The Works of Jules Verne: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, A Journey…

The first book in the volume is Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The twenty thousand leagues was the distance traveled in the Nautilus while Professor Aronnax, Conseil and Ned Land were aboard, not the depth they dove to. I think the book contains the best example of pragmatism one could hope for:

"If you're invited to hunt bears in the Swiss mountains, you might say, "Oh, good. I get to go bear hunting tomorrow!" If you're invited to hunt lions in the Atlas plains you might say, "Ha! Now's my chance to hunt lions and tigers!" But if you're invited to hunt sharks in their native element, you might want to think it over before accepting."

While it was a great adventure story it also read like a course in marine biology with endless lists of species seen and their classifications. ( )

Here's a comparison of Walter's new translation with an older one I read a couple years back, by Quiet Vision Publishing. It describes early speculation on the nature of the thing that would turn out to be Nemo's Nautilus.

QV: "And in these disastrous times, when the ingenuity of man has multiplied the power of weapons of war, it was possible that, without the knowledge of others, a State might try to work such a formidable engine."

Walter: "In these catastrophic times when men tax their ingenuity ti build increasingly powerful aggressive weapons, it was possible that some nation, unbeknownst to the rest of the world, was testing out such a fearsome machine. The Chassepot rifle let to the torpedo, and the torpedo has led to this underwater battering ram, which in turn will lead to the world's putting its foot down. At least I hope so."

The first sentence is fairly close, though Walter reads marginally better. But that second sentence is missing altogether from the older translation. And it's good, isn't it? It adds character and makes the whole thing more fun. This is why translation is important, even for an author like Verne who isn't known for poetry. This Walter translation is less dry than the other.