Translating

[gthursby at religion.ufl.edu]

Walter Kaufmann's contentious statement in his introduction to Leo Baeck's
_Judaism and Christianity_ (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of
America, 1958, pp.10-11) may be of passing interest:
        "In Germany, translating is respected as one of the fine arts, and
the best German poets have added to the rich store of fine translations --
from Goethe and Ho["]lderlin to Stefan George and Rilke.  In the United
States, a translator is widely considered a writer manque who, unable to
write anything worthwhile himself, uses the content furnished by a foreign
writer and imposes on it -- not his own style which, alas, he lacks, but
rather what his publisher considers currently acceptable English.  Where
Schlegel's translation of Shakespeare, and Voss's of Homer, are more or less
definitive and need not be brought up to date any more than the originals,
it is a common axiom in the English-speaking world -- and follows from what
has been said -- that every generation must in turn make new translations of
the same texts -- assuming that public interest has survived the initial
mutilation, which rarely happens."

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Gene R. Thursby,  Department of Religion,  University of Florida
P.O. Box 117410, 125 Dauer Hall, Gainesville, FL  32611-7410  USA
(Phone)352-373-3042 (Fax)352-392-7395 <gthursby at religion.ufl.edu>