your randomness of the day

[lirazel]

Y'all, I have so many problems with Catholic theology and the institution of the Catholic church, but monks and nuns are consistently the best (like, seriously, if I was Catholic, I think I would make such a great nun).

Oh, My Hand: Complaints Medieval Monks Scribbled in the Margins of Illuminated Manuscripts

New parchment, bad ink; I say nothing more.

[You don't need to, really. A dull pencil is the worst.]

I am very cold.

That's a hard page and a weary work to write it.

Let the reader's voice honor the writer's pen.

[which I choose to read as: APPRECIATE ME, DAMMIT. I PUT A LOT OF WORK INTO THIS.

This page has not been written very slowly.

[translation: forgive me my typos. Either that or it's sarcastic]

The parchment is hairy.

[Gross.]

The ink is thin.

Thank God, it will soon be dark.

Oh, my hand.

[I feel you, bro.]

Now I've written the whole thing: for Christ's sake, get me a drink.

St. Patrick of Armagh, deliver me from writing.

[I will be using that phrase ALL THE TIME.]

While I wrote I froze, and what I could not write by the beams of the sun I finished by candlelight.

[Frankly, that sounds like poetry.]

Writing is excessive drudgery. It crooks your back, it dims your sight, it twists your stomach and your sides.

As the harbor is welcome to the sailor, so is the last line to the scribe.

This is sad! O little book! A day will come in truth when someone over your page will say, ‘The hand that wrote it is no more.’

And upupa_epops, if you would like to talk about LM Montgomery in the comments, I would approve of that most heartily.

Comments

[upupa-epops.livejournal.com]

like, seriously, if I was Catholic, I think I would make such a great nun

Lol, really? I actually am Catholic, and the very idea of a convent creeps me out ;).

YES, PLEASE, I WANT TO TALK ABOUT LM MONTGOMERY!

I'm actually terrible with remembering the names of the characters, because the first few (hundred...) times I've read those books, I only had a bad translation from the 1970s; the names were all wrong (like, Dave and Dora were called Tadzio and Tola, and Rachel Linde was Małgorzata Linde), and some chapters were missing (Rilla of Ingleside didn't have the chapter in which Mr Pryor proposes to Susan!). I read the original versions of almost all of the Ann books about 2-3 years ago, never touched Emily or The Blue Castle in English (now I want The Blue Castle, curse you :( ).

I ALWAYS cry when Jim comes home, always :(. I don't actually like Ann of Green Gables, but all the later books - !!!!!!!!!!!! Gilbert is one of my first fictional crushes ever, and also the guy from The Blue Castle (I do not trust that my translation got the name right). I had such a soft spot for Walter (lol, he'd probably annoy me today).

I was totally obsessed with the Ann series; I've read Emily and Pat, but just once, and I don't remember much. Emily is the one who wanted to be a writer, right? She was saving candles, and she promised her aunt she would only write the truth! Emily of New Moon was the first book in my life that made me cry.

Ugh, now I found the whole LMM collection for Kindle waiting on my harddrive. You really HAD TO give me this idea right in the middle of finals? I have a feeling that I'm gonna spend the whole weekend reading Emily instead of learning vocabulary...

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think it would be awesome to hang out with other ladies and be dedicated to service and stuff. I could totally get on board with that! I have mad respect for so much of the work that so many Catholics do and I love the liturgy, but I can't get on board with the theology, so I stick with Anglicanism, which unfortunately has no nuns.

I am always so surprised when translations change names. I hear that they changed all of the Harry Potter names, too, which I just don't understand. Everything else makes sense to me, but not names!

OH YES WHEN JEM COMES HOME AND DOG MONDAY KNEW ALL ALOOOOONG.

Gilbert is one of my first fictional crushes ever,

Mine, too!

and also the guy from The Blue Castle (I do not trust that my translation got the name right).

Barney!

I had such a soft spot for Walter (lol, he'd probably annoy me today).

I loooove Walter.

She was saving candles, and she promised her aunt she would only write the truth! Emily of New Moon was the first book in my life that made me cry.

YES! Her aunt thought that writing was a waste of candles so she had to be very, very careful with them.

I have a feeling that I'm gonna spend the whole weekend reading Emily instead of learning vocabulary...

I should be concerned for your grades, but I'm mostly just delighted!

[pocochina.livejournal.com]

I loved Walter too! In retrospect not a big surprise.

[upupa-epops.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think it would be awesome to hang out with other ladies and be dedicated to service and stuff.

It's less awesome that they have to obey every single thing they're told, no questions asked. It's worse than the army.

Just out of curiosity, what is it that you don't like about Catholic theology? I promise that I'm not looking for a religious quarrel here, and I'm not gonna try to convince you ;). I just have some problems with the Catholic doctrine myself, so I'm forever curious what other people might have to say.

I hear that they changed all of the Harry Potter names, too, which I just don't understand.

Yeah, in some languages (in Polish they just renamed Cornelius Fudge, everything else stayed in the original; the spelling of some first names was adjusted to Polish phonetics, so for example Hermione became Hermiona and Sirius became Syriusz). Basically, you do that when you're translating books for children specifically -- to make the names easier to pronounce and to remember. So the publisher of Harry Potter decided to not translate the names, because they thought their target audience for the series would be teenagers, and not kids under 10 or 12. The publisher of Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching series miscalculated; they decided to translate everything, because they thought the book would be read by very young readers. Instead, adult fans of Pratchett started buying the books, so the publisher had to change the policy (and the translator). Now there're two official translations of Wee Free Men and The Hat Full of Sky :).

And in 1970s, they just familiarized everything.

(Whoops, sorry XD. I'm studying to be a translator, so I automatically treated your rhetorical question as an actual question XD.)

