January 30 2023, 10:29

I wonder, what value does reading Shakespeare in translation hold if all that remains of Shakespeare in his tragedies is merely the script? Translating a sonnet into Russian, let’s say by Marshak, is very liberal. It essentially starts from scratch, a composition stretched over a framework of dialogue. Furthermore, Marshak’s translation is very beautiful, but here I would give Marshak 9 points for the beauty of the translation and 1 point to Shakespeare for writing texts that are difficult to translate 🙂

I need to find some time to try reading something in the original. I imagine an interactive book where you click on a phrase and a brief comment appears, click again and a detailed one comes up, with context and details. I wonder if anyone has made such a thing?