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Humanism and/or reckless rulers: Brecht’s adaptation of Sophocles’

Antigone and translation problems

Prof. Jelena Kostić-Tomović

International scientific conference Humanism: Culture or Illusion?University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philology

Belgrade, 15th – 16th May 2014

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The presentation

Sophocles’ Antigone and its translations and adaptations: “There is nothing worse than disobedience to authority.”

Hölderlin’s translation of Antigone and its reception: “the work of a madman” or of a genius?

Brecht’s adaptation of the Antigone (e.g. of Hölderlin’s translation): returning home after exile

Translating Brecht’s Antigone: an insurmountable challenge?

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I

SOPHOCLES’ ANTIGONE –

TRANSLATIONS AND

ADAPTIONS

Sophocles

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Sophocles’ Antigone

Sophocles (497/6 – 406/5 B.C.)

Wrote 123 plays

7 have survived in a complete form, among them Antigone

Antigone - one of the Theban plays, together with Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus

First performance on stage 442 B.C. in Athens – a great success

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Sophocles’ Antigone

Mythological plot (Oedipus’s curse etc.); main characters: Antigone, Creon, Ismene;

The focus – not on the historical and political events of the time; the play does point at the dangers of absolute power (tyranny).

Creon: “There is nothing worse than disobedience to authority.”

Timeless relevance: state control –

civil disobedience / civil courage;

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Sophocles’ Antigone – German Translations and

PerformancesMore than 100 different translations into German

(90 between 1760 and 1920);

First published translation: 1636 by Martin Opitz, a Baroque poet;

First performance on stage: 1808 at the Weimar Court Theatre (translation by F. Rochlitz);

First significant performance on stage: 1841 (artistic director Ludwig Tieck, translation by J.C. Donner, music Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy);

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Sophocles’ Antigone – Serbian Translations

1873 Panajot Papakostopulos (1820-1879), a medical doctor;

1922 Miloš N. Đurić (1892-1967), expert in ancient Greek literature, philosophy, ethics etc.

Croatian: Branimir Žganjer (1919-1999)

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Sophocles’ Antigone - Adaptations

Numerous adaptationsin various languages and forms

1664 Jean Racine1917 Walter Hasenclever1942 by Jean Anouilh1947 by Bertot Brecht1949 Carl Orff (opera)1963 Rolf Hochhuth (short story)1996 Mikis Theodorakis (opera) etc.

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II

ANTIGONE TRANSLATION

BY FRIEDRICH HÖLDERLIN

Hölderlin

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Friedrich Hölderin

German romantic poet, 1770-1843; Important contribution to the development of

German Idealism, early influence on Hegel and Schelling;

Great admirer of ancient Greek culture and supporter of the French Revolution;

Important works: epistolary novel Hyperion, tragedy Empedocles, poems;

1805 falling into schizophreniaLittle known during his lifetime and largely

unknown for the rest of the 19th century;Rediscovered in 1913 by Norbert von Hellingrath,

who brought out an edition of Hölderlin’s works;

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Sophocles’ Antigone – Hölderlins Translation into

German1804 “Die Trauerspiele des Sophokles”:

Antigone and Oedipus the King

negative reactions

first performance on stage only in1918 in Zurich

1923 a staging in Darmstadt, 1940 a staging in the Burg Theatre in Vienna

1947 Brecht’s adaptation, premiere 1948 in Chur (Switzerland)

1949 opera by Carl Orff

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The uniqueness of Hölderlin’s translations

Return to natural language and its

powers

attempt to renovate the language

out of its etymological origins:giving the words back

their primary meaning, or at least their ancient

meaning;

I“Graecization”

of German:Was ist's, du scheinst ein rotes

Wort zu färben

IIArchaisation

Arbeit instead of MühsalFrau instead of Herrin

Tugend (← taugen) –

instead of Wert

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Antoine Berman (1942-1991):

“Hölderlin’s translations are part and parcel of his poetic trajectory, of his concept of language, poetry, and that which he himself calls the ‘experience of the foreign’ – to such extent that the customary categories of poetry and translation can only be applied with difficulty in his case.”

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Negative reception

ContemporariesF. Schiller: “the work of a madman”

Modern day criticsW. Benjamin sees a connection between the radicality of Hölderlin’s translations

and his break-down.

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Walter Benjamin

“Hölderlin’s translations in particular are subjects to the enormous danger inherent in all translations: the gates of language thus expended and modified may slam shut and endorse the translator with silence; … in them meaning plunges from abyss to abyss until it threatens to become lost in the bottomless depths of language.”

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Positive reception

ContemporariesBettina von Arnim and Clemens Brentano

Modern day criticsrediscovery → first complete edition →

reevaluation →status of historic translations

“[Hölderlin’s translations] have been recognized as epoch-making in the history of

not only German but Western translation.”(A. Berman)

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III

ADAPTION

BY BERTOLT BRECHT

Bertolt Brecht

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Brecht’s Antigone – key data 1

Written between 30 Nov and 12 Dec1947;

Premiere on15 Feb 1948 in Chur, Switzerland (small provincial theatre);

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Brecht’s Antigone – key data 1I

German premier 18 Nov 1951 in Greiz (GDR), director Otto Ernst Tickardt;

Published in 1949 in Germany as “Antigonemodell 1948” (with photos and sketches by C. Neher);

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Why Hölderin?

