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Re: Translation: Better Burns (fwd)
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NABOKV-L wrote:
> From: Galya Diment <galya@u.washington.edu>
>
> 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!
Dear Galya,
Precisely what I was driving at! A poetic translation is always more the work
of the translator, rather than of the original author. (So is a literal one, I
hasten to add for Mr. Vorobey. But the literal one is more exact.)
I didn't say that Marshak was consciously trying to improve Burns, though.
It's just that his translations turned out as rather better poetry than Burns'
originals (matter of opinion, of course).
Peter.