Terry ’s Reviews > Ange Pitou, Volume 1 > Status Update

Did you read all of the Musketeer books? I have been curious about books 2-4 ever since the first book rocked my brain.

I blush to admit that I haven't. I fell into the pitfall of reading a bad translation of -Twenty Years After- and turned to other Dumas books. I will definitely return to D'Artagnan and friends soon.

Terry wrote: "I blush to admit that I haven't. I fell into the pitfall of reading a bad translation of -Twenty Years After- and turned to other Dumas books. I will definitely return to D'Artagnan and friends soon."

Argh, bad translations are the pits. I wish that the other Musketeer books received the same linguistic lovin that the first one enjoys.

My personal recommendation is to avoid the Oxford Classics translations, that was the one I read of _Twenty Years After_ that I hated. The funny thing is that I actually had read the book in an old library edition years and years ago and this was a re-read to refresh my memory. I recall absolutely loving the older version and hated the newer one.

I generally look for older translations of Dumas now (esp. the Collier editions published in the early 1900's). I think when you attempt to modernize Dumas you lose a lot of the charm that seems to have been better captured by the older translations. Your mileage may vary or course!

Terry wrote: "My personal recommendation is to avoid the Oxford Classics translations, that was the one I read of _Twenty Years After_ that I hated. The funny thing is that I actually had read the book in an old..."

Interesting. I follow an opposite philosophy, due to the fact that later translations of Russian literature--especially those by super duo Pevear and Volkhonsky--are superior to the older ones--especially those by dear Constance Garnett. I never considered that the older editions of other books might be better. I'll look into, thank you.

I am that way with translations of everything except Dumas Daniel!

Daniel and Terry: There is a way around this problem. Just learn French. :)

Terry wrote: "I am that way with translations of everything except Dumas Daniel!"

Ah-ha. Now I am excited to pick up Dumas again!

Richard wrote: "Daniel and Terry: There is a way around this problem. Just learn French. :)"

I wish! To that I would add Italian for Dante and Eco; Arabic for Mafuz and the Quran; Spanish for Marquez and Allende, etc, etc.

Daniel wrote: "Terry wrote: "I am that way with translations of everything except Dumas Daniel!"

Ah-ha. Now I am excited to pick up Dumas again!

Richard wrote: "Daniel and Terry: There is a way around this pro..."

Oh to be a hyperpolyglot!

I have always had in the back of my mind the project to just pick up some Dumas in French and see if it comes back to me (of course I only have high school French from many years ago to draw on, so I know I'd be missing a lot), but I'm just too lazy and there are too many books to read to use up time learning a whole new language!