The Vob Shakespeare Translation. an Assessment to the Contribution
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Durham E-Theses The VoB shakespeare translation. An assessment to the contribution made by Johann Heinrich VoB and his sons to the theory practice of Shakespeare translation in Germany Drewing, Lesley M. How to cite: Drewing, Lesley M. (1993) The VoB shakespeare translation. An assessment to the contribution made by Johann Heinrich VoB and his sons to the theory practice of Shakespeare translation in Germany, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5774/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Lesley M. Drewing Tine V©IE SQnalkespeaire ttraimslaltniiniio Aim assessmiiKEiintt ©IT tBne camttrilbiiltionii mmS^t hj Jolnainuni Henmirndii V©B anndl Ms smins to Hi© UlnedDiry amdl pracltice ®ff§!hak<Kpeair® (traimsialtioim am Geri^^ Thesis submitted to the University of Durham for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1993 On the few occasions mention has been made of the VoJ3 Shakespeare translation since completion of its publication in 1829, it has generally been in a negative comparison with the so-called Schlegel/Tieck translation as the "classic" German Shakespeare. This bias, originating from contemporary critics and reinforced in the last quarter of the nineteenth century by Johann Heinrich VoJi's biographer, has been perpetuated without detailed analysis of the translation and without consideration of the VoBs' notions of trans• lation. In order to provide a basis for assessing whether this judgement would or should be revised today, modern concepts of lit• erary translation in general and (Shakespeare) drama in particular are considered alongside changing translation theories and practice in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Germany. Particular attention is given to the theories and translation of drama and to the translation of Shakespeare up to the beginning of the nineteenth century in order to ascertain what theoretical and practical re• sources the VoBs had at their disposal. An examination of the con• cepts of translation and language evolved by the VoBs reveal that they differ from contemporary theory and practice. Detailed analysis of a representative selection of Shakespeare passages translated by the Vofis establishes that the practical application of these the• ories also results in a rendering of Shakespeare quite different from the Schlegel/Tieck translation. The VoBs' achievement is then assessed with the help of their own criteria and of those we might apply today; reasons are suggested for the negative reception of their work, and for its general rejection in favour of the Schlegel/Tieck Shakespeare. The place of the VoB Shakespeare is finally considered in the continuing tradition of German Shakespeare translation. The VoB Shakespeare translation. An assessment of the contribution made by Johann Heinrich YoB and his sons to the theory and practice of Shakespeare translation in Germany by Lesley M. Brewing The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be pubhshed without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Thesis submitted to the University of Duiham for the Degree of Doctor of FhUosophy 1993 -2 JUL 1993 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No. PREFACE Introduction 1 i) Modern concepts of translation 1 ii) Modern concepts of translating drama in general and Shakespeare in particular 7 iii) The tradition of German Shakespeare translation within which the Voi5 family worked 17 II The Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries 21 Chapter One: German concepts of translation in this period 21 Chapter Two: Concepts of drama and of trans• lation of drsunatic texts 3 6 Chapter Three: German Shakespeare translation before the Vofis 54 III The Vofis" Contribution 70 Chapter One: Their theories of translation and their translation practice 70 i) Johann Heinrich VoB 70 ii) Heinrich Vofi 80 Chapter Two: Their Shakespeare translations 84 i) Source texts, aids and resources 84 ii) The early stages 84 iii) The development of the project 90 Chapter Three: Analysis of selected passages and aspects of style 98 i) Criteria for selection 98 ii) Selected passages: a) Rhetoric, argument, multiple significance Macjbeth, Hamlet 99 b) Lyrical intensity: Romeo and Juliet 121 c) Delicacy and wit: A Midsummer Night's Dream 133 iii) Selected aspects of style: a) Wordplay: double entendre/ semantic wordplay, homonyms/ homophones, jingles 14 3 b) Song texts: Tempest, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Winter's Tale 111 c) Plain dramatic dialogue: Othello, Julius Caesar 191 IV Conclusion 2 08 i) The VoJ3s' achievement 208 ii) Contemporary reception