ABSTRACT Title of Document: “STRANGE AND ABSURD WORDS:” TRANSLATION AS ETHICS AND POETICS IN THE TRANSCULTURAL U.S. 1830-1915 Laura E. Lauth, PhD, 2011 Directed By: Professor Martha Nell Smith Department of English This dissertation documents the emergence of “foreignizing” translation and its influence on poetic practice in the transcultural United States between 1830 and 1915—a period critical to the development of free verse in English. The study also explores the extent to which poetry translation constitutes a genre with special relevance to the multilingual U.S. In Lawrence Venuti’s formulation, foreignizing signals the difference of the source text by disrupting cultural codes and literary norms in the target language (Translator’s Invisibility 15). The innovative and ethically-charged translations recuperated here played a vital role in the development of “American poetry” by introducing heterodox authors, genres, and discourses into print. Despite nationalist and English-only tendencies in U.S. scholarship, the literature of the United States has always exceeded the bounds of a single language or nation. More than a mere byproduct of foreign dependency, the nineteenth-century proliferation of literary translations and non-English literatures reflected a profoundly multilingual “nation of nations.” As such, this study emphasizes both the transnational and multicultural character of U.S. poetry. In tracing this often invisible tradition of foreign-bent translation, I offer five case studies spanning eighty years, two centuries, three continents, and numerous languages. From the influential debut of Bettina Brentano-von Arnim’s self-translated Goethe’s Correspondence with a Child (1838) to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s comparativist translation anthology, Poets and Poetry of Europe (1845); from Judith Gautier’s pioneering vers libre variations on the Classical Chinese (1867) to binational poet Stuart Merrill’s free verse Englishing of Gautier (1890); from Pound’s heteroclite Medievalism (1905-1910) to the inaugural volume of Harriet Monroe’s transnational magazine, Poetry (1912-1913), the translations considered here challenged “literary canons, professional standards, and ethical norms in the target language” (Venuti, “Strategies of Translation” 242). Taken together, these chapters offer a new transcultural perspective on proto/modern literary translation and the development of free verse in English. “STRANGE AND ABSURD WORDS:” TRANSLATION AS ETHICS AND POETICS IN THE TRANSCULTURAL U.S. 1830-1915 By Laura E. Lauth Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2011 Advisory Committee: Professor Martha Nell Smith, Chair Professor Michael Collier Professor Zita Nunes Professor Joshua Weiner Professor Katie King © Copyright by Laura E. Lauth 2011 ii Dedication I dedicate this dissertation to my sister Amy Elizabeth Lauth (1968-1997) and my family—immediate, extended, and adopted. iii Acknowledgements Any scholarly book worth writing is a herculean task and requires support from all quarters. I gladly acknowledge the many institutions and individuals who helped make this study possible. This dissertation owes much to the deeply-held convictions of exceptional teacher-scholars. In particular, I wish to thank my director Martha Nell Smith for demonstrating, time and again, that politics and literature cannot be segregated—that poetry is political and at its best radical. Special thanks go to Jerome McGann for insisting that I read Martha Nell Smith’s incomparable study, Rowing in Eden: Rereading Emily Dickinson in 1995: it launched a career. As my long-time teacher and mentor, Martha offered invaluable guidance and inspiration, as well as unwavering faith in my writing and scholarship. I would also like to acknowledge the exceptionally gifted poet, scholar, and translator, Michael Collier, who tirelessly served on both my thesis and dissertation committees. I had the good fortune of studying under Michael as an MFA student in Maryland’s Creative Writing program, where I learned a great deal about poetry and as much about life. I also extend my heartfelt thanks to the writing faculty with whom I studied, particularly Phillis Levin, Stan Plumly, Merle Collins, and Elizabeth Arnold. I am likewise deeply grateful to Professors Zita Nunes and Joshua Weiner for serving on the committee and devoting their time and expertise to this project. iv As Director of Comparative Literature and a translator in her own right, Professor Nunes gave expert counsel and support at critical points along the way. She also helped shore up my confidence in the interdisciplinary and comparative values of this study; with Zita as a reader, I held the bar higher than I might have otherwise. As