Digest 11; Kalevala meter

[Stefan Diös]

ANDERS CHRISTIAN:


>I have the danish kalevala from the library and it
>shows rune-o-meter. but the book is published by a museum and the
>University in Copenhagen. And Egmont doesn't own that, so they couldn't
>copy it. Maybe in sweden there is a connection between the poblisher of
>the kalevla and the the Kalle Anka-publisher?

It should be pointed out that no direct quotations from Kalevala were used
in Don's story, except possibly in one place where I couldn't use them even
if I wanted to, because those specific lines were among the few that were
deleted from the Swedish Kalevala translation I had. So the translator's
job, just like Don's, is to write his own runometer to fit the context...
and, as Knut (and others) have noted, not in all the dialog in the story,
but only where the mythical characters speak, by themselves or through the
ducks. This makes the poetic effect even stronger in a comic-book story
like this, when put against the normal, every-day Duckburgers' talk;
especially if a nice font is used for the runometer lines.

(OK, I'll admit that I used the runometer in one other place... in the
"don't miss next week's issue" publicity line that the publisher puts in
after every unfinished chapter!)

 
KNUT (about the Norwegian version)

> I think the translator(s?) did a great job!

Glad to hear you confirm this, because that's what I also heard of the
Norwegian text (which I haven't seen). While working with the Swedish one,
I had a steady and valuable exchange of input with Nils Lid Hjort, who at
least edited the dialog and verses in Norway, maybe to the point where he
wrote some of them himself? And, of course, I also need to thank the ever
helpful Don Rosa himself, who always does everything he can to answer the
translator's questions!


Finally, if some countries (like Denmark, as it seems) choose not to use
the runometer at all, it's a pity for the Rosa fans and other mature
readers in that country... but it has to be that publisher's decision.
Maybe they think it would be too strained for the kids to read (and maybe
they would be right, at that?!); maybe the translator doesn't feel he can
handle the runometer well enough in his language (just as I'm not
comfortable with all the details in some technical stories); maybe they
haven't the time to do a proper job about it; maybe they can use some other
tricks to lend a proper atmosphere to their dialog... or whatever their
reasons may be. I always enjoy putting a little poetry or pseudo-poetry in
the stories when needed, but I wouldn't expect every translator and
publisher in the world to work in exactly the same way that I do. For
better or for worse.





Stefan Dios
Malmo, Sweden