Beówulf. Aeltestes deutsches Heldengedicht
Tinker's Review
Hoffmann’s Translation
Beówulf. Aeltestes deutsches Heldengedicht. Aus dem Angelsächsischen übertragen von P. Hoffmann. Züllichau. Verlag von Herm. Liebich (1893?). 8o, pp. iii, 183.
*Zweite Ausgabe, Hannover, Schaper, 1900.
The Translator.
In Minerva (1902), P. Hoffmann is recorded as ‘Ord. Professor’ of Philosophy and Pedagogy at Gent.
Aim of the Volume.
The translator desired to present a rendering of the poem that should attract the general reader. He regarded Simrock’s version as too literal and archaic1, the version of von Wolzogen as not sufficiently clear and beautiful2, and the version of Heyne as not sufficiently varied in form3 (Vorwort, i). He regards the Beowulf as of great importance in inspiring patriotism—he always calls the poem German—and even offers a comparison of Beowulf with Emperor William I. With the scholarship of his subject the author hardly seems concerned.
Text, and Relation of Parts.
The translation is founded on Grein’s text of 18674.
In addition to the translation, the volume contains articles on the history of the text, origin, the Germanic hero-tales, the episodes, the esthetic value of the poem. These are decidedly subordinate in interest to the translation.
Nature of the Translation.
The translation is in the so-called Nibelungen measures. Archaisms and unnatural compounds are avoided.
The Finnsburg fragment is inserted in the text at line 1068, p. 44 of the volume. The episode is furnished with a beginning and ending original with Hoffmann.
Viertes Abenteuer.
VON BEOWULF’S SCHWIMMFAHRT.
Da hub der Sohn der Ecglaf, Hunferd, zu reden an;
Er sass dem Herrn der Schildinge zu Füssen, und begann
Kampfworte zu entbieten. Dass her Beowulf kam,
Der kühne Meerdurchsegler, schuf seinem Herzen bitter’n Gram.
5Dass unter dem Himmel habe ein andrer Recke mehr,
Denn er, des Ruhms auf Erden, war ihm zu tragen schwer:
‘Bist der Beówulf Du, der einst sich in der weiten Flut
Mit Breca mass im Schwimmen? Zu hoch vermass sich da Dein Mut!
‘Ihr spranget in die Wellen, vermessen wagtet ihr
10Das Leben in die Tiefe, aus Ruhm und Ehrbegier!
Die Fahrt, die schreckensvolle, nicht Freund noch Feind verleiden
Euch konnte. Also triebet im Sund dahin ihr Beiden!
‘Als ihr mit Euren Armen des Meeres Breite decktet,
Die Meeresstrassen masset, die Hände rudernd recktet
15Durch Brandungswirbel gleitend, vom Wintersturm getrieben
Hoch auf die Wellen schäumten; ihr mühtet Euch der Nächte sieben!
‘So rangt ihr mit den Wogen! Da wurde Dir entrafft
Der Sieg von ihm, im Schwimmen, sein war die gröss’re Kraft,
Ihn trug der Hochflut Wallen am Morgen an den Strand
20Der Hadurämen, bald er von da die süsse Heimat wiederfand.
‘Im Lande der Brondinge wie gerne man ihn sah!
Zu seiner schönen Feste kam er wieder da,
Wo er zu eigen hatte Mannen, Burg und Ringe,
Der Sohn Beanstan’s hatte geleistet sein Erbot Dir allerdinge!’
Hoffmann’s translation is certainly not a contribution to scholarship. It is a sufficient condemnation of the volume to quote the words of the Vorwort:—
‘Die Uebersetzungen von Grein, Holder und Möller sind mir nicht zugänglich gewesen, auch wie es scheint, nicht sehr bekannt.’
It is not surprising that Hoffmann is unacquainted with the translations of Holder and Möller, as these works have never been made; but that a German translator should ignore the version of Grein is a revelation indeed.
Even though a translator may not care to embody in his work any new interpretations, it is nevertheless his duty to base his translation on the best text that he can find. But apparently Hoffmann had never heard of the Heyne editions of the text, nor of the Grein-Wülker Bibliothek. He bases his translation on Grein’s text of 1867. He evidently considered it a sufficient recommendation of his work to associate with it the name of Grein, not troubling himself to discover what advance had been made upon the work of that scholar.
Examples of antiquated renderings may be brought forward:—
| P. 1, | line 1, Wie grosse Ruhmesthaten. |
| 2, | line 1, So soll mit Gaben werben im Vaterhause schon. |
| 21, | line 15 (see Extract), Vom Wintersturm getrieben Hoch auf die Wellen schäumten. |
| 84, | line 3, Mothrytho. |
Petty inaccuracies due to the nature of the translation also appear. An example of this is seen on page 3, at the opening of the first canto—
Ueber Burg und Mannen nun herrschte manches Jahr
Beówulf der Schilding. Wie hold dem König war
Sein Volk! in allen Landen seinen Ruhm man pries
Als lange schon sein Vater von dieser Erde Leben liess.
Literary Criticism.
The translation resembles the work of Lumsden5 and Wackerbarth6 in affording a version of the tale easily readable. And the same criticism may be passed on the work of Hoffmann that was passed on the two Englishmen. The style and medium chosen are not well fitted to render the spirit of the poem. The Nibelungenlied is a poem of the late twelfth century. The Beowulf at latest belongs to the eighth. To choose for the translation of Beowulf, therefore, a medium surcharged with reminiscence of a time, place, and style quite different from those of the original is certainly an error. It may find an audience where another and more faithful rendering would fail; but it will never win the esteem of scholars. In his introduction Hoffmann calls attention to the lack of variety in blank verse, but surely it does not have the monotony inherent in a recurring rime and strophe.
Again, rime and strophe force upon the author the use of words and phrases needed to pad out the verse or stanza. Attention must also be called to the fact that the original seldom affords a natural pause at the exact point demanded by the use of a strophic form. See the close of the following stanzas in the Extract: I, III, IV, V. One effect of the forced pause is that there is confusion in the use of kennings, which often have to do duty as subject in one stanza and as object in another stanza.
Commonplace expressions, incident perhaps upon the use of the measure, are not unfrequent. Thus
Gesagt! gethan!
translates
ond þæt geæfndon swā (line 538).
Traces of this are also found in the extract; see beginning of last stanza.
In conclusion, it may be said that Hoffmann’s version marks an advance in one way only, readableness; and in this it is hardly superior to Heyne’s rendering, which has the advantage of scholarship.