The Planter Of The Isle Of France
July 10, 2007 by Elijah
I would apologize for having two Alexandre Dumas-related posts in a row, but… Dumas is the best ever, and that’s that. Anyway, whenever a new translation of a Dumas work appears, it is imperative that I fawn over it, and so this new edition of Georges must be pointed out.
Now, since I read an earlier edition of Georges years ago, I haven’t actually picked up this new translation just yet, but I highly recommend the book. I’ll hold off on a full review for the moment, maybe I’ll even wait until I get this new version, but I will give you all a bit of background as to why this is such an important book.
Georges is the only time that Dumas, of mixed black and white heritage himself, blatantly addressed race in a book. Considering that this was in the France of the 1840’s, that’s a big enough deal on its own. The story is set on the island of Mauritius, and concerns a young, rich mulatto named Georges Munier who is dealt a grievous insult by a local bigoted white family. The thing about the novel is that it isn’t exactly anti-racism, and there are a few bits where the narrative itself shows some prejudice, but in the end you still have a book whose hero tries to orchestrate a slave revolt, which is pretty damned incredible.
Georges is a very exciting and (for its time) daring novel, which also provides the readers with a beautifully tactile view of the island of its setting. Definitely worth a read, and I’ll give a more in-depth review… uh, someday.
You have convinced me that I must make reading Dumas a priority. ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ is the only one I have read, and that was over 30 years ago. (I have seen almost all the movie versions of ‘The Three Musketeers’, for what it’s worth.) Last November I purchased several volumes of his books in a series entitled, ‘The Works of Alexandre Dumas in Thirty Volumes’, at a used book sale. (From what I’ve been able to find on the internet, they were published somewhere between 1910-1915). Of those 30 volumes, I have 19, plus the new translation of ‘The Three Musketeers’ that was pubished last year and a copy of ‘Twenty Years After’. I will now be on the lookout for ‘Georges’. Which Dumas would you recommend to start with?
Ah, that’s what I always love to hear.
Well, the most famous books really are the place to start (Monte Cristo is my favorite novel of all time) so I would actually suggest going with The Three Musketeers. Even if you’ve seen all the movie versions (the 1970’s Richard Lester ones being by far closest to the book) you’ll get plenty out of it, trust me.
Do you have any strong feelings about the translations out there? Sometimes new translations are over-scholastic and under-writerly.
I honestly haven’t read enough of differing translations to know, and until my meager education in French progresses a good deal I won’t really be able to say. Sometimes an old, old, original translation is nice because it feels a bit antiquated, but sometimes those can be too much. Plus, I have heard that newer ones are generally more accurate. Honestly, I usually go with whatever I find.
I’m the translator of the book you’ve got pictured in this post. Thank you for being excited about it–and I look forward to hearing your thoughts after you’ve read it.
Oh wow. Well, I’m very happy that you found my little corner of Dumas obsession. I still, unfortunately, haven’t found the time to get my hands on a copy, but I intend to very soon (like, today or tomorrow, actually) and it’s so great to see people like yourself really working on new translations for these lesser known works!
Warms my heart. Seriously!
Thank you so much; your appreciation of translation (which is often underappreciated) warms mine.
I actually already had a post planned for the next day or so (meaning week or so) about the importance of translations and how they can make or break a book–specifically focusing on Jules Verne, actually, instead of Dumas.