A Little Difference That a Translation Can Make

So, I was looking through my Greek edition of Lauren Oliver’s Delirium (yes, I’m a dork) and I noticed something very interesting. For those who haven’t read it, Delirium is basically Romeo and Juliet in dystopian’s clothing. Basically, the protagonist, Lena, lives in an alternate USA where love has been categorized as a dangerous disease and outlawed. Rage, despair, aggression, and other emotions are apparently just fine; it’s only love that’s the big no-no. On their eighteenth birthday, every teen is subjected to a medical procedure that supposedly ‘cures’ them of love. And, of course, Lena ends up meeting a boy and falling in love with him anyway.

So I was also looking through some negative reviews of the book, and one common and valid complaint is the flaws in the world-building. One objection was why on earth anyone would come to the conclusion that love – not emotions in general, only love – is an actual disease and not in the poetic sense. Another objection was how the patients would even survive the type of brain surgery involved without being completely lobotomized. Yet another objection, and this is the one that pertains most to this post, was how a society of loveless people would even work. If love was removed from individuals, then what would be the incentive for parents to raise their children? What would be the incentive for neighbors to take care of each other? And so on and so forth.

But then I looked through the Greek edition. And I was amused by what I saw.

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