I was simply thankful that the community can gather together to support his family, and to grieve.
Here's the original assignment:
Translating the poem Death Fuge by Paul Celan from the original German is a tricky proposition, since it plays with meter and references.
Translations by John Felstiner and Joachim Neugroschel
I was struck by the way that these two translators handled a section about Death interacting with "his Jews." While I appreciate the both translations, I like Felstiner's better in this case.
Neugroschel translates:
he whistles for his Jews he has them dig a grave in the earth
he commands us to play for the dance
while Felstiner translates the same spot as:
he whistles his Jews into rows has them shovel a grave in the ground
he orders us strike up and play for the dance
I thought the imagery in Felstiner's translation was much stronger. Whistling Jews into rows seems much more degrading and regimented than simply whistling for them. The use of 'shoveling a grave in the ground' also helps me visualize it, and the word 'shovel' sounds harsher than dig. I thought the shorter words in the last line of Felstiner's translation were also a better use of space, because they pack more meaning than the words that Neugroschel has selected.
Reading all the different versions of the poem in English was a great experience, because it was like hearing many different people's opinions. It helped me understand the poem in
German much better.
I agree with you - I like the Felstiner translation much better! Powerful imagery is, to me, a big part of what makes a good poem. It's so interesting how two translations can be so different.
ReplyDeleteI like what you said about trying to comprehend death. I too found myself thinking about the death of a single person (Jim Miller) and how devastating it was even though I hardly knew him. The act of killing a person is so complicated; it rips up family, destroys something completely unique, and wipes a bright shining soul from the Earth. Merely trying to contemplate this on the scale of the Holocaust is enough to make you want to curl up in a blanket and forget about the rest of the world.
ReplyDeleteProfessor Miller's death shattered the "Goshen College bubble" that I found myself in. Since being here, I've been detracted from the outside world, from the violence that exists outside this campus. This recent act of violence has brought me back to reality, and like Sam, I can hardly fathom what would drive a person to commit such an act...
ReplyDeleteI liked that you brought up that the community really gathered together after Professor Miller's death to support one another and try to make sense of it. I think this poem does the same. It brings together a community of readers to try to support one another and try to comprehend the horrors of violence.
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