- Joined
- Apr 9, 2018
- Messages
- 11,392
Deimos asked me a question about Verne here:
Post in thread 'What One Tolkien Item Would You Save If Your House Were Burning Down?' https://thetolkien.forum/threads/wh...our-house-were-burning-down.29134/post-575572
But this is a better thread for a discussion.
I thought I had the Folio Society Journey, but can't locate it, so maybe not. I did read it, some years ago; like so many of his works, much of it reads like a travelogue.
I also "thought" I read 20,000 Leagues in the fourth grade, but later realized it was most likely the 1955 Whitman adaptation of the Disney movie. The same thing happened when I "thought" I was reading Ben Hur.
Here's the thing: the old original English translations by Mercier cut much of the texts, and were filled with mistranslations. British, and by extension US, publishers also apparently believed children to be their target audience for Verne, with consequent dumbing-down. Unfortunately, these became the standard editions for reprints. However, there have been a number of attempts to redress the deficiencies, beginning in the 60s, which are ongoing. These are what I'd recommend finding; most of them are listed in the wiki page for each novel.
I can't recall if I ever read From the Earth to the Moon in English, so don't remember what the tone may have been, but I did start reading a copy of De la Terre a la Lune in French I picked up somewhere. I seem to have misplaced it, but the first chapter was hilarious.
Over to you.
Post in thread 'What One Tolkien Item Would You Save If Your House Were Burning Down?' https://thetolkien.forum/threads/wh...our-house-were-burning-down.29134/post-575572
But this is a better thread for a discussion.
I thought I had the Folio Society Journey, but can't locate it, so maybe not. I did read it, some years ago; like so many of his works, much of it reads like a travelogue.
I also "thought" I read 20,000 Leagues in the fourth grade, but later realized it was most likely the 1955 Whitman adaptation of the Disney movie. The same thing happened when I "thought" I was reading Ben Hur.
Here's the thing: the old original English translations by Mercier cut much of the texts, and were filled with mistranslations. British, and by extension US, publishers also apparently believed children to be their target audience for Verne, with consequent dumbing-down. Unfortunately, these became the standard editions for reprints. However, there have been a number of attempts to redress the deficiencies, beginning in the 60s, which are ongoing. These are what I'd recommend finding; most of them are listed in the wiki page for each novel.
I can't recall if I ever read From the Earth to the Moon in English, so don't remember what the tone may have been, but I did start reading a copy of De la Terre a la Lune in French I picked up somewhere. I seem to have misplaced it, but the first chapter was hilarious.
Over to you.