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Michael Kandel - the most incredible translator ever

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xpil:
Lads & ladies, what is your opinion on Michael Kandel's translation works? I had the pleasure of reading "The Cyberiad" recently and I was absolutely stunned. Knowing the original by heart (from early childhood) I was absolutely convinced it was untranslatable. And then, suddenly, I met Kandel's translation.

It's a pure pleasure.

Now I am wondering what English native speakers imagine when reading about "pritons and zits" or "Mockles fent on silpen tree". Do they realize how tricky it is to make sense out of it? I doubt it.

To me, Kandel is one of the Giants. Hats off!

Q:
By the way... Do you know that Kandel also wrote some Lem-inspired science fiction works, and translated writings of anoher prominent Polish authors (Dukaj, Huberath, Sapkowski, likewise Huelle and Stasiuk), and edited novels of Ursula Le Guin, and anthology of Polish SF&F?

xpil:

--- Cytat: Q w Listopada 04, 2017, 12:02:49 pm ---By the way... Do you know that Kandel also wrote some Lem-inspired science fiction works, and translated writings of anoher prominent Polish authors (Dukaj, Huberath, Sapkowski, likewise Huelle and Stasiuk), and edited novels of Ursula Le Guin, and anthology of Polish SF&F?

--- Koniec cytatu ---

I do now. Never been a big fan of Dukaj or Huberath btw but it's good to know anyway.

Q:

--- Cytat: xpil w Listopada 05, 2017, 09:19:07 am ---I do now.
--- Koniec cytatu ---

;)


--- Cytat: xpil w Listopada 05, 2017, 09:19:07 am ---Never been a big fan of Dukaj or Huberath btw
--- Koniec cytatu ---

Well... none of them is Lem ;).

gurfle:

--- Cytat: xpil w Listopada 03, 2017, 12:15:51 am ---To me, Kandel is one of the Giants. Hats off!
--- Koniec cytatu ---
I could not agree more.  I read Kandel's translation of Cyberiad over fourty years ago, soon after his Star Diaries translation, and could not imagine how he could have created a work so full of puns in English without altering the original, since puns are in fact completely untranslatable.  Assuming he maintained the spirit, if not the (impossible for puns) literal meanings from the original polish, whatever Kandel had done was clearly an act of genius, very apparent even to one like myself who knew nothing of the Polish language.

Does anyone who knows both Polish and English have an example that illustrates how Kandel dealt with puns?

I am also curious about the very first story in Cyberiad of Trurl's machine that makes everything starting with n.  Presumable the Polish word for nothing also starts with n?

Anyway, from the time of that first reading of Cyberiad, I have read everything I could find of Lem's, clearly one of the greatest minds, both as philosopher and artist of his time, if not all times.

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