tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post8118827565392010547..comments2024-03-29T03:04:00.853-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: Gottfried Keller, failed poet - It rises in my mind without end, without endAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-46196532576639092832011-01-18T22:03:58.580-06:002011-01-18T22:03:58.580-06:00Keller is a perfect NYRB writer. They already pub...Keller is a perfect <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/books/" rel="nofollow">NYRB</a> writer. They already publish several of the other great, neglected* mid-century German writers - Theodor Storm, Adelbert Stifter, Theodor Fontane (forthcoming).<br /><br />That's a nice description of what Keller is doing. One might wonder is the nixie is "real," or is some sort of psychological projection.<br /><br />* Neglected in English! In German-language literature, Keller, Storm, etc. are standard canonical authors.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-15212549039816204722011-01-18T21:44:55.442-06:002011-01-18T21:44:55.442-06:00It appears from a quick Amazon search that Gottfri...It appears from a quick Amazon search that Gottfried Keller's work is translated infrequently and in small press editions. Perhaps Keller is due for an OUP or Penguin Renaissance.<br /><br />Who was it that said "Painting is silent poetry and poetry painting that speaks"? It seems to me Keller rises above mere mimicry and creates a visual image that evokes more than a wintry landscape. Great selection for today, AR.Annahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00961332983813359209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-43119389344758692562011-01-18T19:26:43.043-06:002011-01-18T19:26:43.043-06:00The German poem can be found here - search for &qu...The German poem can be <a href="http://gedichte.levrai.de/gedichte_von/keller_gottfried_keller_gedichte.htm" rel="nofollow">found here</a> - search for "Winternacht," the German title. No idea why Merwin abandons the title.<br /><br />Yes, it's as creepy in German! The "lake spirit" is "die Nix." The last line is perfect ("Immer, immer liegt es mir im Sinn!"). The German, unsurprisingly, rhymes - Merwin only picks up a few hints of that.<br /><br />I'm going to spend some more time with Merwin's little book this week. I was surprised when I realized how much of his translation work I have read.<br /><br />I know what you mean about color symbolism - it's easy to abuse. But color is so fundamental to how we understand the world that it would be perverse to ignore it. A writer has to learn how to use it, I guess. When to bother to say, as Keller does here, that the snow is white.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-60406774491299164512011-01-18T17:25:01.301-06:002011-01-18T17:25:01.301-06:00BTW, "Um, hm hum" is supposed to be read...BTW, "Um, hm hum" is supposed to be read aloud as a cluck of approval.Hannahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09543197858284977937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-39544776490180089822011-01-18T17:23:51.924-06:002011-01-18T17:23:51.924-06:00May I say that anything translated by Merwin is go...May I say that anything translated by Merwin is going to be beautiful?<br /><br />Interestingly, my father has been pushing Julia Peterkin's books on me. (She won the Pulitzer early in the 20th century for her novel Scarlet Sister Mary.) She too is obsessed with color imagery in her writing--in a way that seems like it is going to be trite but then convinces you of the wisdom of her choices. Color symbolism seems so <i>unsubtle</i>--but in her work and in Keller's poem it carries a lot of weight anyway.<br /><br />"Hammering the hard lake." Um, hm hum. Thanks for sharing.Hannahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09543197858284977937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-34544762549796173292011-01-18T16:52:31.478-06:002011-01-18T16:52:31.478-06:00Am I wrong in thinking that poem is profoundly cre...Am I wrong in thinking that poem is profoundly creepy? I wonder how it is in German. Gah!Jennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00251983804060081813noreply@blogger.com