The Deer and the Cauldron: english translation x original chinese version

[Felipe]

Hi everyone,
I have just acquired the first book of The Deer and the Cauldron, translated by John Mindford. I have just started to read, but I have noticed a few things that are completely different from any other JY novel I have read so far... (DGSD, LOCH, ROCH, half od HSDS, Book and Sword, SPW, SOD... well... all translated so far...)

I would like to know (and maybe open a discussions) if it was John Mindford personal modifications or if It was really some kind of change in JY style (only on this novel)....

I've read so far the prologue and the first chapter.... here's the things I noticed:

1. The title of the chapters.... (Its like: Chapter 01: The one which happened this and that, and ....)

2. Chapters subdivisions.

3. The narrative of the prologue, seemed like the style in 1001 nights, dont know the name in english... When the characters are telling an story, and that story leads to another story inside the last one, and opens a new subchapter for it... well... I haven't seen any other novel that narrates like that from the JY hall so far...

4. The fighting scenes have lost some of his caracteristics: internal energy was not mentioned, accupoints... etc... those internal/ details were supressed on the translation or was it that just so far it wasn't refered by JY.

I hated that they translated the names of the character.... it looks so lame.

Well, sorry the poor english.

[KChill]

The name translations were a bit lame, but us dumb Westerners need all the help we can get. I actually liked the translation, and couldn't stop reading the book.

[Grundle]

lol, I thought the main characters name "Trinket" was totally stupid. If that could be changed I would be %100 happy

Felipe: The obvious changes you see are mostly done by JY. I think that John Minford tried to be true to the text as close as possible. The character names are the main thing that he took liberties on. The thing about this book is that JY was highly criticized for it, because it was so different from his previous works.

Also with the beginning of the chapters having a small summary or quotation, this is sometimes done in chinese novels. The most notable that comes to my mind is Heroes of the Watermarsh. What I don't know is if JY was emulating this, or Minford added that himself. I would hope that he was following JY's lead.

Anyways, I don't want to comment too much on the fighting and the way of this book, so as not to spoil it. I can say that a lot of people did not like it, although I consider it one of his greatest works.

[Felipe]

I'm liking... its just that I found it strange.

Concerning the battles... I love the way JY describes it. So I'm feeling a bit strange now... its not that I don't like the way it is in DATC, but I prefer when every detail is pictured.

I guess thats because I'm lready familiar with this kind of literature.

thanks for the commments.

[smurf120]

felipe, i just cracked open my copy of book I over the weekend too! I am enjoying the story immensely (as this is my favorite tv series), but i find myself reading it with an English accent in my head. Usually when I read the translations on spcnet i always end up with trying to picture the story in Cantonese but had a lot of trouble with that for Deer and the Cauldron.

Many of the descriptions just sounded British "Trink dear o' boy" instead of Xiao Bao and the use of "sotto voce"???

[PJ]

4. The fighting scenes have lost some of his caracteristics: internal energy was not mentioned, accupoints... etc... those internal/ details were supressed on the translation or was it that just so far it wasn't refered by JY.

I guess later in the book there are some feats featuring internal energy and acupoint sealing. The high level fighters like the One-armed Nun and Zen Master Chengguan/Dengguan could perform these feats.

[CC]

I guess later in the book there are some feats featuring internal energy and acupoint sealing. The high level fighters like the One-armed Nun and Zen Master Chengguan/Dengguan (there are two ways to pronounce his name) could perform these feats.

Really, PJ.

[PJ]

Thanks. I am ashamed to have forgotten to include such essential information about Zen Master Chengguan/Dengguan (there are two ways to pronounce his name).