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From: andyb@dartvax.UUCP (Andy Behrens)
Newsgroups: net.books,sci.lang
Subject: Re: books on translation wanted
Message-ID: <5300@dartvax.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 26-Oct-86 15:32:19 EST
Article-I.D.: dartvax.5300
Posted: Sun Oct 26 15:32:19 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 27-Oct-86 05:33:43 EST
References: <16227@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: andyb%burlcoat@dartvax.UUCP (Andy Behrens)
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Lines: 38
Xref: watmath net.books:4345 sci.lang:51

Let me recommend Victor Proetz's "The Astonishment of Words" to anyone
who is interested in the art of translation.  Of all the books I own,
it is the one I most enjoy rereading.

Proetz has found translations of (or, in a few cases, has himself
translated) passages from Chaucer, Blake, Coleridge, e.e. cummings, and
a few dozen others.  The translations are followed by short essays.
Sometimes Proetz talks about the merits and faults of the translation
and points out details that especially delighted him; sometimes he
discusses the history of the work; sometimes he just lets the
translation stand on its own merit.

I had a hard time choosing a single passage that would give the flavor
of the book.  The translation of Pig and Pepper (from Alice's Adventures
in Wonderland) is close to perfect, puns and all, and it's a shame to
leave out

	In Xanadu liess Kubla Khan
	Der Lust ger"aumigen Dom erstehen,
	Wo Alph, das heilige Wasser, rann
	Durch H"ohlen ohne Mass und Plan
	    Zu sonnenloser See....

Maybe you should just buy the book and read it yourself.

	The Astonishment of Words:
	    An Experiment in the Comparison of Languages
	Victor Proetz
	University of Texas Press (Austin, 1971)
	ISBN 0-292-70116-0

					Andy Behrens

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