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Lunchmeat Larry posted:I knew No Country For Old Men wasn’t meant to be McCarthy’s best book but I’m finding it even more thin than expected so far. It really is just a decent thriller. Oh well, it’s good for what it is! do not ever read Cities on the Plain
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Jan 22, 2016 18:06
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Lunchmeat Larry posted:I knew No Country For Old Men wasn’t meant to be McCarthy’s best book but I’m finding it even more thin than expected so far. It really is just a decent thriller. Oh well, it’s good for what it is! Heard the movie's really solid, though.
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Jan 22, 2016 18:21
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Chamberk posted:I'm having a frustrating discussion with some folks on facebook about that very article. They're like THIS IS A BAD BOOK THESE LINES PROVE IT IS VERY BAD Man even disregarding the character thing, half of those sentences are actually great, and the other half are at least fun. Just cuz it isn't Hemingway-style simplicity doesn't mean it's automatically empty purple prose. Like compare them to those lists of Dan Brown or whatever, which are just nonsensical mixed metaphors or just bad grammar and poo poo.
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Jan 22, 2016 18:27
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Lunchmeat Larry posted:I knew No Country For Old Men wasn’t meant to be McCarthy’s best book but I’m finding it even more thin than expected so far. It really is just a decent thriller. Oh well, it’s good for what it is! It's a great thriller, yeah, and McCarthy's style makes it even more enjoyable.
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Jan 22, 2016 18:31
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Well beyond that, I ended up getting the "your privilege is that you can read this kind of sentence without getting infuriated at the racism/sexism/white-male-dominant-ism, you ought to take a long hard look at yourself if you enjoy a book like this" spiel, and decided that this wasn't a fight worth having. I did finish Moby Dick, though! Those last few chapters are fantastic, although I have to laugh at how quickly Ahab is taken out - like, he has this whole badass speech and then whoops, rope caught him, he's gone now. Fedellah hanging dead from Moby Dick's side, though, that was wonderfully macabre.
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Jan 22, 2016 18:33
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i find that bad authors are often better in translation. like, i read twilight in translation and my impression was just that it was mediocre and sort of creepy. then i read it in english and i had a strange sort of disgusted feeling in my belly throughout it was unsettling
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Jan 22, 2016 18:33
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Why did you read Twilight twice and then post about it ITT
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Jan 22, 2016 18:33
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V. Illych L. posted:i find that bad authors are often better in translation. like, i read twilight in translation and my impression was just that it was mediocre and sort of creepy. then i read it in english and i had a strange sort of disgusted feeling in my belly throughout it was unsettling Makes sense. Translators by definition have to pay particular attention to the nuances and oddities of a given language; some authors are basically unaware of them.
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Jan 22, 2016 18:54
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DirtyRobot posted:Makes sense. Translators by definition have to pay particular attention to the nuances and oddities of a given language; some authors are basically unaware of them. all according to keikaku
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Jan 22, 2016 19:15
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I like authors who write like they are translating from a foreign language to begin with.
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Jan 22, 2016 22:40
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Shibawanko posted:I like authors who write like they are translating from a foreign language to begin with. Big fan of Ha Jin I see
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Jan 22, 2016 23:02
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Smoking Crow posted:Big fan of Ha Jin I see eesh
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Jan 22, 2016 23:08
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blue squares posted:Why did you read Twilight twice and then post about it ITT to check on the translation, and then to make a comment about a quirk of translation
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Jan 22, 2016 23:22
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I only read
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Jan 22, 2016 23:23
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V. Illych L. posted:i find that bad authors are often better in translation. like, i read twilight in translation and my impression was just that it was mediocre and sort of creepy. then i read it in english and i had a strange sort of disgusted feeling in my belly throughout it was unsettling I think certain translators try and make the idiot things they have to translate less idiotic. The version of Eragon I read as a lad is not nearly as ridiculous as the one sold in the States, apparently.
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Jan 22, 2016 23:25
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at the date posted:I only read i read it the first time around because i got it as a gift. then i read about it and was puzzled at the reaction people had on the internet, so i went to the library and borrowed the english version
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Jan 22, 2016 23:40
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V. Illych L. posted:i read it the first time around because i got it as a gift. then i read about it and was puzzled at the reaction people had on the internet, so i went to the library and borrowed the english version Hey, no need to get defensive. You be you, man.
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Jan 23, 2016 00:40
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One of our high school english courses included reading an English-language novel and writing a short report on it. This was considered pretty advanced since it demanded some fluency in a foreign language. Obviously I was an Anglophone veteran at that point so it was an easy peasy assignment  When i returned my report on A Tale of Two Cities to the pile, i could see that the report immediately before mine was about Twillight. I can still "Twilight is a good book for girls, and maybe boys too". That is my Twilight story. I got to correct the teacher on my single error: ancien régime was French, not a typo.
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Jan 23, 2016 01:14
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V. Illych L. posted:i read it the first time around because i got it as a gift. then i read about it and was puzzled at the reaction people had on the internet, so i went to the library and borrowed the english version My wife was an English major and is an English teacher and loves high brow books. She read Twilight in Spanish and loved it. Then she saw what it was like in English and was ashamed. I think that the Spanish translation must be a pretty good book!
