Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2018 September 25

= September 25 =

Who was "Bimbash" Stewart VC?
In Raymond Asquith: Life and Letters, edited by John Jolliffe, Raymond Asquith twice mentions a "Bimbash" Stewart VC. In a letter dated 4th July 1898 he says "...Well, well: then of course there is Bimbash [Stewart]: He was at Khartoum with Gordon, and is only 35: but his hair is grey and his mind rather obscene: he is too beautiful for words: a head like Julius Caesar and talks well: I have made great friends with him: he confirms all my prejudices about the General. But how beautiful he is and how well he rides and how brave!" (page40). Later, on 15th August 1899 he writes "The little man [Edward Levy-Lawson] is also attended by Bimbash Stewart V.C. - probably the bravest man now alive and certainly the wickedest: if he had stayed in the Egyptian army he would have been Sirdar instead of Kitchener - a peer with a fat income and an Oxford degree instead of a wandering adventurer eking out a precarious livelihood by trading on the good nature of gullible plutocrats and cheating his fellow men whenever the occasion offers" (page 56). Bimbash is obviously Bimbashi. I have been unable to find out who he was - the only Stewart I have been able to find with a VC died in 1868 after swallowing a sword. Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 11:07, 25 September 2018 (UTC)
 * The only Bimbash Stewart I can find is Harry (King) Stewart, a British Army officer, who acquired the nickname as "Bimbash", which is an Ottoman military rank, based on his campaigns in the middle east. See, , , .  I have no idea if he did or did not win the Victoria Cross, but there is a starting point for your research.   -- Jayron 32 11:20, 25 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks for that - armed with your info I managed to find an obituary in the Old Shirburnian from March 1907. No VC (Asquith did write in a rather over-dramatic and exaggerating manner), but a CMG and he was at Tel-el-Kebir and Abu Klea and certainly seems to have been a dashing sort. DuncanHill (talk) 23:45, 25 September 2018 (UTC)

The Metamorphosis
Our article mentions the issues raised by translating this work - and also provides a list of the attempts at translation. Have any of them been identified as being particularly effective or better than the others? Is there a "best" translation available? Matt Deres (talk) 13:16, 25 September 2018 (UTC)


 * Well, it's bound to be a matter of opinion which is the best. The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation (2000) mentions an early translation of The Metamorphosis by A. L. Lloyd, which it says was "superseded" by the translation of Willa and Edwin Muir.  It says of the Muirs' translation of the collected works that,
 * These classic and often reprinted translations have been consistently praised, especially for the quality of the English style, with Ronald Gray remarking that the Muirs "turn[ed] Kafka's work into an English so natural that one might not suspect that he had written in any other language"...For all their brilliance and continuing popularity, the Muir translations have two drawbacks. First, it has become increasingly clear that they are not always accurate...And second, Brod's idiosyncratic original German editions of Kafka's manuscripts, on which the Muirs' translations were based, have since been superseded.
 * Later translations of The Metamorphosis by Malcolm Pasley, J. A. Underwood, Stanley Corngold, and Joachim Neugroschel/Stanley Appelbaum are said to be accurate but no other critical judgement is given. At any rate it's clear that there are more English versions than our article knows of. --Antiquary (talk) 19:19, 25 September 2018 (UTC)


 * In 2015 The Guardian offered a survey of translations of The Metamorphosis. Again it's just a personal opinion, of course, but the writer seems to especially like the versions of the Muirs, Joachim Neugroschel, Susan Bernofsky, and John R. Williams.  Some others get plus marks for good introductions or accompanying essays. --Antiquary (talk) 09:36, 26 September 2018 (UTC)


 * Thank you for the thoughtful response, Antiquary; I guess there isn't a clear "standard" version. That means I'm free to focus on price. :) Matt Deres (talk) 19:39, 26 September 2018 (UTC)

Why was Eden Avon?
Why did Anthony Eden take the title Earl of Avon? Thanks, DuncanHill (talk) 23:32, 25 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Not sure, but I just learned that there is an extant Baronet of Maryland, being Eden's nephew, John Eden, Baron Eden of Winton who is also 5th Baronet of Maryland. I didn't know there were still any extant North American titles.  Fascinating.  -- Jayron 32 02:03, 26 September 2018 (UTC)
 * The answer to your question by the way, is almost certainly because Eden represented Warwick and Leamington (UK Parliament constituency) in Parliament, which lies on the River Avon in Warwickshire, and included Stratford-on-Avon, perhaps the most famous of the Avon-named places in England, for obvious reasons. -- Jayron 32 02:07, 26 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Not because he could then say, "Ding, dong. Avon calling"? Clarityfiend (talk) 06:01, 26 September 2018 (UTC)