paul celan's death fugue - a decent translation?
death fugue by paul celan is currently my favourite poem. the thing is, i dont speak german, so i cant really judge the translations for myself.
ive seen translators leave various words/phrases in german. one translation kept your golden hair marguerite / your ashen hair sulamith in german. meister has been left in the original german or translated as gang-lord/master. some leave der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland in german. does "aus deutschland" always mean "from germany" ... ?
so yeah, calling all german-speakers.
"Death is the master of Germany"
Posted by: bo | 22.07.2005 at 13:11
merci
Posted by: ainge | 22.07.2005 at 13:40
via my friend viktoria, i have recieved this from dr. taubeneck, who is a german/philosophy prof at ubc (and a wildly popular one at that - one of the most engaging lecturers by far):
"The phrase means "death is a master from Germany," in the sense that death "comes from" or "originates" in Germany. "Of Germany" gives the wrong sense in English."
i read his translation and it was definitely the most beautiful id ever seen.
Posted by: ainge | 25.07.2005 at 12:59