Monday 12 January 2015

Shalee lhaih 2015: shiaghtin 02

Go here for English version. Note, this is rewritten from scratch, not a direct translation.

5oo-11d Jerrey Geuree

Jerrey nah hiaghtin ny Shalee Lhaih. Shoh ny lhiah mee yn çhiaghtin shoh chaie:

Parzival (Wolfram von Eschenbach)

Shoh skeeal reejerraghyn as y lheih, screeuit ec Germaanagh 'sy 13oo eash. T'eh mastey skeealaghyn elley Artur as y lheid, as va mian aym dy 'eddyn magh barel elley er ny shenn skeeallyn shen. Agh shegin dou gra nagh dod mee roshtyn jerrey y chied chabdil. T'eh çhyndaait ass Germaanish Veanagh, as er lhiam dy nee obbyr gharroo t'ayn. Ve fouesyn cummey as blass ny Germaanish y hauail aynsyn, foddee? Aghterbee, ta coraa yn ughtar skyrraghey mygeayrt gollrish sheeabin er rio. 'Syn un raa, ta blass formoil bardagh as blass y theay er, as cha dod mee geddyn greim er.

Chammah's shen, my t'ou uss er lhaih ny skeealyn elley, t'ad lane dy mynphoyntyn: enmyn ynnydyn as sleih, ny ta sleih cur lhieu dys boayl elley, soilshaghey magh cummey as shennaghys dagh aall t'ad gee lesh... Ny keayrtyn t'eh gollrish Lioar ny Reeaghyn! "Ve soit er daa ghow jeig, three jeeaghyn lesh y twoaie, as three lesh y sheear, as three lesh y jiass, as three lesh y shiar: as va'n keayn soit er y dreeym oc, as va ooilley'n lieh jerree oc sthie fo e vean." as ooilley shen.

Cheayll mee dy nee skeeal mie t'ayn, agh cha noddym surrane y çhyndaays shoh. Lhaihym fer elley keayrt ennagh, foddee.

A Wizard Abroad (Diane Duane)

By vie lhiam bun y skeeal shoh: t'eh er y chaillin-obbee Nita goll dys Nerin as ceau y sourey marish e naunt. Ta'n skeeal mie dy liooar, screeuit dy fondagh as lane dy haghyrtyn. As s'mie lhiam ny karracteyryn son y chooid smoo, ta soilshit dy mie ec Duane. Agh shegin dou gra dy row red ennagh boirey orrym.

Leah 'sy skeeal, ta fer aeg feyshtey cre'n fa dy ren ny Pooaryn (Jee, s'cosoylagh) cur Nita gys Nerin; cre'n fa nagh dod ny Yernee nyn lomarcan dellal rish ny doilleedyn t'ayn? As dy jarroo, er lhiam nagh row freggyrt fondagh ry-akin 'sy skeeal. Cha nel ee jannoo red erbee nagh oddagh peiagh elley er nyannoo 'syn un voayl, er lhiam. T'ee feaysley er folliaght ny ghaa, agh choud's s'cooin lhiam, cha nel shen er bun schlei ny fys er lheh t'ecksh. Cha nee loght mooar t'ayn, agh er lhiam dy vel y feysht shoh gannoonaghey y skeeal.

Ta'n red elley foddey ny s'crampey, as s'cosoylagh nagh noddym eh y hoilshaghey magh dy baghtal. Ahem. As mish er lhaih ram (rouyr?) fansee ta soit sy 'teihll shoh, as cooid vooar jeh screeuit ec Americaanee, ta mee er ngoaill toshiaght credjal dy vel cleayney ayn dy 'yoarreeaghey' Nerin as Yernee as Yernish. Dy ghra myr shen, cliaghtey dy screeu mychione cooishyn Yernagh ayns yn aght cheddin, as myr shen lhiettrimys skeealagh orroo y chur. Cha nel mee çheet er beaynchroo, agh er yn ayrn t'ocsyn ayns skeeallyn. Dy ro-chadjin (er lhiams) ta blass ard-phishagagh ec Nerin, erskyn dagh ooilley çheer elley; as ta shen firrinys rere rieughid y skeeal, cha nee my varel hene t'ayn. Ta Nerin ny s'faggys da'n Teihll Shee as bugganeyn as spyrrydyn as myr shen, as t'ad çheet rish dy mennick. Ta ny Yernee cliaghtit rish pishagys as bugganeys, as credjallagh as oalyssagh dy liooar. Ta sheggagys ny strimmey ayns Nerin. Ta kiangley eddyr Yernish as pishagys; ny keayrtyn ta Yernish y red cheddin as çhengey phishagys, ny keayrtyn elley t'ad jus casley rish y cheilley.

Wahll, er lhiam dy vel eiyrtys neuyerkit ec y chleayney shen: t'eh rang-oardraghey cooishyn Yernagh myr quaagh, as lane dy phishagys, as neughooghyssagh, as... wahll, joarree.

Cha nel eh quaagh dy vel ram skeealyn ayn bentyn rish Nerin as fansee. Ren Tolkein kiangley eddyr oc. Ta ny feayn-skeealyn Celtiagh coadit dy mie ayns Nerin, as haink cooishyn Arthuragh y ve bun fansee 'syn Oarpey, as myr shen va cummaght lajer ec cooishyn Yernagh er y ghenre. Cha nel monney fys cadjin ain mychione feayn-skeeallaght ny h-Anglo-Hostnee. As ta feayn-skeealyn Celtiagh mie er enney ec screeudeyryn 'sy Vaarle, tra nagh vel fys mie oc feayn-skeealyn Frangish, Germaanish, ny Rooshish. Agh, my she ynnyd as ayrn Nerin t'ayn er son dy bragh, ny çheer phishagys as shenn reddyn neughooghyssagh, ta shen cur geulaghyn urree dy ve ny boayl joarree. Ny red ennagh myr shen. S'doillee eh soilshaghey magh y barel lieh-chummit shoh! Cha nee foill yn skeeal shoh hene t'ayn, chamoo yn skeeal shoh ynrican; she cleayney genre fansee t'ayn as shoh sampleyr jeh, shen ooilley.

