/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.17451046]

>Translator's Introduction

[Anonymous No.17451158]

>>17451046
I never skip it.

[Anonymous No.17451211]

>>17451158
I cut it out of every book

[Anonymous No.17451217]

>>17451211
You are a fool

[S10241875 No.17451241]

>>17451046
>Translator's Introduction
I always read with great interest.
An indicator of the quality of the translator's work.

[Anonymous No.17451245]

>>17451046
What's the common practice? Do most Anon's skip introductions or read through the 30 page thingies?

[Anonymous No.17451248]

>>17451217
I don't need anyone telling me their experiences or thoughts about a book I'm about to read.

[Anonymous No.17451257]

>>17451245
Because 30 pages is a lot.

[Anonymous No.17451282]

>>17451211
Mad but I respect it.

[Anonymous No.17451283]

>>17451046
you are a retard if you don't think the translator has importance

[Anonymous No.17451292]

>>17451248
You're gonna miss the linguistic compromises fren

[Anonymous No.17451420]

>>17451046
Never read an introduction in my life. Never felt I've missed anything.

[Anonymous No.17451853]

I find it a key component of translated works

[Anonymous No.17451895]

>>17451248
Most translator's introductions talk about the process of translating the book, some of the problems that were faced and solutions that were found. A good translator will use the opportunity to justify some of their choices, offer tips for interpretation, etc. If you're reading a translation, then you shouldn't skip it

[Anonymous No.17451950]

>Introduction
>Note on the text
>Note on the translation
>Timeline
>Selected bibliography
>Acknowledgements
>Preface to the first edition
>Preface to the second edition
>Preface to the third edition
>Preface to the fourth edition
I'm not reading all that shit

[Anonymous No.17452003]

>>17451046
>>17451046
theres a lot of stupid bullshit that keeps page one from being the first page of the novel but translator's notes are not part of that. in any ancient text the translator is sure to know more than you about the time in which it was written and so its good to get there perspective even if you don't agree with everything they have to say. with modern works the translator likely still has an intimate knowledge of the author and is worth reading for that purpose. in both cases the translator doubtless wants to explain some decision they made and your understanding will not be complete without knowing it.

[Anonymous No.17452024]

>introduction longer than 10 pages
yeah no im not reading that shit nigga

[Anonymous No.17452050]

>>17451950
Based.

[Anonymous No.17453222]

>>17451046
Ormsby has a good one.

[Anonymous No.17453239]

>translator inserts ghost-written chapter which fundamentally alters the meaning of the text assuming that nobody will notice

[Anonymous No.17453326]

>>17451245
>translators notes
read them.
>introduction added later by some other author.
skip.
>introductory material related to the circumstances in which the book was published (e.g. in confederacy of dunces, pale king, or the works of kafka).
give it a chance but always be willing to abandon it and cut straight to the book.
>preface added by the actual author to a later edition.
skip but read it after finishing the book.

[Anonymous No.17453347]

>>17451046
>300 page book
>introduction is 100 pages

[Anonymous No.17453367]

>>17451217
Sorry meant to reply to >>17451158

[Anonymous No.17453382]

>>17453239
When has that happened?

[Anonymous No.17453388]

>introduction for a second reading

[Anonymous No.17453502]

>Can't read in original language
>Can't be fucked to read translator's insight
I thought you guys were autistic, not morons

[Anonymous No.17454230]

>>17451046
>Translations

[Anonymous No.17454237]

>>17451245
The translator's introduction is very important because it explains the way the translator made their decisions. I usually read it before buying the book. Normal introductions I skim through to get an idea of what information is important and what isn't. I like to reread the introduction after finishing the book too. Author's prefaces should always be read because they are pretty much a part of the actual book.

[Anonymous No.17454247]

>read translator's note
>read introduction
>skip book

[Anonymous No.17454261]

>>17454247
Unironically did this a few times, it was very informative

[Anonymous No.17454268]

>>17454247
I've sort of done this by reading those "author's collected essays" collections that include introductions the author wrote for other books as essays.

