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Viktor Janis
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 11:49 am: |       |
I am a Czech translator currently translating "From Hell" by Alan Moore. This site has been a veritable mine of information which allowed me to correct quite a lot of mistakes Moore made (especially in spelling), but one problem still remains.
In chapter five, page 15 there is a drawing of Pall Mall Gazette from 31st August 1888, to be more precise, of an article concerning sir Charles Warren. It begins like this: "Sir Charles Warren has (proceeded?) from bad to worse, until he has (nearly?) succeded in establishing a condition of things in Scotland Yard which Lord Salisbury may well regard with uneasiness. The resignation of Mr. Monro, the chief of the Criminal investigations department is merely the most conspicuous outward and visible sign of the discontent which sir Charles has created in the force."
So far so good, there were only two partially missing words and I could make a reasonable guess from their first letters. Unfortunately, the story continues in another column whose two thirds are out of the picture and the rest is crumpled (by the hand of none other than Charles Warren himself). So, here are the legible words: "we have... which we has finally de?... immediately. We... announcing his re?... Queen before the reass?... This decision is due to... age and to the great st?.... session. He is also...disappointed at the... rejection of the... opposition which... the Parish Co?... encounter... not been..."
The problem is that Czech is a flective language, ie. the suffixes of verb depend on the subject. If there is no subject, the translator is in trouble. What's more, the Czech word order is completely different. Also (as I have seen while translating Moore's "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen") it is nearly impossible to preserve the meaning AND at the same time get the same amount of letters as in original. There is only decent solution: to translate the whole of column and let the graphic designer cut the two thirds. And that's where I would like to ask you for help: the whole article can be found in a book by Melvin Harris called „The Ripper File“ (W. H. Allen and Co, 1989). I have been trying to locate it when I was in London and Cambridge, but it is out of print and cannot be found even in quite well stocked libraries.
Is there someone who actually HAS the book and can copy the paragraph for me?
Thanks a lot in advance
Viktor Janis
Prague
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Chris Scott
Chief Inspector
Username: Chris
Post Number: 566
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2003 - 8:04 am: | |
Two paragraphs of the article appear in The Ripper File but neither matches the selection of words you quote. The column that is partly legible must either come from a different article or occur later in the article than the two paragraphs quoted in the Ripper File. This is all that is int The Ripper Files:
" Why does not Lord Salisbury solve the double difficulty in which he is at present involved by the brilliant stroke of appointing Sir Charles Warren warden of the Marches on the Upper Zambezi? Sir Charles Warren has steadily gone from bad to worse, until he has now succeeded in establishing a condition of things in Scotland yard which Lord Salisbury may well regard with uneasiness. The resignation of Mr. Monro, the chief of the Criminal Investigation Department, is merely the most conspicuous outward and visible sign ofthe discontent which Sir Charles has created in the force.
Mr. Monro, we hear, is likely to be appointed Head of the Third Section of political police... But Sir Charles Warren stands in still more urgent need of promotion - away from Scotland yard. He did admirably at Suakin during his brief term of office. Few pleasanter pictures have ever been seen than that of Sir Charles sitting in the market place at Suakin on the Moslem Sabbath, winning the confidence of the people first by telling stories to the littel urchins, and then by holding a kind of democratic levee or audience, which the poorest were free to attend, and where all were to expose their grievances or to air their complaints. He has done nothing so good since he quit Africa. He will do nothing so good until he returns to Africa again. His disappearance from Scotland yard would be a great deliverance for the metropolis..."
This is all of the article in Melvin's book. Hope it helps.
Chris
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Alexander Chisholm
Sergeant
Username: Alex
Post Number: 34
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2003 - 11:14 am: | |
Hi Viktor & Chris
The full front-page editorial on Warren from the Pall Mall Gazette, 31 August 1888, reads as follows:
PROMOTION FOR SIR CHARLES WARREN.
WHY does not Lord SALISBURY solve the double difficulty in which he is at present involved, by the brilliant stroke of appointing Sir CHARLES WARREN Warden of the Marches on the Upper Zambesi? It is a month since he haughtily proclaimed the whole of the territory lying between the Limpopo and the Zambesi as belonging to the sphere of British Influence, but he has done nothing to give effect to his proclamation. The peoples inhabiting this “British sphere” are liable to be eaten up by Boer settlers from the South and Arab invaders from the north. The treasures of the land of Ophir may pass to other owners. Our allies and protégés may be destroyed by their confidence in our word, and our position in South Africa hopelessly compromised, because of the lack of a competent representative of the British Government on the banks of the Zambesi. The Empire needs such a representative, and in Sir CHARLES WARREN there is the necessary man ready to hand.
