Thank you for the responce and the information. It is
very important that i have a translation i may count
on. I am researching my ancesstors life style and i do
not want to be misled by a subjective translation. So
is there a a copy availeble to me in the USA?
--- Pelle Erobreren <hveenegaard@...> wrote:
> >From: Kevin Steffen <modeldsnr@...>
> >Out of curiosity, what is the opinion of the
> quality of the Benjamin
> >Thorpe and I.A. Blackwell translations (1906)? My
> only complaint is
> >that it does not have the original Old Norse text
> so I can try to follow
> >along and see what I can learn.
>
> I'm not sure if you are referring to one or two
> translations here.
> I'm not familiar with Blackwell, but I have seen a
> translation by
> Thorpe which is dated 1866. Is Thorpe/Blackwell
> perhaps a revised
> edition of this?
>
> However, I was pleasantly surprised by Thorpe's
> translation, because
> its age indicated a pretty bad one. However, I have
> found it to be
> surprisingly accurate for such an old translation.
> That said, please
> understand I am not saying it is without serious
> faults. There are
> some pretty bad bloopers there, as in most other
> translations, but
> in many cases it is more accurate than, say,
> Hollander.
>
> I wish I could simply recommend one good translation
> to you and all
> others who care about accuracy, but this is
> something I simply can't
> do. The only translatation which I consider to be
> accurate enough for
> unreserved recommendation is Dronke's, but this is
> neither complete
> nor affordable.
>
> >From: Gary Spaulding <baldr369@...> I have a
> translation of the edda
> >by Lee M. Hollander
> >would this be a book i should count on?
>
> As Haukur has already stated here, Hollander's
> translation is
> quite readable, and "fairly" accurate. However,
> Hollander's attempts
> to imitate the Old Icelandic poetic metres are often
> ludicrous, and
> frequently result in extreme "poetic licence". His
> wild searches for
> alliterating words tend to make him sacrifice
> accuracy in a big way,
> and make up things from his own imagination.
>
> If you're just looking for a poetic translation,
> where accuracy doesn't
> matter very much, Hollander is probably not a bad
> choice. At least he
> understood the language pretty well. When his
> translation is less than
> accurate (or badly inaccurate) it is usually not
> because he misunderstood
> the language (like Larrington), but because the
> poetic constraints he set
> himself forced him to translate very loosely, add
> words from his own heart,
> and delete words which are there in the source text.
> He is particularly
> prone to adding vivid adjectives, which are not
> there in the original poems,
> which is rather unfortunate, as the style of the
> originals is not exactly
> rich in descriptive adjectives. Here is a small
> example from Hymiskvi�a 13
> (5-8):
>
> Fram gengu �eir,
> en forn j�tunn
> sj�num leiddi
> sinn andskota.
>
> Literally:
>
> Forth they stepped,
> and the ancient giant
> beheld with the eyes
> his adversary.
>
> But Hollander changes the meaning of the only
> adjective ("ancient")
> and adds an adjective and an adverb which are not
> there in the text:
>
> Then forth they came.
> The fell etin
> grimly eyed then
> his old foeman.
>
> The "ancient" giant has become "fell", and he now
> looks "grimly"
> upon the young Thor, who is now his "old" foeman.
> I'm sure you
> will agree that the tone of this neutral-sounding
> half-stanza has
> been totally changed, and loaded with a threatening
> atmosphere,
> which is not at all there in the original text.
>
> This kind of thing is probably fine for those who
> don't care much
> about the accuracy here, and are not averse to
> having the narrative
> spiced up a bit. But for those who want to study the
> old texts in
> depth, this kind of licence is simply disastrous,
> and may, in many
> cases, cause you to reach conclusions which are not
> warranted by the
> source material.
>
> Regards
> Pelle
>
> P.S. - Since Thorpe was mentioned, here's how he
> renders the lines
> quoted above:
>
> The two came forth,
> but the old J�tun
> with eyes surveyed
> his adversary.
>
> Which is as accurate as can be. Nothing lost,
> nothing added (apart
> the word "two" - which is perfectly innocent and
> acceptable). [And
> I'd better mention that Larrington's translation is
> quite acceptable
> here! It is, in fact, very difficult to make a mess
> of these simple lines,
> unless you try really hard, like Hollander.]
>
> P.
>
>
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>
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