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Jan 23, 2016 04:47
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which brings us to a point: faced with bad prose, what should a translater do? generally, translation should strive to emulate the voice of the original work, but at what point does translator's discretion come in and allow changes? like, i read les miserables in translation and Hugo was not what you'd call a concise author, so the translater consistently reworded things to be less unnecessarily verbose. i haven't read that in french, but i've read enough of his other work to figure that this impacted the tone of the work somewhat, which sits poorly with me on a principled level. obviously twilight isn't Hugo, but i feel like it's a general point about the role of the translater in literature V. Illych L. fucked around with this message at 12:39 on Jan 23, 2016 |
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Jan 23, 2016 12:36
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I think it's reasonable to say that you're not just translating language, you're translating a set of cultural mores to some extent. People will prefer a modern translation of the Iliad over Dryden's mostly because they don't tend to sit down and read things in heroic couplets. And if you manage to convey that sense of what is exciting about a text to a reader then I'd call that a successful translation. So in the example of the Hugo translation I'd say the translator prioritised clarity over close attention to sentence structure. Whether that's a good decision or not depends on the book. With Proust I'd say that's practically sacrilege, but Hugo it's probably forgivable, I'd say. Then again, I'm actually rather relaxed about translation. People sweat about it too much, I think.
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Jan 23, 2016 13:16
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Should I read Ulysses or V next
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Jan 24, 2016 00:25
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blue squares posted:Should I read Ulysses or V next Ulysses if you've never read it. It will change your life.
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Jan 24, 2016 00:58
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Ulysses is the Homestuck of the 20th century. Edit: Actual content - has anyone read the Big Green Tent, Martin John or The Mark and the Void? I just got all three from the library and I'm wondering which to read first. Probably the Mark and the Void because it looks a lot less dense than the books I've been reading. Cloks fucked around with this message at 01:13 on Jan 24, 2016 |
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Jan 24, 2016 01:03
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Cloks posted:Ulysses is the Homestuck of the 20th century. I see.
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Jan 24, 2016 01:10
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I read the first twelve pages of Ulysses along with a podcast that explained every reference being made. It was quite enjoyable to see all the details, but tiresome to spend 10 minutes per page. But when I read it without the podcast, I feel I'm missing the point of everything.
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Jan 24, 2016 01:26
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A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain is blowing my mind right now. I've never seen such a wonderful command of narrative voice.
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Jan 24, 2016 01:26
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Cloks posted:Ulysses is the Homestuck of the 20th century. Please explain what you mean by that.
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Jan 24, 2016 01:28
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paradoxGentleman posted:Please explain what you mean by that. he means that mishima was right and we should all aspire to fascist holy suicide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLK7RI_HW-E
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Jan 24, 2016 01:56
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Tree Goat posted:he means that mishima was right and we should all aspire to fascist holy suicide Is Nic Cage the Intersection of YOLO and Taoism?
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Jan 24, 2016 01:58
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blue squares posted:I read the first twelve pages of Ulysses along with a podcast that explained every reference being made. It was quite enjoyable to see all the details, but tiresome to spend 10 minutes per page. But when I read it without the podcast, I feel I'm missing the point of everything. Let the details wash over you in a glorious flood of information, which I think in this day and age humans should be well used to. You'll still most probably pick up the important bits if you keep an open mind. Some chapters are easier than others. It's not easy but it's worth it.
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Jan 24, 2016 02:31
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Cloks posted:Ulysses is the Homestuck of the 20th century. The Mark and the Void was pretty good, though it's not nearly as funny or heartbreaking as Skippy Dies. The author self insert is pretty good but the protagonist is kind of dull, though that's by design.
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Jan 24, 2016 03:09
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I haven't read Skippy Dies so maybe I'll read that first.
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Jan 24, 2016 03:26
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Tree Goat posted:he means that mishima was right and we should all aspire to fascist holy suicide This video is wrong because Tails Gets Trolled is the internet's Ulysses.
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Jan 24, 2016 04:07
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Jesus christ what Oi ten bucks Nino turns out to be a massive dickwad.
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Jan 24, 2016 04:22
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ok I'm sure Ulysses is great and maybe I'll read 10 pages a day or something, but I got a little drunk and went to the book store and came back with: 1. Americanah 2. Dissident Gardens 3. Goldfinch 4. Little, Big (John Crowley) Chapter 1 of Americanah is real good blue squares fucked around with this message at 06:13 on Jan 24, 2016 |
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Jan 24, 2016 05:29
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Beyond sane knolls posted:A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain is blowing my mind right now. I've never seen such a wonderful command of narrative voice. I like the one about a sunburned duck. e: has anyone read any Steven Milhauser? I picked up his collection The Barnum Museum and it all seemed kinda pointless. Mr. Squishy fucked around with this message at 12:13 on Jan 24, 2016 |
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Jan 24, 2016 12:08
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 I've read it, and almost everything else Millhauser has written."Pointless" is not a word I've seen used to describe his writing before ("tedious," "mechanical," "overly obsessed with tiny details" -- yes). Which stories didn't work for you?
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Jan 24, 2016 14:09
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Probably was just a misstep to read them all straight through but after the third story the concept of disappearing streets and animate non-existence became less than mindblowing. I liked that he hid a dead dad in A Game of Clue.
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Jan 24, 2016 14:49
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blue squares posted:ok I'm sure Ulysses is great and maybe I'll read 10 pages a day or something, but I got a little drunk and went to the book store and came back with: Those are all pretty drat good books; Little, Big is one of my all time favorites. If I hadn't just started War and Peace I'd think about reading that one. Or A Little Life, or the first Neopolitan book... but no, I had to go and start one of the longest books known to man.
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Jan 24, 2016 14:50
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