OH YES WHEN JEM COMES HOME AND DOG MONDAY KNEW ALL ALOOOOONG.

AND THEN MONDAY STARTS RUNNING, AND JUMPING AROUND THE STATION, AND HE COULD BARELY MOVE AFTER WAITING FOR JEM FOR FOUR YEARS, BUT HE RAN TO HIM ANYWAY... And I'm crying again :(.

Ha, Barney! At least my translation got SOMETHING right. I am absolutely in love with how he told Valancy (please, tell me it WAS Valancy) that she had beautiful wrists and ankles. The best romance ever, they fell in love because they became friends! Not to mention that he was a writer. Smart is sexy.

Now I'm conflicted if I should read Emily, or The Blue Castle... CHOICES, CHOICES, CHOICES!

[madcap-shiny.livejournal.com]

fasdjfklasdj THIS POST. For Christ's sake, get me a drink.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I was so delighted! I love things that show me just how human historical people are.

[next_to_normal]

Oh, I'm thinking icons are a must for these!

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

YAY!

[snickfic]

Somebody needs to make icons of a bunch of those. "Writing is excessive drudgery," "Deliver me from writing," and the first one.

LM Montgomery! The Blue Castle! That was one of the first things we bonded over, wasn't it - the fact that I got Blue Castle fic for Yuletide one year?

The Blue Castle is my favorite. A Tangled Web is flawed - far too many characters to do any of them justice - but I love the premise (if not the *#&% ending), and every Montgomery fan should read it once. It's her love of huge rambling squabbling families, writ large. Magic for Marigold made me sad - like those kind of books usually do that depict the sadness of leaving behind childhood without depicting the joy of embracing adulthood - but the first chapter, in which everyone squabbles over Marigold's name, is classic. Oh, and Jane of Lantern Hill! That one and TBC are my two favorite standalones.

I never really connected with the Pat books or the Emily books - I don't think I read the final book in either series - but when I was little, I wanted to be Anne (although this was based as much on Megan Follows as on the books).

OTOH, Kilmeny of the Orchard is really better left unread. The magical muteness cure is... :P And Montgomery was better at novels than short stories; a lot of those got repetitive after a while (especially when put into collections by theme, as was done fifteen years ago or so) and depended rather a lot on coincidence

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

They do just seem made for icons, don't they? I wonder what those monks would think about that....

the fact that I got Blue Castle fic for Yuletide one year?

I remember that!

I've never read Magic for Marigold, actually or the Pat books. I'll probably get around to them at some point. But I did love Jane of Lantern Hill, and the movie.

I can definitely see why you wouldn't connect with Emily. She's much harder to get along with than Anne. I think she's probably pretty polarizing--love/hate kind of thing. I love her lots.

although this was based as much on Megan Follows as on the books

That first movie was so flawless. And such great casting!

OTOH, Kilmeny of the Orchard is really better left unread. The magical muteness cure is... :P

Yeah, I think I've only read that one once.

[pocochina.livejournal.com]

A Tangled Web is flawed - far too many characters to do any of them justice - but I love the premise (if not the *#&% ending)

OOOH, THAT ONE. I distinctly remember my copy of A Tangled Web falling apart, I must have liked it enough to re-read it. I'm pretty sure it was Dark And Scandalous?

[next_to_normal]

This is a thing that happened.

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

too lazy to make an actualfax post right now but here you go y'all:

1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.


suffice to say, I LOVE THESE

[pocochina.livejournal.com]

Do you read Jezebel? It had a fairly recent feature about nuns being awesome.

LM MONTGOMERY! formative influence. Did you read Kilmeny of the Orchard? She's still so detailed in my memory, disproportionately, considering how short the story was compared to the others.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I used to read it, but we had a breakup about a year or so ago. I will have to check that article out, though!

SUCH a formative influence for me. I have read Kilmeny, yes, but it's been so long--I don't remember much about it, to be honest, except that she couldn't talk and she had a violin.

[chickosaurusrex.livejournal.com]

This is sad! O little book! A day will come in truth when someone over your page will say, ‘The hand that wrote it is no more.’

:( I think this one all the time.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I know! I mourned that person when I read that line.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

These guys really deserved a hug. And to never be told that "Dude, relax, in a few hundred years they'll be able to make infinite copies of that book you just spent weeks on in milliseconds." We take a lot of stuff for granted...

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

We really, really do.

[green-maia.livejournal.com]

monks and nuns are consistently the best

YES.



if I was Catholic, I think I would make such a great nun

Likewise!


ETA: Want to run away to a convent with me and see if they'll take an atheist and a Protestant? :D

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

You would make a fantastic nun. I feel like you have just the right contemplative personality and respect for wonder for it. Let's definitely start out own convent!

[idlewilds3.livejournal.com]

"St. Patrick of Armagh, deliver me from writing."...this one especially speaks to me right now because I'm attempting to write a paper in Spanish and by write, I meant butchering horribly grammar and vocabs. =/

"Anne of Green Gables" was one of the first books I managed to read in English so it always has a fond spot in my cold heart. I didn't particularly like the books after that but I still read Green Gables now and all the daily life lessons still resonate with me. And oh, I totally ganked my LJ name from Anne. Did you notice? ;)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Man, writing in other languages is hard. Good luck with your paper!

And oh, I totally ganked my LJ name from Anne. Did you notice?

I wondered if that might be the case! That's awesome!

[youcallitwinter.livejournal.com]

WHAT ARE YOU SAYING ABOUT L. M. MONTGOMERY? BECAUSE BEST SERIES EVER. I don't even know why I liked them so much, but I was madly, madly in love negl

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Oh, you know, just loving on formative influences in this thread. :D