Werther for the English Language Stage

Yours Faithfully; Werther for the English Language Stage. By David Bruno Starrs. Bachelor of Science (Australian National University 1986), Postgraduate Diploma in Health Sciences (Curtin University of Technology 1990), Bachelor of Theatre with Honours (James Cook University 1999), Master of Film and TV (Bond University 2000). Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Creative Arts (by dissertation – 70% and creative work – 30%) to the School of Creative Arts, Faculty of Arts, the University of Melbourne, Australia, in September 2003. Awarded First Class Honours Feb. 2005. Abstract. Although numerous English literary translations of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s ‘nobility in suicide’ - themed, epistolary, psychological and therefore “untheatrical” (Atkins 1949) novel Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (1774) have been published – none of the resultant English stage translations have ever been described as faithful to the original. The various obstacles to the creation of a faithful translation for the English language stage were analysed. The first obstacle is caution by Christian playwrights regarding the proscribed theme of nobility in suicide. Related to this is the second obstacle; the fear of producing ‘imitative’ suicides, which have been labelled ‘The Werther Effect’ by sociologists (Phillips 1974). Other obstacles are form-related rather than theme-related and include the absence of an authoritative English literary translation and the difficulties in translating to the stage the psychological and epistolary novel. With reference to Goethe’s three–tiered model of translation (translated by Lefevere 1977) and cinema academic Geoffrey Wagner’s ‘Three modes of adaptation’ (Wagner 1975) this writer has attempted to write a ‘prosaic’, ‘transpositional’ and unaugmented stage translation by identifying and addressing each of the obstacles, the hypothesis being that if these obstacles were systematically addressed and overcome, then an English language stageplay closely equivalent in meaning to the prominent ideas, themes and form of the novel – that is, a work arguably faithful to the novel – could be created. The research lead to the resultant creation The Sorrows and Sufferings of Young Werther; a Stageplay which is submitted as the creative work component (30%) of the writer’s Master of Creative Arts thesis at the University of Melbourne, Australia, in September 2003. Declaration. I hereby certify that – (i) The thesis comprises only my original work except where indicated, (ii) due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used, and, (iii) the dissertation is no less than 25,000 words in length, inclusive of footnotes but exclusive of tables, maps, appendices and bibliography. Signed .................................................................................. (David Bruno Starrs) Date ..................................................................................... Grateful acknowledgement and thanks are extended to Dr. Angela O’Brien (Supervisor), Dr. Denise Varney (Postgraduate Co-ordinator), Dr. Hector Maclean (Consultant), Sari Smith (Consultant), and, Dr. Ken Wach (Consultant). Table of Contents. Introduction. 5. Chapter One. Obstacle one; the Christian playwright’s caution due to the proscribed theme of noble suicide. 10. a) Ancient times; Greek and Roman Stoicism. 10. b) Pre 5th Century; the suicidal mania of early Christianity. 12. c) From Augustinus on; the Christian ban on suicide. 12. d) The late 18th to 19th Century; the era of the Romantics. 15. e) The 20th Century; Dadaism. 17. f) Other 20th Century artists and suicide. 18. Chapter Two. Obstacle two; the sociological concerns about imitative suicide. 22. a) Australian research results. 24. b) Foreign research results. 25. Chapter Three. This writer’s reading of Werther. 29. Chapter Four. Obstacle three; the absence of an authoritative English literary translation of Werther. 37. a) Variations in translating Werther. 37. b) Goethe’s model of translation. 42. Chapter Five. Obstacle four; the difficulties in translating an epistolary, psychological novel to the stage. 45. a) Wagner’s model of adaptation. 47. b) Previous stage translations of Werther. 48. c) Case studies of relevant stage and screenplays. 51. d) Symbolic signs for the secondary and tertiary themes of Werther. 57. e) A summary of this writer’s The Sorrows and Sufferings of Young Werther; a Stageplay. 58. Conclusion. 59. Bibliography/Works cited. 