An Essay Toward a History of Shakespeare in Norway by Martin Brown Ruud (best novels of all time .TXT) 📕

Foersom,[6]

who let nothing referring to Shakespeare escape him, speaks (in the

notes to Part I of his translation) of a part of Act III of _Julius

Caesar_ in _Trondhjems Allehaande_. That is all. It it not too much to

emphasize, therefore, that we have here the first Danish version of any

part of _Julius Caesar_ as well as the first Norwegian translation of

any part of Shakespeare into what was then the common literary language

of Denmark and Norway.[7]

 

    [6. _William Shakespeares Tragiske Værker--Første Deel._ Khbn.

Notes at the back of the volume.]

 

    [7. By way of background, a bare enumeration of the early Danish

    translations of Shakespeare is here given.

 

_Hamlet_. Translated by Johannes Boye.

 

_Macbeth_. Translated by Nils Rosenfeldt.

      _Othello_. Translated by Nils Rosenfeldt.

      _All's Well that Ends Well_. Translated by Nils Rosenfeldt.

 

_King Lear_. Translated by Nils Rosenfeldt.

      _Cymbeline_. Translated by Nils Rosenfeldt.

      _The Merchant of Venice_. Translated by Nils Rosenfeldt.

 

_King Lear_. Nahum Tate's stage version. Translated by Hans

    Wilhelm Riber.

 

_Two Speeches._--To be or not to be--_(Hamlet.)_

      Is this a dagger--_(Macbeth.)_

      Translated by Malthe Conrad Brun in _Svada_.

 

Act III, Sc. 2 of _Julius Caesar_. Translated by Knut Lyhne

    Rahbek in _Minerva_.

 

_Macbeth_. Translated by Levin Sander and K.L. Rahbek. Not

    published till 1804.

 

Act V of _Julius Caesar_. Translated by P.F. Foersom in

    _Minerva_.

 

Act IV Sc. 3 of _Love's Labour Lost_. Translated by P.F.

    Foersom in _Nytaarsgave for Skuespilyndere._

 

Hamlet's speech to the players. Translated by P.F. Foersom

    in _Nytaarsgave for Skuespilyndere_.

 

    It may be added that in 1807 appeared the first volume of

    Foersom's translation of Shakespeare's tragedies, and after 1807

    the history of Shakespeare in Denmark is more complicated. With

    these matters I shall deal at length in another study.]

 

B

 

It was many years before the anonymous contributor to _Trondhjems

Allehaande_ was to have a follower. From 1782 to 1807 Norwegians were

engaged in accumulating wealth, an occupation, indeed, in which they

were remarkably successful. There was no time to meddle with Shakespeare

in a day when Norwegian shipping and Norwegian products were profitable

as never before. After 1807, when the blundering panic of the British

plunged Denmark and Norway into war on the side of Napoleon, there were

sterner things to think of. It was a sufficiently difficult matter to

get daily bread. But in 1818, when the country had, as yet, scarcely

begun to recover from the agony of the Napoleonic wars, the second

Norwegian translation from Shakespeare appeared.[8]

 

    [8. _Coriolanus, efter Shakespeare_. Christiania. 1818.]

 

The translator of this version of _Coriolanus_ is unknown. Beyond the

bare statement on the title page that the translation is made directly

from Shakespeare and that it is printed and published in Christiania by

Jacob Lehmann, there is no information to be had. Following the title

there is a brief quotation from Dr. Johnson and one from the "Zeitung

für die elegante Welt." Again Norway anticipates her sister nation; for

not till the following year did Denmark get her first translation of the

play.[9]

 

    [9. The first Danish translation of Coriolanus by P.F. Wulff

    appeared in 1819.]

 

Ewald, Oehlenschlæger, and Foersom had by this time made the blank verse

of Shakespeare a commonplace in Dano-Norwegian literature. Even the

mediocre could attempt it with reasonable assurance of success. The

_Coriolanus_ of 1818 is fairly correct, but its lumbering verse reveals

plainly that the translator had trouble with his metre. Two or three

examples will illustrate. First, the famous allegory of Menenius:[10]

 

  _Menenius:_

  I enten maae erkjende at I ere

  Heel ondskabsfulde, eller taale, man

  For Uforstandighed anklager Eder.

  Et snurrigt Eventyr jeg vil fortælle;

  Maaskee I har det hørt, men da det tjener

  Just til min Hensigt, jeg forsøge vil

  Nøiagtigen det Eder at forklare.

