O times, O translators!

Yes, the blame must be justly distributed. Where are those ruthless editors of yore?

For the most part, I think those ruthless editors existed only in the imagination of others. The economics of publishing have changed, as has the technology. What you see is often what the author himself typed.

 

One of the great mysteries of American literature is just how much Mark Twain fixed U.S. Grant's prose. Grant was an awful speller, but his unedited dispatches prove he knew how to communicate in plain, unambiguous English. It's the one thing that made this otherwise utter failure one of the great generals of history. Still. Considering that Mark Twain -- the finest writer of American prose ever -- was Grant's copy editor -- you sort of wonder -- it's something about how he does the perfect.

 

Grant's memoirs are highly recommended. They compare favorably with Caesar, Xenophon and Sam Watkins. They all tell a rousing good tale while giving you the hard-core nitty-gritty of how it was. It's also written so well that they're all Literature with a capital L. But literature of this high order ... and Mark Twain being intimately involved in its publication.... Well.

 

It's sorta like Shakespeare ghostwriting Good Queen Bess' memoirs. But Sam Watkins didn't have Mark Twain, and his English is just as good.

 

 

I wonder what Grant tastes like in a different language. He's plain.