The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - Book of Jonah

The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/index.php)

- The Books (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/forumdisplay.php?f=9)

- - Book of Jonah - Tolkien's 'Translation'??? (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=15482)

Book of Jonah - Tolkien's 'Translation'???

Out in July & may be interesting - however this may be worth reading before you shell out... http://lingwe.blogspot.com/2009/05/m...oming-this.htm

Link appears to be broken, davem. :confused:
I found it on google anyway.

Also,
Here's the Amazon link;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Jonah-J.../dp/0232527679

Hmm, guessing by what is written there, it possibly won't be as interesting, though... of course it is appealing just because it is Tolkien :) Well, I would certainly watch any news about it - and if anybody would have any personal experience with that, then of course I would be interested in hearing about it :)

Three things:

One: Is this Tolkien's translation as he delivered it, or the reworked version that was published? "For a small number of Old Testament books, the first draft of the English translation was made directly from the French, and then the General Editor produced a revised draft by comparing this word-for-word to the original Hebrew or Aramaic." Tolkien was not a Hebrew scholar; he worked from the French.

Two: That Tolkien or part-Tolkien version has not been widely available for the last forty years; it only appeared in the original Jerusalem Bible (1966) and was replaced in the New Jerusalem Bible (1985).

Three: All you American Catholics: get one or the other JB edition! It has the cruddy New American Bible beat all hollow, both in scholarly and literary merit.

I'm interested in this book. Even if it is based on the French version. I've tried my hand at translating Hebrew and would like to pick it up again at some point. Comparing my version to this would be a neat excuse. :)

Although I've seen and sold many copies of the New Jerusalem Bible in the bookshop I work in, I've never actually read it. I'm curious how close it follows the poetry of the Hebrew, heck, even the King James has some good poetry. We did have someone ask about the old Jerusalem Bible, we found a second hand copy for about £50. :D

I wonder if I can convince my boss to stock this book...

But will it happen?

http://www.tolkienguide.com/modules/...ss/archives/69

Quote:

The book is currently targeting an August release, not July as reported by Amazon.

There is a Foreword by Sir Anthony Kenny, where he “recalls his own memories of working on the Jerusalem Bible and the impact made by its groundbreaking publication.” This memoir has evidently already been published, as it (or another version of it) is cited by Hammond and Scull’s Reader’s Guide and Drout’s J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment in the Judaism entry by L.J. Swain (pp. 314-5). [Thanks to Jason Fisher for these references]

The main text is edited by Brendan Wolfe. From the publisher: “Brendan Wolfe tells the little-known story of how Tolkien, then at the height of his fame as the author of The Lord of the Rings, agreed to join the team of Catholic writers and scholars working on a major new translation of the Bible into English in the early 1960s. The result was the Jerusalem Bible, still celebrated for its elegant, timeless English. Wolfe shows the resonances between the story of Jonah and the whale, Tolkien’s contribution to the JB, and themes in his other writings.”

The publisher also confirmed to me via email that “[t]he book will include unpublished material which was not used in the Jerusalem Bible as published in 1966.” Also the Advanced Information flyer states “Newly available material from one of Britains most celebrated authors.”

Darton, Longman and Todd, the publisher for this new paperback volume, are the original publisher of the 1966 Jerusalem Bible as well. The issue of copyright (especially for previously unpublished materials), attribution (”translated by J. R. R. Tolkien”) and permission (the Estate was unaware of this book until today) may still need to be settled.

Quote:

Originally Posted by davem (Post 597429)

But will it happen?

Well, I would certainly hope it will. That would be a pity if it didn't come out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hookbill the Goomba (Post 597368)

I'm interested in this book. Even if it is based on the French version. I've tried my hand at translating Hebrew and would like to pick it up again at some point. Comparing my version to this would be a neat excuse.

Although I've seen and sold many copies of the New Jerusalem Bible in the bookshop I work in, I've never actually read it. I'm curious how close it follows the poetry of the Hebrew, heck, even the King James has some good poetry. We did have someone ask about the old Jerusalem Bible, we found a second hand copy for about £50.

I wonder if I can convince my boss to stock this book...

You should, and then you can secretly pass a copy or two to your fellow Barrow-Downers ;)

But actually, interestingly enough, just today we have been talking with our Old Testament departement leader about the Jerusalem Bible, and I remembered this... I actually thought that it might not be bad to eventually really obtain that translation of Tolkien (if it comes out all right) and then try to compare it with the Hebrew original or something, or just overall with various translation versions, it could actually make a nice - although not sure how long - paper, or some longer thesis... hmm ;) Perhaps I would finally join the ranks of people who write about Tolkien for their studies? I always wanted to do that :)

Most unknown about J.R.R. Tolkien is that he was an editor of The Jerusalem Bible, published in 1966 just after the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council. Tolkien's contribution was the translation of Jonah, one of the most famous bible stories.