Talk:The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear

Untitled
Whereever you want to put it: I think one should mention that the translation isn't exactly fantastic (at least not in the usual sense of the word). Examples? The name that Captain Bluebaer chooses among the Muggs is missing the last part, and the former part seems to be "smoothed" for English readers beyond what is necessary (which both quite defeats the idea of that name!), some lines in the book are just very literal translations of German idioms or references to German culture or idioms (I believe one of them was "Wer A sagt, kann im Nu auch Binomialkoeffizient sagen"), others simply miss Moers' feeling for language and tone... [Sorry, I don't have either book in front of me to give you further examples, it just struck me when I read the book in both languages just a few months apart. I know that translations often aren't great, and I won't claim that this book is worse than others... and yet it's sad when good ideas or lines get lost needlessly, so a brief comment shouldn't hurt.] PS: Some parts of your plot wouldn't be clear to first-time readers, maybe you could briefly explain some of the books characters, inventions, etc. before just throwing them at your reader's face? ;-)

the film mentioned in the chapter about adaptions isn't an adaption to this novel. it is based on a cartoon fór kids.

Shortest Life
I don't agree that the shortest life was the fourth one, at least not in the English version. I don't have the book now, but I remember that I counted the pages and the second life (Hobgoblin Island) was the shortest. Guy0307 20:56, 15 July 2007 (UTC)

The Plot Summary
I agree that the plot summary is a little long. One way of shortening it (at least a bit) would be giving up talking about the story in terms of Life 1, Life 2, etc. and making it a continuous narrative. There's also some of the article's author's reflections on the story, which don't really belong in a wikipedia article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Afeitarse (talk • contribs) 07:58, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

The Current Summary
The current summary is too vague. I have a more detailed one ready to put on Wikipedia.

If there is no vote by the Ides of March of 2011, I shall proceed with the insert-ification of the summary I propose to insert. Who has questions? Vote here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 43?9enter (talk • contribs) 07:41, 4 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Actually, screw that thought. I've changed my mind under the terms of not making an overweight article. 43?9enter (talk) 04:59, 22 March 2011 (UTC)

Joke?
>The 131⁄2 Lives of Captain Bluebear follow the adventures of the character Bluebear in the first half of his 27 lives (the joke being that a bluebear lives three times as long as a cat).

Why is this a joke? Rissa, Guild of Copy Editors (talk) 23:25, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

Rewrite suggested
I read this article again this morning and think it has several problems beginning with the fact that it has no citations. It also seems to be an incomplete biography written by Moers himself or by someone closely affiliated with him. It doesn't contain any neutral information about the author or his works with the result that it is a one-sided article. I think it needs to be written by someone else who can supply more information from a neutral view. Thank you. Rissa, Guild of Copy Editors (talk) 17:15, 18 June 2015 (UTC)