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Was Agatha Christie a closet Esperantist?

di sudanglo, 13 settembre 2010

Messaggi: 24

Lingua: English

sudanglo (Mostra il profilo) 13 settembre 2010 22:12:46

One of the most popular Agatha Christie books is Murder on the Orient Express, which was published in the UK in 1934.

It strikes me as most curious that the Esperanto translation followed only three years later in 1937 - which means probably that the translation was undertaken very soon after the original appeared.

Given the likely market for the Esperanto version at the time, it seems most implausible that any great sum was paid for the translation rights.

So Agatha Christie must either have been favourably disposed towards Esperanto, or must have wildly imagined massive sales if she agreed to a royalty only deal.

Anybody know the history here?

ceigered (Mostra il profilo) 13 settembre 2010 23:12:30

The third option could be that she was crazily generous... Or that it was a very rich esperantist who did the translating and publishing of the Esperanto version okulumo.gif

But it does strike me as interesting how there was only a 3 year gap there, perhaps she was indeed a closet Esperantist, or maybe just someone with a minor interest in EO (so not so much that she was "in the closet" but more "loosely" interested).

LyzTyphone (Mostra il profilo) 14 settembre 2010 01:30:07

Or maybe an Esperantist is her close friend?

erinja (Mostra il profilo) 14 settembre 2010 02:29:36

Or maybe people were just less litigious and less worried about copyrights in those days. It could be that someone decided to translate the book and publish it, without ever asking permission. Agatha Christie may not have even known about the translation, and if she did, would she care enough to sue? There was no internet and no Google in those days, so really, unless she was super plugged into the Esperanto community, how would she even know that someone had translated her work and was selling it?

Alciona (Mostra il profilo) 14 settembre 2010 04:46:31

The publishers of the book, The Esperanto Publishing Co., appear to have been quite commercially successful at that time with 30 titles and 250,000 publications in their first 20 years (I'm not sure if that's 250,000 per title or in total - my Esperanto reading comprehension isn't that good yet!) They would have had a decent publication run and she would have been paid royalties from it. I don't imagine any author would knock back additional royalties regardless of how they viewed the language!

So she may not have been a fan of Esperanto. She may have just been a fan of money. okulumo.gif

sudanglo (Mostra il profilo) 14 settembre 2010 09:43:31

That was a quarter of a million spread over 30 titles, and as the link you gave, Alciona, points out, most of them course books and readers.

Lernolibroj have always had a greater market than romanoj, and I doubt the print run for 'Murdo en la Orienta Ekspreso' was very high.

I find it very difficult to imagine, given English mentality, that EPC just went ahead without some formal deal with Agatha Christie. It would be fascinating to know what that deal was.

Anyway, the whole thing sets one wondering as to how many really popular authors there are around today who would happpily grant, for a pittance, translations rights for an Esperanto version of one of their works.

It would be lovely to be able to read a bestseller in Esperanto, a few years after its appearance in English.

Incidentally, it is an interesting exercise to pick up the English original, imagine how some passage might be translated into Esperanto, and then consult the Esperanto version.

The Esperanto version is on the net as a pdf file. I found it easily by Googling and downloaded it - it takes up less than half a megabyte.

By and large the Esperanto translation is very smooth - more readable than the original English, which sometimes has a rather stilted spikey quality even when she (Agatha Christie) is not trying to reflect the peculiar English spoken by a French speaker.

3rdblade (Mostra il profilo) 14 settembre 2010 10:09:34

The publisher probably just offered her a royalty for sales on the Esperanto translation, and since Agatha didn't have to do anything, she probably just said yes to that offer. I can't imagine it would have sold a lot. And now it's on the internet for free (legally?) so perhaps the Christie and the translator waived copyright to the Esperanto translation from the start, ie, it was always a charity. So my guess is she was a supporter of Esperanto, if not a speaker.

Miland (Mostra il profilo) 14 settembre 2010 10:47:58

sudanglo:It would be lovely to be able to read a bestseller in Esperanto, a few years after its appearance in English...
That may be fine if the Esperanto translation is of good literary quality, and you enjoy the book. In general, however, in my view reading a whole book in Esperanto translation that is available in English is a waste of time, although selected passages may be useful for practice in translation, or learning useful patterns of expression. Reading original works in Esperanto is another matter, of course.

LyzTyphone (Mostra il profilo) 14 settembre 2010 11:42:57

Miland:
sudanglo:It would be lovely to be able to read a bestseller in Esperanto, a few years after its appearance in English...
That may be fine if the Esperanto translation is of good literary quality, and you enjoy the book. In general, however, in my view reading a whole book in Esperanto translation that is available in English is a waste of time, although selected passages may be useful for practice in translation, or learning useful patterns of expression. Reading original works in Esperanto is another matter, of course.
Hello sal.gif
Non-English speaker here~

Miland (Mostra il profilo) 14 settembre 2010 13:13:19

LyzTyphone:Hello sal.gif
Non-English speaker here~
sal.gif yourself!
Indeed, your case is different. Esperanto translations may make available to you works which have not yet been translated from English into your first language.

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