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Translation: Better Burns (fwd)
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From: Galya Diment <galya@u.washington.edu>
Peter Kartsev wrote: "[Marshak's] Burns may well be better than Burns'
Burns."
And, as we all know, "To be or not to be" sounds even better in German!
Peter, you must have written this in jest! If Marshak's Burns is "better
than Burns' Burns," the final product is obviously no Burns at all! I tend
to agree with both VN and Peter Kartsev that poetry is pretty much
untranslatable -- but, in my book, trying to "improve" the poet in
translation according to the translator's sense of "good" poetry is
an even greater sin (because it involves such chutzpah!) than humanly
falling short of perfection in trying to keep the precise nature and
unique individuality of the original.
Galya Diment
Peter Kartsev wrote: "[Marshak's] Burns may well be better than Burns'
Burns."
And, as we all know, "To be or not to be" sounds even better in German!
Peter, you must have written this in jest! If Marshak's Burns is "better
than Burns' Burns," the final product is obviously no Burns at all! I tend
to agree with both VN and Peter Kartsev that poetry is pretty much
untranslatable -- but, in my book, trying to "improve" the poet in
translation according to the translator's sense of "good" poetry is
an even greater sin (because it involves such chutzpah!) than humanly
falling short of perfection in trying to keep the precise nature and
unique individuality of the original.
Galya Diment