Part 19 (1/2)

_Criticism of the Translation._

Hoffmann's translation is certainly not a contribution to scholars.h.i.+p.

It is a sufficient condemnation of the volume to quote the words of the Vorwort:--

'Die Uebersetzungen von Grein, Holder und Moller sind mir nicht zuganglich gewesen, auch wie es scheint, nicht sehr bekannt.'

It is not surprising that Hoffmann is unacquainted with the translations of Holder and Moller, as these works have never been made; but that a German translator should ignore the version of Grein is a revelation indeed.

Even though a translator may not care to embody in his work any new interpretations, it is nevertheless his duty to base his translation on the best text that he can find. But apparently Hoffmann had never heard of the Heyne editions of the text, nor of the Grein-Wulker _Bibliothek_.

He bases his translation on Grein's text of 1867. He evidently considered it a sufficient recommendation of his work to a.s.sociate with it the name of Grein, not troubling himself to discover what advance had been made upon the work of that scholar.

Examples of antiquated renderings may be brought forward:--

P. 1, line 1, Wie grosse Ruhmesthaten.

2, line 1, So soll mit Gaben werben im Vaterhause schon.

21, line 15 (see Extract), Vom Wintersturm getrieben Hoch auf die Wellen schaumten.

84, line 3, Mothrytho.

Petty inaccuracies due to the nature of the translation also appear. An example of this is seen on page 3, at the opening of the first canto--

Ueber Burg und Mannen nun herrschte manches Jahr Beowulf der Schilding. Wie hold dem Konig war Sein Volk! in allen Landen seinen Ruhm man pries Als lange schon sein Vater von dieser Erde Leben liess.

_Literary Criticism._

The translation resembles the work of Lumsden[5] and Wackerbarth[6] in affording a version of the tale easily readable. And the same criticism may be pa.s.sed on the work of Hoffmann that was pa.s.sed on the two Englishmen. The style and medium chosen are not well fitted to render the spirit of the poem. The _Nibelungenlied_ is a poem of the late twelfth century. The _Beowulf_ at latest belongs to the eighth. To choose for the translation of _Beowulf_, therefore, a medium surcharged with reminiscence of a time, place, and style quite different from those of the original is certainly an error. It may find an audience where another and more faithful rendering would fail; but it will never win the esteem of scholars. In his introduction Hoffmann calls attention to the lack of variety in blank verse, but surely it does not have the monotony inherent in a recurring rime and strophe.

Again, rime and strophe force upon the author the use of words and phrases needed to pad out the verse or stanza. Attention must also be called to the fact that the original seldom affords a natural pause at the exact point demanded by the use of a strophic form. See the close of the following stanzas in the Extract: I, III, IV, V. One effect of the forced pause is that there is confusion in the use of kennings, which often have to do duty as subject in one stanza and as object in another stanza.

Commonplace expressions, incident perhaps upon the use of the measure, are not unfrequent. Thus

Gesagt! gethan!

translates

ond aet geaefndon swa (line 538).

Traces of this are also found in the extract; see beginning of last stanza.

In conclusion, it may be said that Hoffmann's version marks an advance in one way only, readableness; and in this it is hardly superior to Heyne's rendering, which has the advantage of scholars.h.i.+p.

[Footnote 1: See supra, p. 59.] [[Simrock]]

[Footnote 2: See supra, p. 68.] [[von Wolzogen]]