Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun, Sverre Lyngstad
2009; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 104; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/mlr.2009.0383
ISSN2222-4319
Autores Tópico(s)Literature, Film, and Journalism Analysis
Resumo300 Reviews Growth of the Soil. ByKNUTHAMSUN.Trans. withexplanatory and textual notes bySVERRE LYNGSTAD. Intro. byBRADLEITHAUSER. (Penguin Classics)New York:Penguin.2007. 328pp. $13. ISBN978-o-14-310510-7. MarkensGr0de(1917) isa novelthat attends both tothe mostbenignpastoralsites and the most terrifying events ofthetwentieth century. Writtenas awarningagainst industrial modernity, itcelebrates the humble virtues ofIsak,the peasant who settles in theremote mountainsand tillsthesoil.KnutHamsunwon the Nobel Prize for Literature in1920,quitespecifically, 'for hismonumental workGrowth of the Soil', whichwas received as a universal messageofpeace after the bloodshedofthe Great War.Thesamebookwas later appropriated by Nazi ideologues, andevendistributed inspecial Wehrmachteditionsfor German soldiers duringtheSecond WorldWar. BradLeithauser's introduction tothis newEnglishtranslation, nowpublished aspart ofthe prestigious Penguin Classicsseries, acknowledges Hamsun'sNazi sympathies, but isperhaps rightly more interested in theway Hamsun's narrative art confounds genericexpectations. Thisfascination issharedby thetranslator, Sverre Lyngstad, whose recentstudy of the Norwegianauthor(Knut Hamsun,Novelist: A Critical Assessment (NewYork:PeterLang,2005), reviewedin MLR, 102 (2007),606-07) veryclearlyshowshowHamsun's novels,throughout his longcareer, violate the canonsofaesthetic unity. Lyngstad's rigorous translation hasmuch torecommend it, notleastitssensitivity to thepeculiarities ofHamsun's rhythm, wryhumour, and narrative style, which isanimated bybeautiful transitions betweendirectand indirect discourse, and fre quently punctuated by unexpected ironic turns. Growth of the Soil adds another title toLyngstad's impressive list ofHamsun translations which,todate,includethe major novels Hunger, Mysteries, Pan and Victoria alongside a selection of lesser known works, such as the travelogue InWonderland, the novel The Last Joy,and the semi-autobiographical On Overgrown Paths.Lyngstad's commitment as a translator is evident also in thehigh quality of his notes, which detail historical references and more obscuredivergences between different versions of the Norwegianeditions.In Growth of the Soil, the textual notes register only some minuscule variations, but arenone thelessilluminating when placednext to theequivalent notesLyngstad has includedforthePenguinTwentieth-Century Classic editionsofHungerand Mysteries, notes which revealawholehiddenhistory of textual revision-apractice Hamsun evidently gave up later in his career. Lyngstad's new translation admirably conveysthebluntsimplicity and eloquent prose style ofGrowth of the Soil.Theprevioustranslation by W W Worsterfrom 1920, whichuntilnowhasbeen the only English version available, was deeplyflawed by its pervasive tendency to exaggerate the quaint and folksy aspect of Hamsun's novel.Upon theterrible revelation of infanticide, forexample, Worster rendered Isak's response as follows: "'Well, well, 'tis too late to be crying over itnow", said he' (Growth of the Soil, trans. by Worster (London:SouvenirPress,1995),p. 74). WhereWorstercontrives to makeHamsun's text bizarrely jovial, Lyngstad offers a better reflection of Isak's muteness: "'Hm, it's too late to cry now", he said' (p. 56). MLR, 104.1, 2009 301 Many examples couldbe cited wherethe old translation adds idiomatic expressions: "'Aye", said Isak."Now that Oline iscome, I can go offtomorrow morning,first thing"'(Worster, p. 79).Restoringtheoriginal'sclippedstyle, Lyngstad'stransla tionismuchmore reliable: "'Yes",Isak replied, "nowthat Oline ishere I'll leave tomorrow morning"'(p.59). Growth of theSoil is implicated in a complexhistory ofbothmisreadingand mistranslation. ThomasMann, forinstance, foundhimself undecidedabout its politics, writingat first thatit was 'completely apolitical', after whichhe called it 'communism poetically perceived', finally decidingthatit was 'humanely poeticized anarchism'(Diaries 1918-1939,trans.byRichardand ClaraWinston (London: AndreDeutsch,1983),p. 65). For a novelthatforso longhasbeen thevehiclefor contradictory ideasand ideologies, Lyngstad's vigilant and faithful retranslation is mostwelcome. BIRMINGHAMCITY UNIVERSITY PETER SJ0LYST-JACKSON Redemption and the MerchantGod:Dostoevsky's Economy ofSalvationandAnti semitism. BySUSAN MCREYNOLDS.(Studiesin RussianLiterature andTheory) Evanston,IL:Northwestern University Press. 2008. Xii+241 pp. $69.95. ISBN 978-o-8101-2439-4. SusanMcReynolds'sstarting-point foran unusual readingofDostoevskii is the assumption thattheauthor's doubtsconcerning his faith had their originsindis comfort with the Crucifixion as a vehicleforredemption. Threecentraltenets of Dostoevskii'sbeliefsystem-thesanctity ofchildren, and therejection ofbothuti litarianism and theright of individuals to transcend the moral law-receive their paradigmatic representation, accordingto McReynolds,in theCrucifixion, where redemption is 'bought' bythesuffering oftheinnocent. Rebellionagainstthistrans actionisconnectedto Dostoevskii'sheroes, andultimately the Russianpeople itself, while theutilitarianism of the 'merchant God' is linkedto 'European'and then 'Jewish' thinking, ashisjournalistic worksbecome increasingly anti-Semitic. Part iof thestudy focuses on thedevelopment ofDostoevskii'sideas,linking the author's feelings on the death of his children and concerns thathe was a bad father to his attitude to Europe. Part ii deals with his fiction.Chapters on Poor Folk and TheInsulted and Injured demonstrate thatthesuffering ofsome ispresented...
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