Hello,
I'm always puzzled by the impressive number of modern novels which have been translated into Latin lately on one hand, and the impression I get that very very few people, if any, have written modern literature in Latin (and the few cases I've read about were mostly poetry, not prose).
I have always found that translating is even harder than spontaneously expressing yourself in any language ; so if there are so many latinists out there capable of translating Alice in Wonderland or Harry Potter into perfect Latin, how come no one seems interested in writing a novel of their own?
The only two examples of modern Latin-language novels I know of (in the 20th century; I know there are more cases before that) are Saeculorum Transvectio by Geneviève Métais (who also wrote lots of poems in Latin apparently) which has been out of print for years, and oops I can't find the other one I had in mind...
I'm always puzzled by the impressive number of modern novels which have been translated into Latin lately on one hand, and the impression I get that very very few people, if any, have written modern literature in Latin (and the few cases I've read about were mostly poetry, not prose).
I have always found that translating is even harder than spontaneously expressing yourself in any language ; so if there are so many latinists out there capable of translating Alice in Wonderland or Harry Potter into perfect Latin, how come no one seems interested in writing a novel of their own?
The only two examples of modern Latin-language novels I know of (in the 20th century; I know there are more cases before that) are Saeculorum Transvectio by Geneviève Métais (who also wrote lots of poems in Latin apparently) which has been out of print for years, and oops I can't find the other one I had in mind...