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William Faulkner’s Works in Germany to 1940: Translations and Criticism

1955; Routledge; Volume: 30; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/19306962.1955.11786802

1930-6962

William Webb Pusey,

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size NotesAccording to Robert Daniel, Perspective (Autumn 1950), favorable criticism of Faulkner in this country began in 1939; cited by Frederick J. Hoffman & Olga W. Vickery, William Faulkner : Two Decades of Criticism (Michigan State College Press, 1951), p. 9. Excerpted reviews in Book Review Digest in the thirties were more complimentary to Faulkner than Daniel's comment indicates.For modern American literature in France, see Félix Ansermoz-Dubois, L'Interpretation française de la litterature americaine d'entre-deux-guerres (Lausanne, 1944); A. J. Guérard, "French and American Pessimism," Harper's Magazine, September, 1945, pp. 267–272; and Henri Peyre, "American Literature through French Eyes," Virginia Quarterly, Summer, 1947, pp. 421–438. Sartre is cited by Malcolm Cowley, Literary History of the United States, ed. Spiller, etc. (New York, 1948), II, 1380.For Wolfe in Germany, see my article, GR, XXIII (1948), 131–148.At least two of Faulkner's novels translated into German were listed as "not recommended" by Bücherkunde, III (1936) and V (1938), official organ of the Nazi Reichsstelle zur Förderung des deutschen Schrifttums.H. M. Ledig-Rowohlt of Faulkner's German publishers wrote me, July 30, 1953, that the 1936 edition of Pylon was 3,000 copies, whereas a pocket book appearing just after the awarding of the Nobel Prize came out in 50,000 copies, followed a year later by a third edition of 12,000 copies.Reprinted in Why Sinclair Lewis Got the Nobel Prize (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1931), pp. 9–23. The reference to Faulkner is on p. 23.XII, i (1931), 21–31.XLIV1, 652–669; XLIV2, 527–541.XP, 529–538.Ed. Kurt Ullrich (Berlin: S. Fischer), pp. 108–134.Robert W. Daniel, A Catalogue of the Writings of William Faulkner (New Haven: Yale University Library, 1942), does not list either "Ehre" or "Morgen, Kinder, wird's was geben."Herr Ledig-Rowohlt sent me photostatic copies of leaflets advertising the translations of the novels.Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt in Stuttgart was another prominent publishing house interested in translating American books.The lot of the translator in Germany was "not a happy one." According to W. E. Süskind, later editor of Die Literatur, translating was "more or less the domain of dilettantes or starving failures ('Krach-Existenzen') of both sexes" (Das Tage-Buch, XI, xxxv (1930], 1389). Cf. also Franz Schoenberner, Confessions of a European Intellectual (New York, 1946), p. 179.Der Querschnitt, XV (1935), 404.The figure of 3,000 is from Ledig-Rowohlt's letter. Rowohlt advertisements, Deutsche Zukunft, III (Nov. 3, 1935), 20, and Der Bücherwurm, XXIV (September 1938), back cover, list, respectively, Licht im August as "1.-4. Tausend" and Absalom, Absalom! as "4. Tausend."Fein was born in Vienna in 1896, left Germany in 1936 or 1937 for France, and died in Switzerland in 1947. See Kürschners Deutscher Literatur-Kalender (1952), p. 565; Richard Drews und Alfred Kantorowicz, Verboten und verbrannt (Berlin und München, 1947), p. 192; and letter from Ledig-Rowohlt. Fein translated Elmer Gantry, Mantrap, Dodsworth, Ann Vickers, all of which were published by Rowohlt.See Wolfgang von Einsiedel, Europäische Revue, XI2 (1935), 708; and Gerhard Pohl, Deutsche Zukunft, IV (March 8, 1936), 18.For example: "a fur piece"—"ein schönes Stück"; "Take care of paw"—"Sorge für Vater"; "And it aint nobody up my way, neither"—"Und in derRichtung zu mir zu herauf kann es auch nicht sein." Fein simply gave up on "possums" and wrote "Ratten.""She seems to be watching the road" (Modern Library, p. 11) is carelessly translated as "Er scheint die Strasse zu beobachten" (p. 15), which may be a misprint . A line-by-line comparison of about fifty-five pages of the original and the translation indicated to me the meticulous care of Fein's work.See Kürschners Literatur-Kalender (1952), p. 155.An exception: "Vor kurzem war ich drunten in Kansas" (p. 15) for "The place I'm staying away from right