08-29-2019, 06:13 PM
(08-29-2019, 12:46 AM)Mattias Westlund Wrote: I actually tried reading [the Swedish translation of] Titus Groan somewhere around the time I discovered Tolkien. So I guess I was twelwe or thereabouts, already hooked on p&p role-playing games. I never finished it because it was too weird for my pre-teen brain. It had the trappings of a fantasy novel, but none of that heroic adventuring stuff I expected and longed for.
I should really give it another shot, and in English this time. You native English speakers are lucky in not having to deal with the translation crap most of the time. Well, some books are bad no matter what they're translated from and into, but there's a certain disturbing clunkiness that comes from bad translations that you learn to pick up on if you're at least somewhat versed in the original language. And it can ruin a book for sure.
Someone once suggested that the books - the Gormenghast books, that is - be taught in primary or secondary school, and I can think of no finer way to ensure nobody ever wants to read them, ever.
(To speak more clearly and succinctly: I don't blame your 12-yr old self.
)
