|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 161
member
|
OP
member
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 161 |
?A clockwork orange? by Anthony Burgess was one of the books that were not allowed to read in USSR. After perestrojka began it had been published in a literary magazine and I had a chance to enjoy it, which I did. Here is something I wanted to ask native English speakers since I red the book..
As you remember, repulsive youngsters in the book speak Nadsat, the fictional slang. The slang has some Russian words in it like ?malchik? or ?bolshij?. In Russian translation these words were just left as in the book - in Latin alphabet but it was easy to guess what they mean. I wonder whether it was easy for English speakers to understand them or they (you) simply skip over them?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
Well, it was A Clockwork Orange. But as to to your question, I had had the advantage of a couple of years of Russian, but my girlfriend at the time (gosh she's probably a grandmother now!) was unable to follow the movie because she kept getting hung up on the quasi-Russian slang.
I seem to remember we were at a drive-in and I was having trouble following the movie, but for other reasons!
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Those of us who love that sort of thing were fascinated by the challenge. If translating it to Russian I might pick some third language, one from a country that has the same meaning for Russians that mid to late 20th century Russia did for the West.
Some of the Russian words were changed quite quite a bit, e.g., horrorshow from Russian khorosho. The effect on native English speakers that this particular choice had might be hard to translate.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
Hello vika. Enjoyed your post on A Clockwork Orange. It's been awhile since I read it, but I am pretty sure that my copy had a glossary in the back of the book. The Russian-derived slang terms were left untranslated, and you could flip to the glossary to viddy the definition for yourself if you wanted to.
Singing in the rain....just singing in the rain
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
I remember being about ten years old, and finding a book(with pictures!) in the library about A Clockwork Orange and being totally freaked out that something like that could exist. still have never seen the movie, but I have images from that book burned into my memory 30 years later...
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
I'd read the book long before the movie came out - my father was an Anthony Burgess fan and had all of his books. I never did get the impression of sheer menace from the movie that the book imparted. Something to do with my imagination, I guess. The edition I had also had a glossary, but I've forgotten most of the slang.
Must read it again. It's in one of the twenty-odd cartons of books still loitering in our gar-idge after 13 months here ... I must admit, it reads better if you have the movie soundtrack playing! The rape scene in the theatre with "Queen Mary's Funeral" playing on the soundtrack was about the freakiest part of the movie.
BTW, if you want top Anthony Burgess, I recommend "Any Old Iron".
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Hi, Alex.
What does viddy mean?
I loved Burgess's book, The End of the World News. Of course, I had to have the title pun splained to me, but that was when I was younger and not yet so acquainted with Brit and Oz thangs.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 161
member
|
|
OP
member
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 161 |
thanks for everybody who pointed out that the real name of the book is, of course, A Clockwork Orange and not A clockwise orange. it was a stupid mistake to made but may be you excuse me because the post was made after a workday and my head felt like something rather wooden
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
This choodesny chellovek thinks that there's a mort of bezoomny chepooka on this horrorshow board. All you droogies, both malchicks and devotchkas, should get a jeezny!
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,322
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
501
guests, and
0
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
