What matters most to you when reading a good book?

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Regarding Les Miserables:

My one concern is how the book will survive the conversion process. In the book, songs and poems were left in French with translations available via footnotes. Hopefully buying an .AZW version from Amazon, using Calibre to convert it to ePub and then convert that to kepub doesn't wreck things.

I could just buy the kepub from Kobo, but odds are I won't.

You could try kindleunpack to get the epub from the azw. That is supposed to give the closest epub to the epub uploaded to amazon by the publisher if you are starting with azw3/kf8.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I've decided to go with the Signet Classics Fahnestock/MacAfee translation

I really don't think that's a good decision. The Fahnestock/MacAfee translation is the original 1862 translation by Wilbour with its language modernised. As such, it's a typical "redacted" Victorian translation. You won't be reading what Hugo actually wrote, but a version of it filtered for the delicate sensibilities of Victorian England. I really would strongly recommend getting one of the two modern translations already mentioned.

[ottdmk]

I can't say anything as to the quality of its translation, but I really enjoyed the Penguin Classics translation of The Count of Monte Cristo (complete and unabridged.) Dumas just works for me.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I really don't think that's a good decision. The Fahnestock/MacAfee translation is the original 1862 translation by Wilbour with its language modernised. As such, it's a typical "redacted" Victorian translation. You won't be reading what Hugo actually wrote, but a version of it filtered for the delicate sensibilities of Victorian England. I really would strongly recommend getting one of the two modern translations already mentioned.

If you have more than one translation, can you give some examples? I know a lot of translations are abridged. But the Fahnestock/MacAfee is completely unabridged.

The only one I know of that was bowdlerized was an anonymous translation by someone calling themselves "A.F."

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

If you have more than one translation, can you give some examples? I know a lot of translations are abridged. But the Fahnestock/MacAfee is completely unabridged.

The only one I know of that was bowdlerized was an anonymous translation by someone calling themselves "A.F."

I'm afraid I can't give you any specific examples for this book, but I'm speaking from the perspective of having read an awful lot of translated classics, and having learned the issues that are invariably associated with Victorian translations. There's a very good reason that modern translations are being done!

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Audible has the unabridged Julie Rose translation. My nephew bought it so he could listen to it for class. 60 hours long.

I read about the Julie Rose translation and though otherwise the writing was praised, it was slogged for inappropriately inserting modern slang (an inn is referred to as a 'greasy spoon', a character says "what's up"). That does seem like something I would find jarring.

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'd recommend the 2013 translation by Christine Donougher, published by Penguin Classics. Very reasonably priced.

As mentioned, it's not so reasonably priced here. But, I found a different edition of the Donougher translation, with a cover tying into the BBC adaption and that one is marked down to $4.99 at Amazon. That's cheaper than the Signet Classics translation I was looking at and several people on review boards I checked said her translation is the best of the modern ones. I snapped it up.

It's weird that it's even listed for sale here in the States. I don't remember the BBC adaption of Les Mis making a splash here the way, say, Sherlock did. Penguin appear to be undercutting their own book by offering it in two different Kindle editions: This one at $9.99 and this one at $4.99. I guess it's the introduction that makes all the difference.

[HarryT]

Good choice. Enjoy it!

[ElspethB]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

It's weird that it's even listed for sale here in the States. I don't remember the BBC adaption of Les Mis making a splash here the way, say, Sherlock did. Penguin appear to be undercutting their own book by offering it in two different Kindle editions: This one at $9.99 and this one at $4.99. I guess it's the introduction that makes all the difference.

It hasn't aired here in the US yet. According to the PBS Masterpiece website, it's supposed to premiere on April 14.

Glad you found a less expensive version of the same translation!

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by ElspethB

It hasn't aired here in the US yet. According to the PBS Masterpiece website, it's supposed to premiere on April 14.

Thanks for that. I'd heard about the adaptation, but don't watch TV much, so just assumed it aired here already.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's actually perfectly possible to make a general statement about Victorian translations, for one very simple reason.

Victorian Britain was a society in which cultural norms severely curtailed what could be published. Not only in terms of material of a sexual nature, but in all sorts of other ways too. That state of affairs did not prevail elsewhere in Europe, so novels translated in Victorian times are almost invariably heavily "censored" to remove material not suitable for a British audience. That doesn't mean that such translations are without literary merit, but you are not reading what the author actually wrote.

Thanks for that, it had not occurred to me, but is very obvious now you mention it.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Regarding Les Miserables:
I found this thread on Goodreads regarding different translations to be helpful: Les Misérables question: Which translation?

The free Gutenberg translation is the Hapgood version.

I've decided to go with the Signet Classics Fahnestock/MacAfee translation based on this comment:

You are clearly more well-versed on the book than I, however Gutenberg had two versions for free, which I mentioned, though I only linked to one of them directly.

The second version comes in 5 parts, and is by a different translator.
Here is Part 1 - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48731

What HarryT says may still apply though.