now is Kansas" (Signet, p. 12).Who could guess that "Muß doch ein tüchtiger, ein Mordskerl sein" (p. 14) translates "He must be a big son of a bitch" (Signet, p. 11); or "So weit ist er ja nun noch nicht" (p. 164) is in the original "He aint quite got to where wont nothing eise content him" (p. 103).Stresau was also the author of Joseph Conrad, der Tragiker des Westens (1937); "Das moderne England im Roman," Berliner Börsen zeitun g (1935), No. 551; "Der Geist der Öffentlichkeit in den amerikanischen Epikern," Die neue Rundschau, LI (1940), 1–6; and of reviews of books by Wilder, London, Melville, etc.Page 8; Modern Library, p. 9.The English (Modern Library, pp. 133, 280) reads : "Air you Rosie Coldfield? Then you better come on out yon…. Kilt him dead as a beef"; and "Weil, Kernel, they mought have whupped us but they aint kilt us yit, air they?"For example: "gerade zwanzig Jahre alt" (p. 17) for "just twenty-five" (Modern Library, p. 17).The translation was called "meisterlich" by Kurt Pfister, Deutsche Zukunft, VI (Oct. 2, 1938), 10.Minor omissions and differences in emphasis. However, the change from "Jew" to "Yankee" seems to indic ate an effort to avoid anti-Semitism in the Germany of 1933. According to Kürschn ers Literatur-Kalender (1939), p. 278, Frau RodewaldGrebin translated Pirandello, Deeping, Walpole, and Roberts' Arundel..For instance: "Ich nicht an Frühstück denken"; "Ich nichts wollen" (pp. 653, 659). This kind of language is used once or twice even when the original is standard English. Käthe Rosenberg was the translator of Spiegel der Zukunft (1931), Duhamel's maliciously anti-American Scènes de la vie future.On this talented translator, see my article on Wolfe, GR, pp. 133–135. But here Schiebelhuth does mistakenly translate "hoop" "Hupe."See Das deutsche Wort, VIII (March 4, 1932), 4, and XI, xv (1935), 6–8; Europäische Revue, IX2(1933), 512; and Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, CLXVIII (1935), 299.Daniel, Catalogue, p. 20.The first mention of Faulkner I have found in a German periodical is A. Busse's reference to Sanctuary and The Sound and the Fury, "Amerikanischer Brief," Die Literatur, XXXIV (1932), 340. Hoffman & Vickery, William Faulkner, list in their bibliography only four German items on Faulkner before 1941.The present study is based on the examination of a large number of German periodicals. Newspaper comments have also been used, where available. I feel that the examination has been sufficiently broad to warrant conclusions of general validity.For instance: Walter F. Schirmer, Geschichte der englischen Literatur von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart (Halle, 1937); V. Lange und H. Boeschenstein, Kulturkritik und Literaturbetrachtung in Amerika (Breslau, 1938). Effelberger's book consisted of essays on American culture, all but one of which had appeared in Die neueren Sprachen (1934–36).See Walter A. Berendsohn, Die humanistische Front, Erster Teil (Zürich, 1946); Drews und Kantorowicz, Verboten und verbrannt; Kurt Pinthus, "Culture inside Nazi Germany," American Scholar, IX (1940), 483–498.Paul E. H. Lüth, Literatur als Geschichte (Wiesbaden, 1947), II, 512, cites Kantorowicz on this.Deutsches Volkstum (1934), p. 992; Das deutsche Wort, X (Dec. 14, 1934), 5.Berndsohn, Die humanistische Front, p. 28.Berendsohn (p. 44) cites Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Oct. 21, 1936, on the prose writers; see also Westermanns Monatshefte, LXXXII (1938), 417: "Foreign literature has again become a great Jiterary vogue with us as a kind of relaxation from the virtue of being German and wanting to become German."A revealing look behind the scenes is afforded by the attacks made by Bücherkunde, III (1936), 127, on Die Literatur and its editor, W. E. Süskind, for "a consciously non-aggressive attitude" and "tone of aesthetic restraint." Later in the year Bücherkunde, p. 352, complained that Süskind had not entirely understood its warning.Herbert Roch, Die Hilfe, XLII (1936), 476, noted that Wolfe, Faulkner, and Sherwood Anderson seemed to be "unamerikanisch" in their avoidance of standardization.The quotation is from Otto Karsten, Kölnische Zeitung, cited by Die Literatur, XL (1938), 675. Kür schner (1939), p. 421, lists Karsten, a frequent contributor to Die Literatur, as