We publish elsewhere, from the Times, a very interesting account of the gallant attempt which our brave missionaries on Lake Nyassa are making to stem the desolating tide of Arab war which is submerging Central Africa. We do not think that even the most embittered anti-Christian can feel other than admiration and sympathy for the little band of men who are risking all, even the continuance of the spiritual work, for which they left England and bury themselves in Africa, in order to avert from the helpless native populations the awful scourge of the slave raid. Twenty-six of them all told, Scotch and English, with 400 natives of doubtful value as fighting men, they stand a solitary outpost of civilization and humanity confronting the flood of Arab war. If they go down there is nothing to check the ravaging of Africa down to the Limpopo. The road to the Zambesi would be opened to them at once, and they will use the Lake Nyassa as the base for their piratical man-hunts to the South and the West. It is idle to say that this is none of our business. At a time when the Pope is sending Cardinal LAVIGERIE through Europe to preach a new holy war against the great scourge of Africa, it will not do for England, the Power which first aroused the human conscience to a sense of the horrors of slavery, to be apathetic in face of this revival and extension of the worst form of the African slave trade. Belgium, even little Belgium, is raising an armed band to proceed to Africa to oppose the advance of the Arabs, and although England has abandoned Khartoum and the Upper Nile, she cannot surrender as lightly the Zambesi, that Danube of South-eastern Africa.
To hold such a position Sir CHARLES WARREN is obviously the right man. He knows the country; he is familiar with the people, he is equally well versed in all the wiles of Arab war and with all the prejudices of the Boers. When Mr. CHILDERS brought him to Scotland-yard on the supersession of the Dodo, we heartily welcomed his appointment, believing that the metropolitan police stood in great need of the firm hand of an earnest and energetic reformer. If the Liberals had remained in office it is probable that we should never have had cause to regret the substitution of King Stork for King Log. Even as it was, we gave the Chief Commissioner steady and unfailing support, although the murmurs which reached us from all ranks were both loud and deep, as long as he could claim that he was only incurring unpopularity in the force by his zeal for the reformation and discipline of the police, we continued to support him loyally and faithfully. But after he restrained ENDACOTT that was no longer possible. From that fatal moment Sir CHARLES WARREN has steadily gone from bad to worse, until he has now succeeded in establishing a condition of things in Scotland-yard which Lord SALISBURY may well regard with uneasiness. The resignation of Mr. MONRO, the chief of the Criminal Investigation Department, is merely the most conspicuous outward and visible sign of the discontent which Sir CHARLES has created in the force. This discontent no doubt is largely due to the excellence of his intentions and his laudable desire to undo so far as he can the evil results of his ostentatious patronage of moral miracles of the type of St. ENDACOTT and St. BLOY, and the general embittering of the relations between the police and the public. Sir CHARLES might have reformed his police if he had taken care not to alienate the popular sympathy without which he is powerless. As it is he has lost his right-hand man, and is face to face with heartburnings, distractions, and discord, which render him impotent for future good.
Mr. MONRO, we hear, is likely to be appointed to be Head of the Third Section of political police with which Mr. JENKINSON was formerly associated. But Sir CHARLES WARREN stands in still more urgent need of promotion – away from Scotland-yard. He did admirably at Suakin during his brief term of office. Few pleasanter pictures have ever been seen than that of Sir CHARLES sitting in the market-place at Suakin on the Moslem Sabbath, winning the confidence of the people first by telling stories to the little urchins, and then by holding a kind of democratic levée or audience, which the poorest were free to attend, and where all were free to expose their grievances or to air their complaints. He has done nothing so good since he quitted Africa. He will do nothing so good till he returns to Africa again. His disappearance from Scotland-yard would be a great deliverance for the metropolis, his advent on the Zambesi as British Warden of the Marches would be an event full of promise for the future of South Africa.
This editorial took up one and one third columns of a two column front page. The remaining two-thirds of a column on the front page was given over to an article entitled “The Philosophy of Fast Trains.” None of the phrases Viktor cites from the largely obscured “From Hell” column appear in this article. So some artistic licence on the part of the authors might be evident here.
Hope that helps
Best Wishes
alex
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Viktor Janis
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Saturday, October 04, 2003 - 4:07 am: | |
Dear Chris and Alexander, thank you both very much indeed - this is as exhaustive as it gets. And what's more, you caught Alan Moore red-handed :-)
Viktor |
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