An Essay Toward a History of Shakespeare in Norway - Martin Brown Ruud (book club reads .TXT) 📗

Casca gjorde.

      Her rammed den høielskte Bruti Dolk, etc.

 

    [20. _Julius Caesar_. Et Skuespil af William Shakespeare. Oversat

    af Hartvig Lassen. Udgivet af Selskabet for Folkeoplysningens

    Fremme som første Tillægshefte til _Folkevennen_ for 1882.

    Kristiania, 1882. Grøndal og Søn.]

 

For the rest, a reading of this translation leaves the same impression

as a reading of _The Merchant of Venice_--it is a reasonably good

piece of work but distinctly inferior to Foersom and to Lembcke's

modernization of Foersom. Lassen clearly had Lembcke at hand; he seldom,

however, followed him for more than a line or two. What is more

important is that there are reminiscences of Foersom not only in

the funeral scene, where Lassen himself acknowledges the fact, but

elsewhere. Note a few lines from the quarrel between Brutus and Cassius

(Act IV, Sc. 3) beginning with Cassius' speech:

 

  Urge me no more, I shall forget myself.

 

Foersom (Ed. 1811) has:

 

  _Cas_:

  Tir mig ei mer at jeg ei glemmer mig;

  husk Eders Vel--og frist mig ikke mere.

 

  _Bru_:

  Bort, svage Mand!

 

  _Cas_:

    Er dette muligt?

 

  _Bru_:

  Hør mig; jeg vil tale.

  Skal jeg for Eders vilde Sind mig bøie?

  Troer I jeg kyses af en gal Mands Blik?

 

  _Cas_:

  O Guder, Guder! skal jeg taale dette?

 

  _Bru_:

  Ja, meer. Brum saa dette stolte Hierte brister;

  Gak, viis den Hæftighed for Eders Trælle,

  og faa dem til at skielve. Skal jeg vige,

  og føie Eder? Skal jeg staae og bøie

  mig under Eders Luners Arrighed?

  Ved Guderne, I skal nedsvælge selv

  al Eders Galdes Gift, om end I brast;

  thi fra i dag af bruger jeg Jer kun

  til Moerskab, ja til latter naar I vredes.

 

And Lassen has:

 

_Cas_:

  _Tirr_ mig ei mer; jeg kunde glemme mig.

  Tænk paa dit eget Vel, frist mig ei længer.

 

  _Bru_:

  _Bort, svage Mand_!

 

  _Cas_:

  Er dette muligt?

 

  _Bru_:

    Hør mig, jeg vil tale.

  Skal jeg _mig bøie_ for din Vredes Nykker?

  Og skræmmes, naar en gal Mand glor paa mig?

 

  _Cas_:

  O Guder, Guder! maa jeg taale dette?

 

  _Bru_:

  Dette, ja mer end det. Stamp kun mod Brodden,

  ras kun, indtil dit stolte Hjerte brister;

  lad dine Slaver se hvor arg du er

  og _skjelve_. Jeg--skal jeg tilside smutte?

  Jeg gjøre Krus for dig? Jeg krumme Ryg

  naar det behager dig? Ved Guderne!

  Du selv skal _svælge_ al din _Galdes Gift_,

  om saa du brister; thi fra denne Dag

  jeg bruger dig til Moro, ja til Latter,

  naar du er ilsk.

 

The _italicized_ passages show that the influence of Foersom was felt

in more than one scene. It would be easy to give other instances.

 

After all this, we need scarcely more than mention Lassen's

_Macbeth_[21] published in 1883. The usual brief note at the end of the

play gives the usual information that, out of regard for the purpose for

which the translation has been made, certain parts of the porter scene

and certain speeches by Malcolm in Act IV, Sc. 3 have been cut. Readers

will have no difficulty in picking them out.

 

    [21. _Macbeth_. Tragedie af William Shakespeare. Oversat af

Lassen. Udgivet af Selskabet for Folkeoplysningens Fremme som

    andet Tillægshefte til _Folkevennen_ for 1883. Kristiania. Grøndal

    og Søn.]

