Out of the Page gives you the story behind the writer.
We walk through the lives of the greatest creative minds to find out what inspired their works of art. Hopefully you'll discover some underappreciated writers you hadn't heard of alongside those you already know and love.
Not only translators butchered Verne's stories. Even his publisher demanded changes due to political correctness and corporal greed... The original intention of Jules Verne was to make Captain Nemo a Pole, a participant of the Polish January Uprising against the occupation of Poland by the Russian Empire, and it was planned that Nemo would sink Russian warships. However the publisher, Pierre-Jules Hetzel, strongly objected this for fear of losing Russian book market: the book would be banned by Russian censorship. In addition, Hetzel felt that the book would undermine French-Russian relations.
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!
I recently read "Ballad of the Sad Cafe" and was blown away by her writing. The atmosphere evoked by so few words - and the descriptions of people, places and moments left me wanting to read more of her works. Thank you for your brief and insightful presentation about this remarkable talented writer.
Fabulous, poetic novella - well worth a second reading. Le Grand Meaulnes (pronounced as the English 'moan' by the way) should have been a foretaste of a long and productive literary career. Thank goodness he completed it so young. In French, you seldom pronounce the last consonant of a word unless it is followed by an 'e'. Thank you for this lovely review. It is wonderful for this book to be given the attention it deserves.
Read it three or so years ago, and still haven't made my mind up about it. Sad, strange, maybe a little alienating (for some), but worth reading certainly.
If I want to start reading Richard's work where is a good place to begin? Are these Pilgrimage novels sequential or does it matter where to start? Thanks!
While I have heard of Clarel, I have never attempted to read it... Thanks to your prompting, I will! Excellent video - great to see you again - I am off to read!
I agree. I loved "Voss" more than any other Aussie book. Especially Laura and Voss's communication to each other, over distance. (As aboriginal people could sometimes do.)( For the sceptics, the British Army's Long Range Desert Group could do it too.) Eye of the storm and Riders in the Chariot were good too. But "Bryce Courtney's Power of One"and Tandia and ?Whitethorn sequels are next choice. Regards.
I read this novel maybe 30 years ago or more and I found it very profound as each character searches for understanding and meaning in their lives. Singer, in some ways, is a God figure who they can mold into a personal deity. It certainly is one of the great novels of the 20th century and its themes mirror the struggles of living in the modern world. This was a wonderful summation of Carson's life. Thanks for your video!!
Years ago, I read all of her fiction and a biography of her, and I considered "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" and "Ballad of a Sad Cafe" to be the best among her works. Both seemed to me to be highly original, striking, memorable, unique.
I think I might have one or more of her books. I grew up with Ida being a legend in my family. One of my more colorful storytelling ancestors claimed she was related to us. I never confirmed but I'll stick to his story. It was a delight thinking that a fabulously adventurous woman could have shared genes with me, the most cowardly of solo-travelers!
I have the privilege of living in a garret in the Carson McCullers House. The solitude here nurtures my work as a storyteller. There are no ghosts, but this place haunts the soul with McCuller's presence. The walls and windows to the ever-moving Hudson conspire.
You are indeed fortunate to be in the presence of her essence...when I read her work, there is an undercurrent of empathy, kindness and love for people and their suffering. Best Wishes to you and your story-telling!
This is a well considered video. I have read other Patrick White novels and have had Voss in the back of my mind for a while. I'm stuck on a Richard Flannagan's The Sound of One Hand Clapping which is also powerful. One of my problems with Patrick White is not about his writing but that he was an arrogant man. One must seperate art from personality of course. I just love Aussie Lit though. It's an endless mine of gems.
I visited Rimbaud's home while visiting the township of Harar, Ethipoia w/ my French Friends, one researching their Family Ethiopian roots, that is when I was introduced to Rimbaud & his Poetry. ;)
I’m a prose poet working on my first novel. It mirrors Ray Bradbury’s stitched together novel style. With this out of the way let me say I feel blessed to have learned writers like Carson exist, and they all share one of the many diseases that bless, curse, and ultimately destroy the writer….loneliness, feeling unloved. God bless you Carson. You’re not unloved and I pray you have forgotten what loneliness feels like or means, and how you have helped keep this writer from killing himself. And good upload 🙂
To late comers and others: Don’t kid yourselves, it absolutely matters that the translation should rhyme if the poems being translated rhyme! Some non-rhyming translators have done workmanlike, mildly evocative, “OK” to “decent” translations of Baudelaire, but if you wish to truly experience his work as closely as is at all possible in English, only the Dillon-Millay translation will suffice! It should in truth be called the “Millay-Dillon” translation, as, while Edna Millay essentially hijacked the Idea from her friend (and soon to be lover and “boy toy”… all quite dearly scandalous!) George Dillon, she then absolutely owned the lion’s share of the project, and it’s also an exceedingly good thing that she did! Millay was not only a poetic genius in her own right, but she also, with “only” a BA from Vassar, had an effective PhD level awareness of every aspect of the art and science of poetry! Her exhaustive introduction and concise and excellent (but brief!) biography of Baudelaire is all most would ever require in this regard! Indeed I have read two book length Baudelaire bio’s and parts of a third, and other than for the photographs, none really had anything to show Millay’s, other than endless regurgitations of his endless, whiny appeals to his mother for financial support! My one mild criticism of the book would be that, while George Dillon was a capable poet and spoke French fluently, I think his translations could be a bit stronger! While it is most undoubtedly the case that Millay served as his editor and reviser, the fact of their frequent “congress” (in the sack!), perhaps took a greater toll on our poor Mr. Dillon! Still, Millay would have never allowed anything to reach print that was truly sub par, so nonetheless, IT’S ALL GOOD! To learn more of the juicy details of the Millay-Dillon tryst and the poetry translation project, I will have to refer you to Nancy Milford’s most excellent “Savage Beauty, the Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay” (Random House, 2001)… I am unsure whether the original 1936 Harper and Brothers edition of this translation of “Les Fleurs du Mail” has ever been reprinted (l’m not a “poetry expert,” but I play one on TV!), but original copies remain extant, and can surely be had for less than the cost of a boring, ceramic, mass produced plate that just happens to say “Picasso”… I most sincerely hope this helps you all in your discovery and enjoyment of Charles Baudelaire as non-French speaking Anglophones (like myself!)… “Au revoir!”… (“mes amis?”)… - Glenn Jones (aka: “Textoyevsky”) PS: The worst of the “non-rhyming” translations read like “grocery lists,” jus’ sayin’…
I really liked the video! Congratulations on the content! The first time I met her was through a poem translated into French called "love" I was very emotional and went after her works. I believe that Russian authors are some of the best in the world. They can mix the playful world with the sorrows of life in a very touching way. They represent all movements well. They always carry a melancholy full of meaning. I believe that only through literature could we be extremely educated academically speaking. I started studying Russian to be able to read, because I found out that Russian works are translated from English into my language, which impoverishes the text a lot. And it's a very beautiful language. Thank you for sharing this!
