tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post2421215513145789041..comments2024-03-28T12:59:05.739-07:00Comments on Iron Tongue of Midnight: Hector Berlioz Blogs Against Home SchoolingLisa Hirschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-21172790777901337982010-06-27T01:48:22.334-07:002010-06-27T01:48:22.334-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-31603950580322914602010-06-07T12:20:11.052-07:002010-06-07T12:20:11.052-07:00The Cairns translation of the Memoires is one of t...The Cairns translation of the Memoires is one of the wittiest literary feats in history, and the memoir itself is the most fun, primary-source, historical (though unreliable) account that exists for early 19th Century Paris, Artistic Center of the Western World at that time.Civic Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-74094199223036799712010-06-06T14:02:10.269-07:002010-06-06T14:02:10.269-07:00Huh. I understood that well enough that maybe I SH...Huh. I understood that well enough that maybe I SHOULD just try to read the French.Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-55142326131732724302010-06-06T13:03:31.516-07:002010-06-06T13:03:31.516-07:00You can read the original French here:
http://www...You can read the original French here:<br /><br />http://www.hberlioz.com/Writings/HBMindex.htm<br /><br />The Cairns translation is not only better written than the Newman translation, but also more accurate.<br /><br />For example, in the first sentence of your example, the original French is: "J’avais dix ans quand il me mit au petit séminaire de la Côte pour y commencer l’étude du latin." Newman translates this as "a small school on the hill", having forgotten that La Côte is the name of Berlioz's home town. Cairns gets this right.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-67973463927922071502010-06-05T23:16:51.404-07:002010-06-05T23:16:51.404-07:00Thank you for that - fascinating. I think I need t...Thank you for that - fascinating. I think I need to take a look at the original! My French is almost certainly not good enough for me to read the whole in French, but it is good enough for me to take a look at this passage and evaluate the translations.<br /><br />Must note that I paid $2.50 for a used copy of the Dover, practically free!Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-60619620036325867092010-06-05T18:04:38.596-07:002010-06-05T18:04:38.596-07:00You're reading the Dover edition? Get ye now ...You're reading the Dover edition? Get ye now to the translation by David Cairns, currently published by Everyman. Here is his version:<br /><br />When I was ten years old he sent me to the secondary school in La Côte, where I was to begin learning Latin. Soon afterwards he took me away again, having decided to look after my education himself.<br /><br />Poor Father, with what tireless patience, with what perceptiveness and devotion he taught me languages, literature, history, geography and even, as will shortly be seen, music!<br /><br />How much tenderness must a man feel for his son to undertake and carry through such a task, and how few fathers would be capable of it! And yet I cannot think that in many respects a private education at home is as beneficial as ordinary school life. Children brought up in this way spend their time almost exclusively among relations, servants and a few chosen companions, instead of being early inured to the rough disciplines of human society. Life, the realities of the world, are a closed book to them. I am quite sure that, in this sense, I remained an awkward and untutored child till the age of twenty-five.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com