 

_Macbeth_ is, like all Lassen's work, dull and prosaic. Like his other

translations from Shakespeare, it has never become popular. The standard

translation in Norway is still the Foersom-Lembcke, a trifle

nationalized with Norwegian words and phrases whenever a new acting

version is to be prepared. And while it is not true that Lassen's

translations are merely norvagicized editions of the Danish, it is true

that they are often so little independent of them that they do not

deserve to supersede the work of Foersom and Lembcke.

 

G

 

Norwegian translations of Shakespeare cannot, thus far, be called

distinguished. There is no complete edition either in Riksmaal or

Landsmaal. A few sonnets, a play or two, a scrap of dialogue--Norway

has little Shakespeare translation of her own. Qualitatively, the case

is somewhat better. Several of the renderings we have considered are

extremely creditable, though none of them can be compared with the

best in Danish or Swedish. It is a grateful task, therefore, to call

attention to the translations by Christen Collin. They are not

numerous--only eleven short fragments published as illustrative material

in his school edition (English text) of _The Merchant of Venice_--[22]

but they are of notable quality, and they save the Riksmaal literature

from the reproach of surrendering completely to the Landsmaal the task

of turning Shakespeare into Norwegian. With the exception of a few lines

from _Macbeth_ and _Othello_, the selections are all from _The Merchant

of Venice_.

 

    [22. _The Merchant of Venice_. Med Indledning og Anmærkninger ved

    Christen Collin. Kristiania. 1902. (This, of course, does not

    include the translations of the sonnets referred to below.)]

 

A good part of Collin's success must be attributed to his intimate

familiarity with English. The fine nuances of the language do not escape

him, and he can use it not with precision merely but with audacity and

power. Long years of close and sympathetic association with the

literature of England has made English well-nigh a second mother tongue

to this fine and appreciative critic. But he is more than a critic. He

has more than a little of the true poet's insight and the true poet's

gift of song. All this has combined to give us a body of translations

which, for fine felicity, stand unrivalled in Dano-Norwegian. Many of

these have been prepared for lecture purposes and have never been

printed.[23] Only a few have been perpetuated in this text edition of

_The Merchant of Venice_. We shall discuss the edition itself below.

Our concern here is with the translations. We remember Lassen's and

Lembcke's opening of the fifth act. Collin is more successful than his

countryman.

 

  _Lor_:

  Hvor Maanen straaler! I en nat som denne,

  da milde vindpust kyssed skovens trær

  og alting var saa tyst, i slig en nat

  Troilus kanske steg op paa Trojas mure

  og stønned ud sin sjæl mod Grækerteltene

  hvor Cressida laa den nat.

 

  _Jes_:

           I slig en nat

  kom Thisbe angstfuldt trippende over duggen,--

  saa løvens skygge, før hun saa den selv,

  og løb forskrækket bort.

 

  _Lor_:

           I slig en nat

  stod Dido med en vidjekvist i haand

  paa havets strand og vinkede Æneas

  tilbage til Karthago.

 

  _Jes_:

           I slig en nat

  Medea sanked urter som foryngede

  den gamle Æsons liv.

 

  _Lor_:

           I slig en nat

  stjal Jessica sig fra den rige Jøde

  med en forfløien elsker fra Venedig

  og fandt i Belmont ly.

 

  _Jes_:

           I en saadan nat

  svor ung Lorenzo at hun var ham kjær

  og stjal med mange eder hendes hjerte,

  men ikke en var sand.

 

  _Lor_:

           I slig en nat

  skjøn Jessica, den lille heks, bagtalte

  sin elsker og han--tilgav hende alt.

 

    [23. I have seen these translations in the typewritten copies

    which Professor Collin distributed among his students.]

 

"A translation of this passage," says Collin,[24] "can hardly be more

than an approximation, but its inadequacy will only emphasize the

beauty of the original." Nevertheless we have here more than a feeble

approximation. It is not equal to Shakespeare, but it is good Norwegian

poetry and as faithful as translation can or need be. It is difficult to

refrain from giving Portia's plea for mercy, but I shall give instead

Collin's striking rendering of Shylock's arraignment of Antonio:[25]

 

  Signor Antonio, mangen en gang og tit

  har paa Rialto torv I skjældt mig ud

  for mine pengelaan og mine renter....

