New OUP edition with translation by David Coward

Just found out that, to compete with the new Penguin Classics edition (translation by Mireille Ribière, introduction by Jann Matlock), Oxford University Press will be publishing ANOTHER new translation of Leroux's novel (ALSO to be annotated with a detailed introduction) by David Coward. Too many translations! I will be getting it merely for the annotations and the introduction. It's funny that Leroux's novel has finally been deemed literary enough by both publishers to warrant inclusion in their world classics ranges.

Link for further info with sample pages from introduction: http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/academic/literature/texts/fiction/classic/9780199694570.do?sortby=bookTitleAscend&thumbby=10&thumbby_crawl=10&zoneCode=ACZC028

Great news, Scorp.

As you and others have said elsewhere, it is really kind of interesting that after years of languishing as 'merely' a pulp/gothic mystery tale, Leroux's Phantom novel is now getting serious scholarly treatment.

Looks like I'll be getting two new Leroux translations this year!

~Madame~

I got my review copy today. The annotations at the back are great, but I felt the introduction offered by David Coward could have been more than it was (I also didn't like the lazy addition at the end that "phans" were "delighted" with LND... ). Jann Matlock's introduction which will be used in the Penguin edition is more informed. Coward's bibliography for the 'Further Reading' list is also surprisingly lacking. OK, not much has been written on the novel, but he has completely omitted some key references, notably Žižek's Lacanian reading of the tale and the recent work by Cormac Newark, yet despite this decides to include A MESSAGE BOARD THREAD of all things (! - not from here, from poto.com) as suggested further reading!  It's rather scary to know all these academics have been looking at message boards. What a shame they didn't drop by here.

Scorp wrote:I got my review copy today. The annotations at the back are great, but I felt the introduction offered by David Coward could have been more than it was (I also didn't like the lazy addition at the end that "phans" were "delighted" with LND... ).

Review copy? Any chance your comments can influence them to remove that extremely lazy bit of misinformation?

[...] yet despite this decides to include A MESSAGE BOARD THREAD of all things (! - not from here, from poto.com) as suggested further reading! It's rather scary to know all these academics have been looking at message boards (even Matlock has done it). What a shame they didn't drop by here.

There are indeed drawbacks to being an under-the-radar forum

R.

Raphael wrote:

Scorp wrote:I got my review copy today. The annotations at the back are great, but I felt the introduction offered by David Coward could have been more than it was (I also didn't like the lazy addition at the end that "phans" were "delighted" with LND... ).

Review copy? Any chance your comments can influence them to remove that extremely lazy bit of misinformation?

R.

I'm with Raph on this one. Is there any way that you could submit your thoughts to the author/publisher and have that language changed to say that 'fans' of the show had (at best) a 'mixed' reaction to the sequel, given that the plot utterly bastardizes the original story and characters beyond recognition? Tsk.

~Madame~

Madame Giry wrote:

Raphael wrote:

Scorp wrote:I got my review copy today. The annotations at the back are great, but I felt the introduction offered by David Coward could have been more than it was (I also didn't like the lazy addition at the end that "phans" were "delighted" with LND... ).

Review copy? Any chance your comments can influence them to remove that extremely lazy bit of misinformation?

R.

I'm with Raph on this one. Is there any way that you could submit your thoughts to the author/publisher and have that language changed to say that 'fans' of the show had (at best) a 'mixed' reaction to the sequel, given that the plot utterly bastardizes the original story and characters beyond recognition? Tsk.

~Madame~

OUP told me that it was already finalised, and since the release date is soon, I imagine they've already printed quite a few copies. I don't think it's worth the bother...but I'll double check with them re whether it's too late to change anything.

EDIT: They've told me it's all finalised. I raised the point anyway just to bring it to their awareness. Maybe they'll change it for future editions, but I doubt it's something they'll care about since it's not really to do with the novel itself. They said they'll pass these comments to the editor.

Here's the offending sentence: "...its sequel, LND, has not disappointed the many 'phans' who exchange information and their enthusiasm on dedicated Internet sites."

There are a few errors in the annotations re publication dates and illustrations.