[INDOLOGY] Goethe

[Klaus Karttunen]

Dear all
and specially Madhav, thanks for the nice rendering. As I have recently looked at these things (and also prepared a Finnish version of the poem) I would like to add a few notes. First, it is interesting to know that the poem originally made part of Goethe’s letter to F. H. Jacobi. According to my notes it was also published in the same year (1791) in Deutsche Monatsschrift. 

The second poem, from which two lines are quoted by Slaje, was indeed published in Zahme Xenien. What is sometimes confusing that it is often quoted in a longer form, adding two lines to the end and still referring to ZX, which was published in 1797. The whole is thus

Kalidas und andere sind durchgedrungen,

Sie haben mit Dichter-Zierlichkeit

Von Pfaffen und Fratzen uns befreit.

In Indien möcht ich selber leben,

Hätt es nur keine Steinhauer gegeben.

Was will man denn Vergnüglicheres wissen!


Was will man denn Vergnüglicheres wissen!


Sakontala, Nala, die muß man küssen;


Und Meghaduta, den Wolkengesandten,


Wer schickt ihn nicht gerne zu Seelenverwandten!

Now, in 1797 such a reference to the Meghadūta was impossible, Wilson’s translation appeared only in 1812. After some search I found the answer. The first eight lines were published in 1797 and the two were added in 1817, when Goethe used the poem in a letter to a friend, sending him Wilson’s translation.

A less known testimony of Goethe’s interest in the Śakuntalā: When Chézy published his edition-cum-translation in 1830, he sent a copy to Goethe, whom he much admired. Goethe appreciated it and send a letter of thanks, which was published in Journal Asiatique 2:11, 1833, 470–473 in French translation. At that time both Chézy and Goethe were already dead.

Best,
Klaus


Klaus Karttunen
South Asian and Indoeuropean Studies
Asian and African Studies, Department of World Cultures
PL 59 (Unioninkatu 38 B)
00014 University of Helsinki, FINLAND
Tel +358-(0)2941 4482418
Fax +358-(0)2941 22094
Klaus.Karttunen at helsinki.fi








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