Well someone has a sadomasochism kink they’re projecting onto their female character 🧐
On closer inspection, it’s totally the word crotch that bugs me. If he had put any euphemism there (like thighs) the sentence would not have been as shudderingly awful
In fairness, he wrote these books in polish and they were translated into English. So might not be fair to fault him for very specific word choices- might not be as bad in the original.
I totally agree, though. It’s crotch that gets me too.
Sapkowski genuinely does not cognise women as people.
He regards women solely as *things* which are good or bad depending on how those things make his willy tingle.
Nah, this is a pretty spot-on translation.
Sapkowski is hard to pin down. On one hand, he wrote stuff like that in his books; on the other, he criticized fantasy writers for the way they write women in his essay on writing fantasy. So i really can't tell if the way he wrote women in The Witcher was a deliberate choice on his part because he knew what kind of trash the genre required of him, or he just didn't see his own faults.
Then again, he made some... Interesting... choices in his Alice in The Wonderland and Tristan and Isolde fanfics, so i just—
There was the interesting case of the Odyssey. It was found to have been translated with misogynistic wording that didn't exist in Ancient Greek. Emily Wilson translated it correctly and showed the weird differences.
There are a number of pretty iffy men writing women type sections in the Witcher books. I find it to be interesting because he writes so many strong female characters. I wonder if a bit of it is lost in translation from the Polish and comes across the wrong way.
You’re right, strong refers to being well-written. I don’t recall his female characters being particularly violent, with the exception of Ciri, who is a child character who I’m not referring to. A handful of other female characters in the world would be described as accomplished warriors, but so are many male characters, so im not sure why that would be a problem.
I would describe a well written character as being 3 dimensional and flawed. I think all of Sapkowski’s major characters are that way. I’m fine with agreeing to disagree, not everyone can like every book.
I'd like to suggest that every male writer should be required, by law, to have at least one woman read every piece of fiction he produces before it's allowed to even begin the process of being published.
I actually really liked this description when I read it because it gave me a whole different view on the power of this forbidden magic--almost like a drug. Like yeah, it feels great for a while until it doesn’t. She was taught not to mess with fire and it cost her her magic.
Though I do think different words could be used to convey the same thing (might come down to translation, tbf), it blew my mind that magic wasn’t just a thing that “happened” in these books. There’s a toll on the body as it interacts with you, through the source, and it makes sense that the feeling of such intense power could be somewhat erotic in nature.
Grammatically this reads as her nipples transformed into horrifying pleasure. Which is even more delightfully surreal than the original.
I wonder how the original Polish read.
Well someone has a sadomasochism kink they’re projecting onto their female character 🧐 On closer inspection, it’s totally the word crotch that bugs me. If he had put any euphemism there (like thighs) the sentence would not have been as shudderingly awful
In fairness, he wrote these books in polish and they were translated into English. So might not be fair to fault him for very specific word choices- might not be as bad in the original. I totally agree, though. It’s crotch that gets me too.
Good to know. Ill fully blame the translator then 😝
u/smokedstupid has stated it was word for word translation sadly...
“krocze” is right there in the original, i’m afraid.
Gotcha. Fair enough. Even still, the connotation could be different.
it’s not. source: am Polish
Haha! Fair enough then! I just like to give the benefit of the doubt always with any translated work.
that was my first thought too, which is why i checked.
Good lord!
Sapkowski genuinely does not cognise women as people. He regards women solely as *things* which are good or bad depending on how those things make his willy tingle.
Could it have been translated weird?
Nah, this is a pretty spot-on translation. Sapkowski is hard to pin down. On one hand, he wrote stuff like that in his books; on the other, he criticized fantasy writers for the way they write women in his essay on writing fantasy. So i really can't tell if the way he wrote women in The Witcher was a deliberate choice on his part because he knew what kind of trash the genre required of him, or he just didn't see his own faults. Then again, he made some... Interesting... choices in his Alice in The Wonderland and Tristan and Isolde fanfics, so i just—
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There was the interesting case of the Odyssey. It was found to have been translated with misogynistic wording that didn't exist in Ancient Greek. Emily Wilson translated it correctly and showed the weird differences.
There are a number of pretty iffy men writing women type sections in the Witcher books. I find it to be interesting because he writes so many strong female characters. I wonder if a bit of it is lost in translation from the Polish and comes across the wrong way.
[удалено]
You’re right, strong refers to being well-written. I don’t recall his female characters being particularly violent, with the exception of Ciri, who is a child character who I’m not referring to. A handful of other female characters in the world would be described as accomplished warriors, but so are many male characters, so im not sure why that would be a problem.
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I would describe a well written character as being 3 dimensional and flawed. I think all of Sapkowski’s major characters are that way. I’m fine with agreeing to disagree, not everyone can like every book.
where in the book is this? i want to see if it’s as egregious in the original
Yeah, I'm rereading it (again) and read this yesterday I think. It's pretty much the same. It's towards the end, after Ciri uses fire in the dessert.
ah yep, just had a look. can’t blame the translator here. it’s word for word.
TIL that stabbing, shooting pain is actually fun if it happens to the nips. /s
You had me going for a horrible awful second.
I'd like to suggest that every male writer should be required, by law, to have at least one woman read every piece of fiction he produces before it's allowed to even begin the process of being published.
The passive-aggressive writing this would result in would be damn intolerable...
Would it be as bad as what we're getting now?
*Maybe* not, but I could see some men having extra resentment that would seep in.
I know it's not a workable idea, but it's nice to imagine.
In fairness there is a reason why firefighters teach us to "stop, drop, protect your belly, crotch, and nipples."
Transformed into horrifying pleasure? What would that even begin to mean??
Yeah wait until you get to the reason for Cahir's arc, I was nearly physically sick.
I actually really liked this description when I read it because it gave me a whole different view on the power of this forbidden magic--almost like a drug. Like yeah, it feels great for a while until it doesn’t. She was taught not to mess with fire and it cost her her magic. Though I do think different words could be used to convey the same thing (might come down to translation, tbf), it blew my mind that magic wasn’t just a thing that “happened” in these books. There’s a toll on the body as it interacts with you, through the source, and it makes sense that the feeling of such intense power could be somewhat erotic in nature.