To the German-Speaking P-listers

[Ya Sam]

Well, actually, I did see in a bookshop a book with the title 'Finnegans 
Wake', it was a blue paperback and the text inside was in German. That much 
I'm sure of...
Since I do not understand German I cannot say whether it was a complete 
translation or just some translated sections, but the volume wasn't too 
thin.
What I has always been intrigued by is the expedience and the range of 
translations into German. It seems to me that the Germans are one of the 
most translating nations in the world. There are some really interesting 
non-English-speaking writers, whose work is available mostly in German. For 
example, almost all of the works of the Russian experimental writer Vladimir 
Sorokin have been translated. His most curious work is Der Himmelblau Speck, 
in which one can certainly find some Pynchonian motifs.
As for Hans Henny Jahnn, there is precious little information on him in 
English, but even from what litte data I could glean, he seems to me a very 
interesting author. By the way, did you read Tobias Meissner's Hiobs Spiel, 
which some reviewers hail as a decadent masterpiece, but which has not yet 
been translated into English?
I think the major problem for those reading in English is a drastic lack of 
good translated literature.

Regards,

Y.


>From: Kai Frederik Lorentzen <tenebrosite at yahoo.com>
>To: Ya Sam <takoitov at hotmail.com>, pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Re: To the German-Speaking P-listers
>Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 04:27:47 -0700 (PDT)
>
>
>Are you sure that there is a German (full size) translation of Finnegans 
>Wake? The Frankfurt
>edition from the Suhrkamp publishing house simply reprints the English text 
>and adds (elsewhere: in the volume with the poems) two translations of ANNA 
>LIVIA PLURABELLE,
>one by Hans Wollschläger (who did the great German Ulysses translation 
>first published in
>1975), the other by Wolfgang Hildesheimer. "Du Kindskopf des Mammons, 
>Kinsellas Lilith!
>Wer hat ihr denn das Bein von den Schlübbfern gerissen beim Draufeln und 
>Drangeln? Und welches Bein ist es? Das mit den Glöckchen dran! Spöle sie 
>aus und mack daly alsdann!
>Wo hielt ich inn [A river, a river! k]? Nimmer hallt anne. Fortzetsung 
>volkt. Dort birstu noch nidda. Immer nach' --- bart ich. Gerinn' dich, 
>Garonne! (Wollschläger's translation, see JJ: Gesammelte Gedichte/Anna 
>Livia Plurabelle. Ffm 1987: Suhrkamp, 301ff). Sounds somehow
>like HipHop lyrics. With Ulysses in Germany it's not unproblematic. Partly 
>because the first
>translation (by G. Goyert, Basel 1927) must have been, at least one hears 
>this from time to time, an artistic disaster. But of course there is also 
>cultural conflict about aesthetic leadership in avantgardistic writing. 
>Though there were (and probably are) German writers under the spell of 
>Joyce --- not only Schmidt, also Koeppen and, of course, Döblin (_ Berlin 
>Alexanderplatz _) --- it's up to now kinda chic to ignore the Irish giant. 
>Just recently I read that Marcel Reich-Ranicki (btw, tonight there's a 
>special edition of his literature TV-show, this time about Thomas Mann, 
>ZDF: 22.15) is still telling the old Joyce-joke by Kurt Tucholsky:
>"Mit dem Ulysses ist es wie mit Maggis Suppenwürze. Viele verfeinern ihr 
>Essen damit, aber kein Mensch käme jemals auf die Idee, die ganze Flasche 
>auszutrinken.." Roughly: With the Ulysses it's like with Maggi's liquid 
>soup spice. Many people will refine their food with it, but nobody would 
>ever come on the idea to drink the whole bottle.... Of course this is 
>nonsense
>(I drank the whole bottle), but it's nevertheless a little funny, nicht 
