I have a translation of the edda by Lee M. Hollander
would this be a book i should count on?

--- Daniel Bray <dbray@...> wrote:

> Heill Pelle,
>
> I did have Evans' and Faulkes' works to use for the
> translation of H�vam�l,
> and they were indeed much more helpful than CL's.
>
> No translation will be better than reading in the
> original language, and no
> translation will please everyone.
>
> With all due respect, it is easy for native speakers
> to pull just about any
> translation apart - I'm sure you could give the same
> treatment to all the
> translations I have seen (Bellows, Cottle, Bray (no
> relation), Thorpe, etc.).
> The question is, which one comes up the least
> faulty? Could you perhaps rank
> them (and include any published translations I may
> have missed), so those of
> us who are not experts can find out what their
> relative accuracy is? Is there
> a published translation that you would recommend?
>
> I, as I imagine you, would love to see a flawless
> translation of the Poetic
> Edda on the shelves of every bookstore.
> Unfortunately, this hasn't happened
> yet - and may never happen. I may have been
> overenthusiastic touting the
> accuracy of CL's translation, or may have mistaken
> literality for accuracy,
> but I'm also trying to do the best I can with what
> I've got.
>
> One more question: Are there any English
> translations that have been done by
> native Icelandic speakers? If not, why not?
>
> Dan
>
> PS: Sorry, Haukur and everyone, for clogging
> mailboxes with the quoted
> original post - I should have trimmed it down.
>
> "hveenegaard " wrote:
>
> > Dan,
> >
> > Dronke's version of H�vam�l has still not been
> published, so
> > I cannot say, really. I doubt Vol IV of her work
> will see light
> > any time soon, but Clive Tolley is working on it
> with her, so
> > hopefully we won't have to wait 30 years, like
> with Vol II. If
> > the translations in Vols I - II are anything to go
> by, at least
> > we will finally have a (mostly) reliable
> translation.
> >
> > Compared to V�lusp�, H�vam�l is a virtually
> TEEMING with textual
> > enigmas, so I find it difficult to imagine that
> Larrington's
> > translation of it is any better than her V�lusp�
> (even though
> > the translator claims that "the poetry is not
> difficult to
> > understand" (sic!)). I haven't been through the
> whole thing
> > with a nitpicker's magnifying glass, andI shudder
> at the very
> > thought of doing so. Going through the whole of
> V�lusp� in this
> > manner was a gruelling labour, even if I only did
> part of the real
> > work myself.
> >
> > If you are studying H�vam�l, I recommend David
> Evans' edition.
> > He doesn't translate, but the textual notes are
> really thorough,
> > and bring together most of the relevant
> scholarship. Faulkes'
> > glossary is also really helpful to the student.
> >
> > > I still think CL�s translation is one of the
> most accessible and
> > > relatively accurate versions around ...
> >
> > How can this translation be said to be "relatively
> accurate"?
> >
> > > > Ek man j�tna I, born of giants,
> > > > �R UM BORNA remember very early
> > > > �� er FOR�UM mik those who nurtured
> > > > f�dda h�f�u. me then.
> >
> > Or this one:
> >
> > > > Skuld helt skildi, Skuld held one shield,
> > > > en Sk�gul �NNUR Sk�gul another
> >
> > Or this:
> >
> > > > Baldrs br��ir var Baldr's brother was
> > > > of borinn SNEMMA, born very quickly
> >
> > Or this:
> >
> > > > Fyllisk fj�rvi The corpses of
> > > > feigra manna, doomed men fall,
> >
> > ... just to take a few examples. It seems to me
> that most of this
> > garbage is just about as "accurate" as an attempt
> by a less than
> > average second-year student in "�slenska fyrir
> erlenda st�denta" at
> > the U. of Ice.
> >
> > May I recommend that you read the Saga-Book review
> of Larrington's
> > translation, by Edward Pettit and John Porter?
> Among other things,
> > they said:
> >
> > "A detailed examination of her translation
> unfortunately shows it to
> > be riddled with basic errors and stylistic
> infelicities ..."
> >
> > And:
> >
> > "It is regrettable that Oxford University Press
> should lend its name
> > to a work of such deficient scholarship, still
> more regrettable that
> > as a result many new readers will place their
> trust in its accuracy."
> >
> > I share these regrets, and believe the unwary
> reader needs to be
> > told about them. If you choose to place your trust
> in Larrington's
> > "relative accuracy", and recommend it to others on
> the basis of
> > this trust, this is, of course, your own business,
> and none of mine.
> >
> > Regards, and good luck with your translation!
> > Pelle
> >
> > Sumir hafa kv��i...
> > ...a�rir spakm�li.
> >
> > - Keth
> >
> > Homepage: http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/
> >
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> > norse_course-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> >
> >
> > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
> --
> Daniel Bray
> dbray@...
> School of Studies in Religion A20
> University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia
>
> "Nobody believes the official spokesman... but
> everybody trusts an
> unidentified source." Ron Nesen
>
>
>

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