@ Jane 14:08 Nov 14, 2013
I understand your point, and "a natural haven" is a nice suggestion; but it seems to me that "Robinsonian garden" means as much (or as little) to English readers as "jardin de Robinson" means to French ones. Knowledgeable gardening types and devotees of the Arts and Crafts movement will get it; most readers won't. That's equally true of the original. I think we can get round it by adding "cottage", as I've suggested; more or less everyone knows what a cottage garden is like, and that's precisely what the author is talking about. But not to mention Robinson at all is to rob the text of a cultural allusion which the author has seen fit to include, and to erode its specificity. |