This is how fucking scary the ocean is (Colleen Webber)

Skeealeen jesh as aalin mychione y cheayn, as ny kianglaghyn t'eddyr eshyn as shinyn. T'ee screeuit dy baghtal as ta caslyssyn lane dy vree er dagh duillag - dy jarroo, ta dagh duillag ny caslys. Ta blass aitt kiune sooraghey y fysseree t'ayn. Hoght duillagyn ta feeu lhaih, my nod oo geddyn greim orroo! Ghow mee y skeealeen shoh myr dean loggyr Kickstarter tra chionnee mee lioar elley (Waterlogged).

Fockle s'jerree

Wahll, shoh drogh-toshiaght dhyt. Hooar magh mee nagh by gooin lhiam kuse dy lioaryn-l tra screeu mee yn rolley hoshiaght. Va 15 lioaryn jarroodit aym. Myr shen, va 159 lioaryn aym ec toshiaght ny bleeaney, as 156 yn çhiaghtin shoh chaie.

Lhaih mee 3 lioar, va 156 aym yn çhiaghtin shoh chaie, myr shen ta 153 faagit dou nish.


English version

5th-11th of January

The end of week one of the Reading Project. Here's what I've read this week:

Parzival (Wolfram von Eschenbach)

A book of knightly derring-do and so forth, written in the 13th century. It's part of the Grail cycle of Arthurian stories, and having heard of it I was interested to get another perspective. Sadly I have to confess I gave up before the end of the first chapter. It's translated from Middle High German, and I found it a pretty rough read. Perhaps they wanted to retain some of the structure and flavour of the original, which is usually praiseworthy, but the attempt doesn't do much for me. I found Wolfram's voice completely inconsistent, veering from high-falutin' poetical to earthy within a paragraph, or even a sentence. I simply couldn't settle into it.

Also, as you might know from similar stories, they love to cram in the details. Loving descriptions of journeys, recitations of names, and several sentences describing some item present at some event which will itself take pages to describe... it's too much for me. Shades of 1 Kings, if you know what I mean - all so many cubits and such-and-such wood.

It's supposed to be a good story, but I couldn't cope with this translation. Maybe another time.

A Wizard Abroad (Diane Duane)

I liked the premise of this book: the wizard Nita (from two previous books) is sent to Ireland to spend the summer with her aunt. The story itself is fine: well written, smooth and eventful. I also enjoyed the character interactions, as Duane depicts an array of interesting characters with few or many brushstrokes as required. That being said, a couple of things niggled at me.

Early in the story, a young man questions why the Powers (God, probably) sent Nita. Why couldn't the local wizards handle whatever was going on? And I have to say that I don't feel like the book really provided a compelling answer to that question. She plays a very low-key role in this story, supporting the actions of a whole gang of adult wizards. She does unravel a few puzzles and helps out, but it mostly seems to involve being in the right place at the right time. I can't recall any instance where some specific ability or knowledge of Nita's is the key. Her younger sister Dairine is vital, but a) that doesn't justify Nita, and b) she's vital in a rather tangential way. This isn't a huge flaw in the book, but I do think this question weakens the story somewhat.

The second isn't particular to this book, but an example of a trend I've started to notice in urban fantasy. There seems to be a tendency to assign Ireland and all things Irish (if they are discussed at all) to a particular box, which is the Most Mystical Country. Ireland tends to be the place with most 'residual magic' or whatever. Its history is very dominant, its boundaries between walls thin. Strange occurrences are common, mythological creatures relatively widespread, and the Irish themselves typically blasé about this through a mixture of wide credulity, affability and being inured to weirdness. The Irish language may be connected to the Magical Speech, and is often used to give extra weight to the mystical elements; fey usually speak Irish. This sort of thing isn't just my reading, but explicitly stated in the text.

While this sounds pretty cool, I think a result of this being common is that Ireland tends to be exoticised. Its canonical place as wondrous historical fairyland implies that other countries are the norm. Ireland is the outsider, the strange thing, the other. The weight given to it also tends to mean that other, more commonplace features of Ireland (and Irish, and Irish characters) are sidelined. Do not all countries have their own mythological backgrounds, just like Ireland, and their own languages? I have never seen Holland presented as a mystical place, Spanish as a tongue inherently connected to magic, the English as inured to the supernatural events so unusually common in their homeland. Germans do not have the second sight, Poles don't seem to be innately sensitive to psychic events.

I'm finding it quite hard to articulate (or pin down) what it is I'm trying to say, because I really don't know enough about these topics. It feels like Ireland in fantasy tends to be put in a box, and it's always a very similar box, and while it's a pretty flattering box in many ways, fundamentally it still doesn't leave much room to grow and breathe.

This is how fucking scary the ocean is (Colleen Webber)

A nice short, engagingly-illustrated piece about the sea and its relationship to us, putting some things in perspective. Touches of humour leaven the facts. It's only 8 pages, all hand-painted; give it a look.

Afterword

Not the best start... this week I realised I'd omitted 15 ebooks from the list (I've always been a bit wishy-washy about whether ebooks count as 'to read'). This means I actually began with 159 books, and last week 156 were left.

I read 3 books, I began the week with 156, so 153 are left over.

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