>wahr? Of Hans Henny Jahnn's _ Das Holzschiff _  exists a translation under 
>the title _ The Ship _. Probably out of print, yet not necessarily out of 
>reach.
>
>Yours,
>
>K+
>
>Ya Sam <takoitov at hotmail.com> wrote:
>It seems to me ironic, that Zettels Traum which, according to what I've
>read, was influenced by Finnegans Wake has still not been translated into
>English, whereas there is a German translation of Finnegans Wake! Does it
>mean that Schmidt out-Joyced Joyce?
>Unfortuantely I can't read in German (which is compensated by the fact that
>I have a reading knowledge of French, Spanish and Russian) but that's an
>interesting list, I think there should be some good translations available.
>
>Y
>
>
> >From: Kai Frederik Lorentzen
> >To: Ya Sam , pynchon-l at waste.org
> >Subject: Re: To the German-Speaking P-listers
> >Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 02:20:16 -0700 (PDT)
> >
> >
> >* Just my 22 cents on Arno Schmidt: While I find _ Zettels Traum _
> >terribly boring
> > (AS lost his humor with the years), I still consider Schmidt's early
> >works to be among
> >the very best of German post-war literature. Don't know about 
>translations,
> >but if you do
> >read German you can buy the first volume of the _ Bargfelder Ausgabe _
> >(Zurich 1987:
> >Haffmann), where one can find all the sharp little novellas like _ Aus 
>dem
> >Nachmittag
> >eines Faun _, _ Schwarze Spiegel _ or, for Americans perhaps especially
> >interesting,
> >_ Seelandschaft mit Pocahontas _. (On this last one Klaus Theweleit wrote 
>a
> >whole
> >book which is, well, not bad: _ 'You give me fever' : Arno Schmidt.
> >Seelandschaft mit Pocahontas. Die Sexualität schreiben nach WW II. Ffm
> >1999: Stroemfeld/Roter Stern.)
> >
> >Now listen to the sound of Schmidt: "Fahrt durch Nebeltunnel: schwarzer
> >Wasserstrich,
> >mattseidene Tonnengewölbe (einmal drohten zahllose Säbelspitzen aus der
> >Mauer; drang
> >ein merkwürdig scharfer Strahl in unsere Schichtwelt). Ihr Fuß kam neben
> >mir vor, groß,
> >glatt, kalt; versuchte in mich zu schlüpfen, unter mich, drückte an, und
> >bettelte mit langen Zehen um obdachene Wärme : ich zog einen nutzlosen
> >Deckenzipfel heran, streichelte schnell, und wickelte ihn kostbar ein
> >(musste aber sehr aufpassen, denn schon drohten wir an der bleichen Wand 
>zu
> >zerschellen : herum! --- Noch einmal dankte da der Streichelfuß. Als
> >irrten wir durch den Orionnebel : glänzender Gedanke : ein Mädchen als
> >Gepäck, eine Schnapsflasche, das Hannoversche Staatshandbuch von 1839 : 
>und
> >dann rinn : mit m Wackelboot in den Orionnebel. Aufm Bug S 5, wie bei uns
> >!). - Eine große Halle, von der alle diese Gänge auszugehen schienen : 
>also
> >in einen neuen Marmorkorridor : zurück!! - : ein Nebelboot, unmittelbar 
>vor
> >mir, fuhr querrüber durch die Wände: der bucklige Steuerzwerg wandte sich
> >noch nach uns um : -- und da setzte ich das Paddel doch weniger keck 
>ein!"
> >(AS: Seelandschaft mit Pocahontas, XV, Bargelder Ausgabe I/1, p. 429).
> >
> >
> >Want more German post-war-literature? Try Wolfgang Koeppen, Hans Henny
> >Jahnn,
> >Hubert Fichte or Rolf Dieter Brinkmann! Also sprach Schweinchen Schlau.
> >
> >K+
> >
> >PS. regarding Thomas Mann: You guys shouldn't forget about _ Der Erwählte
> >_ (The Holy
> >Sinner) and --- a Picaro-novel if there ever was one --- _ Confessions of
> >Felix Krull _.
> >
> >
> >
> >Ya Sam wrote:
> >
> >
> >Also, since I am appealling to the German-speaking audience, another
> >question: Have you read Arno Schmidt's 'Zettels Traum'? what do you make 
>of
> >it? Is it really untranslatable?
> >
> >Best regards,
> >
> >Y.S.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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