Quote:
|
I meant that to me the settings - particularly the parts set in the Shire, & the Hobbits themselves seem so English that I've always been surprised that non-English readers can relate to them so deeply. When I read a book or watch a movie set in another country/culture there's always for me a feeling of 'distance' - sometimes very small, but there nonetheless.
|
There are some people who read books set in their own country who
still feel that sense of 'distance,' though, even though the work be that of one's own countryman. I can't understand the urban culture, as I live deep in the country. City folk who visit my area get bored really quick; that's because they haven't learned to enjoy talking to trees!
For the trees, this would be an urban center! And, as a result of this country slowness, I think the residents here become like Hobbits, slow to change, set in their ways, thoughts and beliefs. Of course, they speak with more of a twang than any Hobbit of the Shire ever would. And if you live in the South long enough, you can tell a Georgia twang from an Alabama twang from a Tennessee twang from a Kentucky twang, etc. etc. just like Sam could tell that another Hobbit must be from a suspicious part of the Shire (i.e., not Hobbiton!).
But none of this could have been part of Tolkien's original vision for the Shire. It is all applicability and not authorial intention. I think I would be appalled to hear Galadriel say "Sure!" or think that Sam is saying "damn it all" to awaken Frodo, as if he were having to shake him frantically out of sleep; so we lose a little more of authorial intention and the applicability is diluted due to awkward translation.
As a matter cross cultural comparison, I've recently become enamoured of a Japanese cartoon called "Keroro Gunso," translated roughly as "Sergeant Frog." The only place I can get the later episodes in English language version is from Hong Kong. So I watch this obviously hilarious anime that is fraught with bright Japanese characters across the screen that the folks in Hong Kong didn't feel worth translating and watch the horrendous translated subtitles at the bottom of the screen and wonder what I'm missing. However, I still get the main idea, and the situational comedy is still quite amusing! I get the sense I'm missing something, but I also enjoy what I do get out of it. Obviously, there are pieces that are so Japanese that I will never understand them, especially through the Hong Kong filter. But I still keep coming back for more, and it is my favorite current show of any type (albeit I don't have regular television!) But I'm sure I don't experience it in the same way as a Japanese person can, they having access to it in its original language.
As a corollary to my current obsession with things Japanese, I have been reading "the Chrysanthemum and the Sword," with its analysis of the Japanese social order, and there was something rather interesting mentioned therein--that the Japanese do not struggle with the notion of good vs. evil, that either is acceptable if it fulfills the requirements of an obligation. So, in that way, I imagine it would be difficult to translate Lord of the Rings into something that would make sense to a Japanese person who thinks in terms of 'circles of obligation,' rather than the struggle between 'good and evil.' However, this work was written just after World War II and attitudes in Japan have a way of changing very quickly, so I am sure I am not up to date in this observation. I can see how one could relate to the struggle of Frodo and of Aragorn to live up to their great obligations while not violating the smaller ones could appeal to a culture structured in this way. In fact, good and evil might not have to enter in as a concept, merely Frodo's obligation to Middle Earth and his more personal obligations also, and Aragorn's obligation to his country and to Elrond personally, etc., if you see what I mean.
So the story can be cast in different ways, according to the tenets of the culture. I'd think any story must gain and lose meanings in translation, though, for the very reason of cultural and expressive differences...
Cheers!
Lyta