Open Letter

[princeofcairo]

Dear Internet:

Would it freakin' kill you to have a complete English translation of Wolfram's Parzival online somewhere?

Your friend,

Ken

Comments

[zonemind]

This is totally useless, but it serves to illustrate the power of Googling while totally plastered on Polish vodka: http://www.parzival.unibas.ch/engpres.html

There are two translators who seem eligible for Gutenberg etexting (is it a gerund?). These are J.J. Bodmer's 1753 translation, and Karl Lachmann's 1833 translation. Pengiun's translation by A.T. Hatto is, of course, off limits due to the magical might of Bern (from which my honoured ancestors fled as religious refugees, make of that what you will).

[princeofcairo]

Wyborowa, or another Polish vodka?

Jessie L. Weston, of From Ritual to Romance fame, also Englished Parzival in 1894. She died in 1928, so she's out of copyright now, too.

[zonemind]

Chopin. Wyborowa is rye, and I was specifically going for the potato effect.

Also, Wyborowa is expensive and hard to find. Not that Chopin is cheap precisely, but it does show up on the random treasure generator more often than its tongue-twisting kin.