Sparknotes Othello (No Fear Shakespeare)

As expected

good and prompt transaction

Ich muss Othello für die Uni lesen und trotz guter Englischkenntnisse fällt es mir teilweise etwas schwer, Shakespeares Sprachstil komplett zu verstehen. Aus diesem Grund habe ich die "No Fear Shakespeare"-Version bestellt und bin wirklich positiv überrascht. Es ist eine echte Erleichterung, da man so nicht ständig die entsprechenden, altertümlichen Phrasen von Shakespeare mühsam übersetzen muss, um sie zu verstehen, sondern einfach auf der anderen Seite die leichter zu verstehende Version in aktuellem Englisch lesen kann und somit gleichzeitig einen Eindruck davon bekommt, wie sich das Englsich im Laufe der Jahre gewandelt hat. Deshalb gibt's von mir auch 5 Sterne ;)

In The Allure of Nymphets I shared the following sonnet from William Shakespeare, which is about a disappointing love affair with a young girl. The sonnet extols the wonders of youth: Crabbed age and youth cannot live together: Youth is full of pleasure, age is full of care; Youth like summer morn, age like winter weather; Youth like summer brave, age like winter bare. Youth like full of sport, age’s breath is short; Youth is nimble, age is lame; Youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold; Youth is wild, and age is tame. Age, I do abhor thee; youth, I adore thee... In addition, Shakespeare extols the wonders of youth in Othello via an age-discrepant marriage between Othello, a North African general of the armies of Venice, and Desdemona, the "exquisitely beautiful" young daughter of Brabantio, a Venetian senator. Shakespeare doesn't give the exact ages of Othello and Desdemona, but Othello is described by Iago, the villain of the play, as an "...old black ram..." while Desdemona is described as a "... little white lamb...[with] beautiful skin, whiter than snow and smooth as the finest marble." Othello and Desdemona feared that, due to Othello's race and age, they wouldn't get the blessing of her father; thus, they eloped. Roderigo, a young jealous admirer of Desdemona informed her father, "...but in the wee hours of the morning your daughter left your house...to go into the rough embrace of a lustful Moor." (I wrote in The Allure of Nymphets that young men and older women are understandably the most opposed to ephebophiles and teleiophiles.) Thus it was assumed that Othello seduced Desdemona. It was unconscionable that she wanted to get married. Desdemona's father even suggested that Othello used magic, trickery and/or drugs to seduce Desdemona. He said, "Are there magic spells that can lead young virgins astray? It's obvious to everyone that you you've tricked her, drugged her, or kidnapped her." Othello is reminder that looks are not nearly as unimportant to nymphets as they are to ephebophiles. Even Brabantio made that mistake. He asked, "And you want me to believe that despite her young age and proper upbringing she fell in love with a man she'd be afraid to look at?" Iago opined, "To keep things hot, she'll need someone with a handsome face, someone close to her in age, someone who looks and acts like her." But Brabantio and Iago failed to understand that it was Othello's high self-confidence, self-esteem, and power (i.e., self-control) that attracted Desdemona. After Desdemona convinced her father that it was her idea to marry Othello, he was forced to give their marriage his blessing; however, that didn't prevent Iago and Roderigo from doing everything within their power to end the age-discrepant marriage. Note: I used the No Fear Shakespeare translation of Othello.

Lo que esperaba de un libro. Buena tapa blanda.

Pour avoir essayé de lire Roméo et Juliette il y a quelques années, je n'avais vraiment rien compris à l'intrigue... (je pense pourtant avoir un niveau respectable en anglais, j'ai lu par exemple les principaux livres de Tolkien en langue originale). Avec cette édition, la traduction en langage courant permet de lire Shakespeare comme n'importe quel livre. Certes, on n'appréciera pas toutes les envolées lyriques, mais au moins on comprend et (surtout) on apprécie l'histoire. C'est quand même ça le principal non ? Si on reste tous rebuter par le texte original, Shakespeare se limiterai aux "élites" ? Il y a également des notes bien venues qui permettent d'expliquer des sous-entendus, ou préciser le contexte de l'époque. Bref, pour des gens avec un bon niveau, ça sera une horreur de ne pas lire le texte original, et toutes les traductions seront imparfaites... Mais pour un lecteur du dimanche, ça permet de bien aimer Shakespeare :)