61. Appendix A; The Sorrows and Sufferings of Young Werther. (see <http://www.synapse.net/kgerken/Y- 0404.HTM>). Introduction. Die Leiden des jungen Werthers is a short epistolary novel first published in 1774 by the emerging writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1742 –1849) in his native language of German. As one of the world’s first psychological novels, dealing as it does with a single character’s innermost thoughts, confessions and motivations, it became an instant best–seller and launched the career of Germany’s most successful and famous writer. The plot of the novel (hereafter referred to as Werther) is simple; in ‘Book 1’, after enduring some unexplained emotional crisis, Werther arrives in a new town where he begins to feel happy in the beautiful nature around him and with the people he meets. He encounters Charlotte and falls in love with her. When her fiancé Albert arrives a classically unhappy love triangle forms. Reluctantly, Werther leaves town. In ‘Book 2’ Werther starts working for the Ambassador in another town but does not enjoy the experience. He is, he believes, unfairly rejected by his aristocratic superiors, and quits his job in disgust to return to the town of the newlyweds Charlotte and Albert. Unable to see a solution to the problem of his growing love for Charlotte and due to his respect for their marriage he shoots himself in the head with a pistol borrowed from Albert. He dies at noon on Christmas Day. Notably, the novel is believed to have caused a wave of suicides by its readers who died, dressed in the yellow britches and blue frock–coat of the novel’s ‘hero’, with the opened book at hand and a self– delivered bullet through their skulls. As a result many European states banned it. The Internet bookshop site Bibliopoly.com – which in 2002 was selling an original first edition copy for US $35000 – described it as; A diminutive novel, half–epistolary and half–narrative [. .][which] caused a furor [sic] throughout Europe. The story of a hyper–sensitive young man, whose Weltschmerz and Ichschmerz combined with his unfulfilled love for the girl Charlotte, reduced him to despair and self–destruction. Werther inspired a vogue which went far beyond blue coats and yellow breeches and porcelain tea–sets decorated with scenes from the book. So profound was its effect on the reading public, in fact, that literally dozens of love–lorn swains took up the knife against themselves in emulation of the pathetic hero. Indeed, for the second edition of the book, Goethe indited a cautionary quatrain for the title page which urged strength upon his more susceptible readers [. .][Goethe] introduced the modern conception of the self as the sole and fragile source of all meaning . (Bibliopoly.com 2002, un–numbered web page). The ‘cult of Werther’ was born. Academic Stuart Atkins in 1949 described how; . the cult of Werther was exploited by the trade: eau de Werther was sold, and Charlotte and Werther figures [. .][were] as familiar and ubiquitous as Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck today . (Atkins 2). The 1989 translator of Werther, Michael Hulse, noted; At the Prater in Vienna there was a Werther fireworks display. In Fleet street in London, Mrs. Salmon’s Royal Historical Wax–Work showed ‘The much–admired Group of The Death of Werter [sic], attended by Charlotte and her Family’. Werther songs were sung. (Hulse 1989: 13–14). In England the response also included calls for prohibition, particularly from one Reverend Solomon Piggott; I would most strongly reprobate the sickly notions, the sentimental nonsense, the false morality, the infidel opinions, the immoral precepts, contained in many of our popular novels, romances and plays, which the idle and dissipated waste their hours in persuing [sic]. There is not a book of a more dangerous tendency in many of these respects than the undeservedly admired “Sorrows of Werther”, a book which should be forbidden and proscribed, as having largely contributed to diffuse licentiousness, to encourage effeminacy, and to seduce the weak and the agitated to suicide. (Piggott 1824: 130–1). Piggott was not the first to proscribe themes that encourage suicide in works of art. However, his suggestion that weak and agitated readers or viewers subjected to works that apparently nobilise or otherwise glamourise suicide will be seduced into copying the act has been studied by sociologists in recent years with David Phillips describing such ‘imitative suicides’ as resulting from ‘The Werther Effect’ (Phillips 1974: 340). Despite the controversy about the suicidal theme of Werther, numerous English literary translations have been published with the first being the Daniel Malthus 1779 version The sorrows of young Werter; a German Story and one of the most recent being the 1989 Penguin paperback version The Sorrows of Young Werther by Michael Hulse. Frequently, the criterion of ‘faithfulness’ has been mentioned in evaluations of these works, despite confusion as to the precise meaning of this term. Indeed, academic Patrice Pavis recently called the notion “ .

Load more