I read the first volume of this last year, and then I started this one a week ago.
The Norwegian translation is by Paul René Gaugin, the more famous Gaugin’s son, and it was originally done for a 1944 translation (even if my edition is from the 70s). And… it’s almost wilfully archaic. That is, Gaugin uses a language that would have been considered risibly old fashioned even in 1944, but at this remove, it’s more like “eh? eh?”
I read the first volume last year and I was annoyed, but I stuck with it. This time around, I got to “sin forakt for alle mennesker som ikke akte i kongens karet” and I started wondering whether I should just download a more modern translation.
(Making the situation worse is that there’s numerous typos, to I was constantly struggling with “is this just an oldee tymey word or did they just goof?”)
Now, this book was originally published in the 1830s, so it’s extremely in the public domain. Which means that there are approx. a gazillion versions of it available, and most of these are (of course) atrocious — people running it through Google Translate and the like. So I gave up trying to buy it on the Kobo store, because I couldn’t find the most recent English language version…
… which is by Burton Raffel in 2004.
And it’s OK? It’s very straightforward — you can more easily see the French original than in Gaugin’s version. For better and for worse, really: Raffel has an annoying habit of using ambiguous pronoun attachment, which is easier to juggle in French, because they have rules for that sort of thing, while English has more loosey goosey things going on. That’s true for Norwegian, too, but Gaugin would write things in a way that flows more naturally in Norwegian, even if he insists on being archaic. Raffel’s version is charmless, really.
Yeah yeah yeah, bitching about translations…
Anyway, I started switching back and forth between the two translations, and to make a long story short, I read three other novels while procrastinating on finishing the book.
But how is the novel!? Eh, it’s fine, I guess. Sometimes when you read a classic it’s like WOW and you understand why it’s a classic, and sometimes it’s more like “well, OK… interesting…” This is in the latter camp, especially the second part.
The first part was pretty engrossing, but this one is all about the affair between that dickhead Sorel and a really annoying woman. I mean really. It’s very repetetive. I get that the book is a satire and stuff, but it gets tiresome.
This review pretty much sums it up:
Julien Sorel, this gorgeous and ambitious, judgy peasant lad with a chip on his shoulder, Napoleon fanboy, who suffers simultaniously from superiority and inferiority complexes, decides to become somebody! Something something seduces this sad boring married woman to feel like a winner. Something something needs to leave cause there are rumors about their connection. Something something Julien is in the seminary and god I can care less. Then we go to Paris. There are some nobles, parties, balls, operas, everyone is so bored, including me. Now this deranged deeply bored daughter of marquise decides to get with Julien and something something Bourbon Restoration, everyone with money are still bored, the revolution is inevitable.
Harsh! I liked the book way more than that, but I see what they mean.
The Red and the Black II (1830) by Stendhal (buy used, 3.86 on Goodreads)