Munas Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Sorry, me again Just needed your opinions on the best translation of Don Quixote. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aviv chadash Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 I'm reading the penguin classics version. I think it/the author won an award for the translation. Plus he lectures on Spanish literature at Oxford University (a hispanist, apparently); which makes him more than qualified. It also includes notes, for those not well versed in greek myhtology, books of chivalry, literature in general... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinay87 Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 I have PA Motteux's version but the man must not have learnt the meaning of the word paragraph. Some of his paragraphs run for several pages. And I remember reading somewhere that his translations substitute english alternatives for culture related jokes instead of giving the original spanish and offering explanations in notes. I plan to buy another translation. The penguin one must be abridged, they often are. I recommend trying to find if TOR classics has it in their publications list. I like their translations. An alternative plan is to see Project Gutenburg. Find which translation works for you and see if you can find it in print. If not, well considering the size I'd say print the whole gutenburg text if it's legal where you are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookJumper Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 Printing out Project Gutenberg texts is legal everywhere, the very fact that they're on there means that they're no longer under copyright - which automatically makes the translations available 75+ years old. Besides, commendable as their work is, PG in my experience don't paragraph at all (I know, because I've experienced the fun of editing one of their texts into a playscipt!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinay87 Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 (edited) Besides, commendable as their work is, PG in my experience don't paragraph at all (I know, because I've experienced the fun of editing one of their texts into a playscipt!). True, but well some books are worth the effort of formatting them yourself and later printing them. I did that for The Book of Five Rings by Musashi Miyamoto, The Art of War by Sun Tzu and the Art of War by Niccolo Machiavelli. Call me cheap but I see a problem with paying corporates for books written by authors over 300 years dead. (Wishes he was born in 2200 so he could have printed the Harry Potter books at a tenth of the price that they're sold at.) Edited January 23, 2010 by vinay87 comic relief Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 . Call me cheap but I see a problem with paying corporates for books written by authors over 300 years dead. .) Namaste Vinay: you are not alone about having misgivings about corporates holding rights to books. What if in the future these corporations try to decide what we should and shouldn't be able to read or if we should read at all? Farenheit 451 anybody? James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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