Gespannte Übersetzungen – Michael Hamburger revisited

Fritzenkoetter, Viktor und Schmitz, Julius (2022): Gespannte Übersetzungen – Michael Hamburger revisited. In: Etudes Germaniques, Bd. 77, Nr. 4: S. 637-651

Abstract

Following a briefanalysis ofMichael Hamburger's theoretical approach to translation, which is rooted in his translation practice, this paper addresses Hamburger 's translations ofPaul Celan's poems and his ruminations on the specific difficulties he encountered and recorded in his 1984/2000 essay On Translating Celan. Although he underscores that, when translating poems, he focuses less on semantic matters than on what he refers to as their way ofbreathing, in On Translating Celan Hamburger nonetheless begins by describing, among other things, semantic difficulties in translating Celan's poems (Coagula, Solve). These claims are examined critically and built upon in the second part of this essay. The thirdpart complements and acts as a counterpoint to the second as it explores the tensions identified in Hamburger 's writings as regards how and to what extent the translator complies with Celan's injunction identified in Sprich auch Du, namely the necessity to reflect in his translations the obscurity with which Celan infused his poems. This article scrutinizes the ways in which this obscurity, which is to be understood not as hermetic, but rather as open, communicative obscurity, may be transferred and preserved in translation.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaften > Department 1
• Themengebiete: 400 Sprache > 400 Sprache
• ISSN: 0014-2115
• Sprache: Deutsch