This whole discussion is just going to get me reading Ada again. The entire novel is an extended series of puns and interlingual word play. Imagine trying to translate THAT into, say, Chinese...
I just finished reading a translation of The Analects of Confucius. I think I can imagine that

I plan on re-reading Ada sometime in the near future. But first, a few other works that I want to read in order to reimagine certain thoughts. Too many "easy" works recently.
Illusions fall like the husk of a fruit, one after another, and the fruit is experience. - Narrator, Sylvie
Je suis méchant.
Je suis méchant.

Julian Barnes on translation
18/11/2010 05:49:37 PM
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That's a very interesting article. Though it does sound like he'd never be happy.
18/11/2010 08:06:09 PM
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That was a long article.
19/11/2010 07:05:12 PM
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Re: That was a long article.
19/11/2010 09:59:24 PM
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Yeah, I think English translations on average are better than those in smaller languages.
19/11/2010 10:16:44 PM
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On balance, I'm glad I read the Steegmuller translation when I read the novel.
20/11/2010 05:14:42 PM
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Vas-tu faire s’enculée, Camille!
20/11/2010 05:26:08 PM
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If you don't mind a few grammatical corrections of your swearing...
20/11/2010 05:42:57 PM
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It was a quick and dirty rendering
20/11/2010 05:53:13 PM
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And I didn't order from France. It's a US-based company that I bought it from. *NM*
20/11/2010 05:54:55 PM
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I love Pleiade editions
21/11/2010 12:14:14 AM
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How tall are they, out of curiosity?
21/11/2010 12:50:57 AM
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Not tall
21/11/2010 09:59:55 AM
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I got my books today.
23/11/2010 05:38:20 AM
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Re: I got my books today.
23/11/2010 10:33:10 AM
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Regardless, if Pleiade is the best France has to offer, their book industry is awful.
23/11/2010 07:17:13 PM
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Re: Oh Authorial intent.
21/11/2010 02:07:27 AM
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Like hell it's about authorial intent.
21/11/2010 05:40:22 AM
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Re: I didn't even read it, I guessed based on the author's initials.
21/11/2010 01:37:40 PM
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So I take it you missed the whole part about Nabokov's translation of Eugene Onegin.
21/11/2010 03:28:14 PM
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Re: Yes, I missed all of that. Such a conclusion clearly follows from my previous response. *NM*
21/11/2010 03:57:16 PM
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Actually it does. Your responses are just cheap tricks, not discussions. *NM*
21/11/2010 04:44:21 PM
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Re: Cheap tricks?
21/11/2010 10:45:39 PM
- 666 Views
Barnes' article has little to do with authorial intent
21/11/2010 11:37:25 PM
- 604 Views
Why didn't you translate je ne sais quoi?
21/11/2010 11:46:23 PM
- 659 Views

Because I didn't feel like it?
22/11/2010 01:14:31 AM
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I think it is more about the "authentic experience" than about intent.
21/11/2010 10:01:57 AM
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