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Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
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Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
Afterwords
Did you miss the meeting? Or did we fail to discuss all the questions? Perhaps something slipped your mind, or only occurred to you later. If so, here's your chance to continue the conversation. For the time being, this blog is open for comment only to registered members of the book group. Other readers may contact me at hcrane@cambridgema.gov. Please, no flaming or cussing.
3 comments:
The translation "consolation" is suspect.
The original sentence is "Und er verzichtete darauf, sich Rechenschaft über ein Gefühl
der Genugtuung oder Beruhigung zu geben, das diesen Gedanken
begleitete." "Behruhigung" is given as "calming(down), reassurance, easing, soothing"
in Langenscheidt's German-English dictionary - no "consolation" mentioned. "Consolation" would seem to be a feeling appropriate for an event that has already occurred.
A feeling of "satisfaction or reassurance" would be appropriate to one who desires Tadzio to live only long enough for one's exclusive delight.
Dwight, her I would agree with you again. A literal translation: And he avoided giving himself an account of the feeling of satisfaction or reassurance that accompanied this thought.
He deliberately avoided holding himself accountable for the feeling of satisfaction or reassurance that acompanied this thought. The formality of the way Mann expresses himself suggests the formality of the way Aschenbach acts or interacts with himself. All the more shocking then his downfall, the loss of decorum.
I would be interested if you n oticed this passage just from the English or if you were working your way through the German and came across it that way? I worked with someone from England once who coiulod tell when something was not properly understood in German. It lead to a problematic translation in English. He was very good at diagnosing such problems, but it was theoretical prose. His technique, though, was good. It is first and foremost necessarty to understand well in a for3eign language, though Stephen Mitchell proves people wrong, and ity is also, and perhaps even more importantly, necessary to be able to express yourself well in English. The better the abilityy to express oneself in English, the better the translation.
By the way, I thought Holly/Polly's comment perceptive about Mann having to have fantasies, being able to experiment with them, in order to write about them.
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for your interest.
My background in German extends only as far as an introductory literature course 40+ years ago. Every few years I try working my way through a short novel in the original but have never made it to an end.
It seemed that the "secret" translation in the first question didn't make sense in English. I went to the Project Gutenberg German original and found "tief".
As long as I was there, it seemed that the other possible translation issue, question #3, might merit a look.
I agree with your comment about Aschenbach's formal relationship with himself.
A book that you might find of interest is "The Vertigo Years" by Philipp Blom. It is an eclectic history of Europe 1900-1914. It has a chapter about the horrible consequences of the very publicized "outing" of some homosexuals in Germany between 1906 and 1908. Those "outed" included the Kaiser's best friend, the foreign minister, and the chief of staff of the Army. The results were destroyed lives and deaths.In addition, Germany's richest man, Fritz Krupp, had committed suicide in similar circumstances in 1902.
Mann no doubt had those events in mind when he in 1910 described Aschenbach's downfall.
Best regards
Dwight
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