[Anonymous No.17454282]

>>17451046
>>17451241
This can be ascertained by the text alone, intro is just a way to out themselves less quickly

[Anonymous No.17454308]

>>17451283
>>17451292
>>17451895
Unless you're interested in philology and interpretation, it's not necessary to question the methods of the translator. Just appeal to authority and assume they did it correctly.

[Anonymous No.17454310]

>>17454308
That doesn't make sense in a world where many competing translations exist for a lot of works

[Anonymous No.17454354]

>Editor introduction

[Anonymous No.17454413]

>>17454310
That’s exactly why it makes sense. By questioning the translation you’re opening up a door to a whole other realm, and you have to venture down it. Not everyone has time for that.

[Anonymous No.17454596]

>>17454247
This is disgusting.

[Anonymous No.17454621]

>>17451046
This but when some daisy cunt writes a fucking novella before getting to the actual ingrediants and steeps to a recipe.

I mean, like who ever fucking reads those? If im trying to look for a recipe, its not like im fucking flipping through a magazine just browsing, i am already in the fucking fridge getting shit out, i mean like oh my god, NOONE besides like 1 cat lady, EVER reads those. Hell I dont know what they spend so many WORDS on since i nver fucking spend the time to read even a paragraph of that shit, I just want your fucking perfect caramel sweet tart recipe you crazy minge.

[Anonymous No.17454625]

>I fucking hate reading!!!!

[Anonymous No.17454664]

>Introduction
>you can tell it was written in Bush era because it tries to weakly parallel the text to the War on Terror

[Anonymous No.17454670]

>>17454625
unironically this, reading has become obsolete and should be fazed out.

[Anonymous No.17454691]

>>17451245
I read them because I'm too autistic to begin the story without reading any of the preludial shit

[Anonymous No.17454697]

>>17453347
>introduction is almost as long as the novel

[Anonymous No.17454707]

I read the book and then I read the introduction if I liked it and want to know more about it

[Anonymous No.17454711]

>>17453382
the French translator of Diary of an Opium Eater did exactly that. I don't know if he ever explicitly stated that he did but it was well received and called better than the original.

[Anonymous No.17454722]

>>17454711
*Confessions of an English Opium Eater
I've been here too long kek

[Anonymous No.17454728]

>Introduction by some fucking nobody, not even a translator or editor
>Talks in detail about the twist at the end of the book
I've read three separate ebooks with this shit

[Anonymous No.17454742]

>>17454728
>muh spoilers
go watch a Marvel movie

[Anonymous No.17454778]

>>17451046
>trans-laborer’s induction

[Anonymous No.17454847]

>>17454722
checked and kekked

[Anonymous No.17455006]

>>17451245
>Translator's introduction
Read.
>Introduction
Skip
>Introduction written by the author
Read
>Author's preface to the 4th edition
Read
>Author's letter to the translator
Read
>Dedication
If it's a single paragraph or seems interesting I'll read it. If it's just a list of names I'll skip it.

[Anonymous No.17455059]

>>17453347
>poetry collection containing 100 short poems
>every poem is accompanied by 2 pages of commentary
>20 pages of additional notes
>70 pages of commentary on the collection itself
>including the introduction, ToC, bibliography and index makes the book 320 pages total

[Anonymous No.17455075]

>>17454728
Don't read the introductions dingus

[Anonymous No.17455376]

>>17453382
Nabokov's did it in his Hero of Our Time translation. The original Russian version is actually considered a fairly dull bildungsroman with heavy handed moral themes.

[Anonymous No.17455395]

>Thank you for reading my book. I would like to thank Google Translate and also DeepL. Since I don't know Japanese translating without their help and support would have been impossible. My Friend Hitler (わが友ヒットラー, Waga Tomo Hittorā) is a 1968 neoclassical drama[2] written and produced by Japanese writer Yukio Mishima.[3] Published in book form on October 13, 1968, the play was first produced on stage the following year and ran January 18–31, 1969. In one of these productions, Mishima himself played Adolf Hitler. Mishima was inspired by the assassination of Ernst Roehm in Night of the Long Knives and was intrigued by Hitler. However, more of his influence for Hitler’s character came from one of his other plays[which?]. Since Mishima's other play Sado Koshaku fujin (Madame de Sade) stars an all-female cast, he wanted My Friend Hitler to be an all-male cast. According to Mishima himself he wanted to refute criticism claiming that he could not portray both genders.[4] About the play The play is written in third person. The four characters are Adolf Hitler, Gustav Krupp, Gregor Strasser and Ernst Röhm (from whose text the play's title is taken). The play takes place over the summer of 1934 at the Berlin chancellery.