a gifted poet and modernist scholar, Professor Joshua Weiner’s guidance rounded out this dream-team of a committee. Josh’s smart, careful readings have driven me to revise the dissertation in important directions. I am particularly grateful for his spirited encouragement throughout this process, as well as his detailed comments on the final draft. I also wish to thank the fifth member of my dissertation committee and Professor of Women’s Studies, Katie King, for representing the Graduate School and making time to participate in the defense. Professor King led our discussion into critical territory with keen insight, enthusiasm, and acumen. In many ways, this dissertation began with Michael Collier’s belief in the vital importance of literary translation and cross-cultural exchange. Along with Professor Elizabeth Loizeaux, Michael proved instrumental in founding Maryland’s Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House, an undergraduate residential college and literary center for the study of creative writing across cultures. With Michael Collier’s support, I found a home as the program’s first director and began making a rough outline for this dissertation—a love letter to the literature of the transcultural U.S. I am eternally grateful to him and the many faculty and staff members in the College of Arts of Humanities and the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures who ensured that the Writers’ House became—and v remains—a reality. Special thanks go to Dean James Harris, Associate Dean Gabriele Strauch, and Professors Roberta Lavine and Joshua Weiner, all of whom served as important mentors throughout my tenure as founding director of the Writers’ House. To the students and staff of the JWPH (past and present)—and especially my colleague and fellow-writer, Johnna Schmidt—Gracias por todo. You inspire me. Along the way, I had the good fortune to meet many scholars and professionals who helped further my research and thinking. I am very grateful to the curators and staff of the University of Maryland Library System for their nearly limitless support of my research in and beyond the Maryland system. I would also like to thank the staff at Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library for guiding me through their exhaustive collection of Ezra Pound papers. I likewise owe a debt of gratitude to Early Modern scholars William Sherman and David Norbrook, as well as linguist Michael Israel for pointing me down less-travelled avenues of research. I offer special thanks to Lawrence Venuti for his landmark scholarship and generous feedback at a critical stage in my writing. Clearly, this study would not exist without him. I extend my heartfelt thanks to the graduate students, faculty, and staff in the department of English, the Comparative Literature program, and The School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures for creating an intellectual environment in which multilingual and interdisciplinary research thrive. Special thanks go to Karin Wuertz- Schaefer for helping me transcribe and transpose the idiosyncratic genius of Bettina Brentano-von Arnim: Herzlichen Dank. I also wish to thank Erica Cefalo, a doctoral vi student in the Graduate French program, for furnishing translations and important insights into nineteenth-century French language and poetry: on behalf of the incomparable Judith Gautier and the under-recognized Stuart Merrill, Merci mille fois. With great admiration and gratitude, I wish to acknowledge Distinguished Scholar-Teacher, Linda Kauffman. Twenty years ago, Dr. Kauffman identified the challenges facing doctoral students and the departments who deeply invest in them. Going far above the call of duty, she committed herself to designing and implementing a course that has systematically helped countless graduate students improve their research and writing skills, speed their time to degree, navigate an increasingly competitive job market, and demystify the process of professionalization. Her dissertation workshop has also fostered a strong and supportive intellectual community among graduate students, which is vital, not only to completing a dissertation, but to producing a work of lasting critical value. Professor Kauffman offered sound advice and encouragement at a critical phase in my writing process. I would not have completed this dissertation without her support. I also wish to thank my many coaches and role models, including Amy, Larry, and Kim Lauth, Catherine Shattuck, Jaime Osterman Alves, Eliza Leighton, Sophie Scanlan, Sandy Maynard, Nancy Pendery, Anne Morgan Gray, Beatrice Pouligny, Rose Ann Cleveland, and Manju Suri. Thank you for cheering and keeping the faith. To my early and passionate teachers of literature,