tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7534509012046591314.post7271074002268305583..comments2023-11-05T10:11:31.578+00:00Comments on Just William's Luck: 'what happened to our dreams?'William Rycrofthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15056188088340973039noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7534509012046591314.post-14703992614822724912009-11-11T00:20:35.311+00:002009-11-11T00:20:35.311+00:00First of all Howard, thank you for taking the time...First of all Howard, thank you for taking the time to respond so fully to what was a bit of a flippant comment by me in my review. A good lesson in responsibility I think. <br /><br />I always wish that I could have more to say about literature in translation, but without the languages let alone the ability to look at both texts I am often reduced to intuition and feel rather than scholarship. Perhaps I should just steer clear. As you say the original Italian words are so very different to each other, unlike their literal English translations. It's really interesting to have a tiny but significant insight into the work that you do and its difficulty. I have no idea how I would solve that problem, which of course is why I'm a reader first and foremost.William Rycrofthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15056188088340973039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7534509012046591314.post-13997394702665079552009-11-10T09:51:48.981+00:002009-11-10T09:51:48.981+00:00I've now checked the original Italian against ...I've now checked the original Italian against my translation, and I think you have a point. The words Grossi uses are "incandescente" and "rovente", which do indeed mean "white hot" and "red hot" respectively, but of course in Italian, they are not quite so repetitious. By translating those two words too literally, I created a somewhat infelicitious (and self-contradictory)repetition. I should have noticed it and didn't, and neither did my editor, so thanks for pointing it out. Bit that's how it is: in translation, as in original writing, things sometimes get through which only a perceptive reader like yourself notices.Howard Curtisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7534509012046591314.post-59455056300250827102009-11-08T12:33:18.471+00:002009-11-08T12:33:18.471+00:00Removing foot from mouth now.
Oh boy.Removing foot from mouth now.<br /><br />Oh boy.William Rycrofthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15056188088340973039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7534509012046591314.post-28822586511378837972009-11-07T21:39:16.581+00:002009-11-07T21:39:16.581+00:00Apologies graciously accepted, William!Apologies graciously accepted, William!Howard Curtisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7534509012046591314.post-61821995109552267542009-11-06T11:49:40.637+00:002009-11-06T11:49:40.637+00:00My apologies to Howard then should he ever read th...My apologies to Howard then should he ever read this!William Rycrofthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15056188088340973039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7534509012046591314.post-60361269116911405312009-11-06T11:41:25.923+00:002009-11-06T11:41:25.923+00:00I read this a few months ago and felt pretty ho-hu...I read this a few months ago and felt pretty ho-hum about it. I liked the first story and, like you, thought the last one pretty weak (not least because it not only failed to live up to its blurb - which is what had sold me on the book - but was almost the antithesis of it).<br /><br />The translator Howard Curtis, by the way, is an occasional visitor to my blog - and if you do an Amazon search, you'll see he's extremely prolific. Knows a great deal about Simenon too.John Selfhttp://theasylum.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com