4 ms·
Glad to see this book promoted here! However, having compared the French translation to the original in Czech, I have to warn French-language readers that the
by isolli 3y ago
Glad to see this book promoted here!
However, having compared the French translation to the original in Czech, I have to warn French-language readers that the translation was atrocious. As in, completely making up words and sentences that were not in the original. (Unfortunately, I know nothing about translations into English, and cannot recommend a good one.)
Interestingly, Milan Kundera wrote a book (in French) that I highly recommend [0]. He draws examples from many different artistic works to weave a fascinating story discussing to what extent we can or should stay faithful to the original intention of an artist or creator.
[0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44382.Testaments_Betrayed https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44382.Testaments_Betraye...
- isolli 3y agoThis prompted me to check, and the first translation in French was in fact the translation of a translation of a translation [1]. No wonder it strayed from the original! The English translation went through similar ordeals [2]. The more recent ones are presumably more faithful: > The first translation by Paul Selver was heavily abridged, reducing the novel to about two thirds of its original length. Selver's translation also bowdlerized the original text, omitting paragraphs and occasionally pages that may have seemed offensive; despite this he has been praised for preserving some of the tension in the work between Literary and Common Czech. [1] https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Aventures_du_brave_soldat_%C5%A0vejk#%C3%89ditions_fran%C3%A7aises https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Aventures_du_brave_soldat_... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Soldier_%C5%A0vejk#Translations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Soldier_%C5%A0vejk#Tr...
- dmurray 3y agoThe second comment on the article - worth reading in itself - is signed by Švejk himself, with a detailed criticism of the Parrott translation, recommending instead a 2000 translation by Sadlon. Anyone else have insight on which translation I should read?
- bitsinthesky 3y agoSadlon sells books in parts, i read the first book of his translation. Thought it was good, but given the needing to buy multiple books and the ugly cover art, I’m happy with Penguin. If it is true Penguin is an inferior translation or too flowery, it still reads as a very entertaining book.