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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 30, 2017 8:31:29 GMT -5
Heh! Heh! Heh! I'm not sure I would agree... But I'm not sure Astérix can be translated successfully. The references are very, very French and Goscinny had an amazing way of turning a phrase; it would take an outstanding translator to go beyond the simple puns. I would definitely not bother with the Astérix books not written by Goscinny, though. In that, the series failed to do what Tintin did: present a uniformly great, classic series, without the slow death of the overextended title. What do you think Raider about Cinebook's translation of Iznogoud? I would give it a pass. Speaking of witch, here is some news: After Sixty Years, André Franquin’s Gaston To Be (Finally) Translated Into English, As Gomer GoofI'm afraid I've never come across those Cinebook translations, bran. Translating Gaston sounds like a good idea, as Franquin's humour is situational and would work in any language. I've no idea how to properly render Gaston's signature "...m'enfin", though! |
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rossn
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Post by rossn on Jun 30, 2017 12:04:47 GMT -5
The Crab with the Golden Claws (French: Le Crabe aux pinces d'or) Original publication dates: October 1940 – October 1941 First collected edition: 1941 (redrawn colour edition published in 1943) Author: Hergé Tintin visits: Belgium (Brussels), Sahara Desert, Morocco (Bagghar). Overall rating:   Another great review Confessor!  The Crab with the Golden Claws (a strangely Roger Moore-era Bondesque title!) is an odd little story. In many respects it is a step down from the books from The Blue Lotus onward - Lotus and King Ottokar's Sceptre are far political and complex (the first in research, the second in world building.) The Broken Ear is funnier and much darker (and i'd say has a pulpier feel too.) For pure adventure and villains The Black Island is just all around better even if I am less of a fan of it than some .
Crab is also the first book since Cigars of the Pharaoh that feels timeless in a negative way. All the Tintin books of the Thirties have some strong streak of the decade in their DNA. In some this very overt ( King Ottokar's Sceptre for instance could only be set in the late 1930s) but even in The Black Island with its allusions to The 39 Steps, King Kong and the Loch Ness Monster there is that period feel. Crab on the other hand feels oddly unmoored in time, so that it could be set anywhere in the first half of the 20th century. There is a very good reason for that of course - Belgium was under German occupation - but it feels jarring. The villain is very thin indeed here - Omar ben Salaad has perhaps the least personality of any Tintin villain (not counting villains not actually seen on page like Müsstler or Marshal Kûrvi-Tasch.) No wonder Allan outshines him! Hergé makes up for what is otherwise a fairly thin story in two ways. First some of the art is very beautiful with the desert in lush golden tones. Secondly and far more importantly we are introduced to Captain Haddock, my favourite character in the series and I suspect a lot of others too. I actually think he only starts coming into his own in the next story but it is wonderful to see him here.  |
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rossn
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Post by rossn on Jun 30, 2017 12:08:09 GMT -5
I'm not very familiar with Asterix at all. When I first got into Tintin, my best friend was reading Asterix and we used to have this rivalry about who was best. Obviously I was right and Tintin is infinitely superior to the little fella with the big moustache.  Heh! Heh! Heh! I'm not sure I would agree... But I'm not sure Astérix can be translated successfully. The references are very, very French and Goscinny had an amazing way of turning a phrase; it would take an outstanding translator to go beyond the simple puns. I would definitely not bother with the Astérix books not written by Goscinny, though. In that, the series failed to do what Tintin did: present a uniformly great, classic series, without the slow death of the overextended title. I've only read Asterix in English (Iznogoud too) and they seem pretty good, though obviously not being able to read French I can't directly compare them! |
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rossn
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Post by rossn on Jul 1, 2017 6:07:10 GMT -5
Roquefort Raider I found a blog which talks about the Asterix translations here.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 1, 2017 10:32:10 GMT -5
Roquefort Raider I found a blog which talks about the Asterix translations here. Man, those translators are indeed brilliant! I have to swallow my own words, they do make Astérix as good in English as it is in French! Thanks for the link! |
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Post by Confessor on Jul 1, 2017 12:16:33 GMT -5
The Crab with the Golden Claws (a strangely Roger Moore-era Bondesque title!) is an odd little story. In many respects it is a step down from the books from The Blue Lotus onward Hergé makes up for what is otherwise a fairly thin story in two ways. First some of the art is very beautiful with the desert in lush golden tones. Secondly and far more importantly we are introduced to Captain Haddock, my favourite character in the series and I suspect a lot of others too. I actually think he only starts coming into his own in the next story but it is wonderful to see him here. I concurr...and, in fact, I would go even further - I think it's the least good Tintin book since Tintin in the Congo. It's much, much better than that book, of course, but I still rate all of the books from Tintin in America to King Ottokar's Sceptre higher than The Crab with the Golden Claws. As I noted in my review, the introduction of Captain Haddock is a major selling point, but, with the exception of the scenes on the Karaboudjan, in the sea plane, and in the desert afterwards, this is a decidedly uninspired Hergé book. |
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Post by Confessor on Jul 1, 2017 12:21:36 GMT -5
By the way, how does everyone pronounce Hergé?
Myself, I've always called him Hur-jay, which I got from my Mum, who probably got it from the Belvision cartoons, but I was watching a BBC news report the other day and the reporter called him Hurge (as in surge). Which is right?
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 1, 2017 13:14:51 GMT -5
The difficult bit is the soft G in Hergé's name, pronounced as it is in "massage". I'd transliterate it as Air-Zhay.
