(no subject)
Jan. 12th, 2005 12:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nnyWell, this year I'm going to endeavour to read all the books I own that I haven't read. The list, of those I have found so far, is below the cut should anyone be interested.
1. Dubliners: James Joyce
2. Cider With Rosie: Laurie Lee
3. Under the Net: Iris Murdoch
4. All Quiet on the Western Front: Erich Maria Remarque
5. Accomodating Brocolli in the Cemetary: Vivian Cook
6. Selected Poems: Robert Frost *
7. Religio Medici: Sir T. Browne
8. The Advancement of Learning: Francis Bacon
9. The Histories: Herodotus
10. Sexuality and Masquerade: Emma Wilson (ed.)
11. Dialogues of Plato: H. Cary
12. Lives of the Later Caesars
13. On the Road: Jack Kerouac
14. Catch 22: Joseph Heller *
15. Republic: Plato
16. Brave New World: Aldous Huxley
17. Hedda Gabler: Ibsen
18. Selected Poems: Christina Rossetti *
19. The Silmarillion: J R R Tolkien
20. The Iliad: Homer
21. The Histories: Tacitus
22. The Symposium: Plato *
23. The Picture of Dorian Gray: Oscar Wilde
24. Reading in the Dark: Seamus Deane
25. Don Quixote: Cervantes
26. Bernard Shaw's Letters to Granville Barker *
27. The Salmon of Doubt: Douglas Adams *
28. Selected Works: Ovid
29. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Robert M. Pirsig
30. Cathedral: Raymond Carver
31. The Mauritius Command: Patrick O'Brian *
32. Leaves of Grass: Walt Whitman
33. The Outsider: Albert Camus
34. The Sexual Outlaw: John Rechy
35. Fires: Raymond Carver *
36. A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters: Julian Barnes
37. Meditations: Marcus Aurelius *
38. The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts: Louis De Bernieres
39. Alexander: Arrian
40. Alanna: the First Adventure: Tamora Pierce
41.Selected Poems: Robert Frost *
42. Revolt in the Desert: T.E. Lawrence
43. Jonathon Strange & Mr. Norrel: Susanna Clarke
44. Hamlet: William Shakespeare
Those with stars are those I've already started. Should I have time, I also intend to read the Cantebury Tales, and I have a book of Roman History, a book of Arthur stories, two books of Egyptian history, two books of Greek myths and a book of 14th Century poems and prose that I'll be dipping into on occasion.
I rather fear I'm going to come out of this with an obsession. This is, in its entirety, the publisher's note that precedes T.E. Lawrence's Revolt in the Desert.
PUBLISHER'S NOTE
It seems necessary to explain that the spelling of Arabic throughout the book varies according to the whim of the author.
The publisher's proof-reader objected strongly to the apparent inconsistencies which he found, and a long and entertaining correspondence ensued between author and publisher. The author's attitude can best be judged from the following extracts which show questions and answers.
Q. I attach a list of queries raised by F, who is reading the proofs. He finds these very clean, but full of inconsistencies in the spelling of proper names, a point which reviewers often take up. Will you annotate it in the margin, so that I can get the proofs straightened?
A. Annotated: not very helpfully perhaps. Arabic names won't go into English, exactly, for their consonants are not the same as ours, and their vowels, like ours, vary from district to district. There are some 'scientific systems' of transliteration, helpful to people who know enough Arabic not to need helping, but a wash-out for the world. I spell my names anyhow, to show what rot the systems are.
Slip 1. Jeddah and Jidda used impartially throughout. Intentional?
Rather!
Slip 16. Bir Waheida, was Bir Waheidi.
Why not? All in one place.
Slip 20. Nuri, Emir of the Ruwalla, belongs to the 'chief family of the Rualla.' On Slip 33 'Rualla horse,' and Slip 38, 'killed one Rueili.' In all later slips 'Rualla'.
Should have also used Ruwala and Ruala.
Slip 28. The Bisaita is also spelt Biseita.
Good.
Slip 47. Jedha, the she camel, was Jedhah on Slip 40.
She was a splendid beast.
Slip 53. 'Meleager, the immoral poet.' I have put 'immortal' poet, but the author may mean immoral after all.
Immorality I know. Immortality I cannot judge, As you please: Meleager will not sue us for libel.
Slip 65. Author is addressed 'Ya Auruns,' but on Slip 56 was 'Aurans.'
Also Lurens and Runs: no to mention 'Shaw.' More to follow, if time permits.
Slip 78. Sherif Abd el Mayin of Slip 68 becomes el Main, el Mayein, el Muein, el Mayin, and el Muyein.
