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June 12, 2011
Sunday Book Thread
On Monday, I happened to send a "don't forget it's the 67th anniversary of D-Day and, oh, look at this statement Gen. Eisenhower prepared for in case it was a disaster" email to my team. Just in case, y'know, they were interested. On Tuesday, my boss--figuring from the email that I'm into WWII stuff--popped into my office to lend me his copy of Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer. Originally written in French and later translated to English, it's the mostly-autobiographical account of a German conscript from Fall 1942 to Spring 1945.
Whenever I read something that has been translated, I wonder how much of the tone and the rhetoric makes it through. This translation maintains a plodding meter and vaguely stolid tone throughout so unlike normal English prose it makes me think it deliberate. Perhaps mimicry of the original's tone. Or it could just be an awkward translation.
Any thoughts on translations? And what did you folks read this week?
posted by Gabriel Malor at
08:27 AM
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