アラバマ物語 or translating titles
Anne Healy follows up on my post last year on cover design at Thomas Riggs & Co. blog with a comparison of different cover designs for Muriel Barbéry's L'élégance du hérisson. It is striking to see how uniform and unambiguous the translation of the title is. One exception perhaps is the Japanese title, 「優雅なハリネズミ」("yuugana harinezumi"), literally "The elegant hedgehog."
Similarly, To Kill A Mockingbird in Japanese is titled 「アラバマ物語」("Alabama monogatari") or "Tale/Story of Alabama").
More later perhaps on the politics of title translation. I am also remember how some foreign movie titles are changed tremendously when they are distributed in France. Well, at least American movies in the 80s. On the other hand, starting the 90s, those movies would simply keep their original titles (e.g., Last Action Hero or True Lies (yes, I had horrible taste as a twelve-year-old)).
Similarly, To Kill A Mockingbird in Japanese is titled 「アラバマ物語」("Alabama monogatari") or "Tale/Story of Alabama").
More later perhaps on the politics of title translation. I am also remember how some foreign movie titles are changed tremendously when they are distributed in France. Well, at least American movies in the 80s. On the other hand, starting the 90s, those movies would simply keep their original titles (e.g., Last Action Hero or True Lies (yes, I had horrible taste as a twelve-year-old)).
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