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Originally Posted by Billi
Thanks, BelleZora, for the very interesting link and the explanations regarding the translations.
I just got my library copy and can start reading this evening. I think this book is a good companion to "Testament of Youth" and "The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon" as well as "All Quiet on the Western Front" and "The Rites of Spring" from the general book club this year. We now have the First World War broadly covered!
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Yes, and having read
A Soldier on the Southern Front: The Classic Italian Memoir of World War I by Emilio Lussu last April I can add the Italian soldier's experience as well. What I have never read, or at least never read a book where it was the focus, was the experience of a Russian soldier in World War I. Many books where the war is mentioned as a prelude or a cause to the Russian Revolution, but none that really says much about the experience of Russian fighting men during [Czarist] Russia's participation. I can understand that the revolution sucked all the oxygen out of the room in terms of writing about anything else, but it is odd considering what the cost to
Russia was in terms of casualties in WWI.
Perhaps our resident WWI scholar knows of a literary grade effort for a Russian soldier? Any suggestions Issybird?
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Originally Posted by BelleZora
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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I went with the free ebook version because it was free and an ebook. Early on though when I encountered this piece of dialog I wondered if I should rethink:
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"Another night gone, old chap."
"Yes, sonny; how many more like it still?"
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I'm getting into it just fine now though. I really enjoyed how Barbusse set the stage in the first chapter.