Tom Robbins Discussions

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>I ran across a book review of Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas in Italian
>and started wondering what languages are spoken by the members of this
>egroup. And what languages have you seen or read Tom's novels in?

>Dale

I read TRs books in English, but I know that STWW has been translated to Norwegian, my native tongue.
The Norwegian title is "The Princess and the Woodpecker" with an undertitle something like "...a different kind of love story"
Not as eloquent as the original title, wouldn`t you say?

Andreas

Thank you Andreas. It is good to hear from you. Did the title in
Norwegian capture the connotations of a "still life" painting? Tom's
original title was "Still Life with Woodpecker Rising" which would have
added the connotations of an erection and of Phoenix Rising from the
ashes. I think that's why babelfish translations are so funny. They
are entirely word-by-word literal. And then I think that in a world
full of metaphors literalness is as much a handicap as dsylexia.

Dale

oooh - i didn't know that there was another, tom's original title...
i must say i like it even better. why did they discard it?

curious, rochus

From what I read, the editors seemed like it was a bit too much whimsy
and liable to offend. Publishers have control over titles, not authors.
Another story is that the editors of Another Roadside Attraction cut
the book by about a fourth taking out things considered "too cute."
I'd love to get ahold of that material.

Dale

> do you know if any of his works have been translated into german? that
> would be fun! unfortunately, german and english are my only languages.
> hey, maybe i can start working on a translation... or not.
>
> erica :)

well, not many novels left there, i'd say. they've all been translated, so
far. they found some gruesome title-translations, sometimes, but then, germans
have a knack at that. some movie titles are turned into something completely
unrelated to the film... etc.

well, about the books: ARA is "Ein Platz für Hot Dogs" (A Place for Hot Dogs),
Jitterbug Perfume became "PanAroma", the Frog Pajamas are almost literally
translated to "Halbschlaf im Froschpyjama", SLWW is "Buntspecht" (meaning
a coloured species of woodpecker - don't really know the exact word),
SLAA is "Salomes siebter Schleier" (Salome's seventh veil), and, finally,
the Cowgirls became "Sissy, Schicksalsjahre einer Tramperin". This one is
the worst, really, (Sissy, fateful years of a tramp), because it refers to
a very schmaltzy german movie about the austrian empress "sissy", although,
of course, the book has nothing whatsoever to do with it.

rochus

I love the German translation for Jitterbug Perfume--"PanAroma". Thats
great!! It reminded me of a wonderful discussion occuring in my Advanced
Educational Psychology class last wednesday. My professor was discussing the
left lobe and right lobe of the brain, the old brain which was present in
animals and how we have evolved the new brain(the cortex) which allows to
elevate(is that the proper word?) our thoughts and beliefs....so he begins
discussing the limbic system which is present in the old brain(instincts.
primitive) and he says perfume stimulates the limbic system in humans. and
directly after that he said and so does music. Ahhh!!! So i burst out and
asked if he had ever read Tom Robbins, which i'd been suspecting for some
time cos the interconnectedness between them is warbling, and he said no, so
i told him about Jitterbug Perfume--Limbic System Personified..... It was
truly awesome, i was tingling all over. its so beautiful, all the different
messages we reap and sow, and how they're so similar and sometimes never
directly meet in the rational sense, but know each other and always have and
will!!!!
   I'd also like to thank everyone for contributing such wonderful thoughts,
and suggestions (Robert Anton Wilson, Illusions,.....)--i've been on the list
for almost a year, and cannot enumerate the ways in which yous all have
touched me....
   "I was entirely happy. Perhaps we feel like that when we die and become a
part of something entire, whether it is sun and air, or goodness and
knowledge. At any rate, that is happiness; to be dissolved into something
complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as nautrally as sleep."
                -Willa Cather

"MyAntonia"
Laura.......

The poetry of alignment,
scent and melody,
crescendo sublime
until wham! then sigh...

thanks for the cosmic spark.

lisa

What a fine poem, Lisa. And what a great message, Laura. I am just
amazed and not at all surprised at the wonderful, intelligent, funny
people who are attracted to Tom's work. A strange attractor indeed.

Carboy Quarky