Writer's Block: Book review

[athelind]

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I'd think twice before including, say, The Kama Sutra.

Please read the question before objecting on principle: it specifies high school library.

On the flip side, I'm interpreting "ban" loosely, in the sense of "if I had a job purchasing books for a high school library*, I would probably not choose to purchase this item for the shelves."

Oh, I also might question the wisdom of including the private collection of Rupert Giles on the shelves of a high school library. You know, the "don't speak Latin in front of the books" books.

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*This would, in fact, be a job I would love.

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Comments

[hafoc.livejournal.com]

And Ray Bradbury. A lot of his stuff tended toward the Literary Psychodrama in SF Clothing, but it's still good. I might or might not include Jules Verne-- great stuff, but the standard English translation is really stupid. Maybe if somebody did a better translation I could include Verne with enthusiasm.

(Example of standard English translations' stupidity? In 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the harpoonist Ned Land starts a fire, on a deserted island the main characters visit, using a lentil he carried in his pocket. Lentil? He started a fire with a BEAN? Wait a minute.. lentil. Lenticular. Lens-like. Lens! He started a fire with a LENS! Sheesh.)

[athelind.livejournal.com]

There are better translations out there nowadays. I think I've shown you my copy of the first volume of The Annotated Jules Verne -- which is, in fact, 20,000 Leagues -- and the translator/annotator starts with the standard, 19th-century translation, but adds corrections, makes footnotes about the original mistranslated passages, and restores entire chapters that were excised.

He also has an extensive forward and afterward, castigating the original English translator in great and scathing detail.

Since then, more and more new translations of Verne have come out -- hopefully, more scientifically literate ones.