[Anonymous No.17456148]

>>17454247
BASED

[Anonymous No.17456187]

>>17451245
I read introductions in full if it's a historical primary source like Herodotus otherwise I read half of them to avoid getting spoiled if it's literature. I might read the other half after finishing the book but I never did that, I think.

[Anonymous No.17456731]

>>17454310
Ah yes, because in a world of competition, the highest quality thing comes out on top. Name me a single fucking most popular thing in it's field that is also the best option. You're actually retarded.

[Anonymous No.17456785]

>>17454237
Mirabile dictu, an actual intelligent comment in one of 'these' threads (threads in which anons bitch about front matter).

[Anonymous No.17456815]

>>17454728
>Spoiler's Introduction

[Anonymous No.17456846]

As someone that does translation it's important to understand that translation and transliteration are two extremely different things.

For instance in Islamic writing, they used 40+ the same way we use a billion or a gazillion. How do you translate that? If you translate it literally and say "The king gave us 40 rules" an Islamic reader would understand that it was a ludicrous uncountable number, but a Western reader would go "Ok, so there were 40 rules."

With that in mind, what do you do as a translator? Do you translate it as "The king gave us a billion rules?" or do you say the "King gave us 40 rules." One is faithful to the text, the other explains the meaning.

To use an English example, if someone says "What's up" and the character looks up at the sky, how do you explain that to a non-english speaker? If you use the equivalent of an informal greeting in their language they won't understand why the person is looking up. If you use the literal translation, the reader will be just as confused as the other character and not get the joke. It's your job to pick and choose your battles and a translator's introduction lets the viewer know where compromises were made and whether or not they prefer the way you handled it.

[Anonymous No.17457174]

>>17456846
Nobody is going to read all that shit.

[Anonymous No.17457214]

>>17457174
fuck off I did

[Anonymous No.17457371]

>>17455395
Sadly I'm sure this is real, and that it's some shitty ebook published on Amazon. You deserved this if you payed money for it, especially because you purchase and read ebooks.

[Anonymous No.17458526]

>>17453502
This. wtf. This board spurns any and all secondary material as a matter of pride, so I'm not surprised. Pretty fucking retarded if you ask me.
>>17451046
I love a well-written Introduction like nobody's business. Unironically one of the most enjoyable parts of life for me is cracking the spine on the first page of the intro and getting comfy. But even if the intro is bad, I read every word of my books. If the intro is over 100 pages I feel stupidly compelled to read it.
>>17453388
If it's a crap intro or it starts to spoil the plot instead of skillfully alluding, I save it for after I finish.

[Anonymous No.17458572]

I love the one for Livy's History of Rome because the translator literally goes "Livy was full of bullshit, he gives conflicting accounts, skipped over important things he found boring and it's clear he rarely doublechecked sources but damn if he isn't good at story telling, buckle up motherfucker."

[Anonymous No.17458690]

>>17454247
i do this all the time

[Anonymous No.17459233]

>>17451211
What are your favoured cutting utensils?

[Anonymous No.17459408]

>>17454664
Perchance are you referring to the new introduction in Allan Bloom’s translation of The Republic

[Anonymous No.17460408]

>>17458526
>If the intro is over 100 pages I feel stupidly compelled to read it.
My issue is this, why should I read the essay of some rando when I should be able to choose what essay to read for the work I am about to(or have finished) reading?

[Anonymous No.17461524]

>>17451046
>Translator's Introduction

[Anonymous No.17461616]

>>17456846
You can coin your own idioms and phrases of speech as needed.
"The king gave us rules forty at a time" or something like that.

