One of the books I want to read over the summer is Don Quixote by Cervantes. I have a "Border's Classic" hardcover edition at home, but it is missing a prologue and the beginning poems...I'm not sure why - it seems to me that both of the missing parts are essential for the novel.
Over the weekend I went to Barnes&Noble to pick up a different copy - but like with Dostoevsky's writings, I wanted to have the best translation available. I read the first sentence of the first chapter in every single edition that the store had (around 10) and all of them were very different - some of them sounded downright wrong - one edition even changed the format of the first paragraph by merging it with the second. Here is an example of one of these
translations (the missing word is "remember").
This is a translation from Gutenberg Project's copy:
CHAPTER I.
WHICH TREATS OF THE CHARACTER AND PURSUITS OF THE FAMOUS GENTLEMAN DON
QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA
In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to call to
mind, there lived not long since one of those gentlemen that keep a lance
in the lance-rack, an old buckler, a lean hack, and a greyhound for
coursing. An olla of rather more beef than mutton, a salad on most
nights, scraps on Saturdays, lentils on Fridays, and a pigeon or so extra
on Sundays, made away with three-quarters of his income. The rest of it
went in a doublet of fine cloth and velvet breeches and shoes to match
for holidays, while on week-days he made a brave figure in his best
homespun. He had in his house a housekeeper past forty, a niece under
twenty, and a lad for the field and market-place, who used to saddle the
hack as well as handle the bill-hook. The age of this gentleman of ours
was bordering on fifty; he was of a hardy habit, spare, gaunt-featured, a
very early riser and a great sportsman. They will have it his surname was
Quixada or Quesada (for here there is some difference of opinion among
the authors who write on the subject), although from reasonable
conjectures it seems plain that he was called Quexana. This, however, is
of but little importance to our tale; it will be enough not to stray a
hair's breadth from the truth in the telling of it.
I know that translations of
such books are really hard to do as the translators have to balance two things: to immitate the author stylistically, and at the same time to give the most accurate translation.
I usually trust the "Modern Library" editions the most, both the prologue and that first sentence read "the best" but how could I be certain? So, does anyone know who does the best translation of this book - or who is known to be the best?
Also, next time you have some time to waste at a bookstore do the same experiment with a few different translations.
