The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #102439   Message #2076748
Posted By: Bee-dubya-ell
14-Jun-07 - 09:21 AM
Thread Name: BS: How are the wabes where you live?
Subject: RE: BS: How are the wabes where you live?
I don't get it. How can a translation of a work in which the original author used made-up words, words which really have no meaning, not include those words pretty verbatim? Sure, some alterations are necessary due to structural elements and rules of grammar. "Toves" translates to "Toven" in German because that's what the plural form would be if "Tove" was a real German word. But what the hell's a "tove"? Who knows? One can tell from the context that it's a noun, probably a life-form of some sort, but the reader must use his imagination to decide what it means. So, since it's an imaginary conceit with no established meaning, how can it be "translated" into another word all together? Some of the "translations" above don't use any of the words Carroll coined. If those words are eliminated, how can the translation even be said to be the same poem?