I cannot emphasize strongly enough

[james_davis_nicoll]

that secondary world fantasies are set in entirely invented worlds to which Earth's actual history may have little to no relevance.

Comments

[karinfromnosund]

You know, it is perfectly possible to translate poetry. There are people who do that. Poets, actually

[philrm]

I can't comment on the Polish originals, but Michael Sandel's translations of the poems produced by Trurl's Electronic Bard in the First Sally (A) of The Cyberiad are works of sheer genius.

[mindstalk]

Kandel, not Sandel, but yes.

[philrm]

Arrgh! I have no idea how I typed Kandel's name as 'Sandel', especially as I had just pulled the book off the shelf to check which section the Electronic Bard appears in. (At least there is a Michael Sandel, although he's a political philosopher rather than a translator.)

[alexseanchai]

I suspect what anon is objecting to—re secondary-world poetry; I am certain of what anon is objecting to about non-rhyming poetry composed in English and anon is 100% entitled to be 100% wrong—is the thing where like, someone looks for the first time at an inscription in ancient Egyptican hieroglyphics or whatever, and reads it out loud in English without spending more than ten seconds looking at it first, and it's rhyming couplets.

which is an entirely fair objection that is entirely likely to have no bearing whatsoever on whatever poetry is in the book. not least because, sure, the dwarves aren't speaking English when they're singing about smashing plates and things Bilbo Baggins hates, but Tolkien in translating to English decided to prioritize preserving the rhyme and rhythm.