Favorite original Esperanto literature? (Esperanto) Language Learning Forum

Favorite original Esperanto literature?
Tags: Literature \| Esperanto
Language Learning Forum : Esperanto

16 messages over 2 pages: 1 2

dmaddock1
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Message 9 of 16

16 April 2010 at 8:13pm | IP Logged

remush wrote:

Do not skip the warning at the beginning.

Ha! Touché, my friend. I understood enough of the first paragraph of the warning to see how it applies to our conversation. I'm definitely not just interested in "tedaj verkoj". (tedious works?)

I think you are right on both points: I really need to read an English translation and learn some Esperanto before I can make a good decision. I've decided to do both. I'll definitely try the Beaucaire you suggested when I think I'm able. And I'm trying to find a Sekelj in English. Thanks.

esperanto41 wrote:

then did the Esperanto translation myself -- quite a learning experience

Impressive, e41. Translating lyrics and keeping the meter seems like it would be quite the challenge.
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remush
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Message 10 of 16

19 April 2010 at 12:27pm | IP Logged

remush wrote:

dmaddock1 wrote:

Actually, I didn't find a lot on Wikipedia. Sure, the above article has a laundry list of names, but most of those pages are stubs and often say little more than "this person was/is an Esperanto author". Nor does it help me to identify the "classics" and "bestsellers" of Esperanto literature.

Unfortunately, the information I have is in Esperanto.

See http://katalogo.uea.org/index.php?kateg=pror

legu pli means read more
recenzoj means review

I am glad to learn that my impression was wrong.

Note that some books are not easily translatable, like those of Raymond Schwarz.
Also Louis Beaucaire, writing in plain Esperanto, is not really translatable.
Try to read a few short stories of
http://www.esperanto.mv.ru/Kruko/index.html
and you will understand why. This is easy Esperanto. Do not skip the warning at the beginning. You could probably guess a lot if you have a vocabulary like http://remush.be/tezauro/@oftKontakto.html and master the prefixes and suffixes. After that you will be ready for more original work. There is a lot of playing with words in Esperanto.
Come back then.

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remush
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Message 11 of 16

19 April 2010 at 12:57pm | IP Logged

El la Verda Biblio is perhaps more understandable for beginners as it mimics the simple language of he Bible. This is a satire about the Esperanto movement. So one needs to know a lot of the language history to understand the allusions.

Read here the translation of "La Infana Raso".
Generaly about translation work there is a lot to find here
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dmaddock1
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Message 12 of 16

19 April 2010 at 10:09pm | IP Logged

Well, I haven't had much luck in finding other English translations of Esperanto originals so I'm going with the suggested "La Infana Raso", though I prefer prose to poetry. The only other translation from Esperanto I could actually find to buy was Tivadar Soros' memoir, which I may buy too. It was suggested to me by the translator who happens to be a professor at a nearby university. He also confirmed that there just aren't many readily available English translations.

Thanks e41 for the link to your HTML pamphlet. I paired it with the Librivox recording. Not using it for learning, but I liked reading Zamenhof's own words on the matter.

Given the ease of learning, I've started studying anyway as a 3 month investment to gain a reading proficiency seems very possible and certainly worth the effort. I have a copy of Richardson's "Esperanto: Learning and Using the International Language", the radio course "Jen Nia Mondo", and enough book suggestions here to get started.

But, if I can speak from my own experience trying to educate myself, the Esperanto community is under-stressing its literary offerings in its proselytizing. Just compare the English Wikipedia article mentioned earlier to its Esperanto counterpart. Man, I wish I could read that now!

It truly does appear that to learn about Esperanto literature I must first learn the language. Ironically, I feel motivated by the lack of detailed information in English because I've taken a lot of time to find out that this literary culture exists and have some sense of what I may be missing. I suspect a lot of people like me don't know any better, especially given some of the opinions of (clearly uninformed) critics of Esperanto on this forum.

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remush
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Message 13 of 16

20 April 2010 at 12:59am | IP Logged

You are right. Poetry is not suited for beginners. This is only to give you a glimpse of what can be done when one masters the language.
A scientific work like "La originoj de Specioj" is much better. You can order a e-book copy at
http://www.esperanto.be/cgi-bin/mal/Web_store/web_storeen.cg i

Some e-books are free: see http://www.omnibus.se/cgi-bin/inkoListo.pl

doktoro Jekyll kaj Sinjoro Hyde

La Tempo Maŝino

Lando de Blinduloj

Gulivero en Liliputo
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dmaddock1
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Message 14 of 16

07 June 2010 at 12:22am | IP Logged

Mi studas Esperanton antaux ses semajnoj. Mi legis la libron de Richardson kaj "Gerda Malaperis!" En nia datreveno mi edzino donas al mi du librojn de Baghy "Viktimoj" kaj "Sur Sanga Tero". Mi mirigis tie, kie mi eklegis unu cxapitron de "Vikitimoj" kaj komprenis gxin.

Nun mi devas decidigxi se legi gxin aux provi alian pli facilan libron legi. Cxu proponu?

redakto: Pardonu, cxiam mi skribas "kai" cxar mi ankaux studas Grekon!

Edited by dmaddock1 on 07 June 2010 at 12:28am
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Volte
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Message 15 of 16

07 June 2010 at 5:16am | IP Logged

Se vi sxatas 'Viktimoj' kaj povas legi gxin, legu. Se ve preferus iu, kiu estas pli facila, do, elektu alian libron. Vere, vi povas elekti mem.

Kaj... gratulon!

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dmaddock1
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Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, Esperanto, Latin, Ancient Greek

Message 16 of 16

07 June 2010 at 3:23pm | IP Logged

Dankon, mi provos. Espere, gxi ne igxos pli malfacila tamen se okazi mi povas sxangxas. Kiel vi diris, mi povas elekti. (Ankaux mi demandis cxar tie mi uzas Esperanton. ;)

Fine mi laboras skribi kelkajn pagxojn pri originalaj Esperanta literaturo en la angla lingvo cxar mi opinias ke pli anglaparoladanoj lernos Esperanton se ili scius facile pri gxin.

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