Good English Translations of Around the Moon and Mysterious Island

Phineas G

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Feb 28, 2021, 8:55:30 PM2/28/21

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Hello! I'm brand new to this forum, and I'm just delving into the Voyages Extraordinaires. I recently learned of the poor quality of many early English translations of Jules Verne's works. Luckily, most of the reading I've done so far is from good translators. I have a few questions though:

1. Is Stephen White's translation of Mysterious Island (L'Île mystérieuse) good?

2. What is the best English translation of All Around the Moon (Autour de la Lune)?

3. How do I find good translators/translations? Would I be better off just learning French?

Thanks a lot for any input, I'm super excited to continue my journey through the Voyages Extraordinaires!

Dennis Kytasaari

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Feb 28, 2021, 9:14:24 PM2/28/21

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Phineas,

As a start you can find our thoughts on translations of many of the works here:

http://www.najvs.org/works/

I think that will answer your three questions.

-djk

Dennis Kytasaari d...@epguides.com http://epguides.com/

http://epguides.com/djk/

Jules Verne- "Mobilis in Mobile" http://najvs.org/

President and Membership Coordinator na...@ibiblio.org

North American Jules Verne Society, Inc.

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Phineas G

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Feb 28, 2021, 10:40:56 PM2/28/21

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Thank you very much Mr. Kytasaari!

Don Sample

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Mar 1, 2021, 1:01:04 AM3/1/21

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The White translation is generally considered better than the original Kingston English translation, but it still condenses parts of the story. The Sidney Kravitz version is generally considered the best English translation