Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Working Documents: Bibles

Even the King James Bible required working documents:

"They are remarkable. Here, for a brief moment, the making of the King James Bible, at its most crucial phase, can be seen occurring in front of your eyes. Jotted own in quickly assembled notes is the whole scene: the scholars arguing, consulting, losing their tempers, bringing in learned evidence from church fathers and classical authors, testing variants on each other, seeing what previous translators had done, insisting on the right rhythm, looking for the unique King James amalgam of the rich-plain word, the clarity within a majestic phrase, the court-Puritan perfetion. It is as if the ghosts have walked on stage." (p.201)

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