Talk:In the Penal Colony

Inventor
As I recall, the authoritative character is not the inventor of the machine but a loyal officer under him. Also, some might say that the underlying theme of this story is literality.


 * I partly agree. While the officer is an expert, the machine seems to be the invention and legacy of the former commandant. --- Leibniz 17:21, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

added link to public-domain english translation. --amazoneveryday

Was a favour done to the reader of this article by not giving more in-depth explanations of the machine?

Short story or novella?
It is claimed here that this is a novella, but the article itself calls it a short story. Which one is it? Or is it both? What about The Metamorphosis? Sofeil 12:06, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

More Trivia
I just wanted to point out that the symbolic punishment of scratching a confession into the victim's flesh was later used by J.K. Rowling in HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX. Presumably her inspiration came from this story. CharlesTheBold 14:07, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

To the anon editor
Please open an account so we can talk about your changes. It's really hard to figure out what you're doing, and it's really hard to track you down. Sofeil 01:46, 7 December 2006 (UTC)


 * The "Analysis" section contains original research. Please review WP:OR. In particular, "Articles may not contain any unpublished arguments, ideas, data, or theories; or any unpublished analysis or synthesis of published arguments, ideas, data, or theories that serves to advance a position." --Sofeil 08:53, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Translation of "der Forschungsreisender"
Most of the English editions that are currently in print translate der Forschungsreisender as The Explorer, rather than as the traveler, which would merely be der Reisender. The Forschung beginning signals that it is a traveler who is also researching/investigating, hence, an explorer. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bahoevel (talk • contribs) 04:20, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Location - probably not in Europe
The article previously stated that the colony was located in Europe, but the story does not support this. No hint to the location is given, except that it is in a valley on an island; the fact that it is an island is only mentioned later and could even be metaphorical.

The Officer refers to the Explorer's "European way of thinking" and refers to him as a "Western explorer." I think this is sufficient to confirm that the location is, at least, probably not in Europe, so I removed the description of the colony being in Europe. Since I read this article before the story, the phrase "in Europe" actually shaped my conception of the setting and characters!

Roches (talk) 15:35, 3 July 2013 (UTC)

Does the condemned man really get executed?
Does the condemned man really get executed, as this article implies? In the version I have read, we are told that "The soldier and the condemned man went ahead" in a graveyard, after going to a teahouse following the death of the officer. YTKJ (talk) 09:27, 17 January 2023 (UTC)