2008年11月30日 星期日

Austen Henry Layard

閒讀 Jean Bottero & M-J Steve "美索不達米亞" 上海 世紀出版集團 2004
發現整本書多處將著名的英國人 AUSTEN HENRY LAYARD 誤寫成 Henry Austen Layard 真不可思議
他的著作NINEVEH and Its Remains也有兩種不同之翻譯


Sir Austen Henry Layard



(1817–94) [Bi]

British antiquarian whose expeditions and self-taught archaeological methods led to the investigation of sites in the Near East. Born in London and trained as a lawyer, Layard and a friend, Edward Mitford, set out to ride from England to Ceylon in 1839. During this journey Layard became fascinated by archaeology and became an unpaid diplomatic attaché in Constantinople so that he could continue and expand his interests. Between 1845 and 1847 he excavated at Nimrud, Iraq (thinking it was Nineveh), and while his methods were brutal compared with modern standards they were typical of the day and resulted in the discovery of a lot of structural evidence as well as artefacts. His book, Nineveh and its remains, published in 1849 sold well and allowed him to make good contacts. He resumed excavations the same year, and upon his return to England in 1851 prepared a second volume, Discoveries and ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, which appeared in 1853. It included a provisional chronology for the Assyrian kings and a description of their state. Layard subsequently became a politician and then British ambassador in Madrid and later Constantinople.

2008年11月28日 星期五

把Ovid與Apulée搞混

閒讀 Azedine Beschaouch "迦太基傳奇" 上海 世紀出版集團 2004
發現因此Ovid與Apulée 都出版過一本Metamorphoses
翻譯者竟然沒注意兩人的時代相差百來多年以上
把Apulée當成
Ovid

Apulée , Ovid, Ovidius


注意到法國用Apulée
可是我在Wikipedia article "Ovid". 的法文版找不到此種說法 這可能是將Apuleius
Wikipedia article "Apuleius". 混淆了ㄅ

2008年11月17日 星期一

卞之琳譯Logan Pearsall Smith

Wikipedia article "Logan Pearsall Smith".
這一家人也相當特別

讀卞之琳譯文集 才知道
什麼是功力
我特別選有Hamlet的兩則
比較有趣的是西方的這些神話 是否可以用 無常 定數與星宿等翻譯之


_The Great Work_


Sitting, pen in hand, alone in the stillness of the library,
with flies droning behind the sunny blinds, I considered in my
thoughts what should be the subject of my great Work. Should I
complain against the mutability of Fortune, and impugn Fate and
the Constellations; or should I reprehend the never-satisfied
heart of querulous Man, drawing elegant contrasts between the
unsullied snow of mountains, the serene shining of stars, and
our hot, feverish lives and foolish repinings? Or should I
confine myself to denouncing contemporary Vices, crying "Fie!"
on the Age with Hamlet, sternly unmasking its hypocrisies, and
riddling through and through its comfortable Optimisms?

Or with Job, should I question the Universe, and puzzle my sad
brains about Life--the meaning of Life on this apple-shaped
Planet?


PHRASES

Is there, after all, any solace like the solace and consolation of Language? When I am disconcerted by the unpleasing aspects of existence, when for me, as for Hamlet, this fair creation turns to dust and stubble, it is not in Metaphysics nor in Religion that I seek reassurance, but in fine phrases. The thought of gazing on life's Evening Star makes of ugly old age a pleasing prospect; if I call Death mighty and unpersuaded, it has no terrors for me; I am perfectly content to be cut down as a flower, to flee as a shadow, to be swallowed like a snowflake on the sea. These similes soothe and effectually console me. I am sad only at the thought that Words must perish like all things mortal; that the most perfect metaphors must be forgotten when the human race is dust.

'But the iniquity of Oblivion blindly scattereth her poppy.'