    .  .  .  .  .

  Jeg Eder det fortælle skal; med et

  Slags Smil, der sig fra Lungen ikke skrev;

  Omtrent saaledes--thi I vide maae

  Naar jeg kan lade Maven tale, jeg

  Den og kan lade smile--stikende

  Den svarede hvert misfornøiet Lem

  Og hver Rebel, som den misundte al

  Sin Indtægt; Saa misunde I Senatet

  Fordi det ikke er det som I ere.

 

  _Første Borger_:

  Hvorledes. Det var Mavens Svar! Hvorledes?

  Og Hovedet, der kongeligt er kronet,

  Og Øiet, der er blot Aarvaagenhed;

  Og Hjertet, som os giver gode Raad;

  Og Tungen, vor Trumpet, vor Stridsmand, Armen,

  Og Foden, vores Pragthest, med de flere

  Befæstingner, der støtte vor Maskine,

  Hvis de nu skulde....

 

  _Menenius_:

  Nu hvad skulde de?...

  Den Karl mig lader ei til Orde komme,

  Hvad vil I sigte med det _hvis de skulde?_

 

  _Første Borger_:

  Hvis de nu skulde sig betvinge lade

  Ved denne Slughals Maven som blot er

  En Afløbs-Rende for vort Legeme?

 

  _Menenius_:

  Nu videre!

 

  _Første Borger_:

  Hvad vilde Maven svare?

  Hvis hine Handlende med Klage fremstod?

 

  _Menenius_:

  Hvis I mig skjænke vil det som I have

  Kun lidet af, Taalmodighed, jeg mener,

  Jeg Eder Mavens Svar da skal fortælle.

 

  _Første Borger_:

  I! Den Fortælling ret i Langdrag trækker!

 

  _Menenius_:

  Min gode Ven, nu allerførst bemærke.

  Agtværdig Mave brugte Overlæg;

  Ei ubetænksom den sig overiled

  Som dens Modstandere; og saa lød Svaret:

  I Venner som fra mig ei skilles kan!

  Det Sandhed er, at jeg fra første Haand

  Modtager Næringen som Eder føder,

  Og dette i sin Orden er, thi jeg

  Et Varelager og et Forraads-Kammer

  Jo er for Legemet; men ei I glemme:

  Jeg Næringen igjennem Blodets Floder

  Og sender lige hen til Hoffet-Hjertet--

  Til Hjernens Sæde; jeg den flyde lader

  Igjennem Menneskets meest fine Dele;

  Og de meest fast Nerver, som de mindste

  Blandt Aarene fra mig modtager hver

  Naturlig Kraft, hvormed de leve, og

  Endskjøndt de ikke alle paa eengang--

  I gode Venner (det var Mavens Ord)

  Og mærker dem heel nøie....

 

  _Første Borger_:

      Det vil vi gjøre.

 

  _Menenius_:

  Endskjøndt de ikke alle kunde see,

  Hvad jeg tilflyde lader hver især,

  Saa kan jeg dog med gyldigt Dokument

  Bevise at jeg overlader dem

  Den rene Kjærne, selv beholder Kliddet.

  Hvad siger I dertil?

 

  _Første Borger_:

      Et svar det var--

  Men nu Andvendelsen!

 

  _Menenius_:

      Senatet er

  Den gode Mave: I Rebellerne.

  I undersøge blot de Raad det giver

  Og alt dets Omhue. Overveier nøie

  Alt hvad til Statens Velferd monne sigte,

  Og da I finde vil, at fra Senatet

  Hver offentlig Velgjerning som I nyde

  Sit Udspring bar, men ei fra Eder selv--

  Hvad tænker I, som er den store Taae

  Her i Forsamlingen?

 

    [10. _Coriolanus_--Malone's ed. London. 1790. Vol. 7, pp. 148 ff.]

 

Aside from the preponderance of feminine endings, which is inevitable

in Scandinavian blank verse, what strikes us most in this translation

is its laboriousness. The language is set on end. Inversion and

transposition are the devices by which the translator has managed to

give Shakespeare in metrically decent lines. The proof of this is so

patent that I need scarcely point out instances. But take the first

seven lines of the quotation. Neither in form nor content is this bad,

yet no one with a feeling for the Danish language can avoid an

exclamation, "forskruet Stil" and "poetiske Stylter." And lines 8-9

smack unmistakably of _Peder Paars_. In the second place, the translator

often does not attempt to translate at all. He gives merely a

paraphrase. Compare lines 1-3 with the English original; the whole of

the speech of the first citizen, 17-24, 25-27, where the whole implied

idea is fully expressed; 28-30, etc., etc. We might offer almost every

translation of Shakespeare's figures as an example. One more instance.

