Quote:
Originally Posted by Billsuits1
I finished the two part series called Off on a Comet. I read the McKay version for the first part To the Sun but I could not find the second half by the same publisher. I did a little searching and located the entire book as written by Munro in 1877 on the following website.
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/book...Servadac02.htm
It is suppose to be a a literal translation. I just downloaded it as text and put it in my reader.
The book was very good but the ending kind of left me empty. And there is some antisemitism in the novel that is kind of painful at times.
Next I am going back to South Africa for The Star of the South. Google has a free translation available for download. |
I have this in the Delphi Classcis series. Here's some prefatory material:
OFF ON A COMET
Translated by Charles F. Horne,
First published under the French title Hector Servadac in 1877, this novel tells the story of John Herschel, who observes Comet Halley from his observatory in Cape Town in 1835. The narrative begins with a comet that touches the Earth in its flight and collects a few small chunks of it.
Here's the first opening scene, just to give you a flavor for the translation:
CHAPTER I. A CHALLENGE
“Nothing, sir, can induce me to surrender my claim.”
“I am sorry, count, but in such a matter your views cannot modify mine.”
“But allow me to point out that my seniority unquestionably gives me a prior right.”
“Mere seniority, I assert, in an affair of this kind, cannot possibly entitle you to any prior claim whatever.”
“Then, captain, no alternative is left but for me to compel you to yield at the sword’s point.”
“As you please, count; but neither sword nor pistol can force me to forego my pretensions. Here is my card.”
“And mine.”
This rapid altercation was thus brought to an end by the formal interchange of the names of the disputants. On one of the cards was inscribed:
Captain Hector Servadac,
Staff Officer, Mostaganem.
On the other was the title:
Count Wassili Timascheff,
I have yet to read this.
Who publishes the McKay version?
Don