The Club Dumas...

[fajrdrako]

From page 12 of The Club Dumas: "In literature, time is like a shipwreck in which God looks after His own."

I keep being surprised (though why should I be?) at how well-written this book is. Remarkable. First I am impressed at Arturo Perez-Reverte's beautiful writing, and then I think: wait a minute, I'm reading a translation - it must be the best translation I've ever read, since most translations are like reading mud. The translator, Sonia Soto, must be a genius.

Then I think I should read it in the original, and realize with the next thought that the original was in Spanish. I can't read a word of Spanish. I am misled into thinking it was in French, since it starts out in France.

It's the book on which the movie The Ninth Gate was based.

A description of Lucas Corso, from page 16:

...If I keep to the strict accuracy with which I am narrating this story, I must add that his awkward appearance, the very clumsiness that seemed - and I don't know how he managed it - vulnerable and caustic, ingenuous and aggressive at the same time, made him both attractive to women and sympathetic to men. But the positive feeling was quickly dispelled, as when you touch your pocket and realize that your wallet has just been stolen.

That's even nicer when you think of it as Johnny Depp, as in the movie.

Comments

[ceruleancat.livejournal.com]

Oh, I loved that book (except some things, but won't discuss until you say you're finished and want to). The movie came out a few years later, and I was very disappointed with the adaptation (although that's to be expected.) It was the first of his that I read and the one I enjoyed most. They're all quite well translated to the english, although I cannot evaluate the spanish.
Although... now I think of it, if I ever wanted to learn Spanish, I should use that book. That's how I learned French, through Monte Cristo. His "Flanders Panel" is also a good read.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Montre Cristo is a wonderful way to learn French! (Hmm, I wonder if it's available in Esperanto....) Okay, when I've finished the book I'll let you know and we can discuss it.

[ceruleancat.livejournal.com]

Is there anything that's written originally in esperanto? Is it even a 'natural language' in the technical sense of there being people for whom it is their first language?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Is there anything that's written originally in esperanto?

Oh yes. There's quite a thriving literature of original works in Esperanto - serious works and light popular stuff. There seem to be rather a lot of Esperanto poets. There is a series of Esperanto mystery novels I am particularly fond of.

Is it even a 'natural language' in the technical sense of there being people for whom it is their first language?

I don't know if this makes it "natural", but yes, there have been people born to Esperanto-speaking parents who have it as their native language. That isn't common, though. Esperanto is meant to be a language for use with other Esperantists, people who don't share the same native language, not so much to be a first language for anyone.

[ceruleancat.livejournal.com]

hmm. Interesting.

The 'native speakers' stage is a distinguishing factor between pidgins and creoles. it tends to be accompanied by increased complexity of syntactic and morphological structures. I wonder how the structures of esperanto compare to those of other languages.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, all other languages developed syntactically and morphologically along certain lines of psychology and physical circunstance. Esperanto was created with full conscious knowledge of linguistic structure - it was built from the known, established creations of Indo-European language formation. As such it is sort of a bastard child - or maybe a hyperlegitimate child - perhaps an engineered clone is a more accurate analogy! It doesn't differ from other languages except in its regularity. If Esperanto were the language of a geographically-distinct cultural group without consensual controls, I imagine it would change with time along the same lines as any other language.

[ceruleancat.livejournal.com]

I imagine it would change with time along the same lines as any other language.

I know. that's precisely what interests me as a linguist. What sort of changes would occur in the transition from artificially constructed language to natural language. Hence the interest in native speaker acquisition, as opposed to structured 2nd language learning comes in. That's where changes most commonly develop, altering the language subtly over time.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It would be easier to judge or predict if the Esperanto community were more close-knit, but it is, by definition, scattered all over the world and the only large groups of speakers meeting together to talk happens at events like the Universa Kongreso - for a week or so once a year.

if I learn any more about this I'll let you know. Goodness knows, Esperantists are always making a study of themselves and their culture!

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

I loved that book. Read it after seeing the JD movie. Love it much more than the movie *ick to the movie*, partly because I have JD in mind now when I think of the character and the Dumas aspect is completely eliminated from the film.

And I like 'the girl' better described in the book, as young, short hair-ed and boyish. It was so cliche to make her a sensuous blonde in the film. booo.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, I liked the sensuous blonde in the film, but haven't got to her yet in the book, so I don't know. I do know that the style of the movie, though good, is not remarkable like the style of the book, which is amazing.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

How far are you into the book? I'd thought you'd have met 'the girl' by now?

I don't like the ending in the film. Cheese. I like the Dumas aspect, so naturally I missed that. Dumas is one of my faves.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'll say more when I've read more!

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

Oh wait, I see the quote from page 12. Never mind, lol.