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I ordered the paperback Penguin edition translated by Robin Buss from Amazon on Saturday. It arrived on the front porch early yesterday - Sunday - delivered by a USPS truck. Amazon has become stunningly efficient.
In the Translator's Note, Buss writes that much of the novel is written in dialogue using the language of the French soldiers in the trenches. He was able to restore some of the language omitted in Wray's translation because English printers are no longer so easily offended. What Buss tried to do was adopt a language that conveys the feel of the slang used by Barbusse without making it too specific or obscure, making the book "more immediate and less musty". For me, this was worth the $11.44 price tag.
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