tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29519072.post8509788035344038430..comments2023-12-11T19:34:51.189-06:00Comments on Eine Klage-Welt: James Owenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07614935078978354375noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29519072.post-44765843665240665002009-01-10T20:28:00.000-06:002009-01-10T20:28:00.000-06:00Roxana: Let me say first that I assume absolutely ...Roxana: Let me say first that I assume absolutely that you are right -- "Das Alles" ought to be "Das Ganze." You have a better ear for what sounds right in German than I have, especially since I only pretend to know any German at all :-)<BR/><BR/>That said, here is what I <I>meant</I> to do. "Das Ganze" is certainly the best translation for "l'ensemble" if "l'ensemble" means "the whole of one person's life." I was trying to make it mean more than just that, though -- something like "the whole sweep of history" or "the <I>all</I> of the cosmos." German Romantic philosophers (who, I mean to suggest, are the ultimate source of many of Rilke's ideas) used to use "Das Alles" in a way that means something close to this. <BR/><BR/>Schopenhauer writing of history: "sähen wir das Alles, wir würden schaudern und wehklagen über die verlorenen Schätze ganzer Weltalter," or of the illusion of dreams, "was Sie jetzt sich vorstellen, ist bloss ein Auge, das Das Alles sieht." I think Goethe uses "das Alles" like this, too.<BR/><BR/>I'm over-reaching, no doubt. Those writers' way of using this phrase isn't really distinctive or memorable enought for a reader to make the connection I'm trying to make. (Or -- seriously, and I won't mind if this is true -- I've just misunderstood the whole issue.)<BR/><BR/>Why German at all, when Rilke doesn't so this? First, to make the relationship I mention above -- if it is valid. Next, the bit of German just appealed to me as a small acknowledgement that we are reading in a complex linguistic environment here -- a German poet (actually a Czech poet who grew up with German) writing in French and now being translated into English! "Das Alles" (or "Das Ganze") would be a reminder of this history. Benjamin says something about the true purpose of translation, that it is not for the reader or for the writer, but that it is to make clear the relationships between languages....<BR/><BR/>On the other hand, and after all the above, I was just about to come back and delete this post, before I saw that you had commented and decided to leave it here. My translation is different from Poulin's version -- but is it really <I>better</I>? I do save "the untellable" -- Poulin's "the unutterable" is wrong -- and keep to the form a bit more closely .... but then I don't know -- on subsequent readings it doesn't seem like much of an improvement....<BR/><BR/>I keep finding myself drawn to Rilke's French poems, for some reason. I'm not sure why, since I really think a lot of them just aren't so good....<BR/><BR/>Anyway, thank you for raising this question that I've tried to answer in such a long-winded way. When I get things wrong, don't let me get away with it :-)James Owenshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07614935078978354375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29519072.post-24310605178927183812009-01-10T15:44:00.000-06:002009-01-10T15:44:00.000-06:00J, here I have almost no objections :-) you take t...J, here I have almost no objections :-) you take the shape of the untellable - is so good. but of course you are expecting this question: why das Alles? I am not sure I get you here. if you want a german expression (but again, why would you), then it would be "das Ganze". I can't see other possible translation for "ensemble". but by doing so you also give up the repetition title/last line, which is important, I think.Roxanahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05650840495095863057noreply@blogger.com