See UPDATEs 1 & 2 below...
Working now in Chapter 19 where Martin has just met Doc Pickerbaugh, the would-be poet.
I wondered how the translator had dealt with Pickebaugh's poems. So far - after just a couple at this point - the translations are fine, but, unsurprisingly, no attempt at rhyming was made.
I say unsurprising because, as the reader will likely know, Japanese poetry tends not to rhyme. Rather, certain syllabic patterns are met.
I did a little digging and found some very interesting sources. I will, perhaps, post them as an update at some point. Or, ask if you'd like to see them before then.
For the purposes of Arrowsmith, though, non-rhyming translations are probably fine. It crossed my mind to force them into some sort of syllabic pattern, but doesn't that just take us ever further afield?
UPDATE 1:
This verse from Chapter 19 was translated in rhyme, and not badly:
Zenith welcomes with high hurraw
A friend in Almus Pickerbaugh,
The two-fisted fightin' poet doc
Who stands for health like Gibraltar's rock.
He's jammed with figgers and facts and fun,
The plucky old, lucky old son--of--a--gun!
This sent me back to some of the earlier verses, where I did find some rhyming, albeit not altogether convincing. I now see some opportunities to patch some of these earlier rhymes. I will report back as I progress.
UPDATE 2:
I did patch some of the earlier rhymes and am reasonably happy with what I did. For those of you who read Japanese, I'll explain the details there one day soon.
The debate between brute force direct translations and more interpretive translations is even more real for verse. Especially in the case of the silly verse written by the likes of Pickerbaugh, what's important is not every word, but rather the overall meaning. And, since the original rhymes, I don't think it's a bad idea for the translation to do so as well, within reason.