the author of fiction and literary criticism.Europäische Revue (above, note 18), p. 707. Einsiedel was editor of Die neue Rundschau in 1937, later emigrated to England.Deutsche Zeitschri ft, XLIX (1936), 468–469.A. E. Günther, Deutsches Volkstum (1936), p. 211. Günther was co-editor of this Nazi periodical.Die neue Rundschau, XLVI2 (1935), 670; Der Gral, XXX (1935–36), 171. The quotation on the "Calvinist spirit" is from William Van O'Connor, The Tangled Fire of William Faulkner (Minneapolis, 1954), p. 72.Heinrich Lützeler, Hochland, XXXIII1 (1935), 268. The author of several books on art and architecture, Lützeler was called in Der Gral, XXX (1936), 563, "one of the most fertile and wid e-awake Catholic scholarly writers."Hansgeorg Maier, Mittag Düseldorf, Rowohlt leaflets; Hesse, Die neue Rundschau; Alfons Paquet (author of Amerika unter dem Regenbogen [1937]), Frankfurter Zeitung, Rowohlt leaflets; Hans Georg Brenner, Breslauer neueste Nachrichten, cited at length in Rowohlt leaflets.Maier, Deutsche Zukunft, V (June 13, 1937), 11; Münchener neueste Nachrichten, Rowohlt leaflets. Kürschner (1939), p. 564, lists Maier as a novelist, essayist, translator, and editor.Das deuts che Wort, XIII, iii (1937), 157. Kür schner (1952), Supplement, p. 557, gives Baldus as the author of poetry, short stories, ess ays, travel accounts, and translations.Zeitschrift für neusprachlichen Unterricht, XXXV (1936), 282, and XXXVIII (1939), 120. Schönemann, author of a comprehensive Die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika (1932), was Professor of American Cultural and Literary History at Berlin.Gregor Heinrich, Germania, Rowohlt leaflets. Heinrich was a contributor to such journals as Hochland, Deutsche Rundschau, and Der Gral."Moira und Schuld," Die neue Rundschau, XLIX2(1938), 603–607; Pfister, Deutsche Zukunft (above, note 28). Kürschner (1952), p. 369, lists Pfister as an historian of art, music, and culture.Adolf Frisé, Die Tat, XXVII2 (1935), 640. Kürschner (1952), p. 133, lists Frisé as the author of short stories, essays, and radio plays. He was also a frequent contributor to Die Tat in the middle thirties.Walter Bauer, "Hunger in Amerika: Romane der 'Neuen Welt,'" Eckart, XII (1936), 207ff . Bauer contributed several reviews of American books to this periodical in 1935–38.Lothar Erdmann, Das deutsche Wort, XIV (1938), 152. Erdmann contributed to this periodical, Deutsche Zukunft, and Die Hilfe in the later thirties.Die Literatur, XXXVIII (1935), 66. A former American exchange student to Germany and a t ranslator and intermediary for Americ an litera ture, she was beheaded by the Nazis for her participation in the underground."Amerika und die Tradition," Europäische Revue, XIII1 (1937), 418–420. Hennecke's essays on poetry, literary criticism, and literature in general, published in the thirties (and later), are contained in his Dichtung und Dasein (Berlin, 1950).Maier, Deutsche Zukunft; Rauch, Der Büch erwurm, XXII (1936), 123. Rauch was publisher of this periodical and the author of a number of patriotic works.Zeitschrift für neusprachlichen Unterricht (1939), p. 120.Pfister, Deutsche Zukunft; Erdmann, Das deutsche Wort, pp. 152–153; Rowohlt leaflets (blurb).Maier, Deutsche Zukunft; Frise, Die Tat, pp. 639–640; Ullrich, Neu Amerika, p. 107; Brenner, Breslauer Nachrichten. Cf. on this the attitude of American "Regionalists."Kurt Scherg, Klingsor, XIII (1936), 433. Scherg was a frequent contributor in 1936 to this consciously national periodical, published in Brashov (Kronstadt), Romania.Der Gral; Brenner, Breslauer Nachrichten; Pfister, Deutsche Zukun ft.Reinald Hoops, Bücherkunde, VII (1940), 241; Ullrich, Neu Amerika, p. 107."Faulkners Blick in den Menschen ist genial!" (Rowohlt leaflets).Karsten, Magdeburgische Zeitung, Rowohlt leaflets; Der Gral.Schönemann, Zeitschrift (1939), pp. 120–121; Walther Fischer, Beiblatt zur Anglia, LI (1940), 283–284. The quotation is from Pfister, Deutsche Zukunft. Fischer, the author of Die englische Literatur der Vereinigten Staaten (see above, p. 228), was professor of English at Gießen.Ullrich, Neu Amerika, p. 107; Karsten, Kölnische Zeitung.Irene Seligo, Die neue Rundschau, XLIV1 (1933), 645.Rauch, Der Bücherwurm, p. 123; Hennecke, Europäische Revue, p. 420.Harnack-Fish, Die Literatur, p. 66; Rudolf Schneider-Scheide, Die Literatur, XL (1938), 693. Schneider-Scheide is the author of numerous novels, one of which, according to Drews, Verboten (p. 201), was suppressed by the Nazis.Called important by W. M. Frohock, The Novel of Violence in America (Southern Methodist University, 1950), pp . 