and polemic 214 iii) The domination of Schlegel/Tieck 225 iv) The persistence of controversy in German Shakespeare translation 229 236 NOTES 288 BIBLIOGRAPHY PREFACE The VoB Shakespeare translation was a joint undertaking by Johann Heinrich VoB (1751-1826), poet and philologist, and his two sons Johann Heinrich VoB. jr. (1779-1822), philologist and teacher of the classics, and Abraham Sophus VoB (1785-1847), also a teacher of the classics. To avoid confusion between father and son. Johann Heinrich. jr. will be referred to below as Heinrich VoB. Although the VoB Shakespeare translation has the unique status of being the first complete verse translation of Shakespeare in German, it has been almost entirely neglected ever since completion of its publica• tion in 1829 in favour of the so-called Schlegel/Tieck Shakespeare. A preliminary comparison of these two versions revealed, however, that the VoB Shakespeare, although different from the Schlegel/Tieck translation, often seemed to be more accurate, and thus worthy of closer investigation. What elements contribute to this greater accuracy, and why, if this is indeed the case, has the VoB Shake• speare been neglected, at best acknowledged but at the same time dismissed as insignificant? Initially, this research began as a comparative exercise. How• ever, although to compare the VoB Shakespeare with that of Schlegel/Tieck was illuminating, mere comparison of the two trans• lations with the original Shakespeare text tended to produce a list of differences within the various translation categories, rather than a clear picture of the merits and weaknesses in the VoB render• ing. This method was further rejected as inadequate as it gives only a poor indication of whether the differences in translation are due to different degrees of skill, or to a fundamentally different con• cept of and approach to translation. It offers no indication at all of the criteria by which contemporary reception judged the two translations, and thus no basis for assessing whether they would or should be judged differently today. In order, therefore, to establish a context within which more than a mere empirical approach can be adopted for the critical as• sessment of the VoB Shakespeare, the thesis will begin by consider• ing how translation (of literary work in general and of Shakespeare in particular) is conceived today. The notion of "equivalence" is examined and considered in the various modern approaches to trans• lation. To give a clear idea of what theoretical and practical resources the VoBs had at their disposal for the Shakespeare trans- lations and of what models they had to work with, the second sec• tion will examine the changing notions of language and concepts of translation in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Germany and the practical application of these concepts during this period in the translation of drama in general and of Shakespeare in particular. Section three of the thesis then attempts to explain what the• oretical translation criteria the VoBs themselves evolved; what experience and skills (both separately and jointly) they brought to the Shakespeare project; what help they received; what Shakespeare translations they produced. Reference was made to both published and unpublished sources in this investigation; the unpublished ma• terial not only revealed the history of the development of the VoB Shakespeare enterprise, it also provided information which indicated that much of what has been written on the Vofi Shakespeare rendering requires revision. Since so little attention has been paid to the VoB Shakespeare, section three concludes with an in-depth analysis of a representat• ive selection of their translations. Key passages differing in style, techniques and function will be examined to test the qual• ity of the VoB rendering. As, in spite of an extensive search, no 1804-1813 Leipzig edition (Johnson, Steevens, Reed and Malone) of Shakespeare's source texts, the edition used by the VoBs in their translation, could be located, the analysis is based on the 1833 Leipzig edition (Johnson, Steevens, Reed and Malone). Reference has also been made to various volumes in the The Arden Edition of the Works of William Shakespeare, particularly to compare different readings and to consult the short and longer notes. The unpublished sources referred to above also proved invaluable for this exercise. Amongst other things they showed that whatever their reputation, the VoBs were highly professional in their approach to translation. For all his assiduity in completing publication of the VoB Shake• speare, it was considered expedient in this chapter of analysis to ignore for present purposes the translations of Abraham VoB.