Fading Memories

2003-12-31

A Christmas Carol

By Charles Dickens on Tuesday December 31, @04:28PM
You know what? I'd never actually read this one before. Like everybody who's ever been obliged to watch the telly on Christmas eve or Christmas day, I've seen the various televised plays, the movies and the Disney cartoon. But reading, that's another matter. Funny really, how Disney persists in stealing really good stories, thereby pushing the original over the brink into oblivion. If someone did to Disney, what Disney did to Dickens, he'd be sued to an inch of his life.

Author: Charles Dickens
In: Christmas Books
Publisher: Collins Clear-Type Press
Published: Ca. 1900
Place: London & Glasgow
Pages: 486

I'm not sure when my copy of Christmas Books was published; it doesn't contain an introduction, neither by Dickens himself, nor by a later editor. I guess about 1900, though, give or take twenty or thirty years either way. I'm reader who has a lot of books, not a bibliophile, I'm afraid.

2003-11-03

The Concise Pepys Diary with an Introduction by Stuart Sim

By Samual Pepys
Reviewed by Boudewijn Rempt on November 03, 2003

I have two editions of Pepys famous diary; that is to say, I have got two volumes from the Everyman edition, and I've got the Concise Pepys Diary. The Everyman isn't complete, of course, and it wouldn't be complete even if I had all volumes. The Concise Pepys is a cheap Wordsworth reprint of the original 1825 abridged publication.

2003-09-11

The Analects of Confucius

By Arthur Waley
Reviewed by Boudewijn Rempt on September 11, 2003

As Dorothy L. Sayers has a woman say in Gaudy Night, once I was a scholar. I went to the University of Leyden to study sinology, capping my studies with an attempt at comparative linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman area. During my five years in Leyden, I acquired, amongst others, this translation of the Analects. I never quite got round to reading it — I always preferred Mencius to Confucius.

2003-05-15

Anabasis -- De Tocht van de Tienduizend

By Ξενοφον
Reviewed by Boudewijn Rempt on May 15, 2003

It is seldom that I read a classic work from beginning to end, every page without skipping. The Anabasis is one such work. It's the story of how the author, Xenophon, managed to get command of ten thousand Greek soldiers (and their slaves, wives, boyfriends and cattle) and lead them around Anatolia back to Greece.

2003-03-26

De Vertroosting van de Filosofie

By Boëthius
Reviewed by Boudewijn Rempt on March 26, 2003

It's Lent, and I thought I'd give this book another try. And again I foundered.

2003-03-15

Kikvorsenmuizenstrijd

By Homeros
Reviewed by Boudewijn Rempt on March 15, 2003

A fresh an fun read about a ferocious battle.

2003-02-04

Het Romeinse leger - Handboek voor de generaal

By Flavius Vegetius Renatus
Reviewed by Boudewijn Rempt on February 04, 2003

I've already done a review of the text of Vegetius Epitoma Rei Militaris, so this is merely a review of the Dutch translation by Fik Meijer, Professor Oude Geschiedenis at the University of Amsterdam.

2003-01-06

Mediaeval Latin Lyrics

By Helen Waddell on Monday January 06, @11:01PM
Not having benefitted from a classical education, I have never been able to teach myself enough Latin to read anything but the simplest books a vue — the Legenda Aurea or the Vita Karoli Magni and the easier bits from the Colloquia. So, when the Holy Nicholas of Myra presented me with a bilinguial compilation of Medieval Latin verse, I was tickled to death.

Author: Helen Waddell
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Published: 1962 (1929)
Pages: 352

And not for nothing. Finally I have a compilation of Latin verse where even I, with my meager knowledge, can correct the translator. When Ausonius writes olim regum et puerorum nomina, it is surely essential to get the contrast that is caused by the juxtaposition of kings and children in the translation, and not merely give up with "once bewailed names of kings." The Dutch translation that springs to mind is "eens de namen van koningen en kinderen", but I have to admit that I cannot so readily phrase that in alliterating English.

2002-12-14

Piramus en Thisbe -- Twee Rederijkersspelen uit de zestiende eeuw

By Dr. G.A. van Es on Saturday December 14, @10:57AM
A Bronnenstudie en tekstuitgave by Dr. G.A. van Es. This 2002 Sinterklaas present brings together the two oldest Dutch plays based on Ovid's immortal Piramus and Thisbe story. Notes, reprints of illustrations and manuscript and of course the delightful story material combine to form a very pleasant package.

Author: Dr. G.A. van Es
Publisher: Zwolse Drukken en Herdrukken voor de Maatschappij der Nederlands Letterkunde te Leiden
Published:1964

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