I’m not a bookworm, but occasionally I read a few books when I have time.
I accidentally picked up this book (English version) that someone abandoned more than ten years ago, brought it home to read and found it very interesting.
The wise or sometimes `blunt` way of thinking and philosophy of the boy Holden Caulfield, the main character in this book written in 1951, still has almost intact meaning in contemporary life.
`The Catcher in the Rye` is considered one of the best literary works of the United States and world literature in general.
This book is also said to have influenced many famous incidents in history such as the assassinations of singer John Lennon, President Ronald Reagan… It has nothing to do with the country as the title suggests, this is the story.
Holden’s 4-day adventure in New York (where his family lives) is full of flavors of alcohol, drugs, girls, art culture, romantic dates, altruism, and loneliness.
Illustration of `The Catcher in the Rye` English version.
A friend of mine also read `The Catcher in the Rye` (Vietnamese version).
It is true that when translating a story from one language to another, it is impossible to avoid the loss of words or barriers of cultural differences.
Excerpt from the conversation between Holden and Mr. Spencer before he left school because he was expelled: “Life is a game, boy.
Translation: “Life is a game of cards, you must play according to the rules.
Obviously, there has been a complete deviation in the translation of the above dialogue’s content.
Holden said “I know, I know” but in his head he thought: “Fuck the fight, if our team has good players then we can still play, but if we don’t have anyone on our side, then we’ll play dumb.
Cover of the book in English and Vietnamese versions.
The part where Holden thinks about girls: “The trouble with girls is, if they like a boy, no matter how big bastard he is, they’ll say he has an inferiority complex, and if they don’t like him, no matter
Translation: “All misfortunes for girls are that if they like a guy, even if that guy is a hundred times mean, they will say that he is not perfect as a whole, and if they don’t like him, even if that guy is good
This paragraph must be understood as: `The misfortune for girls is that if they like a guy, no matter how miserable he is, they will say he has an inferiority complex, and if they don’t like him, then
Then Mr. Antolini instructs Holden: “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.”
Translation: “The sign of a man’s immaturity is that he wants to die for a just cause, and the sign of maturity is that he wants to live peacefully for a just cause.”
This passage must be understood as: “The sign of an immature person is that he wants to die for a noble purpose and the sign of a mature person is that he wants to live for a humble purpose.”
I have not read all of `The Catcher in the Rye` in the Vietnamese version, but referring to a few typical excerpts mentioned above, I think there have been significant mistakes in translating a philosophical literary masterpiece like the book
Can Vietnamese readers capture the essence of `The Catcher in the Rye` or not, and how many other famous foreign literary works have been translated into Vietnamese?
>> See more: The poor old woman’s free bookshelf
Giang NKR
Bought a bestseller, turned out the book was crap
Nowadays, there are many `market` books that are promoted aggressively, even given extremely impressive names by the authors.
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