Thursday, March 24, 2016
Translating the Classics
Friedrich Schlegel (1772-1829), "Fragmente," Athenaeum 1.2 (1798) 3-146 (at 121; tr. Peter Firchow):
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In order to translate perfectly from the classics into a modern language, the translator would have to be so expert in his language that, if need be, he could make everything modern; but at the same time he would have to understand antiquity so well that he would be able not just to imitate it but, if necessary, re-create it.
Um aus den Alten ins Moderne vollkommen übersetzen zu können, müßte der Übersetzer desselben so mächtig sein, daß er allenfalls alles Moderne machen könnte; zugleich aber das Antike so verstehn, daß ers nicht bloß nachmachen, sondern allenfalls wiederschaffen könnte.
