Translations (15Th-19Th Centuries)

TRANSLATIONS (FIFTEENTH TO NINETEENTH CENTURIES ) 973 Arnott, W. Geoffrey. 1978. “Red Herrings and Other for knowing Aristophanes. In the 1500s many Baits: A Study of Euripidean Technique.” Museum Latin translations appeared of Aristophanes’ two Philologicum Londinense, 3: 1–24. most popular comedies, Clouds and Wealth, but Seidensticker, Bernd. 1982. Palintonos Harmonia: Stu Lambertus Hortensius also translated Knights dien zu komischen Elementen in der griechischen (1561) and Frogs (1561) and Nicasius Ellebodi Tragödie [Studies on Comic Elements in Greek Trag us translated Thesmophoriazusae and Lysistrata edy]. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Scharffenberger, Elizabeth. 1995. “A Tragic Lysistrata? (1575–77). Iocasta in the Reconciliation Scene of the Phoenician Italy was also the first country to translate Women.” Rheinisches Museum, 138: 312–36. Aristophanes into its own vernacular: in 1545 all Seidensticker, Bernd. [1996] 2004. “Die griechische the Aristophanic comedies were translated into Tragödie als literarischer Wettbewerb” [“Greek Trag Italian by Bartolomeo and Pietro Rositini. In edy as a Literary Competition”]. In Über das Vergnü other countries the first translations were mostly gen an tragischen Gegenständen: Studien zum anti of Clouds or Wealth. In France Pierre de Ronsard ken Drama [On Tragic Pleasure: Studies in Ancient translated and staged Wealth in 1549–50; only in Drama], 246–78. Munich: Saur. 1784 were all the plays translated into French, Sommerstein, Alan H. 2002. “Comic Elements in partly in verse and partly in prose, by Louis Poin Tragic Language: The Case of Aeschylus’ Oresteia.” In The Language of Greek Comedy, edited by Andreas sinet de Sivry. In Spain too Wealth was the first Willi, 151–68. Oxford: Oxford University Press. play to be translated (1577), by Pedro Simón Foley, Helene P. 2008. “Generic Boundaries in Late Abril; a translation of “selected plays” appeared Fifth‐Century Athens.” In Performance, Iconography, only in 1875 by D. Federico Baráibar y Zumár Reception: Studies in Honour of Oliver Taplin, edited raga. In England, Thomas Randolph prepared by Martin Revermann and Peter J. Wilson, 15–36. an adaptation of Wealth (1651; see below), Oxford: Oxford University Press. while Thomas Stanley translated selections of Diamantakou‐Agathou, Kaiti. 2012. “Euripides ver Clouds in his History of Philosophy (1655). Aside sus Aristophanes, Ion versus Birds: A Possibility of from Wealth (by an anonymous H.H.B.) in 1659 ‘Paracomic’ Referentiality.” Mediterranean Chronicle, (see below), the first translations of entire plays 2: 15–29. appeared only in 1715: Lewis Theobald’s Clouds bernd seidensticker and Wealth. Charles Dunster’s Frogs appeared in 1785, while other plays (Acharnians, Knights, and Wasps together with a new version of Clouds) translations (fifteenth to nineteenth centuries) were translated only in 1820–22 by Thomas The study of the history of translations of Mitchell and Richard Cumberland. After Aristophanes serves two purposes: first, by Hans Sachs’ adaptation of Wealth in 1531, the showing when and where Aristophanes was first German translation appeared in 1613 for a translated, it provides a diachronic sense of his performance of Clouds (in Greek) in Strasbourg: popularity beyond the connoisseurs of ancient Isaak Fröreisen prepared a free (and “Christian Greek; second, different types of translation show ized”) translation to help the audience who did how Aristophanes was appreciated and why. not know Greek. Only in 1744 did Christlob My Italy was the first country in which Aristo lius translate part of Wealth (1–252); afterwards, phanes was translated and printed in Greek. Aris many German translations of Clouds and Wealth tophanes’ text in Greek was made available in the were prepared; Goethe translated Birds, which Aldine editio princeps of 1498 (with nine plays, was also performed in Weimar in 1780 (Goethe without Thesmophoriazusae and Lysistrata). In himself played the role of Treufreund, i.e. Pisthe 1515–16 the first complete edition in Greek ap taerus (sic)). Translations of several other Aris peared in Florence. The very first Latin transla tophanic plays followed and by 1821 the eleven tion appeared, in fact, before the Aldine edition, comedies had been translated into German by when the Florentine humanist Leonardo Bruni Johann Heinrich Voss. In other countries Aris translated Wealth 1–269 into Latin prose ca. tophanes was translated only in the nineteenth 1440. In 1538 Andreas Divus published the first century: the first Russian translation was Clouds Latin translation of all eleven comedies in Ven by I.M. Muraviëv‐Apostol (1821), while the ice, and this became the most important vehicle first complete translation appeared only in 1897. 