>>17458572
>the translator literally goes "Livy was full of bullshit, he gives conflicting accounts, skipped over important things he found boring and it's clear he rarely doublechecked sources but damn if he isn't good at story telling, buckle up motherfucker."
He did not.

[Anonymous No.17461644]

>>17456731
but nobody said that anon

[Anonymous No.17462048]

>>17453382
The Icelandic "translation" of Dracula was entirely reworked by the translator in 1901, and no one figured it out till 2014. He added a bunch of sex scenes and new characters. Hilarious. Book's called "Powers of Darkness"

[Anonymous No.17462056]

>>17459233
safety scissors

[Anonymous No.17462107]

>>17456846
just use fucking footnotes, god its not that fucking hard if theres ambiguity

[Anonymous No.17462187]

>>17462107
>>17451046
Not every work needs an Allan Bloom-style 30 page notes sections. I like translator's introduction because it gives me a synopsis of the translator's methodology without me needing to keep thinking about the inaccessible original. Obviously for serious scholarship, footnotes or notes are great, but then again, for serious scholarship you should be reading the original text. Trust the translator anon; you'll read more and worry less.

[Anonymous No.17462241]

>>17451245
>Translator's Introduction
Skip. Literally every single one says the same thing: translation is hard and some words don't mean what you think.
>Introduction by a scholar
Read a few pages to detect bullshit; read or skip accordingly.
>Preface by author
Read
>Preface to 5th edition
Skip
>Dedication
Skip
>Notes on the text
Skip
>Biographical chronology
Skim
>Further reading
Skim for interesting references
>Endnotes
Read until they get annoying and then skip

>Actual book
Skip and read Wikipedia instead

[Anonymous No.17462242]

>the translation is a colossal choose-your-own-adventure of possible translations and nuances that allows you to construct your own unique story out of nothing but conjecture and arbitrarily assigning meaning to the senseless babbling of an alien tongue

[Anonymous No.17462799]

>>17451211
Holy fucking based

[Anonymous No.17462814]

>>17454711
>>17455376
>>17462048
Cool. I never realized translators were so valuable.

[Anonymous No.17462904]

The correct way of doing it is to skip the introductions (except author’s introduction if it is a nonfiction book) and after finishing the book, if you liked it and care about it, reading the introductions and prefaces.

[Anonymous No.17463018]

>>17451046
I'm just getting into reading a lot but I skip these ever since one of them spoiled the ending.

[Anonymous No.17463972]

>>17461616
>You can coin your own idioms and phrases of speech as needed.

And that's what translator's notes are for. For the record, "The king gave us rules forty at a time" means you're now implying that the king gave more than one set of rules, and that they were in groups of 40. You've strayed so far from the actual meaning of the sentence "The king gave us an unreasonably large list of rules" that you might have people asking "What were the original 40 rules? How many sets did he give?".

Also Book 00 of William Masfen Roberts' translation of the History of Rome. He most certainly did do that.

>>17462107
pic related, I shouldn't have to explain why it's a shit translation and just a patch job on a transliteration.

[Anonymous No.17463992]

all intros only exist so reviewers can sound informed w/o having to actually read the book.

[Anonymous No.17464119]

>>17451292
That's what footnotes are for

[Anonymous No.17465832]

>>17451245

>translators notes
Skip every time
>introduction added later by some other author.
skip. Unless I like the author
>introductory material related to the circumstances in which the book was published (e.g. in confederacy of dunces, pale king, or the works of kafka).
give it a chance but always be willing to abandon it and cut straight to the book.
>preface added by the actual author to a later edition.
skip.
>introduction by the author
Essential reading

[Anonymous No.17466145]

>>17451046
Introducter´s translation

[Anonymous No.17466192]

>>17453382
>>17453239
this books deals about a similar subject, whereas the protagonist is a reviser that changes a word in a book and alters the whole meaning of it.
A very good read.

[Anonymous No.17466387]

>Reader's Companion

[Anonymous No.17466424]

>>17466387
They can't all be that bad, right?

[Anonymous No.17466612]

>>17466192
ooops forgot the image sorry

[Anonymous No.17466932]

>>17451046
>reading translations
That's where you fucked up, OP.