/lit/ - Literature

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>>20739066
Fuck Penguin Classics

>>20739066
To answer your question, an English translation of something the value of which is almost completely lost in translation. I dearly appreciate your interest in the epic of our tiny nation, but this is the unfortunate truth. I don't know if there exists an English equivalent to a work whose meaning is almost completely bound with the fact that it is indeed written in the language in which it is written. Maybe something like Chaucer or Shakespeare comes close. In this translation every verse feels either comedic, or dead.

>>20739066
An English translation of something the value of which is almost completely lost in translation. I dearly appreciate your interest in the epic of our tiny nation, but this is the unfortunate truth. I don't know if there exists an English equivalent to a work whose meaning is almost completely bound with the fact that it is indeed written in the language in which it is written. Maybe something like Chaucer or Shakespeare comes close. In this translation every verse feels either comedic, or dead.

>>20739224
I will expand on this criticism. It somewhat pains me to see many foreign reviewers describe the poem and its diction as ”hilarious” or ”down to earth”. I appreciate the fact that they have taken the time to read this obscure poem, but I still find it unfortunate that its character is misrepresented in this way. Of course, the impression is very understandable: every translation that I have read sounds humorous, even farcical in tone, like a colourful but senseless story jokingly fabricated by a mischievous peasant. This couldn't be farther from the impression one gains from the original Finnish.

Admittedly, even in Finnish the language is antiquated and often naive in a rustic way, but in the original, this innocence only adds the poetry. The diction and content are never humorous, but always serious, solemn, epic and serene. In Finnish, reading the Kalevala feels like listening to an old man sitting in the corner of a grey smoke cabin, plucking the harp and singing softly to himself: the poetic impression is of old age, stillness and sanctity. Many of the verses are beautiful enough to bring a tear to the eye, provided one is poetically sensitive.

Vaan kuitenki kaikitenki
la'un hiihin laulajoille,
la'un hiihin, latvan taitoin,
oksat karsin, tien osoitin.
Siitäpä nyt tie menevi,
ura uusi urkenevi
laajemmille laulajoille,
runsahammille runoille,
nuorisossa nousevassa,
kansassa kasuavassa.

>>20739224
I will expand on this criticism. It somewhat pains me to see many foreign reviewers describe the poem and its diction as ”hilarious” or ”down to earth”. I appreciate the fact that they have taken the time to read this obscure poem, but I still find it unfortunate that its character is misrepresented in this way. Of course, the impression is very understandable: every translation that I have read sounds humorous, even farcical in tone, like a colourful but senseless story jokingly fabricated by a mischievous peasant. This couldn't be farther from the impression one gains from the original Finnish.

Admittedly, even in Finnish the language is antiquated and often naive in a rustic way, but in the original, this innocence only adds the poetry. The diction and content are never humorous, but always serious, solemn, epic and serene. In Finnish, reading the Kalevala feels like listening to an old man sitting in the corner of a grey smoke cabin, plucking the harp and singing softly: the poetic impression is of old age, stillness and sanctity. Many of the verses are beautiful enough to bring a tear to the eye, provided one is poetically sensitive.

Vaan kuitenki kaikitenki
la'un hiihin laulajoille,
la'un hiihin, latvan taitoin,
oksat karsin, tien osoitin.
Siitäpä nyt tie menevi,
ura uusi urkenevi
laajemmille laulajoille,
runsahammille runoille,
nuorisossa nousevassa,
kansassa kasuavassa.

>>20739716
I'm reading a swedish translation and it feels pretty much like the Edda, except more vague and poetic instead of rustic.

>>20739188
>Fuck Penguin Classics
why?

>>20739772
The Swedish translator has probably achieved a better result by adopting the native Scandinavian Eddaic register, which is closer in tone the Finnic trochaic tetrametre. I haven't read the Swedish translation, so I can't say for sure. The former cannot be said of any English translation I've read, unfortunately, although I have to state it again that I appreciate the interest and the effort that these translations have taken.

>>20739224
Shakespeare can't be translated, FACT.

>>20739224
>>20739742
Translations are okay.

>>20739846
Logically it should translate pretty well into Estonian as well right? Maybe I'll genuinely get some use out of my language.

Why did Kalevala become famous at all? It has all the hallmarks of an obscure work:
>obscure language
>tiny nation
>that's a backwater part of the larger Russian Empire, with non-Russian cultures suppressed and not promoted internationally