Czech it out
Jan. 28th, 2011 09:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellenkushnerMy one piece of published official erotica, a short story called "The House of 9 Doors," has just been translated into Czech for Topzine.cz. I wrote it originally for Datlow/Windling's SIRENS AND OTHER DAEMON LOVERS: Magical Tales of Love and Seduction. Not sure it's what I would have chosen for translation, but they wanted something under 4,000 words - also, it turns out, 2 other of my stories already appeared in Czech anthologies in the 90s ('The Swordsman Whose Name Was Not Death' and 'The Hunt of the Unicorn') . . . so there it is. I like the fact that it's kind of Riverside-y, even though it's set in a different nameless city . . . . and the Topzine editor lured me with possible attraction of Czech audience leading to a translation of a novel, so fingers crossed that Prague will someday see Swordspoint! They definitely have something in common.
So why am I telling you all this?
Well, for one thing, there are the illustrations on the Topzine page, which are quite wonderful (here's my fave). And, um anatomically correct, as I discovered when I scrolled all the way down to, um, the third one. (Somehow, I thought this was a 'zine for teens! No idea where I got that idea, but . . . clearly not. Indeed, the story is marked "For Readers over 18" - so of course I hope all the naughty 15-yr-olds learn a little something.)
And then, of course, I had to run it through GoogleTranslate, yielding such jewels as:
"Already we're horny like a deer in heat. "
and
" I will make sure you earn well tonight, but Give me this one. And - what gives tips? "
"Too high."
"So it's not noble, and their fathers in this always learn."
* * *
So: coincidence that in same day's NYTimes I read this quote from Catholic philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe?
"Christianity taught that men ought to be as chaste as pagans thought honest women ought to be; the contraceptive morality teachs that women need to be as little chaste as pagans thought men need be." ("Contraception and Chastity," 1972)
...To which I can only say: Well, yeah.
So why am I telling you all this?
Well, for one thing, there are the illustrations on the Topzine page, which are quite wonderful (here's my fave). And, um anatomically correct, as I discovered when I scrolled all the way down to, um, the third one. (Somehow, I thought this was a 'zine for teens! No idea where I got that idea, but . . . clearly not. Indeed, the story is marked "For Readers over 18" - so of course I hope all the naughty 15-yr-olds learn a little something.)
And then, of course, I had to run it through GoogleTranslate, yielding such jewels as:
"Already we're horny like a deer in heat. "
and
" I will make sure you earn well tonight, but Give me this one. And - what gives tips? "
"Too high."
"So it's not noble, and their fathers in this always learn."
* * *
So: coincidence that in same day's NYTimes I read this quote from Catholic philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe?
"Christianity taught that men ought to be as chaste as pagans thought honest women ought to be; the contraceptive morality teachs that women need to be as little chaste as pagans thought men need be." ("Contraception and Chastity," 1972)
...To which I can only say: Well, yeah.