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Re: Children of Capt Grant

From: Craig Weatherhill <craig~at~agantavas.org>
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2011 06:35:49 +0100
To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

I have never been fortunate enough to locate a copy of this novel so
perhaps you gentlemen could answer a question. In CG, is Ayrton given
a forename? In The Mysterious Island, he is referred to only his
surname. The 1961 film referred to a Thomas Ayrton, but may have been
invented by the script-writers.

Regards,
Craig


On 28 Est 2011, at 00:20, Rick Walter wrote:

> >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.
>
> Alex,
>
> Thank you, thank you, thank you !!!
>
> Captain Grant's Children is indeed a marvelous book, one of the
> several masterworks from Verne's first decade with Hetzel. Giving it
> a complete, accurate translation will be a huge task, but I'm SO
> relieved you're looking after it! Have you been consulting the MS at http://www.bm.nantes.fr/
> ? In any case, if there's ever anything I can do to help, don't
> hesitate to let me know.
>
> Very warmest regards,
>
> Rick
>
> Frederick Paul Walter
> Albuquerque, New Mexico
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Alex Kirstukas
> To: Jules Verne Forum
> Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2011 8:02 AM
> 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
>
>
>
>
>

--
Craig Weatherhill

Received on Sun 28 Aug 2011 - 08:36:00 IDT

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