewhere as "In Search of the Castaways, or, the Children of
Captain Grant") is based on the Routledge translation, but goes much further
from Verne's intentions, making additional drastic cuts and importing
irrelevant, non-Vernian chapter headings from the appallingly bad Lippincott
translation.

 

That said, Captain Grant is definitely worth a look in any language; I'm
working on a new annotated English translation myself, which I hope will
give the book some of the Anglophone renown it's richly deserved for the
last 150 years. That's a long time to wait for a complete and researched
edition - but as Paganel says in Part One, "It's never a bad time to learn."

 

Alex

 

 

 

  _____

From: "rfbagby~at~aol.com" <rfbagby~at~aol.com>
To: jvf~at~Gilead.org.il
Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2011 7:35 AM
Subject: Re: Children of Capt Grant

I'm pretty sure this is best known in Russia, the 1930's Soviet film there
having the same classic reputation as the Disney 20K or the Todd 80 DAYS, so
there have been several remakes both film and TV. (Some may recall when a
Russian extreme sports team contacted us some years back seeking sponsorship
for a Reality Show re-enactment of the adventure route.)
I myself recall my childhood puzzlement when MYSTERIOUS ISLAND took
familiarity with this work as a given in its own plot!
Ross

-----Original Message-----
From: Garmt de Vries-Uiterweerd <garmtdevries~at~gmail.com>
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>
Sent: Sat, Aug 27, 2011 3:05 am
Subject: Re: Children of Capt Grant

Harry, perhaps you know the novel under its more common English title "In
Search of the Castaways"?



And I can confirm that Grant is indeed something of a classic on the
continent. Speaking at least for the Netherlands, the general public is not
as aware of this Verne story as it is of classics like Centre of the Earth,
20K, Strogoff or 80 Days. On the other hand, there are a few series that
contain 10-15 volumes and these invariably include Grant. During my book
hunts throughout Europe, I've always had the impression that Grant was one
of the most common titles.


As for age, I would guess that readers pick it up at the same age as Verne's
other famous stories.


Cheers,
Garmt.

On 27 August 2011 08:15, Harry Hayfield &lt;harryhayfield~at~gmail.com&gt;
wrote:
Well, I have to say that you will probably debate my status as a Vernian
when I say that I have never heard of the Children of Captain Grant before,
but do remember being in a television shop one day debating the virtues of
changing from a normal set to a HD set when to demonstrate the difference
the sales assistant switched from Channel 4 SD to Channel 4 HD when the film
was being shown and thought "Mmm, why does that ring a Vernian bell?"

From: "Brian Taves" &lt;briantaves1879~at~yahoo.com&gt;
To: jvf~at~Gilead.org.il
Sent: Saturday, 27 August, 2011 2:54:09 AM
Subject: Children of Capt Grant

I am reading again after decades this novel, in the translation by Routledge
recommended by Art Evans.
 
This seems to be highly readable version and the story is, with only a few
exceptions, a fast-paced adventure.
 
Sadly, tho, if it is known at all today to English-speaking readers, it is
through the Disney connection.
 
My impression is that it is still widely read on the continent, however, and
occupies something of the status of a classic. Is that correct? At what
age might readers be tackling it?


Brian Taves
Received on Sun 28 Aug 2011 - 04:49:45 IDT

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