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Apr. 5th, 2013 07:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darchildreAlong with reading Eyrbyggja Saga, I have been listening to an audiobook of the Volsungasaga. Because of course I am.
1) Oh man, I had forgotten just how awesome everything about this story is. Is there anything about the Volsungasaga that is not awesome? The answer is "No, there is not." And I haven't even gotten to Sigurd yet.
2) So, the audiobook is this translation of the Volsungasaga, which is...very flowery in an old-fashioned way, all "I wot that thou shalt return this night withal", which is fine, if not particularly to my taste. But the people who made the audiobook have apparently decided to include all of the translator's notes in the recording and to do so in the most intrusive way possible. Wherever the translator has put a note, that is exactly where that note is read, no matter if it is in the middle of sentence or what. And it's not as though it's indicated in any that it's a note - it's just suddenly being read and you're supposed to figure it out. It is extremely disruptive, especially as nearly all of the notes have explanations of things that I already know, like the definition of the word "rede" or "lingworm". The translator also helpfully points Odin out every time he shows up and isn't explicitly named by the text. I know it's Odin, dude, he's the only mysterious one-eyed man in this story. Honestly, is there anyone who's likely to be listening to an audiobook of the Volsungasaga who isn't going to notice a mysterious one-eyes man and not think, "Hey, I wonder if that's Odin?"
I am seriously tempted to acquire a different translation and make my own audiobook. That is a ridiculous thing to want to do, but at least in this (as opposed to other sagas) I already know how to say everyone's name.
1) Oh man, I had forgotten just how awesome everything about this story is. Is there anything about the Volsungasaga that is not awesome? The answer is "No, there is not." And I haven't even gotten to Sigurd yet.
2) So, the audiobook is this translation of the Volsungasaga, which is...very flowery in an old-fashioned way, all "I wot that thou shalt return this night withal", which is fine, if not particularly to my taste. But the people who made the audiobook have apparently decided to include all of the translator's notes in the recording and to do so in the most intrusive way possible. Wherever the translator has put a note, that is exactly where that note is read, no matter if it is in the middle of sentence or what. And it's not as though it's indicated in any that it's a note - it's just suddenly being read and you're supposed to figure it out. It is extremely disruptive, especially as nearly all of the notes have explanations of things that I already know, like the definition of the word "rede" or "lingworm". The translator also helpfully points Odin out every time he shows up and isn't explicitly named by the text. I know it's Odin, dude, he's the only mysterious one-eyed man in this story. Honestly, is there anyone who's likely to be listening to an audiobook of the Volsungasaga who isn't going to notice a mysterious one-eyes man and not think, "Hey, I wonder if that's Odin?"
I am seriously tempted to acquire a different translation and make my own audiobook. That is a ridiculous thing to want to do, but at least in this (as opposed to other sagas) I already know how to say everyone's name.
