Posted: Feb 15, 2022 12:24 pm
Evolving wrote:Similar: Zauberberg by Thomas Mann. Also a great read (in German, anyway; can't speak to the translations); but you do need time.
Many years since I got as far as Mynheer Peeperkorn.
Agreed. I read it in English translation. I've read a few short stories, novellas, plays and some poetry in German, but my language proficiency is not really up to the task of Zauberberg, Das Schloß or Simplicissimus.
I do remember being absolutely gripped by the scene where young Hans Castorp arrives at the sanatorium and gets a bit boozed up. The evocation of being drunk and wandering around was superbly captured in the English translation.
Mind you, the version I read (Penguin) has a climactic encounter between Hans and Claudia Chauchat as it was originally written by Mann - IN FRENCH!!
If you are going to translate a book, then translate it consistently into the target language.