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| Eponine93 |
Which Translation?I'm going to make a confession: I've never actually read the book Les Miserables. However, I've decided to make it my New Year's Resolution that I was going to get it off Amazon and read it. Although this isn't a book forum, I know that most of you have read the book and know what translations are good or not.Are there any versions or translations that you reccomend? I did a quick Amazon search and was tempted to get the one with the musical logo on the front, but wasn't sure if that was a good translation or not. In case you wish to know, I'm in eighth grade and am 13 but read at a high school level, probably tenth or eleventh grade level. |
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| Orestes Fasting |
I highly recommend the gray paperback edition with the musical logo on the front. The translation is by Fahnestock and MacAfee, based on the original translation by Charles Wilbour. Wilbour's translation is quite accurate in most places, but the language is slightly archaic; Fahnestock and MacAfee's version is very similar to Wilbour's, but reads more naturally to a modern audience.
I would advise against getting the Penguin Classics edition translated by Norman Denny, but I have a slight grudge against Denny for relegating two of the digressions to the appendices and making snide comments about Hugo in his preface. It's not a bad translation, but... euh. The only other translations I can think of right now are Hapgood's and Wraxall's; if you want to take a look at Hapgood's translation, it's public domain and used in most online editions of the book. You'd probably have to actively seek those two out if you wanted them. The easiest, and best, translations to find are Wilbour and Fahnestock/MacAfee. |
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| eponine5 |
Yeah, get the paperback with the musical logo. Orestes said all that you need to know about it really, but I'll just back up the recommendation. That paperback also includes all the french verses and such, as well as  the english translations, which the first version I read did not. 
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| LesMisForever |
Hello
I am going to disagree with "Orestes Fasting" (thx for the explenation btw  . Either it wasn't translated like this, or i simply forgot it ).
I loved Norman Denny's translation. I thought it was easy to read, and poetic in so many places. The main credit goes to Hugo of course, but still he deserves credit. However, i haven't read any of the other ones, so i can't compare. Orestes: i thought the introduction was good. What was wrong with it? |
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| Orestes Fasting |
Ah, see, I've only read the original French, Fahnestock/MacAfee, and bits of Hapgood and Wilbour. I don't know much about Denny's translation itself, except that it's not bad. I'm mostly objecting to his moving Argot and the convent section to the appendices, which is skirting dangerously close to abridgment, and his talking smack about how Marius is totally Hugo's Gary Stu and such. (However, if "Oreste � jeun et Pylade ivre" got brushed over, I have to wonder whether Denny followed the same philosophy with other thorny translation issues. Anyone who's familiar with both Denny and the original want to comment on the accuracy of that translation?) |
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| Eponine93 |
Thanks for your advice. Actually, I spoke to my mother about using her account to buy it off Amazon, and she said she thinks she has it somewhere down in the basement (one of the many reasons why having a mom who like musicals more than you do is so cool) If we can't find it, though, I'll definitely purchase the one with the musical logo on the cover (how can I not resist something with the logo?) | ||
| LesMisForever |
Hello
Orestes: I checked the book. It is there. Orestes fasting and Pylades drunk. |
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| Orestes Fasting |
Ah, ok. I know there are a few editions that simply title that chapter "Orestes and Pylades." But Fahnestock and MacAfee got the right translation, Hapgood got the right translation, and I think Wilbour did too... so that left Denny by process of elimination. XD Now I wonder whose translation it is that leaves that out. |