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/lit/ - Literature

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6619271 No.6619271 [Reply] [Original]

Are books as Ulysses, infinite jest or Inherent vice too much for a non englishman? I can speak and read englisch tho but those reads might be too hard. You know!

>> No.6619292

>>6619271
Non English man as well and tried reading books in English and I read like 10 pages an hour and don't understand a thing. Fuck this, I now get the translated ones. Unless you're reading poetry, you're fine.

>> No.6619383

>>6619271
They're quite plainly full of obscure and irrelevant words, you'll be missing roots for portmanteaus and imagined vocabularies, and most importantly, you'll loose a lot of things you need a degree of cultural inundation to understand.

Taking IJ for an example, some parts will be fairly lucid and easy to digest, while other you'll be slogging through chapters, wondering why Wardine be cry and why I yrstruly and C are not 2Bdenied from old Wo's subservant slopes serving skeet because C's mucis is running bad and he boosted foregn students all nigt to cop dope for x-mas that hurts like drano

To be fair, a lot of English speakers can struggle with this too. If you can remove the extraneous and (maybe) get some help with the Ebonics-influenced chapters, you'll be fine.

>> No.6619953

>>6619292
>Unless you're reading poetry, you're fine.

Generally true, but there are some authors that I can't imagine could possibly be translated. Like Joyce.

Has anyone here read a translation of Ulysses?

>> No.6620076
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6620076

>>6619383
The idea of trying to read Infinite Kek without being well-versed in Murrican consumerism gives me the howling fantods.

>> No.6620109

>>6619953
Well, Finnegan's Wake is huge in China rn, so I can imagine that Ulysses is too

>> No.6620112

>>6619271
>tfw when English man
>tfw you have to read mere imitations of books like The Divine Comedy and The Metamorphosis
I don' see what you are complaining about.

>> No.6620128

>>6619953
>some authors that I can't imagine could possibly be translated. Like Joyce.

- Finnegans Wake was a hit in China, which apparently means it sold about 8,ooo copies - maybe, Chinese not buy many books:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/feb/05/finnegans-wake-china-james-joyce-hit

>>6619271
Inherent Vice, I cant really see the problem, tbh. Joyce? - Nope, fuck that..

>englisch

- guessing you are German? To turn it around it a bit, I can read Ok-ayish German in original - stuff like Hesse, no bother, Günter Grass? -no fucking way, its simply too dense (or i am) to cope with in orignal. Joyce (in orginial) would prob. be the same/similar for you - and if theres no enjoyment from it whatsoever, not much point, IMO.

>> No.6620142

>>6619271
>>6620109
>>6619953
I belive some translations are better than the original language... just saying
Proof >>6620109

>> No.6620329

>>6620128
With Pinecone it's more of a cultural issue.

>> No.6621610

Okay thanks litizen. That helped alot

>> No.6621622

>>6619271
>Are books as Ulysses, infinite jest or Inherent vice too much for a non englishman?

IJ and IV would be okay for a non-Englishman, but an American probably couldn't handle Ulysses.

>> No.6621995

I guess I stick try to read IV in english and if I enjoy it I go over to IJ

>> No.6622029

>>6620128
>Günter Grass
don't worry, you're not missing too much.