A Little Latin, Less Greek

[aletj at vax.sbu.ac.uk]

Translation problems...

I only read TRP in french (shame on me !), and, at least for _V_, I can't
say that
the translation is perfect, and sure, it's not the best way to appreciate
Pynchon's
writing. For example, at the beginning of _V_, the translator translate WASP in
ASPB ("Anglo-saxons protestants et blancs") or something like that, with a
little
explanation, and at the end of the book, she keeps WASP in the text...
All the songs are also traduced in rymes.
For _Vineland_, all the reference of pop-culture are underlined, and in France,
like all others part of the world i think, we have american TV serials such as
"CHIPS", and so we can understand the most important part of that kind of
references, and with the "Mai 68" events, we can also understand how was the
mood in american university campus during the 60's.
But we can't deny that many translators (eg Brett Easton Ellis' one) don't know
a lot about pop or rock culture. We have to deal with it...

Jean-Sebastien