german malory towers

If it doesn't fit into any of the above categories, post it here!
caroline10
Posts: 19
Joined: 26 May 2007, 18:03
Location: scotland

german malory towers

Post by caroline10 »

:shock:
I saw on Wilkipedia that the german version of malory towers has added another 6 books in which darrell marries and has children and eventually becomes head of malory towers!
Has anyone else heard of this?
i feel a bit upset by this!
I am going to try and put the link on bt i'm ot very good at tis sort of thing;
http://en.wilkipedia.org/wiki/Malory_Towers
caroline
User avatar
jen
Posts: 488
Joined: 13 Apr 2007, 11:25
Favourite book/series: Secret Island
Favourite character: Jack or Phillip from Adventure
Location: North Yorkshire

Post by jen »

Reminds me of the Chalet School........
A woman is like a tea bag - you never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water
User avatar
peppermint peppy
Posts: 536
Joined: 05 Mar 2007, 18:58

Post subject: Re: german malory towers

Post by peppermint peppy »

Yes ,that's true.Wonderful these books.Most of the added ones in German language had been written by Rosemarie Eitzert.She has written under a lot of pseudonyms.The best known is Tina Caspari.

Dolly(Darrell) stays further for a period of two years at Malory Towers in
a special school for domestic economy and nursing(don't know the exact translation into English, the German term is "Schwesternschule" ).
Later she comes back to Malory Towers in capacity of a governess.
Then she becomes a matron and finally as successor of Mrs. Greiling
headmistress.Last but not least she marries a teacher and has a daughter named Katharina.

Hi girls,those were days and careers. :wink:

In the books of Tina Caspari the English environment disappears entirely.
The stories absorb German mentalities of the 70's .Dunno if they were rewritten in a more modern version.I had read them in the 80's finally .
Now my daughter is keen on reading them.
Last edited by peppermint peppy on 30 May 2007, 23:26, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Hannah
Posts: 557
Joined: 27 May 2007, 19:07
Location: Germany

Post by Hannah »

The first one was published in 1977 (so says the book). I think the new editions have been altered a bit (as the translations of number 1-6 too) but not too much.

I agree with peppermint peppy - the books are wonderful. I think number 7 and 8 are quite all right, but number 9-18 are great. Of course they take place in Germany and are a bit more modern than number 1-6. (By the way, the translations have been altered so that you think that the books take place in Germany - and I hate these changes...) You notice that there is a difference between the first six books and the others but that doesn't mean that the others aren't good. But maybe I don't mind because I'm German :wink:
(though I'd really have preferred the first six books without changes and the "new" ones in an English environment too).

And in another forum someone has written number 19 - 23 as fanfiction - real great too :D
User avatar
peppermint peppy
Posts: 536
Joined: 05 Mar 2007, 18:58

Post by peppermint peppy »

The last German edition is called :

(Translated:) Say,Yes Darell!
Yet a wee bit sentimental & schmaltzy :cry: :roll:
caroline10
Posts: 19
Joined: 26 May 2007, 18:03
Location: scotland

Post by caroline10 »

wow! I managed to find a website which said it had translated these books but it took a along time to come up and i am not very patient. Have you ead the books in german or have they been translated? I can't believe i never heard of them. I wonder what posesed the author to write the follow up to such an english story.
caroline
User avatar
peppermint peppy
Posts: 536
Joined: 05 Mar 2007, 18:58

Post by peppermint peppy »

:) Much as I know these books were never translated into English or
another language.Pity!

Why they had been written...Sorry I dunno!
Dolly stories were sold about 1.8 million times in Germany.
Not really reason to conquer the British book-trade.- :wink:
And last but not least there were/ are to keep several rights.
Perhaps Hannah is knowing more.
HAAANNAAHH!!!Where are you?
User avatar
Hannah
Posts: 557
Joined: 27 May 2007, 19:07
Location: Germany

Post by Hannah »

I'm here!!! :D

The books have never been officially translated .
I don't know why - I think (like peppy) because of the rights and enough success in Germany - and perhaps because they aren't as british as the originals (perhaps the publishers thought that people in England wouldn't like it).

I think Caroline has found this page: http://www.freewebs.com/malorytower/index.htm

I mentioned that page in my introduction. :wink:

As far as I know is number 7 already translated and she is now translating number 8. She says (as I think too) that she doesn't like number 7 a lot but it is important for the (much better) following numbers.
caroline10
Posts: 19
Joined: 26 May 2007, 18:03
Location: scotland

Post by caroline10 »

i still can't believe that I never heard of them, although it would have been hard for me when i was a child living in a remote part of scotland before the internet! I used to be really upset at the end of the last mt, i would have given anything to know what happened next! I am trying to look at the translation of the books, it takes a long time! Are there any other books like this, I mean I know noddy has been written by other authors but is there anyting else I have missed out on?
caroline
User avatar
Hannah
Posts: 557
Joined: 27 May 2007, 19:07
Location: Germany

Post by Hannah »

You mean if there are other "EnidBlyton"-books in Germany which are not known in England?

