#dirtmound

[val-of-the-north]

Ah, my lovely dirt...

I suppose I am on Tumblr now. Never thought I'd see the day. Happy to grace this site with my presence... but perhaps you'd rather not have me here... Too bad!

Here's some dirt to get started.

[flockofdoves]

dirtmound replied to your post :oh just resurfaced my old niche interest inside my...

if i were to read les mis which should i read

do NOT read denny (1976)!!! its the worst because he claims its unabridged but is such a half-assed translator who clearly doesn’t care for the work he’s translating that its an average of like... 100 pages shorter than most other translations

wilbour (1862) is the first english translation and is pretty good, its language is said to be pretty close in its feeling to the original (be careful though theres a lot of modern publishings of it that abridge it)

hapgood (1887) is another slightly later 19th century translation and it has a few weird mistranslations but overall its pretty good and also easily accessible bc its on project gutenberg (i enjoy it bc i’ve read the most of it and like how she phrases certain things in some of my favorite quotes, i should read more wilbour though bc its been a while)

wraxall (1862) i haven’t read much personally and its not one of the more famous translations but i actually had this topic brought up today bc a friend got an 1888 copy that was and unabridged version of wraxall?? which is interesting bc wraxall translated it abridged so its mostly wraxall plus another translator named blamire for the omitted parts? and also online sometimes unabridged wraxall takes from wilbour or hapgood. i can’t say much for it but from small parts i’ve read its ok but not my favorite although today in this conversation i met some people whove only read it and love it???

rose (2007) idk much about bc i haven’t read much beyond excerpts, hers is a more modern translation known for using less literal and more flowery language, people criticize it for being modern but in a way that seems more awkward than understandable, okay but not my fave from what i’ve seen

fahnestock and mcafee (1987) is probably a good compromise if you’re not sure where you fall on the literal vs poetic or the older language vs modernized debate because its largely based on wilbour but modernizes language to make things more clear for modern readers

donougher (2013) is super interesting, i want to read more of it and i like it from what i’ve read, she very much went in with the intent to modernize the language which of course isn’t in everyones taste but she’s the first translator to ever try to translate the title in english, translating it as “the wretched”

bonus for translations i highly doubt you’ll encounter

theres a translation that someone did as a serial during the civil war and it made les mis really popular among confederate soldiers because to quote wikipedia “The Editor's Preface announces its intention of correcting errors in Wilbour's translation. It said that some passages "exclusively intended for the French readers of the book" were being omitted, as well as "[a] few scattered sentences reflecting on slavery" because "the absence of a few antislavery paragraphs will hardly be complained of by Southern readers." Because of paper shortages in wartime, the passages omitted became longer with each successive volume.“

m jules gray - i dont even really ever hear anyone talk about this translation but for some reason i don’t remember how i own a pdf of it??? haven’t read it though, think its from like 1895??

william walton and then henry l williams both from 1890s i know like nothing about and never have seen anywhere but apparently theyre bad

other notes to keep in mind

theres other small differences like in the original publishing hugo censored place names (this was common in 19th century literature in part to make it seem like things actually happened and you were giving anonymity and in part to make it ambiguous/relatable) and wilbour retains that while FMA uses the full place names hugo added in a later versio. i forget about other versions

another difference is if they translate quotations from french songs or not, i like how FMA does this because they keep the french but translate it into english in footnotes so you dont lose anything

especially with older translations theres more recent publishings of a lot of them that can be hard to recognize have been abridged

i don’t like any of the ways theyve abridged things its long regardless just read the whole thing

heres a comparison someone made of the introduction chapter for les amis de l’abc (the revolutionary group) with some of the main translations if you wanna check it out!! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aZ5P22fZPM6LnaXQ5S5TN4-ZDfAyX1PFKbYXvzYcTns/edit?usp=sharing

[hailmaryfullofgrace55675]

this homestuck day of 2019 I am so happy for my beloved friends, whose kindness has brought me so much happiness over these years. I am grateful for the support and aid that has helped me so much to grow, for the jokes and stories, and for the togetherness. my dear hope is to grow in respect, consideration, and love with these cherished friends who I am so glad to have had the opportunity to meet and to know.

[halfcrystalline]

another dirt mound

[flockofdoves]

@dirtmound replied to your post “i like what you’re saying in those fb things and i disagree that...”

i cant read your second paragraph at all

oh sorry i’m really tired i’m not very conscious of how rambly i’m being

to try to reword. older people often position themselves as authority figures because of their age, allowing them to abuse power over younger people. because that happens it doesn’t make sense to me that that authority would be revoked institutionally after people reach a certain age. i could be wrong but that feels like arguments saying that oppression can work both ways.

[halfcrystalline]

not an actual mountain

[hailmaryfullofgrace55675]

dirtmound replied to your post: almost got tempted away from Christ by a sweet...

shirking god for fruit? sounds familiar

oh shit!

[myehaw]

dirtmound replied to your post “weird thinking about the fact that by next week I will officially be...”

I LIVE THERE!! WHERE IN CO?

I’ll be in Denver!!!! i have friends up there who have told me it’s great, but pls, give me your opinions on CO (granted anything you say will likely still be better than anything I could say about FL)