According to Brecht:Recommended to Brecht by Caspar Neher;Sentimental reasons - returning to the

German language area:Vermutlich ist es die Rückkehr in den

deutschen Sprachbereich, was mich in das Unternehmen treibt.

◦ Traces of the Swabian dialect (schwäbische Tonfälle)

◦ Reminiscence of grammar school Latin (gymnasiale Lateinkonstruktionen)

◦ Associations with Hegel, Luther etc.

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Why Hölderin?

? Compatibility with the goals of the epic theatre – the audience has always to be aware that it is watching a play

? Contributing to the Verfremdungseffect (“making strange” effect) – detaching the audience from the action of the play and the characters (avoiding empathy → non-Aristotelian drama)

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Hölderlin’s Antigone vs. Brecht’s Antigone

About 20% taken from Sophocles/Hölderlin without alterations, about 30% altered to a certain extent, about 50% added;

Accentuating the relevance to the current situation:

A new prologue in Berlin 1945 – two sisters are afraid to take the body of their brother, a deserted soldier, off the gallows.

Polynices is not a traitor, but a deserter.Thebes is losing instead of winning the war.The defeat is unavoidable, but Creon wants the

hole city to go down with him.

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Reception

Not really a success:

3 performances in Chur and 1 guest performance in Zurich;

Was staged by other German directors only a few times in the decades to come: 1951 Greiz, 1952 Eisenach, 1959 Gera and 1976 Dresden;

“Antigonemodell 1948”: only a couple of hundred copies during the first years;

A radio play (Deutschlandsender,1970): not a success;

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Historical significance - a decisive point in Brecht’s professional life

Brecht’s first play after WW II;

Brecht’s first production in an German-speaking country after WW II;

First collaboration after WW II with the stage and costume designer Caspar Neher, a close associate and a childhood friend;

Helene Weigel’s first performance on stage after 15 years in exile (at the age of 47);

A test for a future production of Mother Courage with Weigel and Neher in Germany;

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Theatrical significance

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Antigone in the context of Brecht’s late work

Brecht’ plays after WW II Adaptation Sophokles – Antigone 1947 Die Tage der Commune 1949 Adaptation Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz – Der Hofmeister 1949 Adaptation Gerhart Hauptmann – Biberpelz und roter Hahn 1950 Adaptation William Shakespeare – Coriolanus 1951–1955 Adaptation Anna Seghers – Der Prozess der Jeanne d’Arc 1952 Turandot oder Der Kongreß der Weißwäscher 1953 Adaptation Molière – Don Juan 1952 Pauken und Trompeten (nach George Farquhar) 1954

• Mainly directing his own plays after WW II;• 11 Jan 1949 “Mother Courage” with H. Weigel and Erich

Engel, Deutsches Theater in East Berlin – a great success;

• Since autumn 1949 his own theater company, the famous Berliner Ensemble

• Brecht wrote only a few plays after WW II:

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IV

TRANSLATING

BRECHT’S ADAPTATION

Danica Ristovski as Brecht’s Antigone 2006

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Complexity of the constellation

Brecht’s Adaption

Only 2/3 Serbian

translations

No reception of Hölderlin’s

translation in Serbia

Only a week awareness of the

German and international reception of Hölderlin’s translation

No equivalents

to many distinctive features of the original,

e.g. the Swabian dialect

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Translating Brecht’s Antigone – an insurmountable challenge?Compromises are inevitable.

Sacrifice some to save some.

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Guidelines for translation

Purpose of translation

Performance on stage→ highest priority: comprehensibility

→ suitable for articulating on stage (actors)

→ suitable for following the play (audience)

→ no footnotes, prefaces, comments etc.

Publishing (printing)→ comprehensibility not necessarily the priority

→ possible footnotes, preface, afterword, comments

The translation

by Miloš Đurić

offers a good basis for theater translation

.

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References

Berman, A. (1992). The Experience of the Foreign. Culture and Translation in Romantic Germany. Translatet by S. Heywaert. New York: State University of New York Press.

Berman, A. (2004). Prevođenje i slovo ili konačište za dalekog. Prevela Aleksandra Mančić. Beograd: Rad.

Hecht, W. (1988). Brechts Antigone des Sophokles. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.

Sophokles Antigone. Übersetzt von Hölderlin. Bearbeitet von Martin Walser. Frankfurt: Insel Verlag.

Klaniczay, G., Werner, M. & Gecser, O. (eds.). Multiple Antiquities – Multiple Modernities. Ancient Histories in 19. Century European Cultures. Frankfurt: Campus.

Sophokles (1981). Antigone. Greichisch/Deutsch. Übersetzt von Norbert Zink. Stuttgart: Reclam.

Sofokle (2005). Antigona. Car Edip. Preveo Miloš N. Đurić. Zemun: JRJ.

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Thank you