There are a lot of books of the FF (which I don't like a lot - the new ones, I mean). I don't know if they are from England and have been translated or if they were only written in Germany.
Except that, there is another Mystery-book (Mystery of the forgers) and another Secret-book (that serial which starts with "the secret Island"; but in Germany they have made the adventurous four to books of that serial...)

The most well-known books are the other St Clare's books. In Germany there have been 15 books for a long time (the English books are number 1,2,3,4,11,13). Number 15 ends with the girls leaving SC. They fit together well and I like them a lot.
To make more money (my personal opinion...) there were written number 16-23 (23 is very new, 20 and 21 are the books of Pamela Cox), which take place during school time in several classes. They doesn't fit in at all and there are a lot of disaccords to the first 15 books and to each other (one girl is there in number 16 and 19 but not in 17 and 18 and so on). Some (but only some!) of the books are quite nice though.
User avatar
peppermint peppy
Posts: 536
Joined: 05 Mar 2007, 18:58

Post by peppermint peppy »

I read the German S.C. series right up to volume 15.Willy-nilly I agree with Hannah that these books were written or rewritten to accumulate money.
The German translations don't consider the fantastic environs of Cornwall and the stern education at a anglo-catholic boarding school in the 40's .The original everyday life of S.C. had been changed into a notional living at a German boarding school in the 60's.
No small number of chapters were omitted.
Till recently I have never heard before of a sport like Lacrosse.
User avatar
Christophe
Posts: 16
Joined: 06 Jul 2007, 12:18
Favourite book/series: Malory Towers
Favourite character: Dick, Philipp

Re: german malory towers

Post by Christophe »

I'm reading around the board and I stumbled across this old thread. Please forgive me when I add a few sentences as there is so much more to say.

In Germany, the Famous Five series is up to number 72 at the moment. At least the audio books are up to that number. I have no idea whether all of them will be turned into books.
The latest audio book is called The Famous Five on the Kidnapper's Trail
Fuenf Freunde auf der Spur der Entfuehrer

Lots of these books have been translated from French (author Claude Voilier) and are available in English.

The St. Clare's series (Hanni and Nanni in German) is up to book 28, again at least the audio books are.
The latest one ist called Hanni and Nanni at the theatre
Hanni und Nanni im Schauspielhaus

There is one series that was written under Enid Blyton's name, the Tina and Tini series. It's about two girl detectives. I don't know how many of them there are, but I could track down 14 different titles.
Book 1 (Tina and Tina Search for a Mysterious Treasure)

Another series centers around George and dog Timmy, called Two Friends. Again I don't know how many there are (could track down 8 different titles). They are translated by Anna Claudia Wang and published under Enid Blyton. I first thought that the author's name was Wang, but thanks to Rowan I know better now.
Zwei Freunde und die Geisterhoehle (Two Friends and the Spooky Cave)

In the seventies, the first books from St. Clare's (Hanni and Nanni) and Malory Towers (Dolly) had been re-translated. The German translation (with the German names, omitted passages and chapters) was re-translated back to English, symplified and with vocabulary aids. Spooky.
Dolly in English
Funny Adventures with Hanni and Nanni

And there is another peculiarity. Also in the seventies, some sequels have been written but could only be published in one edition because of problems with the English licence. Those books are called Ghost books. I believe that there are four different titels (two FF, one Barney Mystery and one Secret). They are extremely rare, much sought after and very expensive (I own one !! It was given to our church library flea-market)
Last edited by Christophe on 08 Jul 2007, 13:16, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
RDMorrell
Posts: 474
Joined: 25 Jun 2007, 10:32
Favourite book/series: Famous Five, Secret Seven, Adventure
Favourite character: Anne
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Contact:

Just George/Zwei Freunde Etc.

Post by RDMorrell »

Welcome to the Enid Blyton Society, Christophe! :D

I'm fairly new here myself. In addition to being a fan of Enid Blyton, I am a translator, and one area that I am interested in is the continuation novels of Enid Blyton series like the Famous Five. In fact, I am currently working on a Web site in which I hope to catalogue all the additional books written in French and German, as well as English. I am also working on translating one of the Famous Five books by Claude Voilier that have not yet been translated into English. At present, I'm about two-thirds of the way through that.

This is what I know about the German Famous Five books (the printed ones, that is; I'm not so familiar with the audio ones). There are currently 50 titles in print. The first 21 are translations of the original 21 books by Enid Blyton. The 22nd is a translation of Five Have a Puzzling Time and Other Stories, also by Enid Blyton. Nos. 23-40 are translations (from English!) of the 18 Claude Voilier FF stories that were translated from French into English by Anthea Bell. But Nos. 41-50 are entirely new stories, and they are written by Sarah Bosse. The 50th book is a special "two-in-one" volume.

