Holey cow! When I put up
The Tale of Genji I thought it would not have a snow ball's chance in hell of even making it to the vote. So on the chance that it does actually become the selected book, or for those who might want to read it in any case, let me mention something about
translations [into English]. There are a number of translations out there (Yes again. What are you going to do?
), including some that are abridged. The two to consider, in my opinion, are the Seidensticker or Tyler translations. It is the Seidensticker translation that I have read, and the consensus seems to be that he takes some liberties with the translation, but in doing so actually makes the text more accessible to the modern reader and [paradoxically?] is truer to the 'feel' of the original. What seems to be said about the Tyler translation is that it is more faithfully literal, includes footnotes some may find useful, but is dryer than the Seidensticker translation. It's the old question, is a Literal literal translation the best? What I say is that it is probably not worth over worrying which translation one can obtain or choose to read.
So now we just need more of these books in contention to make it to the finals. I am actually surprised that
Ulysses has not done so. When I saw the category for this month that is the first book I thought of.
On that topic let me add a further plug for
Rabbit Boss. I read this over 20 years ago and would not mind at all reading it again. It is certainly not
Quote:
Originally Posted by sun surfer
Highly Challenging (especially difficult or long works we may be hesitant to choose otherwise)
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in the sense that
Ulysses (or
The Tale of Genji) are, but to elaborate a little on what information I have previously supplied . . .
As stated the book spans over 100 years, but this is not done in a linear fashion. The author continually jumps back and forth in time. Layered on top of that is that sometimes the author is writing about real events [for the book's characters], and sometime about their dreams and fantasies.
So any way, whatever book is chosen, I hope this will generate enough readers and discussion that this does not become a black hole month.