Why are penguin classics editions of literary works looked down upon?

Why are penguin classics editions of literary works looked down upon?

something something jews

They're not looked down upon generally.
Veeky Forums just hates them because they make literature more accessible to the public.

Very pleasant little collection exposed there m8. Save Beagle for the beginning of Spring.

Also, in despite of its title, La Bas has a holiday feel.

Penguin does a huge service to the world by making so many great classics available to the public. If I were to criticize penguin at all, I'd say the quality of their standard paperbacks is average. Their deluxe paperbacks are pretty great though.

The uniformity offends me.

It's not so much literary classics as it is translated literary classics. You can almost always do better with Oxford or Norton or even Cambridge.

If you want just the text, and that text is already an English language classic - Penguin is fine. However, if you also want good footnotes, introductions, and anything that would help to round out your understanding of a text, again there's Oxford, Norton, Cambridge, etc.

this
on their own they look decent enough but as soon you have like 5-10 in your shelf it strts looking kinda awkward
also their general quality isnt that good

Really fucking low quality binding and paper.

Penguin Classic's intros and footnotes are much better than Oxford's

The binding gets creased to hell the second you open them. Other than that, they're fine editions

My PCE stack. There are more somewhere around here. Nothing at all wrong with them, black spines are kino.

because they're popular

I have tragedians and Aristophane in penguin editions. I realize I must learn greek to comprehend fully though, I believe language is an organic matter rather than abstract (hence why those who became "greeks" switched from lithuanian to greek as they transformed)

This is a problem. Penguin Classics seem to have a particularly tender type of card used in the making of their cover sleeves. This isn't a problem with smaller books - you won't be bending the spine long enough to wear it because they take less time to read - but if you buy a long Penguin (Dostoevsky) or mid-length (Brontë) then you'll have to settle for a worn-out looking book when you're finished reading. However, if you care seriously about spines looking worn you're either an OCD autist or a Booktube readergirl.

user is right about Penguin Classics having better introductions and endnotes that Oxford World Classics, on the whole, but to OP, I'd suggest buying the new translation of Young Werther. It's called "The Sufferings of Young Werther", it's a better rendering of German than the standard penguin one.

I strongly disagree. I've been reading this for a month.

the edges of spines wear pretty badly, but the main criticism most of the time is the translations
norton critical editions are superior in almost every conceivable way (much better critical apparatus, better quality paper, annotations, etc), and most of the classics in question have definitive editions that are not penguin at all, but penguin brings out the cheapest and most available alternative
also they're the venn overlap of normies and the canon, so you'll frequently see complete plebs with mountains of penguin classics and an ego the size of mons olympus over their purchases.
every normie I've ever met who has picked up a translated penguin classic has no idea about some translations being better than others or how helpful some glossarys or essays could be.
the turquoise twentieth century classics are pretty nice imo
deluxe editions are the worst conceivable versions of most books (ugliest covers, those rough-cut pages that make it impossible to thumb easily through the book or turn pages from the side and not the top or bottom, badly glued spines, often printing errors from them having tried to just squeeze the same text into a different edition entirely)
For works in english they're quite nice (despite the page quality, they also yellow really fast), and I think the best job they've done is with the original spelling editions of beowulf, canterbury tales (not the garbage translation they have), and the works of the pearl poet. they're glossed very well.

if you open the book more than 90 degrees (most Veeky Forumsizens don't) you'll straight up crack the spine and see a white line down the side

I dont know, maybe it does happens on larger tomes, but on y copy this doesn't happen unless I open it up more than 180º.

I like them

DELETE THIS
THIS QUALIFIES AS GORE ON THIS BOARD
IM GONNA THROW UP

>only mentioning the surname for some authors

Strikes me as odd

Why does that matter?

>why does damage the book matter
because each time you do it you effectively half the book's lifespan, once you've broken the spine the book is much much more likely to have pages falling out

And?

There should be a meme about how these are held. The virgin spine-cradle and the chad book-buster.

It’s purely an aesthetic issue for me, in all honesty.

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chadette*

Veeky Forums is just full of contrarians, lit included and most don't even read. Especially classics just look at the only consistently populated thread, SFFG.

That's cheating, you haven't actually opened the pages to more than 90 degree angle :D That said, please don't. This is just silly pedantry.

lately their texts have been are extensively annotated for the price. i dont have an issue with them.

