[COMPLETE] Small Souls by Louis Couperus -ans

Post by **annise** » January 17th, 2022, 4:30 am

The thread postings are not the same - one was kbps the other kpbs - it's our eyes that see what we want to see.
It is only meant to be kb anyhow - which does make this particular mistake less likely. I didn't notice it first glance either.

Anne

eggs4ears · Post by **eggs4ears** » January 17th, 2022, 2:51 pm

Well spotted! It's kb from now on!

Chapter 2 Ready for PL!

https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/smallsouls_02_couperus_128kb.mp3 - 35.01

Erin, there are a couple of small things in this file.

First, you'll hear Javastraat with an English 'J'. This is to make the connection with Java as a place name elsewhere in the text.

Second, at 23:08, when van Raven is introduced to Constance, one of them responds 'van Raven' and I am not sure who it is. I am leaning toward Constance, but I've left both in case you have a different opinion.

Newgatenovelist · Post by **Newgatenovelist** » January 18th, 2022, 2:18 pm

The file I’ve been able to download is shorter than the given run time by four-ish minutes. I did a quick spot check on the end to see if the download had been interrupted, and just before the outro I hear what I suspect are stray words (alternate takes for this chapter? for another chapter?) but they don’t match the end of the chapter in the book. Could you check that this is the file you meant to upload?

No problem at all with the English J for Javastraat. As I said before, I don't mind which decisions you make so long as you're happy with them and stand by them.

I'll look out for van Raven when I do PL. Thanks for the heads up!

eggs4ears · Post by **eggs4ears** » January 18th, 2022, 11:52 pm

Yes, it's the right file but it is 31:05, not 35:01. My bad, I've changed the MW.

The words at the end are the translator's notes. They appear as footnotes in the text, but as they are rather like a glossary, the end of the file seemed like the best place for them. There are several in this chapter but fewer in the rest of the book.

Newgatenovelist · Post by **Newgatenovelist** » January 20th, 2022, 7:48 am

Here we go, chapter 2! The translator's notes were fine, and at least the question about the run time was cleared up easily! Have a good weekend!

21.30-21.34, bottom third p 22
...coming back from church in her white bridal dress…
Does ‘white’ sound more like ‘wide’ to you, or is it my ears? It’s nothing major, but sometimes you’ve preferred to record minor things which is why I mention it.

I would agree with you that at 23.08 it’s Constance saying ‘van Raven’, so please delete the bonus recording!

eggs4ears · Post by **eggs4ears** » January 20th, 2022, 11:18 pm

Corrections to Chapter 2 made (I did say 'wide').

I have also uploaded the other two files again with '128kb' at the end to be consistent - but no other changes there

Newgatenovelist · Post by **Newgatenovelist** » January 21st, 2022, 1:35 pm

Section 2 is spot PL OK!

eggs4ears · Post by **eggs4ears** » January 21st, 2022, 4:47 pm

Newgatenovelist wrote: ↑January 21st, 2022, 1:35 pm Section 2 is spot PL OK!

Thanks!

I have been googling around for some images for the cover (bearing in mind we'll need four in the end), but without success so far. Any ideas?

I did come across this in passing, which was quite interesting - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHQq_BRBqYw. I guess that the first scene is Dorine visiting Bertha (not Karel as in the book), but I have no idea what is going on in the second scene - is it Constance and van der Welke in Rome?

Newgatenovelist · Post by **Newgatenovelist** » January 22nd, 2022, 8:34 am

I forgot to say, I did double check the new files for 00 and 01 with the new file names, and it's all okay. It's better for me to try to stay one step ahead of potential hiccups than to find out at cataloguing time that they've slipped in!

I should mention that I think there is a bit of slippage in the translation, just as a general point of information. Several of the characters have a colonial connection to the 'Dutch East Indies', or Indonesia, the Eastern part of the Dutch empire, but it looks like it's being translated as 'India'. This isn't a PL note, just a general note for your own info.

Okay, I'm going to throw several ideas out there for cover images and see if anything sparks something. These artists were all active in the low countries at about the right time for Couperus, if proximity is important! I've tried to suggest examples from a few different schools because I'm not sure what you like. Most of these are from wiki and should - fingers crossed! - be okay to use without much further digging. In no particular order, here they are.

(Modified) original cover art: Couperus had some stylish covers for his Dutch-language books, some of which it might (?) be possible to adapt.
This is the second instalment of Small Souls:
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_boeken_der_kleine_zielen._Het_late_leven#/media/Bestand:Band_van_Het_late_leven_Couperus_1902.png
This is part of a sort of 'collected works' series:
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_boeken_der_kleine_zielen._Het_late_leven#/media/Bestand:Berlage_band_voor_Couperus.jpg
One for the book Psyche:
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Toorop#/media/Bestand:BoekbandCouperusPsyche.jpg
One for the book Metamorfoze:
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Toorop#/media/Bestand:Toorop_1897.jpg

The Amsterdam Impressionists were roughly contemporary with Couperus and, despite the name, didn't just paint images of Amsterdam (the wrong town, for this novel!). Some of them are below.
Isaac Israëls has a nice one of a well-heeled woman on a beach:
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Isra%C3%ABls#/media/Bestand:Isaac_Isra%C3%ABls_(1865-1934)_Portret_van_mev._D._Calisch-Hijmans_Kr%C3%B6ller-M%C3%BCller_Museum_Otterlo_23-08-2016.JPG
George Hendrik Breitner's very Impressionist 'street view in the Hague':
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hendrik_Breitner#/media/File:George_Hendrik_Breitner_-_Stadsgezicht_in_Den_Haag_(?).jpg

