Klarinet Archive - Posting 000281.txt from 1995/01

From: David Lechner <lechner@-----.US>
Subj: Brahmsian verse; German publishers
Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 21:47:37 -0500

Matthias Ferdinand responded faster than I could, but I looked through his
translation and it looks good to me, especially bearing in mind the fact
that poetry is nearly impossible to translate fully since there is so much
connotative baggage bound up with the words -- all the secondary implied
meanings that exist alongside the words of one language but which don't
for the equivalent (in denotation or primary meaning) words in another
language.

To Dan Leeson (and anyone else): the situation you describe regarding the
Breitkopf and Hartel company is not unique in the German publishing industry.
Duden, which has long been the Merriam Webster of the German language, was
originally based in Leipzig, but the owners moved the plant to the west after
the country was divided in 1945. The East Germans then resurrected their own
Duden company and went on publishing their own versions of the famous
reference books and dictionaries. In fact, it was supposedly fascinating to
observe over time how the two competing political/economic systems caused the
content of the parallel versions of the dictionaries to diverge, reflecting
their separate political realities. Unfortunately, I can't think of any
specific examples, so my whole message has all the weight of hearsay evidence.
(Oh, well, flame bait again ... ;{) )

David Lechner