Serewyn

Serewyn asked:

They changed the original location from Dutch town to Hudson Valley town, USA. I wonder what Americans make of this, or feel about it?

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9 years ago
15 answers

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Scott I found it condescending. I read Japanese novels, I read Scandinavian novels, I am perfectly capable of "getting" the story if it takes place in a country foreign to me. Also, I would have loved to get a taste of Dutch culture. As for name pronunciation, who cares? I still don't know how to pronounce the first part of John Ajvide Lindqvist's surname, but I love his books.

Tressa I'm an American and it reads like an American wrote it. Very seamless. I didn't know until after I read the book had been first written in Dutch.

Stephanie He seriously did such a good job, I was SO impressed. The lingo, the references to where they are...just perfect.

Lin I live near Beek (the village in the Dutch version) in the Netherlands. It does not help to be familiar with the place. I would rather let my imagination go free instead of seeing a known location. Especially with this type of book.

Marloes Baren Interesting question! I'm Dutch myself and also curious to know if people like that adjustment.

Personally I enjoy reading works from different cultures and certainly appreciate a setting which is not one I'm familiar with (yet). I would probably want to read the translated original version and be somewhat disappointed if that wasn't an option.

I'm quite surprised actually to not find any responses to your question wondering about that.

Khara I actually would love to see another release of HEX that's the Dutch version released in English. I was so curious about the differences between the two after finishing the English version, I scoured the internet to find out how the Dutch version ends.

I've seen a lot of criticism about the move from a Dutch town to one in the United States. As a horror scholar, I understand this decision from an affective standpoint. The truth of the matter is horror is much scarier at home than it is is some far away place that you have no attachment to. Moving it to the US has a stronger psychological effect for its readers.

It's true that many books do not do this, Harry Potter, for example. There are many translations of that book. Interestingly British English to American English is one example; the locations stayed the same but the language changed to make it more relatable (and more emotionally impactful) for American children.

So, there are many reasons to edit a book for different international audiences; in the case of the horror genre specifically, it makes sense to relocate it. It's common practice in horror Ringu vs. The Ring, for example.

Pat Patterson I love it! It's written in my area and all the details are perfect. This area was settled by the Dutch before the English and we still have Dutch place names and families. Sleepy Hollow area. Ver Nooy Kill, Kill van Kull, Spuyten Duyvil are all around here.

Faith The author actually just wrote a blog post on the Tor/Forge blog about this. It was an interesting decision, and interesting to hear his reasoning:

http://torforgeblog.com/2016/04/04/am...

Ken I knew going into the book that it had been written in Dutch and figured it was originally placed in Europe but that being said, wow - he got it right, he must know America/Americans really well or did a lot of research.

Lori I would never have know the author wasn't American. He has it down! Very well done and I wish for more books from this author. So original.

Olaf It was Heuvelt’s decision, taking the opportunity to turn the horror up a notch it seems. He completely rewrote the last several chapters. He takes advantage of the haunted tradition of the Catskills and Hudson valley and of course the American history of witch hunts.

Richard Scott I agree with Scott, I would have liked it to just be translated and remain in Denmark. I'm not a child.

Amanda I read it in English but I live in the Netherlands. I would have much preferred that the setting was the same as in the original version! And I wish the ending was the same as well.

Alicia I didn't feel it was particularly necessary for my part, but I can see why it helps the appeal to a wider audience, and it was so well done that I only found out it was changed by virtue of further research. I think it gives people who don't do that research a better idea of how close the town was to a bigger, more populous place, and the stark contrast between how the town lives compared to the city not far away. I totally get why it was done, and I didn't find one slip up in the book that would indicate it was not intended to be that way from the start.

Maya Kate I think it worked well! Part of the literary merit of the work comes from the contrast of the absolute ordinariness of their lives with the weirdness of the horror. Having the ordinariness be localized makes sense for that. Ideally I'd like a less localized translation to be available as well, because I loved this book enough to want to go back and see what was changed.

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by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Goodreads Author)

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