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Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses 1983 A translation into English of the German novel Jakob der Lugner̈ by Jurek Becker Harriet Passell Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Part of the German Literature Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Passell, Harriet, "A translation into English of the German novel Jakob der Lugner̈ by Jurek Becker" (1983). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 3258. https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.3249 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Harriet Passell for the Master of Arts in German presented October 21~ 1983. Title: A translation into English of the German novel Jakob der Lugner by Jurek Becker. APPROVED BY MEMBERS OF THE THESIS COMMITTEE: Franz Langha11111er, cOlJiSE1teto p;.. This thesis is a translation of the German novel Jakob der Lugnerl by Jurek Becker. In my commentary I have tried to explain why I undertook the project of translating this novel from German into English, when that had already been done by Melvin Kornfeld.2 Kornfeld's translation, which is no longer in print, fails to do justice lJurek Becker, Jakob der Lugner, (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1980). 2Jurek Becker, Jacob The Liar, trans. Melvin Kornfeld (New York and London: Harcourt Brace Javanovich, 1975). 2 to Jurek Becker's style and changes a story of heartwarming simplicity, humor and psychological insight into a somewhat tedious account of the life in a ghetto during World War II. This change is brought about in the following ways: 1. Kornfeld's vocabulary does not correspond to the fairly simple every-day level of language typical of the characters in Jakob der Lagner, but has a tendency to slip into a choice of words more erudite than the original. 2. This rather erudite choice of words conflicts with the extremely simple sentence structure which Kornfeld imposes on the translation by changing many of Becker's commas into periods. This change in punctuation also destroys the very fine technique of the interior monologue, which, in the original, is presented as a rambling of thoughts on the part of one of the characters or a chain of associations of which each link is separated from the next by a comma. A period then closes off this inner monologue and the narration proceeds. By using periods to separate both the thoughts of the characters from one another and the whole chain of thoughts from the narration, Kornfeld destroys the inner monologue and the characters become pale replicas of their originals. 3. Kornfeld's change in verb tenses (usually from German perfect tense to English pluperfect or from German present to English past tense) also contributes to this destruction of the inner monologue. Through switching, for example, from a past into a 3 present tense, Becker lays down his role as narrator, in order to give the floor to one of his characters, whose thoughts he then expresses as though he or she were actually speaking. By avoiding such a tense switch, Kornfeld again fails to distinguish between narration and direct testimony from one of the characters. 4. Kornfeld 1 s lack of familiarity with German idiomatic expressions leads him to make many mistakes, either in meaning or in the tone intended by the author. Keeping these points in mind, I have tried to write a translation that would do more justice to Jurek Becker's original work. A TRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH OF THE GERMAN NOVEL •• JAKOB DER LUGNER BY JUREK BECKER by HARRIET PASSELL A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in GERMAN Portland State University 1983 TO THE OFFICE OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH: The members of the committee approve the thesis of Harriet Passell presented October 28, 1983. Franz Langhammer, Chairm Louis J. E Linda Parshall APPROVED: lteto, ~ead, Department of Foreign Languages Stan<tey ~ Rauc~Dean of Graduate Studies and Research Vorliegende LJbersetzung wurde vom PrUfungsausschuss als hervorragende schopferische Leistung bewertet und anerkannt, obgleich sie vom allgemein Ublichen Format einer Magisterarbeit abweicht. Fur den Prufungsausschuss Franz Langhammer Professor of German 62£ SO£ 1 · · • 6unz+asJaqn •• 3113S SINHJI3Z~3ASll~HNI 9Nnz13s~3an I can already hear everybody say: A tree, ·so what, a trunk, leaves, roots, little bugs under the bark, and, if you are lucky, a respectably shaped crown, so? I hear them say: Don't you have anything better to think about to make your eyes light up like a hungry goat's when one shows it a fat bunch of grass? Or do you mean a particular tree, a very specific one, which has, maybe, what do I know, given its name to a battle, like the Battle of the Lone Pine, do you mean one like that? Or was someone famous hanged on it? All wrong, not even hanged? Okay then, it's pretty simple-minded, but if it gives you such pleasure, let's keep playing this silly game for another while, just as you like. Is what you mean really the slight noise people call a rustle, when the wind has found your tree, when it leafs through it, one might say? Or the amount of useable lumber contained in its trunk? Or do you mean the proverbial shade it casts? Because as soon as people speak of shade, everybody thinks of trees, oddly enough, even though houses or factories give much more shade. Do you mean the shade? All wrong, I say, you can stop guessing, you won't hit on it. I don't mean anything of the kind, even though the heating factor is not to be underestimated, I simply mean a tree. I have my reasons for that. First of all trees have played a certain role in my life, I may be overrating it, but that is how I feel about it. At the age of nine I fell out of a tree, an apple tree as a matter of fact, and I broke my left hand. Everything healed up pretty well, but there are a few difficult movements which I haven't been able to make with the fingers of my hand since. I mention this because it had been taken for granted that I was to become a violinist some day, but otherwise that is of no importance. My mother wanted it first, then my father wanted it too, 2 and finally all three of us wanted it. Okay then, no violinist after all. A few years later, I must have been seventeen already, I was, for the first time in my life, lying under a tree with a girl. This time it was a beechtree, a good fifteen meters high, the girl's name was Esther, no, I think it was Moira, but anyway it was a beechtree and a wild boar interrupted us. Maybe there were several, we didn't have a chance to turn around. And again a few years later my wife Chana was shot under a tree. I can't tell you what kind of tree it was this time, I was simply told of it and I forgot to ask about the tree. And now for the second reason why my eyes light up when I think of this tree, possibly or even quite certainly the more important one of the two. For in this ghetto trees are forbidden (Regulation 31: "It is strictly forbidden to keep ornamental and any other kinds of plants within the ghetto area. This also applies to trees. Should any plants have been overlooked in setting up the ghetto, they are to be removed immediately. Violators will be .• .II) . That was Hardtloff 's idea, the devil knows why, maybe because of the birds. And actually a thousand other things are prohibited as well, rings and other valuables, the keeping of pets, being on the street after eight--there would be no point in naming them all. I try to imagine what would happen to somebody who wore a ring and was seen with a dog after eight. But no, I don't try to imagine that at all, I am not even thinking of rings and dogs and the time of day. I am only thinking of this tree, and my eyes light up. I can understand everything, I mean theoretically I can: You guys are Jews, you are less than a piece of dirt, what do you need rings for, and why do you have to hang around the 3 streets after eight? We are planning this and that for you and want to do it in such and such a way. I can understand that. I cry about it, I would kill them all if I could. I would wring Hardtloff's neck with my left hand (which can no longer make certain movements with its fingers), still, I can understand it. But why do they forbid us trees? I have already tried a thousand times to get this damn story off my mind, always without success. Either they weren't the right people I wanted to tell it to, or I made some kind of mistake. I mixed up a lot of things: I confused names, or, as· I said, they weren't the right people. Every time I've had a few drinks it's there, there is nothing I can do about it.

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