107, 119.Die neue Rundschau, XLIX1 (1938), 312.Die neueren Sprachen, XLIV (1936), 160. Effelberger appears to have been the American "expert" for this periodical in the middle thirties. See also above, note 36.Westermanns Monatshefte, LXXXVIII (1934), 71.The phrase about "marathon sentences," is from H. M. Campbell and R. E. Foster, William Faulkner: A Critical Appraisal (University of Oklahoma Press, 1951), p. 13. On the American reaction, see O'Connor, Faulkner, p. 99. The New York Times, for instance, remarked on the "amazing indirectness with which Faulkner has managed to tel1 a basically simple story," and Fadiman wrote of the "Non-Stop or Life Sentence" of the novel (Hoffman, Faulkner, p. 24).Schönemann, Zeitschrift (1939), p. 120; Reznicek, Deutsche Rundschau, CCLVIII (1939), 149. Kürschner (1939), p. 713, lists Freifrau von Reznicek as the author of aphorisms, novels, and translations from English and French.For instance: "Faulkner is little concerned with a well-constructed form" (Frisé, Die Tat, p. 640); "Faulkner possesses no special predilection for a perfected and integral form" (Harnack-Fish, Berliner Tageblatt (1934), No. 366); but "Faulkner has the form Wolfe Jacks" (Korn, Die Tat, XXIX1 (1937], 129); "lt is astonishing … with what formal capacity present-day America writes" (Naso, Velhagen & Klasings Monatshefte, L (1935–36), 667, commenting on Light in August).Pohl, Deutsche Zukunft (above, note 18); Heiseler, Deutsche Zeitschrift, 468. Pohl, a member of the Hauptmann circle during the Hitler period, was among those writers staying in Germany "never confused" in their anti-Nazi attitudes (Drews, Verboten, p. 132; Lüth, Literatur als Geschichte, II, 519).Cf. the comment of lrving Howe, William Faulkner: A Critical Study (New York, 1952), p. 154: "The most stringent criticism-too stringent, I should think-to be made of Light in August is that Faulkner's clumsiness in transitional stitching and narrative preparation … reduces the book to a series of brilliant tableaux; but even then, the tableaux remain in all their solidity, the rich scenic substance of the novel."See Korn, Die Tat, pp. 128-129: "Faulkner, Wolfe, and Hemingway have relieved Dreiser and Lewis"; Edgar Maaß, Das innere Reich, VI1 (1939), 328, called the novels of Wolfe, Hemingway, and Faulkner "the most significant works of recent American literature"; Hans Paeschke, Deutsche Zukunft, IV (Aug. 2,1936), 20, and Harnack-Fish, Berliner Tageblatt, included Wilder; Bauer, Eckart, pp. 207–208, Wilder and Dos Passos. Hemingway's fame persisted although his works were not translated in Germany after 1933.See my article on Wolfe, GR. In addition to references given there, p. 143, n. 112, see also Frisé, Die Tat, p. 639; Hollander, Das deutsche Wort, XII1 (1936), 214; Detta Friedrich, Die christliche Welt, L (1936), 1117f. Hesse, Die neue Rundschau, on the basis of Look Homeward, Angel and Light in August, considered Wolfe the greater story teller ("Erzähler") of the two.Karsten, Magdeburgische Zeitung; Brenner, Breslauer Nachrichten; Effelberger, Die neueren Sprachen, p. 160; Harnack-Fish, Die Literatur, p. 65. Proust, not translated in full in Germany in the 1930's, does not appear to have been particularly well known there in that period.Maier, Deutsche Zukunft; Rauch, Der Bücherwurm, p. 122.Pohl, Deutsche Zukunft; Scherg, Klingsor. An American reviewer of Light in August, on its appearance, found Faulkner no Dostoevski because his work lacked "passionate ratiocination" (cited by O'Connor, Faulkner, p. 72); but Campbell and Foster, Faulkner (pp. 174-175) in 1951 considered his demonic power "at its best like that of Dostoevsky," and "his myth qualitatively akin to the world of Dostoevsky."Saturday Review of Literature, XX (Aug. 26, 1939), 8. The "Ex-German" is anonymous.If this seems strange, we should remember that they were also ranked in this order by Faulkner himself; see O'Connor, Faulkner, pp. 167-168.An abridged version of this paper was read to the German Section of SAMLA, Nov. 27, 1954.