Jan Toorop (who did a couple of the book covers above) has several of genteel people and interiors:
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Toorop#/media/Bestand:Annie_Hall_in_Lissadell,_Surrey,_by_Jan_Toorop.jpg
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Toorop#/media/Bestand:Toorop_Dame_in_wit.jpg
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Toorop#/media/Bestand:JanToorop-trio-fleuri-1886.jpg
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Toorop#/media/Bestand:Het_pianospel.tif

Floris Arntzenius has a couple, one a portrait of a woman and one of a street in the Hague:
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floris_Arntzenius#/media/Bestand:Floris_Arntzenius_-_Portret_van_Lide_Arntzenius-Doorman.jpg
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floris_Arntzenius#/media/Bestand:Arntzenius_Spuistraat_Den_Haag.jpg

On the same theme, if the artwork were to focus more on one figure, especially a woman (Constance?), August Allebé has a contemporary image:
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Alleb%C3%A9#/media/Bestand:Portrait_of_an_unknown_lady_in_profile.jpg

For a male and female double portrait, this one by Vilmos Huszár is a little bit later (1910):
https://www.kunstmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/zelfportret-met-echtgenote?origin=gm

As an outside candidate, the early work of the Belgian artist James Ensor has some interiors of well-to-do low countries families and portraits:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ensor#/media/File:Namiddag_in_Oostende,_James_Ensor,_1881,_Koninklijk_Museum_voor_Schone_Kunsten_Antwerpen,_1852.001.jpeg
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ensor#/media/Bestand:Nos_deux_portraits_.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ensor#/media/File:James_Ensor_(1882)_-_De_oestereetster_001.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ensor#/media/File:James_Ensor_(1879)_-_De_vrouw_met_de_wipneus_001.jpg
There's also his 'Het Burgersalon' (translated, I think, as 'The Bourgeois Salon') at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp (scroll down):
https://kmska.be/nl/james-ensor-het-kmska

eggs4ears · Post by **eggs4ears** » January 25th, 2022, 12:48 am

Wow! That's an impressive selection!

Anne, what do you think about the cover? I should leave this to the experts, really. I like paintings as covers because it revives the painting as well as the book, but I also know they can be difficult to work with. The main thing for me would be to have a theme that can go through the four books, as it is really one story running across the four.

If it helps, this book is focused on Constance, a 42-year-old woman, and the fourth is focused on Adriaan, who is a young psychologist in his 20s (and a child in this book). I'd have to check on the others.

eggs4ears · Post by **eggs4ears** » January 25th, 2022, 1:06 am

Chapters 3 & 4 ready for PL!

https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/smallsouls_03_couperus_128kb.mp3 - 11:31
https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/smallsouls_04_couperus_128kb.mp3 - 28:19

I want to ask your opinion on Chapter 4. There is a lot of interior monologue in this book, so best to sort it out now and I can rerecord this chapter, if you think what I am doing is not working. It wouldn't be too much trouble, given the length of the book. So around the first 18 minutes of this chapter is Constance reflecting, or at least written from her perspective, and I have kind of hinted at her voice. Then it switches back to a third person perspective as he is writing about both her and van der Welke. Or at least so it seems to me - I may be wrong. The alternative would be just to keep the narrator's voice throughout.

On the other hand, people may not even notice that I am trying to use two different voices. If I ask my wife or my son, they usually say 'it sounds like you'

eggs4ears · Post by **eggs4ears** » January 25th, 2022, 1:14 am

Yes, I agree it is confusing, especially for modern English-speaking readers. In the original, Couperus uses 'Indië'. If I am right, at that time the whole region was called India, and. in English, there was 'British India' and the 'Dutch East Indies' (not to mention the West Indies). The translator would not have known Indonesia, as it is post-independence term, though I suppose he could have said 'Dutch India' to clarify. I'd have to look it up, but I think he may have said something about that in an introduction to another of Couperus' books.

Newgatenovelist wrote: ↑January 22nd, 2022, 8:34 am I should mention that I think there is a bit of slippage in the translation, just as a general point of information. Several of the characters have a colonial connection to the 'Dutch East Indies', or Indonesia, the Eastern part of the Dutch empire, but it looks like it's being translated as 'India'. This isn't a PL note, just a general note for your own info.

eggs4ears · Post by **eggs4ears** » January 26th, 2022, 3:29 am

And Chapter 5 ready for PL!

https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/smallsouls_05_couperus_128kb.mp3 - 26:38

I enjoyed this chapter. Sadly, Karel and Cateau will play only a very small part in the rest of the series.

Newgatenovelist · Post by **Newgatenovelist** » January 26th, 2022, 6:38 am

Chapter 3 is PL OK. Notes for chapter 4 are below.

4.30-4.34, mid-page p 38
...the little Princess [heard Prince] Wilhemina was then still a baby...

16.39-16.41, first para p 45
She had envious [heard obvious] enemies…

I think what you've done with chapter 4 and the different voices that aren't full-blown different voices works. From what you've said (and some of what I was looking for when looking at paintings!) this is very much Constance's book; the narration is still third person omniscient but her having been away, lived her life and made mistakes allows a sort of insider-outsider, more objective view on to the family members who have stayed in the Hague and not really grown as much. At least, that's how it seems to be shaping up from what I've PLed and what you've said!

Newgatenovelist · Post by **Newgatenovelist** » January 26th, 2022, 12:38 pm

Two notes for section 5 below. It sounded like you were having fun with Karel and Cateau! I'm not surprised that they won't be in it much. It's an enormous family, and I guess there simply isn't room to give everyone equal air time.

12.21-12.26, bottom half p 59, omission
“I say, what next!” [muttered Karel.] “A footman, indeed!”

19.53-19.55, top third p 64
...who died at Buitenzorg…
The first syllable (as you’ve pronounced it elsewhere) is more like ‘bow’, as in take a bow – I heard ‘boy’