I forgot to mention that a member of the North American Jules Verne Society died a few years leaving a considerable sum of money to the Society to sponsor translations of Verne's works. These are modern translations and named the Palik series in the honor late Mr. Palik.
I just finished reading Journey to the Center of the Earth in the original French and stumbled across this video. I'm shocked that so few of his works have received a proper translation into English. Having grown up thinking that Verne was a children's book author, I was shocked at how highly technical Journey was especially with regards to the geology and the equipment involved in an actual expedition. This was easily the most challenging book I've read in a non-native language (my first being English) but this video is making me consider reading some of his lesser known (in the Anglosphere) books and maybe taking a stab at doing some translation of my own. Thanks for posting this video!
Verne's major novels like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Mysterious Island, Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Around the World in Eighty Days can all be traced b ack to the town of Birkenhead, opposite Liverpool.
It's true some of Verne's more popular works were butchered by publishers and editors mostly in the U.S, as I recall. One editor would cut out the first sentence in every translated paragraph. sometimes all but the last.. Since 19th century writers tended to write lengthy sentences packed with lots of information included in many subordinate clauses this really made a hash out of what Verne was saying and is probably one of the reasons Verne was considered a children's author, a label which has stuck with him to this day. There was a professor at an American University that had retranslated several of Verne's works but although I met him, I've forgotten his name. As it happens, I am a translator of Verne's works, not of his novels, but of his plays (He wrote, I believe, around 25 plays). He actually started out as a playwright and was working at Alexandre Dumas pere's Theatre Historique before he became a novelist. He wrote a play with Dumas pere's son and they became close friends. Around the World in 80 Days began as a play that he wrote with Victor Cadol. It was not successful, and Verne later novelized it. It was later re-adapted as a play by Adolphe D'Ennery. along with several other plays derived from Verne's novels. Recently, a play of Verne was discovered in the Arsenal in Paris where copies were kept for the Censorhip. That play is The Voyage Through the Impossible(adapterd by D'Ennery); Another great play, based on his novel Mathias Sandorf was written by William Busnach in 1877. I also translated a collection of Verne's short plays for the North American Jules Verrne Society.(Mr. Chimp and other plays.) These translations are available on Amazon. Frank Morlock author/translator
Ça m’étonne que tu dises ça parce que je suis justement en train de lire mon deuxième Verne, et j’admirais le talent de ce monsieur à pondre un roman qui me soit très intéressant à la mi-trentaine mais qui pourtant me semble accessible à un enfant pas trop con de 12 ans. (Une dualité rare dans la littérature.) Après tout, il est considéré même dans la francophobie comme un auteur de jeunesse, et fut d’ailleurs publié à l’origine dans une revue s’adressant à ce public.
I see my brother has left a comment. He should have said a bit more. Want to know the real-life inspiration for Captain Nemo and his amazing Nautilus? Verne left a clue in his 1864 masterpiece "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth ". The name "ARNE SAKNUSSEMM" is a hidden cipher. If you can't work it out the answer is in article 32 of his website "Jules Verne and the heroes of Birkenhead ".
(I just added a comment about this to the wrong video, so I deleted it and I'm adding this one here -- sorry about that!) Your link lists 24 works of Verne with "recommended" translations -- that seems like a pretty good percentage, doesn't it?
Haha well 24 certainly isn't too bad but considering Verne is the second most translated author in the world, I wouldn't say no to a collected works :)
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I forgot to mention that a member of the North American Jules Verne Society died a few years leaving a considerable sum of money to the Society to sponsor translations of Verne's works. These are modern translations and named the Palik series in the honor late Mr. Palik.
I just finished reading Journey to the Center of the Earth in the original French and stumbled across this video. I'm shocked that so few of his works have received a proper translation into English. Having grown up thinking that Verne was a children's book author, I was shocked at how highly technical Journey was especially with regards to the geology and the equipment involved in an actual expedition. This was easily the most challenging book I've read in a non-native language (my first being English) but this video is making me consider reading some of his lesser known (in the Anglosphere) books and maybe taking a stab at doing some translation of my own. Thanks for posting this video!
Verne's major novels like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Mysterious Island, Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Around the World in Eighty Days can all be traced b ack to the town of Birkenhead, opposite Liverpool.
It's true some of Verne's more popular works were butchered by publishers and editors mostly in the U.S, as I recall. One editor would cut out the first sentence in every translated paragraph. sometimes all but the last.. Since 19th century writers tended to write lengthy sentences packed with lots of information included in many subordinate clauses this really made a hash out of what Verne was saying and is probably one of the reasons Verne was considered a children's author, a label which has stuck with him to this day. There was a professor at an American University that had retranslated several of Verne's works but although I met him, I've forgotten his name.
As it happens, I am a translator of Verne's works, not of his novels, but of his plays (He wrote, I believe, around 25 plays). He actually started out as a playwright and was working at Alexandre Dumas pere's Theatre Historique before he became a novelist. He wrote a play with Dumas pere's son and they became close friends. Around the World in 80 Days began as a play that he wrote with Victor Cadol. It was not successful, and Verne later novelized it. It was later re-adapted as a play by Adolphe D'Ennery. along with several other plays derived from Verne's novels.
Recently, a play of Verne was discovered in the Arsenal in Paris where copies were kept for the Censorhip. That play is The Voyage Through the Impossible(adapterd by D'Ennery); Another great play, based on his novel Mathias Sandorf was written by William Busnach in 1877. I also translated a collection of Verne's short plays for the North American Jules Verrne Society.(Mr. Chimp and other plays.) These translations are available on Amazon.
Frank Morlock
author/translator
A
I had no idea 80 Days started as a play, nor about the rediscovery of Voyage Through The Impossible. Thanks for the reply Frank, very interesting!
Ça m’étonne que tu dises ça parce que je suis justement en train de lire mon deuxième Verne, et j’admirais le talent de ce monsieur à pondre un roman qui me soit très intéressant à la mi-trentaine mais qui pourtant me semble accessible à un enfant pas trop con de 12 ans. (Une dualité rare dans la littérature.) Après tout, il est considéré même dans la francophobie comme un auteur de jeunesse, et fut d’ailleurs publié à l’origine dans une revue s’adressant à ce public.
I see my brother has left a comment. He should have said a bit more. Want to know the real-life inspiration for Captain Nemo and his amazing Nautilus? Verne left a clue in his 1864 masterpiece "A Journey to the Centre of the Earth ". The name "ARNE SAKNUSSEMM" is a hidden cipher. If you can't work it out the answer is in article 32 of his website "Jules Verne and the heroes of Birkenhead ".
Great Video,thanks for sharing.
(I just added a comment about this to the wrong video, so I deleted it and I'm adding this one here -- sorry about that!)
Your link lists 24 works of Verne with "recommended" translations -- that seems like a pretty good percentage, doesn't it?
Haha well 24 certainly isn't too bad but considering Verne is the second most translated author in the world, I wouldn't say no to a collected works :)
Dick Sands Boy Captain (African Slavery), Mathias Sandorf (dedicated to Alexander Dumas); Off on a Comet (is it an allegory/satire about Europeans)