The interviewer here says it twice a few seconds after the clip starts:
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Post by Confessor on Jul 1, 2017 13:24:20 GMT -5
The difficult bit is the soft G in Hergé's name, pronounced as it is in "massage". I'd transliterate it as Air-Zhay. The interviewer here says it twice a few seconds after the clip starts: Yeah...that's how I say it, with a "Zh" sound in the middle...although I tend to give it a bit of a harder "H" at the beginning. "Hurge" is definitely wrong then, as I suspected. |
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Post by rossn on Jul 1, 2017 13:42:26 GMT -5
Roquefort Raider I found a blog which talks about the Asterix translations here. Man, those translators are indeed brilliant! I have to swallow my own words, they do make Astérix as good in English as it is in French! Thanks for the link! No problem, glad to help. I love the books myself! According to Wikipedia apparently there was also a few less well known English translations. I've never actually read the very early British or any of the American translations (Britain and Ireland have the Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge translations like the ones I linked to on that blog.) |
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rossn
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Post by rossn on Jul 1, 2017 13:49:22 GMT -5
The Crab with the Golden Claws (a strangely Roger Moore-era Bondesque title!) is an odd little story. In many respects it is a step down from the books from The Blue Lotus onward Hergé makes up for what is otherwise a fairly thin story in two ways. First some of the art is very beautiful with the desert in lush golden tones. Secondly and far more importantly we are introduced to Captain Haddock, my favourite character in the series and I suspect a lot of others too. I actually think he only starts coming into his own in the next story but it is wonderful to see him here. I concurr...and, in fact, I would go even further - I think it's the least good Tintin book since Tintin in the Congo. It's much, much better than that book, of course, but I still rate all of the books from Tintin in America to King Ottokar's Sceptre higher than The Crab with the Golden Claws. As I noted in my review, the introduction of Captain Haddock is a major selling point, but, with the exception of the scenes on the Karaboudjan, in the sea plane, and in the desert afterwards, this is a decidedly uninspired Hergé book. Yeah that's fair. Luckily I think the next book, which admittedly has some problems, is much better. BTW Confessor I've been thinking over your suggestion of doing reviews. I'm still weighing up ideas so I might get back to you! One thing I was considering was 'Obscure Star Wars' - I have the Wild Space omnibus volumes that Dark Horse printed and there is some interesting stuff from the 1990s there. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2017 15:19:11 GMT -5
The difficult bit is the soft G in Hergé's name, pronounced as it is in "massage". I'd transliterate it as Air-Zhay. The interviewer here says it twice a few seconds after the clip starts: Thanks for this clip - I find it interesting to know who his name is pronounced here. |
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Post by Confessor on Jul 2, 2017 1:53:45 GMT -5
I concurr...and, in fact, I would go even further - I think it's the least good Tintin book since Tintin in the Congo. It's much, much better than that book, of course, but I still rate all of the books from Tintin in America to King Ottokar's Sceptre higher than The Crab with the Golden Claws. As I noted in my review, the introduction of Captain Haddock is a major selling point, but, with the exception of the scenes on the Karaboudjan, in the sea plane, and in the desert afterwards, this is a decidedly uninspired Hergé book. Yeah that's fair. Luckily I think the next book, which admittedly has some problems, is much better. Agreed. Actually, The Shooting Star is a bit of a sentimental favourite of mine. BTW Confessor I've been thinking over your suggestion of doing reviews. I'm still weighing up ideas so I might get back to you! One thing I was considering was 'Obscure Star Wars' - I have the Wild Space omnibus volumes that Dark Horse printed and there is some interesting stuff from the 1990s there. Obscure Star Wars comics sounds like a neat idea. There are also some oddities from the Dark Horse years that you could add to that, like the Wizard X-Wing Rogue Squadron #½ issue and the Tales from Mos Eisley one-shot. I think a lot of Wild Space volume 1 is the Marvel UK stuff, which I covered in my SW review thread (not that you couldn't review those issues again if you wanted), but there's lots of weird and wonderful stuff in volume 2, I believe. |
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Post by Luis H. Reina on Jul 20, 2017 18:41:29 GMT -5
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (French: Tintin au pays des Soviets)Original publication dates: January 1929 – May 1930 First collected edition: 1930 Author: Hergé Tintin visits: Belgium (Brussels), Germany (Berlin), Soviet Union (Moscow, Belarus, Stolbtsy), Poland (Second Polish Republic) I just read your ...Land of the Soviets review and enjoyed it very much. Subpar in many ways, this book is nevertheless very important, being the origin of the canon. I would just want to add some trivia, the status of this book as political propaganda is undisputed, I can't reveal my sources but I know for a fact that it was used in counter-insurgency courses worldwide as an example of good practices in propaganda aimed at children. One has to remember that although Tintin is not well known in the US, it is huge in Europe, Latin America, and parts of Africa and the Middle East. I'm really looking forward to reading your other Tintin reviews and will do so in the following weeks. Regards, Luis |
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Post by Confessor on Jul 22, 2017 12:19:50 GMT -5
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (French: Tintin au pays des Soviets)Original publication dates: January 1929 – May 1930 First collected edition: 1930 Author: Hergé Tintin visits: Belgium (Brussels), Germany (Berlin), Soviet Union (Moscow, Belarus, Stolbtsy), Poland (Second Polish Republic) I just read your ...Land of the Soviets review and enjoyed it very much. Thanks. Glad you enjoyed reading it. I would just want to add some trivia, the status of this book as political propaganda is undisputed, I can't reveal my sources but I know for a fact that it was used in counter-insurgency courses worldwide as an example of good practices in propaganda aimed at children. Wow! Now that is interesting. I had no idea. Fascinating. |
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