[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

I'm guessing quite a few people here have read Hamlet, so I ask you, is this what you read?


That is the first folio text.

Or did you read something a little more comprehensible to a modern audience, like this:

Originally Posted by murraypaul

So would it be wrong for someone to publish a modern English version of:

If it were properly described as a modern version, rather than the original text?

Again, there are two separate things, preservation and entertainment.
They are in conflict.
I see no problem with an entertainment-focused version of a book, provided it is correctly described, and doesn't hurt the availability of a preservation-focused version.

This does not seem to be a problem with the text...it seems to be a problem for the level of education of the reader. My education required me to read both the original and the modernized translations.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

No. I would simply prefer nothing were changed after that. But once it's in the public domain, it can be changed anytime someone wants to. That's the way PD works. But I also think that those who have a modicum of respect for the work will clearly indicate they're taking personal liberties with the original—if they're planning on redistributing those works under the exact same title. Even though it may never be required of them to do so.

Originally Posted by Muckraker

I do too. So do many readers. But can you safely claim that the spell of the text--the suspension of disbelief--will remain unbroken when a young US reader encounters a "faggot tossed in the fire." Is it right to let new readers flounder when it is absolutely unnecessary?

I know the intended meaning but a line like that is still a hiccup in even my enjoyment of the text.


If I was republishing Eliot would you approve of me adding footnotes with the translations of non-English lines? Because his intention was clearly to not provide such information. Is it wrong for me to make his work more accessible to readers of today even though accessibility was not his intention?

And if that is the case, how can we justify the translation of any public domain material? We don't know that the author would have wanted an Arabic edition of his book. I think it's safer to assume a writer would want a word changed if its meaning drastically changes than assume a writer wants their work translated into a different language. Translation, after all, is not an exact science. It can significantly alter meaning


My main point is that words are not as important as the ideas they represent and not all readers read to expand their understanding of the past. Some people read solely for pleasure and when the common definition of a single word has changed so drastically I see no problem changing that word to represent the idea the original writer intended so as to not throw a hiccup of unnecessary confusion in that pleasure reading.

We can assume a writer using the word "gay" two hundred years ago had no intention what-so-ever of it meaning anything other than what it meant two hundred years ago.


Yes. Because I know the original writer and editor were good at what they did. And no competent writer or editor today, creating books for world readers, would purposely and knowingly use a word that didn't represent the idea they were trying to convey. I believe the dead writers were competent and would release updated editions themselves if they were alive today. The burden of proof is on those assuming they would let the confusion stand.

This is the problem - you are dumbing down the work. One of the ways that people learn is from the past. What you are saying is that the past is too much for teh little darlings and we must update for them. My mom's favorite response when I came to her about a new word? Handing me a dictionary. And the OED works wonders.

While I can understand your zeal...things like dumbing down literary works are one of the major reasons that there are not a lot of Philologists running around. Students don't even learn about things like word etymology until they've declared a major in college.