Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1853-06-18

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS.


English prose, with Notes, &c., by A. HAYWARD, ESQ.
Boston: 1852.
GoETHEs FAUST, PART ii. Translated by LEOPOLD j.
BERsAYs, scholar Of St. Johns College, 0xon. Lon
don 1889
GoETHE's life and writings have long furnished
one Of the most fruitful themes of Gtersry disquisi
tion Occupying the position he docs as the ac-
1knowledged chief of the German literary world, and
regarded by his countrymen as the megatherum OF
that extinct race of geniuses who fourished in
SAKE Weimar, we need not wonder that he has been
made the subject Of exhaustive commentary" as
il is called though whether so called because it ex-
hausts Goethe's merits or the readers patience we
do not exactly know. And yet among his own
eountrymen he is the object Of worship rather for a.
class than for the great body Of the people Cole
ridge was right when he said that Goethe does not,
nor ever will, command the common mind of Ger
many as Schiller does and Goethe himself once ac
knowledged to his friend Eckerman that he never
expected his works to be popular, for they were
written not for the multitude, but only for indi-
vidual men, whose pursuits and aims were like his
own" On August %, lS49, and the following
days, the hundredth anniversary of Goethe's birth
was celebrated throughout Germany We remem-
Der to have read glowing accounts of the splendid
pageants which were exhibited on that occasion in
all the literary capitals of the Fatherland; how
Schumann and Bartholdy and others composed their
seectest music to be sung at the festival; how the
dramas of Goethe were re-enacted with gorgeous
ness of scenic representation which dazzled every
eye; how his lyrics were chanted by "mixed cho-
of musical professors and amateurs;" and how
learned men read admirng euogies in honor of Ger
many's greatest writer. And yet we remember,
too, that the celebration was every where voted a
failure From one cause or another the whole af-
fair turned out mere sound and fury, sgnifying
nothing" At Weimar, where Goethe lived during
the best part of his life, his own family and descen
cants refused to take any part in the appropriate
solemnities," while at Frankfort, the poets birth
place, the whole business considered piece of
courtly adulaton by the sturdy burghers Of that
city, and nocturnal serenade, that was to be per-
formed, according to programme, before the old
mansion of the Goethe family, was interrupted by a
mob, and the performers put to fight in the midst
of voluntary" on tin kettles and other similar
accompaniments the strains of Barthoidy were
drowned by the g Katzeamusih" of the populacc.
1t thus became evident that the popular mind OF
Germany, so far from entertaining any idolatrous
homage for the German Shakespeare" was not
even disposed to grant toeration to the esoterc few
who avowed themselves his worshippers. Among
the critics and literary men, however, Of that land
of literature and criticism, the fame of Goethe is az
once dearly priced and ealously defended; and, as
these are the men who write books we are not sur
prsed to find that the number of works illustrative
exegetical and admiratory of Goethes writings has
reached a numerical and literary Importance which
demandsa specific place in the department OF German
letters The " Goethe Literatur- Katdlog," CON-
prsing only the works that have been mdited to ex
pound interpret and annotate the revelations IN
prose and verse Of the great hierophant, composes
by itself volume, designed for the use Of critical
readers in their study of his masterpieces And this IS
slight proof Of his genius, for that must be true Pro-
methean fame which mohered by the vast piles
AZ loax~ mnv knn
is the which is ecpsed when you find 50 many look
ing at him through their smoked glasses
In the books at the head Of this column have trans
aon into English Of what agreed to be Goethes great
est work of all the heights of genius to which he soared
.The Faust" is pronounced the most unapproachabe.
This tragedy in fact occupies place in the critical world
Of Germany similar that enjoyed by his Sorrows Of
werter among the sentimental folk of earlier day So
much bas been said about it, and much may be said
about it, that find ourselves embarrassed in selecting
that point Of view which shall enable give the best
glimpse Of it for more than glimpse cannot give
within the limits to which restricted no less by
the want Of ample room and verge enough than by a
regard the patience of newspaper readers There is
no epthet which his admirers more frequently apply to
Goethe than that Of the manysded genius !; phrase
among them answering to that Of the "myriad- minded
Shakespeare among and indeed, If Goethes genius
tnay has as many sides the Faust has aspects for
the critics. then is he truly greater Poyhedron than
Euclid ever dreamed Of. But of this more anon
Mr.. HAYwARp's translation Of Faust as the title i'm
ports is done in English prose Whether il be legiti-
thus render work, part, and essential part,
Of whose beauty consists in its magical versifcaon is
point which the critics have shed abundance Of ink
some affirming and others denying Much, doubtless,
may be said both sides. When consider the in
trnsc difficulties which beset the process Of ransferrng
on authors thoughts from language to another
can the more easily reconcile ourselves dispense with
every thing that would unnecessary barrier to
what at best can only be partial success transa-
ton to be faithful and true give nothing more than
the authors idea, and nothing less the dea the whole
idea and nothing but the idea How difficult this is can
be conceived by ALL but is most felt exactly by him whose
scholarship would best qualify him for the function Of
translator And in this connexon we may say that lust
in proportion the standard Of translation has been
raised has the merit of transatons among us fallen off
From the time of the Restoration in England saws a
Scotch critic IL not earlier to the beginning Of the
sent century the achievement Of deceny successful
version Of n classic author conferred n species
Of Immortality. Those who stood highest original poets
felt their of poshumous fame douby sure
when they had associated their with Homer and
Virgil Hence Pope's Homer and Dryden's. Virgil
and well may say Popes Homer for it quite another
Homer than that Of the old Creeks and Drydas Virgil
something quite other than the dogeared classic oil