An Essay Toward a History of Shakespeare in Norway - Martin Brown Ruud (book club reads .TXT) 📗
- Author: Martin Brown Ruud
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I have attempted in this study to trace the history of Shakespearean
translations, Shakespearean criticism, and the performances of
Shakespeare's plays in Norway. I have not attempted to investigate
Shakespeare's influence on Norwegian literature. To do so would not,
perhaps, be entirely fruitless, but it would constitute a different
kind of work.
The investigation was made possible by a fellowship from the University
of Chicago and a scholarship from the American-Scandinavian Foundation,
and I am glad to express my gratitude to these bodies for the
opportunities given to me of study in the Scandinavian countries.
I am indebted for special help and encouragement to Dr. C.N. Gould
and Professor J.M. Manly, of the University of Chicago, and to the
authorities of the University library in Kristiania for their unfailing
courtesy. To my wife, who has worked with me throughout, my obligations
are greater than I can express.
It is my plan to follow this monograph with a second on the history of
Shakespeare in Denmark.
M.B.R.
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
September, 1916.
CHAPTER I (Shakespeare Translations In Norway) A
In the years following 1750, there was gathered in the city of Trondhjem
a remarkable group of men: Nils Krog Bredal, composer of the first
Danish opera, John Gunnerus, theologian and biologist, Gerhart Schøning,
rector of the Cathedral School and author of an elaborate history of the
fatherland, and Peter Suhm, whose 14,047 pages on the history of Denmark
testify to a learning, an industry, and a generous devotion to
scholarship which few have rivalled. Bredal was mayor (Borgermester),
Gunnerus was bishop, Schøning was rector, and Suhm was for the moment
merely the husband of a rich and unsympathetic wife. But they were
united in their interest in serious studies, and in 1760, the last
three--somewhat before Bredal's arrival--founded "Videnskabsselkabet i
Trondhjem." A few years later the society received its charter as "Det
Kongelige Videnskabsselskab."
A little provincial scientific body! Of what moment is it? But in those
days it was of moment. Norway was then and long afterwards the political
and intellectual dependency of Denmark. For three hundred years she had
been governed more or less effectively from Copenhagen, and for two
hundred years Danish had supplanted Norwegian as the language of church
and state, of trade, and of higher social intercourse. The country had
no university; Norwegians were compelled to go to Copenhagen for their
degrees and there loaf about in the anterooms of ministers waiting for
preferment. Videnskabsselskabet was the first tangible evidence of
awakened national life, and we are not surprised to find that it was in
this circle that the demand for a separate Norwegian university was
first authoritatively presented. Again, a little group of periodicals
sprang up in which were discussed, learnedly and pedantically, to be
sure, but with keen intelligence, the questions that were interesting
the great world outside. It is dreary business ploughing through these
solemn, badly printed octavos and quartos. Of a sudden, however, one
comes upon the first, and for thirty-six years the only Norwegian
translation of Shakespeare.
We find it in _Trondhjems Allehaande_ for October 23, 1782--the third
and last volume. The translator has hit upon Antony's funeral oration
and introduces it with a short note:[1] "The following is taken from
the famous English play _Julius Caesar_ and may be regarded as a
masterpiece. When Julius Caesar was killed, Antonius secured permission
from Brutus and the other conspirators to speak at his funeral. The
people, whose minds were full of the prosperity to come, were satisfied
with Caesar's murder and regarded the murderers as benefactors. Antonius
spoke so as to turn their minds from rejoicing to regret at a great
man's untimely death and so as to justify himself and win the hearts of
the populace. And in what a masterly way Antonius won them! We shall
render, along with the oration, the interjected remarks of the crowd,
inasmuch as they too are evidences of Shakespeare's understanding of
the human soul and his realization of the manner in which the oration
gradually brought about the purpose toward which he aimed:"
[1. It has been thought best to give such citations for the most
part in translation.]
