David R. Godine, Publisher, has announced the publication of a new edition of The Forty Days of Musa Dagh by Franz Werfel, translated by Geoffrey Dunlop, revised and expanded by James Reidel, with a preface by Vartan Gregorian.
Out of print for several decades, the English translation of The Forty Days of Musa Dagh for the Godine edition has been revised and expanded by poet and translator James Reidel.
The original translation by Geoffrey Dunlop (the only English translation ever published) excised nearly 25% of the original two volume German text in order to accommodate the needs of the Book-of-the-Month Club and to streamline the novel for film adaptation. Reidel has restored and translated these passages and has revised the existing translation to free Werfel's stronger language from Dunlop's softening of meaning, his effective censorship of the novel to fit the mores and commercial contingencies of the 1930s.
Books will be available in mid-January, and the publication date for the media is April 24, 2012.
