
A Different ‘Darkness at Noon’ - lermontov
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/04/07/a-different-darkness-at-noon/
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schrijver
Isn’t it odd that an article with in-depth discussion of a German-English
translation does not feature any German?

> Meanwhile the “fever” Rubashov suffers during his interrogations is lowered
> to a “temperature,”

The German source is already represented in English! Yet this is a translation
as well. The author presents his own translation as neutral. This is weird.
Especially given that many readers that are interested in the subject will
have some notions of German. And even readers with no knowledge whatsoever of
German will be able to read through a text with some German words as long as
they are translated as well. Why couldn’t the author write something like:

> The ‘Fieber’ Rubashov suffers from could easily be translated as ‘fever’,
> but the more moderate synonym ‘temperature’ is used.

At least the author should have given the German excerpts in notes, since the
reader has no way to access this newly discovered German text.

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bizzbuzz
That was the same thing I was thinking...

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mturmon
Where else but the _NYROB_ can you get this level of erudition?

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scottlocklin
In the New Criterion. At least a few years ago this was true:

[http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Koestler-s-
contradi...](http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Koestler-s-
contradictions-4396)

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mturmon
Err, no. That is a straightforward book review, not an exhaustive treatment of
how an undiscovered original manuscript of Koestler's was discovered in the
archives, plus an in-depth examination of differences between the as-published
English manuscript and the newly discovered German one, and a personal appeal
to publishers, many of whom read the NYROB, to find a way to publish the new
version.

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Tycho
One of my favourite novels. Highly recommended especially if you like books
like _Nineteen Eighty-Four._

