New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-03-01
T'RANSL ATION.
THE GOOD AND THE BAD.

still producing. such curious educationai 'esu'~
Never before has there been generation a' o".s
so feyer,shly eager for Knowledge and 30 desperately
impatient Of study: nelligently interested IN Pu'
suing so vast variety OF subjects through the pages
Of a magazine article or course OF Ten 'ec'u'es.
and no further The demand has naturally crea'eo
the supply: and the condensed foods for wnicn thers
s now 20 large a SALE the innumerable extracts ana
essences whose merits are gauged by the 10" P'Ns
at which they may be obtained and the ceier'y wiz"
which they may be swallowed, find their parahe' IN
the numerous popular devices for satisfying 'hs
hunger OF the mind as cheaply ana easily 40 W.
sib!e There are still those who hold that ne WA
begins the quest OF learning by such anxious inss
ence upon A short and comfortable route mas s''o-
gether misconceived It's nature and us ann '"A' no
knovleds. worthy the name ever yet come oy
In such a temper as this. But they are IN MIN
orty: and whether they be right or wrong 10 not
the question. -.
The translator Is reported TO Be badly PAID oy .ns
publisher and this TO the general reader ha'"'Any
suggests inferiority In the nature OF his wares hs
Ia generally ranked among the unskiiled workmen
who hang about the narket-place of literature ana
glad OF odd jobs.
IL this low estimate OF the translators services
were confined TO the general reader II would matter
comparatively little but II Is unfortunately TOO oien
shared by the translator himself. There are. OF
course conspicuous exceptions; but for the most
part the Industrious writers who do into English
much OF the Continental fiction read In this county,
would themselves readily dsclaim any very cose "
sembiance 70 Goe.he's noble portrait OF the inter-
prefer of the nations" whose office, whatever may
be said OF the nadequacy OF translation, Is ana re-
mains one Of the greatest dignity End importance
With the dignity Of their Office they are not con-
cerned they are ignorant OF its Importance ana the
result Is that foreign authors are constantly pre-
scented TO in garb so sloveny. that no company
that was not serenely Indifferent to the quahty OK
literary workmanship would admit them at all
We have not been able to discover any generany
accepted canons of the translator's art Great men
have touched upon the subject, but their utterances
bear the character OF casual suggestion rather than
Of serious exposition. Roger Bacons views As ~.
mirable and In a he covers the whole grouno
when he pronounces it necessary for every trans
lator &c understand three thnss.-his suDJec.
and the two languages from which ana
into which he il translatlng But he abandons the
topic too soon. The translator who lightheartediy
undertook according TO Bacon) to translate ATS
to,le without knowing anything worth mentioning
either OF Greek Of philosophy could not nave
been a morbidy conscientious person Ana even
when he energies from medieval gloom into the
broader day of the Renaissance. he is stu Httie
wanting in respect for his original lie draws 10
very fine distinctions between transatng ana
adapting; he thought more OF edifying his readeIs
than OF being loyal to his author: he constantly
ed Mn Pope 6 sa hs noms IL.
must recognize thai the results ne achleSeu so
among the giores OF the sixteenth century. ~ Hae
seldom fallen to the lot Of any man to beaueaataa
to his country costly a legacy as Luther d:d
we lament. the superstitous reverence which 50
sadly frustrated the recent attempt at a revisiop
utramm.iiei by any such sentiment for his text. He
does not scrupe. for instance. 70 substitute hmes
sages as Hosea iv. 10 and Isaiah VI H. not beSaasS
he had any reason TO suppose the prophets al'uase
more familiar with them than with those meEuonea
in the original The same motive probably seeoT rn
ernacle Of FIR and for the Introduction into The
sombre landscape OF desolasd Edom usaan o axHy
place OF those dim terrors. the Hebrew liiith ana
Lord Bernerss translation OF Frossarts Chron-
ices, to turn from sacred things to profane an
90 brmfaI Of the spirit Of tn. original that to
dwell upon mere verbal inaccuracies seems migrate
But While in this, as In every other craft. w
admit the right Of ne master TO be in some me sort
IS BY no be freely commended ~, And {
were actually In existence. among the duties that
il would no doubt enjon upon the transla tor faith.
to the e Oss moral Tpn ecePs this Of
fu.ness cannot be prActsed without good deal or
translator may be well equipped in honesty ana
self-denal for the task he may be ready 70 enace
shall stand forth unobscured. But he for whom
these sacrifice. are made VIII have t,e 70 oa
cation Is wanting; We mean a knowledge OF No
man is far too limited to meet such calls upon II
involved in the transfer of IDEAS and ,dioms
worst errors are in fact. due not to ignorance OF
the foreign but to INABILITY h to nsaa xr MS
Gus offence that a ansa tsa can S sy he op ss
IN Dsns snd unjust to the author and
hopelessly fatigung to the reader
We ask s be bow ns shall a that her.
only one road to it. By dint OF tra 5 one
study If either
lish is Of very great service; ana Sc tne reaoins
that the relative valve Of word. only be learned
BY s n: e ali know s OF Wei. "
This brings us to tho translsors second rs9uislt:
no 3. We nvarsbS and devou but
not IN DS,nr Win lin his Cna With hi m
public He will be tame and cold; correct. per
haps but never inspiring and not always gsut even
sympathy is the one thing ne.dfuI" Apart from
We rarely meet with that a fine insight =, n n1o
an obscure passage than the highest Linguistic
ss Tn' or *. critic
he say7" Is the question that Immediately CONCERNS
seldom be answered without reference to the sec
ond and no translation is more misleading than
mode Of expression. and fails to take account Of his
'Sas have SAID that the province Of tn. translator
Is not that Of the CRITIC yet some critical instinct
BE to rs nd ss Of as SHT
OF the physics nomy OF the original ought be pre-.
served When a reviewer says Of Q work trans.
lated from the Hunsarian that Il reads as II 4
had been originally written in English, 70 he draw
Ing attention 20 a merit to defect? The phrase
probably only implies that the translators Ens
Is smooth and easy; IL II means more than this, Il
certainly does not convey an unmixed commenda-
ton.
Finally. ii Is we'll for the translator TO recognize
his Limits All literature is not his province There
are writer's whom IT is impossible 10 render ade-
the poets with hardly exception belong
Here we are conscious OF treadlng on debstabis
ground and there are great names to be quoted
against us. But although a good translation OF 9
foreign poet has certainly Its uses We cannot admit
that an adequate representation Of the original -
ever TO be rpckoned among them. poet trans.
Ia ting a poet does no doubt. achieve measure OF
success but II is as poet rather than as transs,or
that he succeeds In Pope's Had and IN Sns"sy "a
Prologue 10 Faust II Is the genius OF Fope snI1
Shelley that confrons us. rather than .nst vs
h. thn fran