Translation Trashbin - 48. Ich bin glücklich . . . . .

Wow!  The elegance of the wording -- exquisite.  I am unable to judge the original, but the translation moves me greatly.

It reminds me of a story I read many years ago where one party was much more in love than the second.  Poignant, powerful, poetic.

1 hour ago, ReaderPaul said:

Wow!  The elegance of the wording -- exquisite.  I am unable to judge the original, but the translation moves me greatly.

It reminds me of a story I read many years ago where one party was much more in love than the second.  Poignant, powerful, poetic.

Thank you, ReaderPaul! I've collected about two dozen Schwabe poems to translate as a collection. What's hard for me to believe is a poet of her quality never received a "collected works" or "complete works" reprint of her verse, even though she lived into the 1950s.

It could be that what was totally celebrated as Lesbian art in 1907 was regarded as "unprintable" by the '50s. That's sad, but she certainly merits a modern edition of her poetry :)   

6 hours ago, AC Benus said:

It could be that what was totally celebrated as Lesbian art in 1907 was regarded as "unprintable" by the '50s. That's sad, but she certainly merits a modern edition of her poetry :)   

I entirely agree she merits a modern collection today, at least in the basis of this sample.  The second and third stanzas of what you translated bewitched me. 

This poetry is like a stiletto dagger, it’s power enters you without you feeling anything, you carry on reading without knowing that you are in danger, and then its full force hits you. Memories, especially, come back to taunt or torture you and then those two most  terrible words of nostalgia kick in, if only…..

Danke

11 hours ago, Gary L said:

This poetry is like a stiletto dagger, it’s power enters you without you feeling anything, you carry on reading without knowing that you are in danger, and then its full force hits you. Memories, especially, come back to taunt or torture you and then those two most  terrible words of nostalgia kick in, if only…..

Danke

 

GaryL, I think Toni Schwabe would love your stiletto reference. The further I get into translating the 25 or so of her poems I selected for a collection, the more I'm appreciating the amazing craft she wielded in creating these works of art. They do sink in slowly, but once in, move swiftly through the blood.

Thanks again for reading and leaving your thoughts. They're greatly appreciated

On 8/20/2023 at 7:29 PM, Parker Owens said:

I entirely agree she merits a modern collection today, at least in the basis of this sample.  The second and third stanzas of what you translated bewitched me. 

Thank you, Parker. Even in working with these poems of Toni Schwabe's I'm sometimes struck by the date of publication. Nothing of her work says "1907", "1909" or "1912" to me -- she's utterly timeless in her poetic skill. She's timeless in writing about things a million generations of people present, past and future can immediately relate to, because they've lived them themselves