16 March 2013

Lost in Non-Translation

I was just referred to this article by Aaron Diaz (creator of Dresden Codak).

One of Isaac Asimov's most important essays is entitled "Lost in Non-Translation", published in the unfortunately out-of print collection "The Tragedy of the Moon". It points out that simply presenting stories and parables in a historical context robs them of the power that they had for people for whom that context wasn't history.

http://www.asimovreviews.net/Books/Book144.html

http://www.amazon.com/The-Tragedy-Moon-Isaac-Asimov/dp/0440189993

Sorry, folks, you'll have to get it in paper form, it's not available digitally. It's a shame, this book contains some of his best non-fiction works. The other books containing this essay are also out-of-print and paper-only.

(in an ideal world Baen would have the rights and it would be in the Free Library, I consider this essay that important)