Norton>Penguin>>>>>Woodsworth

>broad and unsubstantiated claim about the whole of Veeky Forums
>negligible syntax
>countermands the vague consensus of the thread that penguin are ok, but cheap and low quality
you seem to be the only contrarian here who doesn't read

Is Penguin's complete Whitman good or is there a better collection?

pic related (the Library of America edition) is vastly superior
much better quality paper, much slimmer (probably half as thick as the penguin despite having 1380 pages), and throws in all of his published prose too

I bought the anniversary edition and it's really good

shitty font, too much text squeezed into a page, autistic footnotes that hamper reading

also
>hurr durr criticism me a academic
fuck off

If it’s for something originally in English they are perfectly fine, the problem is with translated works, they use old, often public domain translations because to do otherwise would be too expensive.

The one expection to this is Marx’s Capital, where New Left Review basically put up a bunch of funding to sponsor a new translation, if Penguin would print and distribute it, and consequently the Penguin version IS the most contemporary translation.

Their collection of Lu Xun's prose is also a new translation.

new translation =/= good translation

why try to understand an opinion you dont care about

Of course, I hope that isn’t want it sounded like I was saying that. But I would suggest that newer translations tend towards being better, sheerly because newer translators have access to old translations and can make judgments based on the choices made in them. This of course isn’t strictly true, there are plenty of counter examples of excellent old translations and garbage contemporary ones.

With the Penguin Marx, the translation IS regarded universally as being superior to the other English translation, and it the academic standard.

The one exception (that I know about)

There are two different types of penguin classics cover materials. My Moby Dick spine is perfectly intact after 2 readings, while the spine for my copy of Wuthering Heights is completely destroyed. It depends on the book.

Some of what they put out is absolute SHIT. I can't remember which volumes in particular right now because I thoroughly review any Penguin I purchase and never buy the bad ones. Examples of why the rare Penguin volume is shit: abridged, definitive works missing from the 'selected works' of a master, typos, ancient bad translations. Penguins are generally good, Oxfords a bit better but it's mostly a matter of preference.

t. own ~20 Penguins

who the FUCK reads like this? I'm a big proponent of the virgin spine cradle. My spines see more damage from overstuffed shelves than my reading them.

Common mass market paperbacks, penguin especially, are scholarly standards because theyre so accessible. Page references need to be common between reaser and writer. Anyone who shits on penguin are just being annoying.

That being said penguins translations are usually weird and shitty

...

Their Tale of Genji and collection of japanese plays also use new translations.

>mfw people bitching out penguin and not realising they own vintage, everyman etc etc

The black cover penguin classics are made of shit tier toilet paper
The discontinued orange ones used to be much better

Plebs

>Reclam
They stress me out. These book can fall apart anytime, anywhere if you are not careful. Hasn't happened to me, but it could happen.

Because Veeky Forums is full of pseuds. However, they are physically of poor quality, the covers are very thin and scuff easily. The printing and paper quality are quite variable.

In terms of content they're mostly good, all have useful introductions and notes. But foreign language books are often older translations.

I have a friend who practically reads like this. He had a look at one of my books for a few seconds and literally bent it all the way round. It's got a huge crease right in the middle of the spine now ;_;

I was asked to drop a college class for punching someone in the face for doing this

But it is the best way to read a book

This. I read all my books like that. It gives the most visibility to the page and I can pretend I am breaking the bones of my enemies

I usually don't get anything that's been translated, but for stuff written in English, they're fine. Although sometimes this happens.

Eh, Norton is good for books with a lot of historical significance like Beowulf or the Bible, but you don't need that shit for a novel.

That's not totally correct. Penguin are very inconsistent when it comes to translations, you have to check them on a case-by-case basis. For example, their Dead Sea Scrolls and one of their Quran editions use up to date translations by qualified scholars. Their Book of the Dead translation however, is literally Victorian.

what are you showing us fella

I bought Penguin's Leviathan. The introduction pictured there must have had some kind of error, as the first half of it is from the Jeeves and Wooster Omnibus. On the right side of the image is where said introduction becomes Leviathan, hence the jump in pages.

THIS is true. I have an EV Rieu Iliad that didnt crease at all but has now turned soft and 'floppy'...it actually feels like a super high end goatskin Bible in the hand and looks like it can stand up to multiple readings. Perfect paperback. They you get others that are stiff as a board, crack when you open them and yellow after a week.