Concerning the "ghost" books: I am not aware of the the Barney or Secret ones, although I would certainly like to learn more about those, as well as about any other German continuation novels in these series. But I can provide plenty of information about the Famous Five ones. Here's an excerpt from my new Web site (not yet online, so you're being treated to a "sneak preview" here):


Books by Brigitte Blobel

The two books by Blobel purported to be “translations” of Enid Blyton Famous Five titles. Blobel was credited as the “translator”. The problem was, neither title that she “translated” actually existed in English! They were in fact her own original works. Consequently, her books were swiftly withdrawn from publication by German publisher Bertelsmann after Darrell Waters Ltd., which administered the copyrights of Enid Blyton’s works for many years until Chorion plc bought them, objected. So they are naturally pretty hard to find, and they are unlikely to ever be reprinted. It’s a shame, because they are apparently reasonably close to Blyton in style and spirit (at least, according to a commentator on one German site). But here now is the list of those titles:

No.: 1
Title: Fünf Freunde auf der verbotenen Insel (Literal translation: The Famous Five on the Forbidden Island)
Year of First Publication: 1977 (by Bertelsmann)

No.: 2
Title: Fünf Freunde und der blaue Diamant (Literal translation: The Famous Five and the Blue Diamond)
Year of First Publication: 1979 (by Bertelsmann)
Remarks: Although this title is the same as the 18th Claude Voilier Famous Five book (and even published in the same year as the latter!), it appears not to be a translation of Voilier’s book. From the scant information I can gather about this book, it involves the Famous Five going to France, whereas in Voilier’s book of the same title, they go to India.


That ends the excerpt. Now, this "Zwei Freunde" is rather interesting. There is an English series called "Just George", which features George as a nine-year-old and is meant to be a "prequel" to the Famous Five adventures. The German "Zwei Freunde" series is in fact a translation of the Just George series. Here is what my research on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de has uncovered:

Just George No. 1: George, Timmy and the Haunted Cave, by Sue Weldon and Sue Welford. Published by Knight in 2000

Zwei Freunde Nr. 1: Zwei Freunde und die Geisterhöhle, translated by Anna Claudia Wang. Published by Omnibus Hc Bei Bertelsmann in 2001

Just George No. 2: George, Timmy and the Curious Treasure, by Sue Welford. Published by Hodder Children's books in 2000

Zwei Freunde Nr. 2: Zwei Freunde und die rätselhafte Schatz, translated by Anna Claudia Wang. Published by Omnibus Hc Bei Bertelsmann in 2001

Just George No. 3: George, Timmy and the Footprint in the Sand, by Sue Welford. Published by Hodder Children's Books in 2000

Zwei Freunde Nr. 3: Zwei Freunde und die Spur im Sand, translated by Anna Claudia Wang.

Just George No. 4: George, Timmy and the Secret of the Cellar, by Sue Welford. Published by Hodder Children's Books in 2000

Zwei Freunde Nr. 4: Zwei Freunde und das Geheimnis im Keller, translated by Anna Claudia Wang. Published by Omnibus Hc Bei Bertelsmann in 2001

Just George No. 5: George, Timmy and the Stranger in the Storm, by Sue Welford. Published by Hodder Children's Books in 2000

Zwei Freunde Nr. 5: Zwei Freunde und der unbekannte Junge, translated by Anna Claudia Wang. Published by Omnibus Hc Bei Bertelsmann in 2001

Just George No. 6: George, Timmy and the Lighthouse Mystery, by Sue Welford. Published by Hodder Children's Books in 2000

Zwei Freunde Nr. 6: Zwei Freunde und das Versteck im Leuchtturm, translated by Anna Claudia Wang. Published by Omnibus Hc Bei Bertelsmann in 2001

I didn't really know about this series, or if I did know about it, I'd completely forgotten it. It looks as though the books in this series are out of print in both languages.

At the moment, I don't know as much about the Malory Towers/Dolly or St. Clares/Hanni und Nanni series, although I plan to learn more for the sake of my new site. The Tina and Tini series appears to contain 14 titles. The first two titles are based on one-off books that Enid Blyton wrote (The Treasure Hunters and The Boy Next Door), but the rest seem to be entirely new stories written by German authors, although the books all have Enid Blyton's logo on the covers.

Anyway, I hope this has been of interest and that the information is useful.
Best Regards

ROWAN M.

A room without books is like a body without a soul - Cicero
User avatar
Christophe
Posts: 16
Joined: 06 Jul 2007, 12:18
Favourite book/series: Malory Towers
Favourite character: Dick, Philipp

Re: german malory towers

Post by Christophe »

Rowan, thanks a lot.
The information about the Just George stories is interesting.
I corrected my last posting above.

Please tell me if you need help with your website or if you need someone who is willing to do some research over here in Germany.

Here is the cover of my 'Ghost Book' (mint condition, unread):
It's called: The Counterfeiters Mystery

Image
User avatar
Christophe
Posts: 16
Joined: 06 Jul 2007, 12:18
Favourite book/series: Malory Towers
Favourite character: Dick, Philipp

Re: german malory towers

Post by Christophe »

Image

This is what is says at the beginning.

The fourth 'Ghost book' is being called The Adventurous Four save the Horse-Race.
The Secret series was first translated as The Arnoldkinder ... (The Arnold Children ...) and later as The Adventurous Four
Cover

It costs 40,- Euro :shock:
Last edited by Christophe on 09 Jul 2007, 12:08, edited 5 times in total.
Post Reply