If when you read this book, the characters are called Professor Von Hardwigg, Harry or Henry Lawson, and Gretchen, you are reading the anonymous 1871 Griffith and Farran English translation. Those are not the character names used in every other version—and those weren’t the only changes the translator made!
What’s the best translation of Journey to the Center of the Earth? Read More »
Did you know there’s no hot air balloon in the book? A balloon is shown on the covers of some editions because of the 1956 movie!
What’s the best translation of Around the World in Eighty Days? Read More »
Jules Verne’s reputation in the Anglophone world has undergone considerable transformation as translators have more and more seriously sought to recapture his original text and its meaning.
What’s the best translation of Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea? Read More »
It’s like the story of Robin Hood, but in China… that is, it would be, if the story of Robin Hood were brutally violent, and included crude language, seduction, murder of women and children, and cannibalism!
What’s the best translation of Water Margin? Read More »
In his introduction to the Ginsburg translation published by Bantam, Donald Fanger calls Notes from Underground “one of the most sheerly astonishing and subversive creations of European fiction.”
What’s the best translation of Notes from Underground? Read More »
According to Merriam-Webster, Rabelaisian means “marked by gross robust humor, extravagance of caricature, or bold naturalism.” If you want to know just how and why and to what extent Rabelais is Rabelaisian, you’ll have to read Gargantua and Pantagruel.
What’s the best translation of Gargantua and Pantagruel? Read More »
“I urge anyone who loves books and who has not yet discovered Proust’s novel to pick up Swann’s Way and dive right in. I assure you that you will be richly rewarded.” —Translator William C. Carter
What’s the best translation of Swann’s Way? Read More »
There are only two complete translations of In Search of Lost Time (Remembrance of Things Past). But the new one has seven different translators, and there’s a third translation in progress. This is post 2 of 2.
There are only two complete translations of In Search of Lost Time (Remembrance of Things Past). But there are three to five versions of the old one (depending on how you count). This is post 1 of 2.
This bestselling Swiss children’s story is like The Secret Garden, but with mountains. You’ll love the accompanying illustrations!
What’s the best translation of Heidi? Read More »