Antonius:
Venner, Medborgere, giver mig Gehør, jeg kommer for at jorde Cæsars
Legeme, ikke for at rose ham. Det Onde man gjør lever endnu efter
os; det Gode begraves ofte tilligemed vore Been. Saa Være det ogsaa
med Cæsar. Den ædle Brutus har sagt Eder, Cæsar var herskesyg. Var
han det saa var det en svær Forseelse: og Cæsar har ogsaa dyrt
maattet bøde derfor. Efter Brutus og de Øvriges Tilladelse--og
Brutus er en hederlig Mand, og det er de alle, lutter hederlige
Mænd, kommer jeg hid for at holde Cæsars Ligtale. Han var min Ven,
trofast og oprigtig mod mig! dog, Brutus siger, han var herskesyg,
og Brutus er en hederlig Mand. Han har bragt mange Fanger med til
Rom, hvis Løsepenge formerede de offentlige Skatter; synes Eder det
herskesygt af Cæsar--naar de Arme skreeg, saa græd Cæsar--Herskesyge
maate dog vel væves af stærkere Stof.--Dog Brutus siger han var
herskesyg; og Brutus er en hederlig Mand. I have alle seet at jeg
paa Pans Fest tre Gange tilbød ham en kongelig Krone, og at han tre
Gange afslog den. Var det herskesygt?--Dog Brutus siger han var
herskesyg, og i Sandhed, han er en hederlig Mand. Jeg taler ikke for
at gjendrive det, som Brutus har sagt; men jeg staar her, for at
sige hvad jeg veed. I alle elskede ham engang, uden Aarsag; hvad for
en Aarsag afholder Eder fra at sørge over ham? O! Fornuft! Du er
flyed hen til de umælende Bæster, og Menneskene have tabt deres
Forstand. Haver Taalmodighed med mig; mit Hjerte er hist i Kisten
hos Cæsar, og jeg maa holde inde til det kommer tilbage til mig.
Den Første af Folket:
Mig synes der er megen Fornuft i hans Tale.
Den Anden af Folket:
Naar du ret overveier Sagen, saa er Cæsar skeet stor Uret.
Den Tredje:
Mener I det, godt Folk? Jeg frygter der vil komme slemmere i hans
Sted.
Den Fjerde:
Har I lagt Mærke til hvad han sagde? Han vilde ikke modtage Kronen,
det er altsaa vist at han ikke var herskesyg.
Den Første:
Hvis saa er, vil det komme visse Folk dyrt at staae.
Den Anden:
Den fromme Mand! Hans Øien er blodrøde af Graad.
Den Tredje:
Der er ingen fortræffeligere Mand i Rom end Antonius.
Den Fjerde:
Giver Agt, han begynder igjen at tale.
Antonius:
Endnu i Gaar havde et Ord af Cæsar gjældt imod hele Verden, nu
ligger han der, endog den Usleste nægter ham Agtelse. O, I Folk!
var jeg sindet, at ophidse Eders Gemytter til Raserie og Oprør, saa
skulde jeg skade Brutus og Kassius, hvilke, som I alle veed, ere
hederlige Mænd. Men jeg vil intet Ondt gjøre dem: hellere vil jeg
gjøre den Døde, mig selv, og Eder Uret, end at jeg skulde volde
slige hederlige Mænd Fortræd. Men her er et Pergament med Cæsars
Segl: jeg fandt det i hans Kammer; det er hans sidste Villie. Lad
Folket blot høre hans Testament, som jeg, tilgiv mig det, ikke
tænker at oplæse, da skulde de alle gaa hen og kysse den døde Cæsars
Saar; og dyppe deres Klæder i hans hellige Blod; skulde bede om et
Haar af ham til Erindring, og paa deres Dødsdag i deres sidste
Villie tænke paa dette Haar, og testamentere deres Efterkommere
det som en rig Arvedel.
Den Fjerde:
Vi ville høre Testamentet! Læs det, Marcus Antonius.