At times even paraphrase breaks down. Compare

 

  And through the cranks and offices of man

  The strongest and small inferior veins,

  Receive from me that natural competency

  Whereby they live.

 

with our translator's version (lines 50-51)

 

      jeg den flyde lader

  Igjennem Menneskets meest fine Dele.

 

This is not even good paraphrase; it is simply bald and helpless

rendering.

 

On the other hand, it would be grossly unfair to dismiss it all with

a sneer. The translator has succeeded for the most part in giving the

sense of Shakespeare in smooth and sounding verse, in itself no small

achievement. Rhetoric replaces poetry, it is true, and paraphrase dries

up the freshness and the sparkle of the metaphor. But a Norwegian of

that day who got his first taste of Shakespeare from the translation

before us, would at least feel that here was the power of words, the

music and sonorousness of elevated dramatic poetry.

 

One more extract and I am done. It is Coriolanus' outburst of wrath

against the pretensions of the tribunes (III, 1). With all its

imperfections, the translation is almost adequate.

 

  _Coriolanus_:

  Skal!

  Patrisier, I ædle, men ei vise!

  I høie Senatorer, som mon mangle

  Al Overlæg, hvi lod I Hydra vælge

  En Tjener som med sit bestemte Skal

  --Skjøndt blot Uhyrets Talerør og Lyd--

  Ei mangler Mod, at sige at han vil

  Forvandle Eders Havstrøm til en Sump,

  Og som vil gjøre Jer Kanal til sin.

  Hvis han har Magten, lad Enfoldighed

  Da for ham bukke; har han ingen Magt,

  Da vækker Eders Mildhed af sin Dvale,

  Den farlig er; hvis I ei mangle Klogskab,

  Da handler ei som Daaren; mangler den,

  Lad denne ved Jer Side faae en Pude.

  Plebeier ere I, hvis Senatorer

  De ere, og de ere mindre ei

  Naar begge Eders Stemmer sammenblandes

  Og naar de kildres meest ved Fornemhed.

  De vælge deres egen Øvrighed,

  Og saadan Een, der sætte tør sit Skal,

  Ja sit gemene Skal mod en Forsamling,

  Der mer agtværdig er end nogensinde

  Man fandt i Grækenland. Ved Jupiter!

  Sligt Consulen fornedrer! Og det smerter

  Min Sjæl at vide, hvor der findes tvende

  Autoriteter, ingen af dem størst,

  Der kan Forvirring lettelig faae Indpas

  I Gabet, som er mellem dem, og hæve

  Den ene ved den anden.

 

 

C

 

In 1865, Paul Botten Hansen, best known to the English-speaking world

for his relations with Bjørnson and Ibsen, reviewed[11] the eleventh

installment of Lembcke's translation of Shakespeare. The article

does not venture into criticism, but is almost entirely a resumé of

Shakespeare translation in Norway and Denmark. It is less well informed

than we should expect, and contains, among several other slips, the

following "...in 1855, Niels Hauge, deceased the following year as

teacher in Kragerø, translated _Macbeth_, the first faithful version of

this masterpiece which Dano-Norwegian literature could boast of." Botten

Hansen mentions only one previous Danish or Norwegian version of

Shakespeare--Foersom's adaptation of Schiller's stage version (1816).

He is quite obviously ignorant of Rosenfeldt's translation of 1790; and

the Rahbek-Sanders translation of 1801 seems also to have escaped him,

although Hauge expressly refers to this work in his introduction. Both

of these early attempts are in prose; Foersom's, to be sure, is in blank

verse, but Foersom's _Macbeth_ is not Shakespeare's. Accordingly, it is,

in a sense, true that Hauge in 1855 did give the Dano-Norwegian public

their first taste of an unspoiled _Macbeth_ in the vernacular.[12]

 

    [11. _Illustreret Nyhedsblad_--1865, p. 96.]

 

    [12. _Macbeth--Tragedie i fem Akter af William Shakespeare_.

    Oversat og fortolket af N. Hauge. Christiania. 1855. Johan Dahl.]

 

Hauge tells us that he had interested himself in English literature