BTW I just received three Ocford World Classics Shakespeares' and two of them are actually have sewn binding and really nice paper, as good as you're going to get in paperback, and costs about £5. The other one is glued and complete shit.

the penguin deluxe edition of gravity's rainbow has dozens of minor spelling and grammatical mistakes, and infamously a whole sentence missing.
the turquoise paperback edition is still pretty good (though all the pages start falling out if you read it more than once, even with the virgin spine cradle)
I almost always look through the editions of every work I buy now, and avoid penguin if I can

senpai what are you doing
get the Norton Shakespeare or the harpercollins alexander text

they'll send you another one

Penguin's 'Vintage' books are some of the worst paperbacks in print - I mean it feels like newspaper quality, just a disgusting experience reading them. Unfortunately they have a few books that are hard to get in any other edition

That's hilarious.

Amazon once sent me a Penguin J.M. Coetzee memoir which just repeated the first 40 pages again, again, and again. Also, half of the pages had a 45 degree cut to them by a circular saw.

Oh, I'm not complaining, just pointing out that sometimes Penguin's editions aren't perfect. I actually like the accidentally bifurcated introduction - gives it character in a way.

I ordered Infinite Jest from ebay once and they just sent me a vial of AIDS.

It's one of a kind, might be worth something in 100 years

You should complain. And mention in the email Oxford are selling sewn binded paperbacks with better paper than they are using for less money. As book consumers we shouldn't be happy with some of the shit they produce. I worked in a bookshop that commissioned limited runs and the difference in price between a shit, glued paper and sewn binded edition with acid free paper is pennies per book. Even the high end 'hardbacks' cost virtually the same to produce, theyre pretty much just cardboard.

you lucked out there

What's Veeky Forums's opinion on NYRB paperbacks? Out of all the ones I've bought I've not had a single one with a crease or even scratch on the spine, unlike the white edges with Penguin and the cracked spines with Oxford

Veeky Forums likes them so much that some anons decided there was coordinated shilling at work and there was a small backlash against them.

There is something appealing about that though.

well if it weren't for the actual titles

NYRB is very well loved here
I'm personally extremely excited for the forthcoming translation of Berlin Alexanderplatz

I like them. I am usually pretty hard on books, especially ones that I read a lot. I treat rare/expensive/difficult-to-replace books with a lot of respect, but as a whole I like to dog ear pages and enjoy the look of a well-used book.

These are good for that reason. My Penguin Classics edition of Sometimes a Great Notion looks like it has been through a lot, it's nice.

Am I a pseud for only buying Easton, Heritage press and vintage hardcovers? Why buy shitty uniform paperbacks when you can get a quality, aesthetically pleasing hardcover for about ten dollars on ebay? The Greek and Latin old translations are usually better as well

>08
>
why dont most Veeky Forumsizens open the book fully? like, how do you read if the text is skewed ??

I like them. As some people have said, the print quality isn't great but they're quite cheap and a crinkled spine doesn't bother me at all. Pic is my copy of Keats' selected poems, regularly used over about 5 years.

I don't get that kind of sentiment.

I have a bunch but that's because I buy most of my books from Goodwill.

oy you fucking faggot its not a stack if it is on shelf sideways.HOLY FUCK GET IT RIGHT. " a large usually conical pile (as of hay, straw, or grain in the sheaf) left standing in the field for storage"(MerriamWebster) KYS

i do this, you’re all oathetic materialists why wouldn’t i treat my property how it pleases me? its just a fucking book, no one reads but us and normie nerds (who read swill). who cares?

If you dont read them, youre a pseud
If you do, you...bought some books

B
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K
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K
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I assume a friend of mine does something like this. Every book she's read ends up with a wave effect where the edges of the pages curls up to over twice the height of the spine. It's actually quite aesthetic tbphwy

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Kek

pics please, this shit is porn to me

Quality if bad, but everything else is fine and some of their forwards and translator notes are 10/10.

Surely someone has mentioned Morrissey's autobiography "Autobiography" by now?

Because they only hold up for one reading before they start to fall apart, so they tend to be favored by people who never re-read, or never even read in the first place.

>tfw no gf
>tfw the only thing you have and can be proud of is books
>tfw when everyone else gets books too
>tfw you are the worse snowflake
>cry

Nice looking books are just better

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THey use acidic paper that yellows fast .