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Something Ye Olde, Something New
Apr. 19th, 2011 12:00 pmAll Things Considered ran a piece yesterday (transcribed here, audio link to it at the top of that) which reminded me of an occasion considerably more memorable than the one rather obsessed about here of late: 2011 is the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible.
By the time I started reading such things in the 1960s, the Revised Standard Version had already been around for a bit, and the thees and thous left over from older hymns and readings already seemed dated. Yet, over time, I've come to love much of the older version, more for its poetry than its theology. Believe me, I'm not one of those King James-thumping Fundies who thinks that every subsequent version is a PC-Socialist-Obama-Kenyan-Muslim desecration of the "original" text; still, there are moments in that older translation that can't be beaten by any amount of later historical correctness, much less the political kind. The 23rd Psalm, for one; it's become so much a part of the funereal experience as originally set down by the 17th century poets, I need those "leadeths" and "restoreths" to make it a part of relieving my grief.
The audio linked to from above also goes through a number of the musical pieces that owe much to the 1611 version. The Byrds, Simon and Garfunkel, and, somewhat more unfortunately, Kansas- all have their echoes of the original text replayed for us.
So happy 400th, Jimmer:)
----
At least the scribes of the early 17th century had better editors than I can often find for my own writing. Earlier today, I got into an email discussion of book pricing, and I talked about how a pricing point for a particular format should include consideration of whether it's a brand-new work or not. In suggesting that a paperback could command a higher price if it wasn't a later release of a previous hardcover, I said, somewhat errantly, if I want to read something bad, I won't object to an extra buck or two for the hardback spine that isn't there.
Once I let a rereading of that sink in, I felt compelled to issue an erratum:
Actually, if I want to read "something bad," I'll just check for Dan Brown's newest;)
Thank thee. I wilt be present for all of half this fortnight. And forget thee not that thou shalt tip thy wench.
By the time I started reading such things in the 1960s, the Revised Standard Version had already been around for a bit, and the thees and thous left over from older hymns and readings already seemed dated. Yet, over time, I've come to love much of the older version, more for its poetry than its theology. Believe me, I'm not one of those King James-thumping Fundies who thinks that every subsequent version is a PC-Socialist-Obama-Kenyan-Muslim desecration of the "original" text; still, there are moments in that older translation that can't be beaten by any amount of later historical correctness, much less the political kind. The 23rd Psalm, for one; it's become so much a part of the funereal experience as originally set down by the 17th century poets, I need those "leadeths" and "restoreths" to make it a part of relieving my grief.
The audio linked to from above also goes through a number of the musical pieces that owe much to the 1611 version. The Byrds, Simon and Garfunkel, and, somewhat more unfortunately, Kansas- all have their echoes of the original text replayed for us.
So happy 400th, Jimmer:)
----
At least the scribes of the early 17th century had better editors than I can often find for my own writing. Earlier today, I got into an email discussion of book pricing, and I talked about how a pricing point for a particular format should include consideration of whether it's a brand-new work or not. In suggesting that a paperback could command a higher price if it wasn't a later release of a previous hardcover, I said, somewhat errantly, if I want to read something bad, I won't object to an extra buck or two for the hardback spine that isn't there.
Once I let a rereading of that sink in, I felt compelled to issue an erratum:
Actually, if I want to read "something bad," I'll just check for Dan Brown's newest;)
Thank thee. I wilt be present for all of half this fortnight. And forget thee not that thou shalt tip thy wench.