/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.22504740]

Is worrying about translations retarded? I've been buying expensive books just because they are acclaimed to be "good translations". I could just buy cheaper ones tho. Is it really worth it investing in "good translations"? I feel like I might miss a lot if I get a shitty translation

[Anonymous No.22504745]

>>22504740
Some of the greatest writers had to read not too excellent translations themselves. Try to get a good one but don't worry too much about how approved it is by autistic academia or pretentious anons.

[Anonymous No.22504768]

>>22504740
Even the best translations cannot elevate a work to a higher state than it was originally, but shit translations can absolutely butcher it and make it unreadable. Take that as you will.

[Anonymous No.22504771]

>>22504740
Another thread to shit on P&V?

[Anonymous No.22504776]

No, it’s not. We live in an era where it’s no longer even orthodoxy for a celebrated translator to remain even remotely faithful to the original text.

[Anonymous No.22504818]

>>22504740
For poetry and very old books you should pay a lot of attention to the translator. For prose you should pay some attention but there's often a bunch of good-enough translations, and an ongoing debate about the best one that you can ignore if it doesn't interest you. If you buy the $2 public domain edition of a book on Amazon you're gay. It's also going to be printed more cheaply, look like shit, lack footnotes or introduction etc.

[Anonymous No.22504891]

I think for contemporary translations you shouldn't worry too much about it.

[Anonymous No.22504908]

I am apparently going against the grain here

Why wouldn't you research the different translations and buy the one which suits your purposes more?

I am reading the Bible because I'm interested in it as literature and history and an important part of the English language itself - and for that reason I'm reading KJV.

If I were trying to dig deeper into an actual theological analysis my decision making process would obviously be quite different.

I recently bought a copy of Inferno by Dante. I looked around for discussions and opinions and bought the one which I thought I'd get the most out of.

With the internet, finding the best translation for your needs takes all of 15 minutes and the cost difference between them is usually like, what, 5 or 10 bucks? We're not talking bank breaking here

Buy once, cry once. Do your research.

[Anonymous No.22504924]

>>22504908
Very true about the KJV. I came in with the same reasons as you but got the NRSV and was so disappointed by the lack of poetry in it.

[Anonymous No.22504925]

>>22504768
>>22504908
Ditto these.

It is always worth the reminder that all translations are wrong, but with the admission that time is what it is then going with a less wrong translation becomes narrowly permissible.

[Anonymous No.22504932]

depends on the work, if you are reading an account of military operations, it's hard to butcher a translation that much; poetry or philosophical/political works is another pair of shoes

[Anonymous No.22504956]

>>22504740
As far as philosophy goes there is usually a preferred translation among academics and that translation is usually the one that Hackett uses. Just buy Hackett. Novels: you should research which translation is the best because it’s like reading a whole different book from translation to translation. Marquez actually said that the English translation of 100 years of solitude was better than the original. Poetry: don’t read it in translation. I’m going to have to be that guy here but it’s true. Of course you can get a close approximation of what the poet was trying to convey in translation but it will never be the exact same. All I can speak is English so all I read are English poets, that’s enough for me.