Frigyes Karinthy and Micimackó (Winnie the Pooh)

English Oak, North Norfolk, February 2011

Recently on Andrew Sutton’s FaceBook pages there has been a discussion about how meaning can change in translation and the author of one of my favourite books was mentioned, Frigyes Karinthy.

The book A Journey Round My Skull was published in Hungary in 1938. In 1936, Karinthy had undergone brain surgery with only a local anaesthetic. This book describes that experience and the time leading up to it.

I have read the book a couple of times and a few years back while reading on line about its author and learning more about his life and other works, I discovered what has turned out to be one of my favourite blogs, also called A Journey Round my Skull.

The book is on my shelf beside Robert McCrum’s account of his rehabilitation after a stroke.

I do not know how much has been lost in translating this work by Frigyes Karinthy, but it is certainly well worth reading in English.

Winnie the Pooh and Tiger too!

Karinthy was the Hungarian translator of A. A. Milne’s books.

Notes

My first posting on this book and others –

http://www.susie-mallett.org/2008/11/journey-round-my-skull.html

Andrew Sutton on FaceBook –

http://tinyurl.com/ceworldfb

The book-

http://www.nybooks.com/books/imprints/classics/a-journey-round-my-skull/

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,761865,00.html

The author –

http://www.hungarianquarterly.com/no145/p145.html

The blog –

http://ajourneyroundmyskull.blogspot.com/2007/08/introduction-journey-round-my-skull.html

A copy of the “whimsical guidebook of Budapest” mentioned here, by Torok and Felvideki accompanied me through the streets of Budapest when I lived there. This book had a tendency to fall apart at the seams and pages would go missing, so I purchased several copies over the years. It was for a long time the best guidebook to Budapest.

http://ajourneyroundmyskull.blogspot.com/2007/08/karinthy-voyage-to-faremido-and.html

http://ajourneyroundmyskull.blogspot.com/2007/08/karinthy-please-sir.html

http://ajourneyroundmyskull.blogspot.com/2007/08/frigyes-karinthy-grave-and-gay.html

http://ajourneyroundmyskull.blogspot.com/2007/08/karinthy-voyage-to-faremido-and_21.html

I love the second of the Hungarian covers featured here -

http://ajourneyroundmyskull.blogspot.com/2007/10/trip-around-my-cranium.html

http://ajourneyroundmyskull.blogspot.com/2007/11/journey-round-my-skull-french-2.html

And I like this cover too -

http://ajourneyroundmyskull.blogspot.com/2007/11/karinthy-please-sir.html

A.A.Milne –

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._A._Milne