Antonius:
Haver Taalmodighed, mine Venner: jeg tør ikke forelæse det; deter
ikke raadeligt, at I erfare hvor kjær Cæsar havde Eder. I ere ikke
Træe, I ere ikke Stene, I ere Mennesker; og da I ere Mennesker saa
skulde Testamentet, om I hørte det, sætte Eder i Flamme, det skulde
gjøre Eder rasende. Det er godt at I ikke vide, at I ere hans
Arvinger; thi vidste I det, O, hvad vilde der da blive af?
Den fjerde:
Læs Testamentet; vi ville høre det, Antonius! Du maae læse
Testamentet for os, Cæsars Testament!
Antonius:
Ville i være rolige? Ville I bie lidt? Jeg er gaaen for vidt at jeg
har sagt Eder noget derom--jeg frygter jeg fornærmer de hederlige
Mænd, som have myrdet Cæsar--jeg befrygter det.
Den Fjerde:
De vare Forrædere!--ha, hederlige Mænd!
The translation continues to the point where the plebeians, roused to
fury by the cunning appeal of Antony, rush out with the cries:[2]
Pleb:
Go fetch fire!
Pleb:
Plucke down Benches!
Pleb:
Plucke down Formes, Windowes, anything.
[2. _Julius Caesar_. III, 2. 268-70. Variorum Edition Furness.
Phila. 1913.]
But we have not space for a more extended quotation, and the passage
given is sufficiently representative.
The faults are obvious. The translator has not ventured to reproduce
Shakespeare's blank verse, nor, indeed, could that be expected. The
Alexandrine had long held sway in Danish poetry. In _Rolf Krage_ (1770),
Ewald had broken with the tradition and written an heroic tragedy in
prose. Unquestionably he had been moved to take this step by the example
of his great model Klopstock in _Bardiete_.[3] It seems equally certain,
however, that he was also inspired by the plays of Shakespeare, and the
songs of Ossian, which came to him in the translations of Wieland.[4]
[3. Rønning--_Rationalismens Tidsalder_. 11-95.]
[4. Ewald--_Levnet og meninger_. Ed. Bobe. Kbhn. 1911, p. 166.]
A few years later, when he had learned English and read Shakespeare
in the original, he wrote _Balders Død_ in blank verse and
naturalized Shakespeare's metre in Denmark.[5] At any rate, it
is not surprising that this unknown plodder far north in Trondhjem
had not progressed beyond Klopstock and Ewald. But the result of
turning Shakespeare's poetry into the journeyman prose of a foreign
language is necessarily bad. The translation before us amounts to a
paraphrase,--good, respectable Danish untouched by genius. Two
examples will illustrate this. The lines:
.... Now lies he there,
And none so poor to do him reverence.
[5. _Ibid._ II, 234-235.]
are rendered in the thoroughly matter-of-fact words, appropriate for a
letter or a newspaper "story":
.... Nu ligger han der,
endog den Usleste nægter ham Agtelse.
Again,
I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it,
is translated:
Jeg er gaaen for vidt at jeg sagde Eder noget derom.
On the other hand, the translation presents no glaring errors; such
slips as we do find are due rather to ineptitude, an inability to
find the right word, with the result that the writer has contented
himself with an accidental and approximate rendering. For example,
the translator no doubt understood the lines:
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones.
but he could hit upon nothing better than:
Det Onde man gjør _lever endnu efter os_;
det Gode begraves ofte tilligemed vore Been.
which is both inaccurate and infelicitous. For the line
He was my friend, faithful and just to me.
our author has:
Han var min Ven, trofast og _oprigtig_ mod mig!
Again:
Has he, Masters? I fear there will come a worse in his place.
Translation:
Mener I det, godt Folk?--etc.
Despite these faults--and many others could be cited,--it is perfectly
clear that this unknown student of Shakespeare understood his original
and endeavored to reproduce it correctly in good Danish. His very
blunders showed that he tried not to be slavish, and his style, while
not remarkable, is easy and fluent. Apparently, however, his work
attracted no attention. His name is unknown, as are his sources, and
there is not, with one exception, a single reference to him in the later
Shakespeare literature of Denmark and Norway. Not even Rahbek, who was
remarkably well informed in this field, mentions him. Only
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