974 TRANSLATIONS (FIFTEENTH TO NINETEENTH CENTURIES ) In Denmark Johan Krag produced the first trans read (Hall 2007a, 10–11). Other translations are lations of Frogs, Clouds, Wealth, and Acharnians important in their interpretation of Aristophanes in 1825, and other plays followed afterwards. as a political author. For example, Thomas Ran Clouds was first translated into Swedish by Jo dolph’s Ploutophthalmia Ploutogamia (1651), han Henrik Thomander in 1826, while Johannes an English adaptation of Wealth set in Caroline Paulson published the first complete translation London, represents the first effort to make Aris of all eleven comedies only in 1901–3. Birds was tophanes contemporary (Miola 2014, 492–94); in the first play to be translated into Dutch (1869), The World’s Idol; or, Plutus the God of Wealth, a followed by Acharnians (1885), Wealth (1899), Translation from Aristophanes by H.H.B. (Lon and Ecclesiazusae (1900), while a Norwegian don, 1659), a political interpretation of Aristo translation/adaptation of Birds by Kristian B.R. phanes is achieved through the introduction and Aars appeared in 1888. Acharnians was translated the notes rather than the translation itself (which into a moderate Greek katharevousa by Ioannis is literal): the anonymous translator reads the Raptarchis in 1856, followed by Clouds, Peace, comedy in light of Christian ideology and per and Birds by Alexander Rizos Rangavis in 1860. haps also of criticism against British policy in Poland saw first the Clouds by Marceli Motty Ireland. At a time when the Puritans closed the (1866), while other translations followed in the aters (1642–60) and stage performances were early twentieth century; Frogs and Wealth were forbidden, even a translation could become a translated into Czech in around 1897 by Au political act (Wyles 2007; Miola 2014, 494–95). gustin Krejcí, who then published a translation In Germany, Johann Georg Schlosser published of all the plays between 1910 and 1922. In Hun the first German version of Frogs in 1783, and in gary the first translation was Frogs by Ignác Ver the introduction Aristophanes is treated for the ess (1875), and all the comedies were translated first time as a political and satirical author rather into Hungarian by János Arany in 1880. With the than a moralist (Werner 1975, 469). Christoph exception of Dalpatram’s Lakshmi (1850), which Martin Wieland published German transla is an adaptation of Wealth into Gujarati ( Vasunia tions of Knights, Birds, Acharnians, and Clouds 2007), translations in Asia had to wait even between 1794 and 1806; his Knights (1797) is longer: for example, Lysist rata was translated into subtitled Oder die Demagogen, thus connecting Japanese by H. Kozui and K. Chigiri in 1900. Aristophanes’ Cleon to the demagogues in the Clouds and Wealth thus remained the most Reign of Terror of the French Revolution. A popular comedies until the eighteenth century less open recognition of Aristophanes’ political and often represented the first attempt at trans dimension is discernible in the complete Italian lating Aristophanes into a European language. translations by Domenico Capellina (1852–53), The interest in these two plays is easily explained, where Aristophanes’ plays are divided by theme: as among the Aristophanic comedies Clouds and volume one contains “political comedies” (Achar Wealth are the most “restrained” and moralis nians, Knights, Peace, Lysistrata, and Ecclesiazu tic (or at least they can easily be interpreted this sae) while volume two contains “fantasy comedy way). The more “fantastic” plays, such as Frogs and comedy with satire ad personam” (Clouds, and Birds, started to be appreciated later, while Wasps, Birds, Thesmophoriazusae, Wealth, and the more political ones had to wait until after the Frogs). In the preface to his translation of Clouds French Revolution. Lastly, “women comedies” (1881), Augusto Franchetti claimed that the started to receive attention only in the nineteenth recent popular revolutions in Europe would allow century (Giannopoulou 2007, 310). readers to better appreciate Athenian democracy The study of modern translations can also and Aristophanic theater (Chirico 2014, 743). disclose how Aristophanes was appreciated. For Aristophanes, however, was not always seen as example, the French translations of Wealth and a “revolutionary” author. For example, famous Clouds by Anne Dacier (1684) were the first to English translations were carried out by conserva divide the text into acts and scenes, with notes tive scholars such as John Wood Warter (Achar discussing neoclassical rules of theater, indicat nians, Knights, Wasps, and Birds in 1830), John ing for the first time that Aristophanes was con Hookham Frere (Frogs, Acharnians, Knights,

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