Jules Verne Translations?

[seawasp]

As some may know, the original translations of Jules Verne's masterpieces -- Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Around the World in 80 Days, The Mysterious Island, and others -- were terribly edited, sometimes bowdlerized, and poorly translated; as one example, roughly 25% of the original Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was REMOVED. Yes, the novel most of us know should have been a third again as long, and the pieces removed, or badly edited, did major damage to the coherence and accuracy of the novel, making Verne look less educated than he actually was. The truly shocking thing is that many of those original translations remain the basis of most published versions to this day. The truly astounding thing is that despite such mangling, they still became enormously popular over here.

Back in (I think) 1993, the Naval Institute Press produced a fully restored and annotated Twenty Thousand Leagues. This is the one I've taken as the gold standard since.

However, at Albacon I spoke with someone who said there is a more recent and even better translation (better not in that it has more restored -- the Naval Institute version did that fine -- but in that it's a better written translation).

This sparked a desire in me to know what Verne novels have had full-length well-done translations to English performed relatively recently (past few decades) and whether they're available. I'd really like to read the full versions if someone's done a good job of translating them.

Any input?

Comments

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

I believe Bison Press (an imprint of University of Nebraska Press) has done several recent translations.

The Golden Volcano, Lighthouse at the End of the World, The Meteor Hunt, and The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz.

Hesperus published a translation of A Fantasy of Doctor Ox.

Of course, Random House published a translation of Paris in the Twentieth Century.

[shana.livejournal.com]

Do you remember which was the translation he recommended?

[ninjarat.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering if this is what you are looking for:
http://www.amazon.com/000-Leagues-Under-Unabridged-Classics/dp/140272599X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289321390&sr=1-1

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Just where, online, do the Verne experts hang out?

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

The artist and space historian Ron Miller (Wikipedia entry) did his own translations of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, From the Earth to the Moon, and Journey to the Center of the Earth, and illustrated them with his own paintings. You might ask him for other recommended translations.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Okay, I think I've found a good starting point, an article by Arthur B. Evans.

Jules Verne’s English Translations
Arthur B. Evans

Science Fiction Studies, XXXII:1 #95 (March 2005): 80-104.

ABSTRACT

This article offers a detailed comparison of the original French editions of Jules Verne’s Voyages Extraordinaires and their English translations. Many of Verne’s most popular novels were severely abridged, simplified, and ideologically censored in their English-language versions. Several of these bowdlerized translations became the “standard” editions of Verne’s works in the UK and the US and are still being published today. As a result, most anglophone readers of Verne have never had the opportunity to read the real Verne. It seems clear that these poor translations are largely responsible for Verne’s reputation in anglophone countries as a prescient but non-literary writer of adventure stories for children. More modern and accurate English translations of Verne’s oeuvre are needed to correct this misconception.

[technocracygirl.livejournal.com]

I had no clue about this. I must now track down a good copy of 20,000 Leagues. Nemo was my first schoolgirl fannish crush. Thank you!

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

I didn't know there had been recent translations, but I want them now. I used to have several of his books in the original French. I wouldn't be able to read them now, but I did notice some changes back when I could.