Big in Japan: Sutcliff fandom in translation

[smillaraaq]

Those of you who follow some of the other excellent Sutcliff blogs outside of LJ (check the sidebar here for links) may already know that many of Rosemary Sutcliff's works have been translated and republished around the world; The Eagle of the Ninth in particular is said to have been published in nineteen different languages other than the original

Comments

[hedgebird]

It is terribly galling to find that the Japanese book covers are far better-looking than most of the English ones. And holy shit, the Takarazuka Revue. If only we had some video.

I think Arno's EOT9 scenes are my favourite piece.

[smillaraaq]

Oh geeze yes, I am weeping in frustrated booklust at how pretty some of those are. NEW copies of the autobiography or short story collections, with gorgeous cover design...DO WANT, IF ONLY COULD READ. ;_;

(And I now want to live in an alternate dimension where adaptations of "Song of the Viking Sword Monogatari" and "Celtic Hakuba" are leading the fall anime season...)

As for the Takarazukiennes adding an extra layer of delicious sparkly genderfuck to Sutcliff's slashy canon, well, if you want video...got a spare ¥10,500 lying around in the couch cushions? *resumes weeping*

Arno's slouchy-smirky tall Hilarion and grumpy small Alexios = bizarro Romano-British Klaus/Taki Maiden Rose AU, Y/N/OH GOD CAN NEVER UNSEE NOW?

[hedgebird]

(Ahahahaha, those titles are awesome too. Song of the Viking Sword Monogatari sounds EPIC. "Hakuba" is 'white horse', as in "of Uffington"?)

Arno's slouchy-smirky tall Hilarion and grumpy small Alexios = bizarro Romano-British Klaus/Taki Maiden Rose AU

Why must you taunt me with things I can never have? Hee, I wonder if the artist was just being faithful to canon, or consciously applying seme/uke height tropes.

[smillaraaq]

Monogatari basically is a literary form equivalent to the epic, and gets tagged onto a lot of long-and-sprawling foreign works in translation, like LOTR, so it pleases me to no end to see Epicese Sutcliff getting tagged with it.

And yeah, "hakuba" is "white horse" -- it's the same "haku" as in Hakuryu (because Hakkai has NO IMAGINATION WHATSOEVER naming his white-dragon-that-turns-into-a-Jeep either "Jeep" or "White Dragon".) "Celtic Hakuba" is Sun Horse, Moon Horse and Rider on a White Horse wound up as "Hakuba Knight" after a few spins of back-and-forth translation.

I wonder if the artist was just being faithful to canon, or consciously applying seme/uke height tropes.

Could be both! I can't find a good call on Alexios' height in a quick scan over the ebook, but Hilarion is definitely tall and lean and slouchy in canon, and if Alexios takes after the average Sutcliff Roman character he'd likely run a bit on the shorter side... Now I'm trying to figure out which of Inoue's characters can be Cunorix...Klaus' little knight-obsessed

[hedgebird]

"Slight", according to the brief troopers' POV at the end of an early chapter that I accidentally remembered. The sinister Home Minister?

Surprisingly enough, Hakuryuu was my major clue there, yes. And omfg they have ROAWH? Damn them.

It's conventionally translated as "Tales of...", isn't it? Though it's not like have a precise definition of 'the epic' either.

[smillaraaq]

Hmm, I was tending to think "slight" refers more to overall build rather than height, but it's certainly vague enough that it could be both.

I've seen things with "--- Monogatari" titles variously translated as "Tale of ---", "Story of ---" or "--- Saga"; tale/story seems to be the most common English rendering, although epic/saga might better convey a little more of the sense of the original traditional narratives.

[smillaraaq]

Oooh, lookee here, VIDEO CLIPS! http://www.tca-pictures.net/arabia/03.html

(Be warned that they switch without warning from clips of "Love and Death..." to clips from the "Red Hot Sea" revue, for maximum cognitive dissonance. Those aren't Sutcliff characters running around in ruffle-sleeved rumba outfits or Peacock Girl ensembles...)

[hedgebird]

...JUST AS SUTCLIFF ENVISIONED IT! ...incredibly queer.

[smillaraaq]

I am going to start trying to mentally insert slashy genderfuck musical numbers involving DRAMATIC EYELINER and gold lamé platform boots into ALL THE SUTCLIFF now.

[hedgebird]

START WITH CONORY, IT'S LESS OF A LEAP.

Oh, and ALKIBIADES. IT'S CANON.

[smillaraaq]

Conory would totally work a Takarazuka wardrobe, ZOMG.