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/lit/ - Literature

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4755689 No.4755689[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

Which translation of Faust?

>> No.4755694

NONE.

LEARN GERMAN.

>> No.4755710

>>4755694
Implying YOU understand german

But yeah, from what I gather, this work seems to be a bitch to translate.

>> No.4755715

>>4755694
>
Ja, um Goethe, Büchner, und die Philosophen wie Kant, Schopenhauer, Hegel, zu verstehen, muss man Deutsch lernen.

>> No.4755716

>>4755689
I read both parts in German and I nearly came from just how good it is written.

>> No.4755721

>>4755689
ive been wondering this too. people say kaufmann, but he didnt complete part 2. atkins i hear good things about, but i dont think his has that many rhymes. arndt rhymes, but i dont know if it's accurate (his eugene onegin translation is the one criticized by nabokov for being inaccurate)

>> No.4755724

>>4755721
>he didnt complete part 2
He says it's untranslatable.

>> No.4755726

>>4755716
>>4755694
>>4755715
can you german reading folks tell us how the beginning of:

http://www.amazon.com/Faust-Tragedy-Norton-Critical-Editions/dp/0393972828/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=0X6S76ZBXAZS6VTV16JC

is? in terms of accuracy i mean?

>> No.4755727

>>4755724
It might not be untranslatable but it's definitely very different from the first part. The first part is a funny story with some neat things happening and also love - the second part is some pretty deep shit written in a totally different style. You should probably read it only after you've spent 50 years of your life reading and committing yourself to all kinds of art.

>> No.4755732

>>4755727
>The first part is a funny story with some neat things happening and also love - the second part is some pretty deep shit
When people praise Faust, do they praise part 1, part 2, or both of them together?

>> No.4755737

>>4755732
they usually a praising part 1 or both together

>> No.4755740

>>4755726
It actually looks pretty goo--
>I have pursued, alas, philosophy,
>Jurisprudence, and medicine,
>And, help me God, theology,
>HELP ME GOD

Fucking dropped. That's not accurate at all. Sounds like the translator wanted to sound witty.

>>4755732
Most people praise part one, even though the second part is the real accomplishment. Although you shouldn't think of them as "parts". When people talk about "Faust" they usually refer to the first one. The second "part" is not from this world.

>> No.4755753

>>4755740
thanks. ok what about

http://www.amazon.com/Faust-II-Goethe-Collected-Works/dp/069103656X/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397039873&sr=1-1-fkmr1&keywords=faust+tragedy+atkins

it would also be nice if you could speak a bit to the style and how it compares to the german

>> No.4755762

>>4755726
i suppose it´s like most translation:
you get the jist of it, but its quite impossible to recreate the feeling of reading goethe in his mother tongue

"As all around, you rise from mist and haze;
What wafts about your train with magic glamor
Is quickening my breast to youthful tremor."

"Wie ihr aus Dunst und Nebel um mich steigt;
Mein Busen fühlt sich jugendlich erschüttert
Vom Zuaberhauch, der euren Zug umwittert."

it rolls off your tongue

>> No.4755771

>>4755753
This one seems to be closer to the original version while the first one was closer to language and style of Faust.
So you have the choice: Sacrifice the intended meaning over a neat style or read the plot as is but in a somewhat plainer version.

Faust is great because it tells the plot in an extraordinary style. It's simply a pleasure to read it. If you read it in translation you will most certainly get what is said - but you won't get why it is so special. Just reading the first few verses of both translations make me sad. It really fails to capture Faust.

>> No.4755777

>>4755771
OK thanks. can you look at just one more?

http://www.amazon.com/Faust-Part-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/019953621X/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

reading this one myself the style seems a little strange. more casual. not sure if that's in the german or not (i do know that often translators make the stuff they translate over-serious)

>> No.4755786

>>4755777
Eeehhh. Seems very mediocre to me. It doesn't evoke at all the style of Goethe's Faust.
Faust IS pretty serious but also uses that to its advantage and is also very witty and funny at the same time. It NEEDS to sound very high-brow to work.

>> No.4755801

>>4755786
thanks. i guess i'll just read the norton and atkins ones and maybe ill get some sort of approximation.

eventually i'd like to learn german but i figure reading faust in translation will probably give me more motivation to learn the language anyway