Good egg. I call this really ingenious.
In the face of such replies to the publisher's well intentioned questions, further expostulation was clearly impossible.
1. Dubliners: James Joyce
2. Cider With Rosie: Laurie Lee
3. Under the Net: Iris Murdoch
4. All Quiet on the Western Front: Erich Maria Remarque
5. Accomodating Brocolli in the Cemetary: Vivian Cook
6. Selected Poems: Robert Frost *
7. Religio Medici: Sir T. Browne
8. The Advancement of Learning: Francis Bacon
9. The Histories: Herodotus
10. Sexuality and Masquerade: Emma Wilson (ed.)
11. Dialogues of Plato: H. Cary
12. Lives of the Later Caesars
13. On the Road: Jack Kerouac
14. Catch 22: Joseph Heller *
15. Republic: Plato
16. Brave New World: Aldous Huxley
17. Hedda Gabler: Ibsen
18. Selected Poems: Christina Rossetti *
19. The Silmarillion: J R R Tolkien
20. The Iliad: Homer
21. The Histories: Tacitus
22. The Symposium: Plato *
23. The Picture of Dorian Gray: Oscar Wilde
24. Reading in the Dark: Seamus Deane
25. Don Quixote: Cervantes
26. Bernard Shaw's Letters to Granville Barker *
27. The Salmon of Doubt: Douglas Adams *
28. Selected Works: Ovid
29. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Robert M. Pirsig
30. Cathedral: Raymond Carver
31. The Mauritius Command: Patrick O'Brian *
32. Leaves of Grass: Walt Whitman
33. The Outsider: Albert Camus
34. The Sexual Outlaw: John Rechy
35. Fires: Raymond Carver *
36. A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters: Julian Barnes
37. Meditations: Marcus Aurelius *
38. The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts: Louis De Bernieres
39. Alexander: Arrian
40. Alanna: the First Adventure: Tamora Pierce
41.
42. Revolt in the Desert: T.E. Lawrence
43. Jonathon Strange & Mr. Norrel: Susanna Clarke
44. Hamlet: William Shakespeare
Those with stars are those I've already started. Should I have time, I also intend to read the Cantebury Tales, and I have a book of Roman History, a book of Arthur stories, two books of Egyptian history, two books of Greek myths and a book of 14th Century poems and prose that I'll be dipping into on occasion.
I rather fear I'm going to come out of this with an obsession. This is, in its entirety, the publisher's note that precedes T.E. Lawrence's Revolt in the Desert.
PUBLISHER'S NOTE
It seems necessary to explain that the spelling of Arabic throughout the book varies according to the whim of the author.
The publisher's proof-reader objected strongly to the apparent inconsistencies which he found, and a long and entertaining correspondence ensued between author and publisher. The author's attitude can best be judged from the following extracts which show questions and answers.
Q. I attach a list of queries raised by F, who is reading the proofs. He finds these very clean, but full of inconsistencies in the spelling of proper names, a point which reviewers often take up. Will you annotate it in the margin, so that I can get the proofs straightened?
A. Annotated: not very helpfully perhaps. Arabic names won't go into English, exactly, for their consonants are not the same as ours, and their vowels, like ours, vary from district to district. There are some 'scientific systems' of transliteration, helpful to people who know enough Arabic not to need helping, but a wash-out for the world. I spell my names anyhow, to show what rot the systems are.
Slip 1. Jeddah and Jidda used impartially throughout. Intentional?
Rather!
Slip 16. Bir Waheida, was Bir Waheidi.
Why not? All in one place.
Slip 20. Nuri, Emir of the Ruwalla, belongs to the 'chief family of the Rualla.' On Slip 33 'Rualla horse,' and Slip 38, 'killed one Rueili.' In all later slips 'Rualla'.
Should have also used Ruwala and Ruala.
Slip 28. The Bisaita is also spelt Biseita.
Good.
Slip 47. Jedha, the she camel, was Jedhah on Slip 40.
She was a splendid beast.
Slip 53. 'Meleager, the immoral poet.' I have put 'immortal' poet, but the author may mean immoral after all.
Immorality I know. Immortality I cannot judge, As you please: Meleager will not sue us for libel.
Slip 65. Author is addressed 'Ya Auruns,' but on Slip 56 was 'Aurans.'
Also Lurens and Runs: no to mention 'Shaw.' More to follow, if time permits.
Slip 78. Sherif Abd el Mayin of Slip 68 becomes el Main, el Mayein, el Muein, el Mayin, and el Muyein.
Good egg. I call this really ingenious.
In the face of such replies to the publisher's well intentioned questions, further expostulation was clearly impossible.