  Jeg bar det med taalmodigt skuldertræk,

  for taalmod er jo blit vor stammes merke.

 

  I kalder mig en vantro, blodgrisk _hund_

  og spytter paa min jødiske gaberdin--

  hvorfor? for brug af hvad der er mit eget!

  Nu synes det, I trænger til min hjælp.

 

  Nei virkelig? I kommer nu til mig

  og siger: Shylock, laan os penge,--I,

  som slængte eders slim hen paa mit skjæg

  og satte foden paa mig, som I spændte,

  en kjøter fra Jer dør, I be'r om penge!

  Hvad skal jeg svare vel? Skal jeg 'ke svare:

  Har en hund penge? Er det muligt, at

  en kjøter har tre tusinde dukater?

  Eller skal jeg bukke dybt og i trælletone

  med sænket røst og underdanig hvisken

  formæle:

  "Min herre, I spytted paa mig sidste onsdag,

  en anden dag I spændte mig, en tredje

  I kaldte mig en hund; for al den artighed

  jeg laaner Jer saa og saa mange penge?"

 

    [24. Collin, _op. cit._, _Indledning_, XII.]

 

    [25. Collin, _op. cit._, _Indledning_, XXVI. (_M. of V._, 1-3)]

 

It is to be regretted that Collin did not give us Shylock's still more

impassioned outburst to Salarino in Act III. He would have done it well.

 

It would be a gracious task to give more of this translator's work. It

is, slight though its quantity, a genuine contribution to the body of

excellent translation literature of the world. I shall quote but one

more passage, a few lines from _Macbeth_.[26]

 

  "Det tyktes mig som hørte jeg en røst;

  Sov aldrig mer! Macbeth har myrdet søvnen,

  den skyldfri søvn, som løser sorgens floke,

  hvert daglivs død, et bad for mødig møie,

  balsam for sjælesaar og alnaturens

  den søde efterret,--dog hovednæringen

  ved livets gjæstebud....

 

  _Lady Macbeth_:

  Hvad er det, du mener?

 

  _Macbeth_:

  "Sov aldrig mer," det skreg til hele huset.

  Glarais har myrdet søvnen, derfor Cawdor

  skal aldrig mer faa søvn,--Macbeth,

  Macbeth skal aldrig mer faa søvn!"

 

    [26. Collin, _op. cit._, _Indledning_, XXV. _Macbeth_ II, 1.]

 

H

 

We have hitherto discussed the Norwegian translations of Shakespeare in

almost exact chronological order. It has been possible to do this

because the plays have either been translated by a single man and issued

close together, as in the case of Hartvig Lassen, or they have appeared

separately from the hands of different translators and at widely

different periods. We come now, however, to a group of translations

which, although the work of different men and published independently

from 1901 to 1912, nevertheless belong together. They are all in

Landsmaal and they represent quite clearly an effort to enrich the

literature of the new dialect with translations from Shakespeare. To do

this successfully would, obviously, be a great gain. The Maalstrævere

would thereby prove the capacity of their tongue for the highest, most

exotic forms of literature. They would give to it, moreover, the

discipline which the translation of foreign classics could not fail to

afford. It was thus a renewal of the missionary spirit of Ivar Aasen.

And behind it all was the defiant feeling that Norwegians should have

Shakespeare in Norwegian, not in Danish or bastard Danish.

 

The spirit of these translations is obvious enough from the opening

sentence of Madhus' preface to his translation of _Macbeth_:[27]

"I should hardly have ventured to publish this first attempt at a

Norwegian translation of Shakespeare if competent men had not urged me

to do so." It is frankly declared to be the first Norwegian translation

of Shakespeare. Hauge and Lassen, to say nothing of the translator of

1818, are curtly dismissed from Norwegian literature. They belong to

Denmark. This might be true if it were