Annotated translations by Baron Ludwig Holberg of three one-act plays: "The Christmas Party": "The Transformed Bridegroom": and "The Arabian Powder" / with an introductory essay on Holberg’s life and his contributions to drama

117 Pages·05.603 MB·English

by  Holberg, Ludwig Baron

ANNOTATED TRAIT SLAT I OHS OF THREE ONE-ACT PLAYS
BY BAR01T'LUDVIG HOLBEKQ,
THE CHRISTMAS PARTY. THE TRANSFORMED BRIDEGROOM.
AND THE ARABIAN POWDER,..
WITH AIT INTRODUCTORY ESSAY ON HOLBERG’S LIFE
AND HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO DRAMA'
A Thesis
Presented to
the Faculty of the Department of Drama
The U niversity of Southern C alifornia
In P a rtia l Fulfillm ent
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts
by
.
Francis Andersen,
June 1950
UMI Number: EP55123
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This thesis, written by
..........................ERAJICXa.-M DmSE!f..............................
under the guidance of his.... Faculty Committee,
and approved by all its members, has been
presented to and accepted by the Council on
Graduate Study and Research in partial fulfill­
ment of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OP ARTS ....................
H .J.D euel,Jr.
...........................................................Dean...................
Faculty Committee
TABLE OP CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE PROBLEM, THE TRANSLATOR’S POINT OP VIEW
AND THE REVIEW OP PREVIOUS TRANSLATIONS . . 1
The problem .............................................. i
Statement of problem ............................................... 1
Importance of study . . . . . . . 1
T ran sla to r’s point of view . . . . . 2
Problems of tra n sla tio n . . . . . . 2
Texts used . . . . . . . . . . 3
Q ualificat ions of the tra n s la to r . . . 3
Review of previous tra n sla tio n s . . . . 3
Weber’s tra n sla tio n . . . . . . . 4
W estergaard and Ruud’s tra n sla tio n . . 4
Hime’s tra n sla tio n ............................................... 4
Campbell and Schenck’s tra n sla tio n . • 5
Payne’s tra n sla tio n ....................................... • 6
A lexander’s tra n sla tio n . . . . . . 6
II. HOLBERG'S LIPE AND CONTRIBUTION TO DRAMA . 7
B irth and education ................................................. 7
E arly w ritin g s 8
U niversity appointment ............................................... 9
Experiments in s a tire .............................................. 10
Holberg as playw right ............................................... 11
. . . . 13
Holberg’s la s t years ...............................
iii
CHAPTER PAGE
Hol'berg’s contributions to drama . . . . 13
I I I . THE CHRISTMAS PA R T Y ...............................................' . . 17
IV. THE TRANSFORMED BRIDEGROOM . . . . . . 46
V. THE ARAB I AH PO W D E R ................................................................. 70
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................... 105
APPENDIX.................................................................................... 108
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM, THE TRANSLATOR’S POINT OP VIEW
AND THE REVIEW OP PREVIOUS TRANSLATIONS
I . THE PROBLEM
Statement of the -problem* It was the purpose of
th is study (l) to tra n s la te three of Ludvig Holberg’s one-
act comedies from the E ighteenth Century Danish in which
they were o rig in a lly w ritte n , into present day collo q uial
E nglish; (2) to annotate these tra n sla tio n s so as to c la rify
h is to ric a l references they might contain or to explain ob­
scure passages; (3) to present b rie fly the p rin cip al events
in H olberg!s l if e ; and (4) to trace the nature and extent
of h is contribution to drama.
Importance of the stud y . In Denmark the plays of
Holberg have enjoyed over two hundred years of continual
p o p u larity . In th at country, Holberg is recognized not
only as the Pather of the Danish Drama but also as the
Father of Modern Danish L ite ra tu re . His plays have been
e n th u sia stic a lly received in a l l the Scandinavian countries
and in Germany and Prance as w ell. However, as explained
below, only a few of H olberg’s plays have been tra n sla te d
into E nglish. Therefore, the author f e lt th at a tra n s la ­
tio n of th ree one-act plays from the Holberg rep ertory
might c o n stitu te a worthwhile contribution to students of
the drama or others in te re ste d in Holberg*s w ritin gs and un­
able to read them in the o rig in a l Danish. It was also f e lt
th at a b rie f sketch of Holberg’s l if e and an ap p raisal of
h is worth as a dram atist might serve as convenient references
for the reader of the present study, and th at in addition
they might supply background m aterial fo r a more complete
appreciation of the follow ing tra n s la tio n s .
I I . THE TRANSLATOR'S POIHT OF VIEW
Problems of tr a n s la tio n . The Danish language has
n a tu ra lly undergone changes since the early part of the
E ighteenth Century, when Holberg wrote h is plays. For th is
reason a question arose in the mind of the tra n s la to r as to
whether the plays should be tra n sla te d into the English of
the E ighteenth C entury,— the English of such w riters as
Addison, S teele, Etherege and Congreve,--or whether they
should be rendered into present day co llo q u ial E nglish.
The l a t t e r was decided upon, since it was f e lt th at the
plays would be more e a sily understood and hence more valu­
able to the contemporary th eatre if they were in present-
day E nglish. However, the tra n s la to r sought to avoid the
use of words d is tin c tly modern in flav o r and whenever
possible used words and expressions th a t are c h a ra c te ristic
of both early E ighteenth Century and contemporary E nglish.
Texts used * The tra n s la to r had access to three
d iffe re n t ed itio n s of H olberg’s plays, namely those of
1 2 3
Liebenberg. Str^m, and B rix. Of these e d itio n s, th at of
Brix was f e lt to be the most scholarly and hence the most
r e lia b le . In case of disputed passages, the reading of the
B rix tex t was follow ed.
Q.ualif icatio n s of the tra n s la to r . The tra n s la to r
f e lt th at he was q u a lifie d to undertake the present work
since he is equally flu en t in both English and Danish,
having spent almost h is e n tire youth in Denmark. He is
also fam iliar w ith Danish culture and has a considerable
knowledge of Danish lite ra tu r e and h isto ry .
I I I . REVIEW OP PREVIOUS TRANSLATIONS
Holberg wrote a to ta l of th irty -fo u r play s. Of th is
number only nine have been tra n sla te d into English, so far
as the in v estig ato r was able to determ ine.
1 Ludvig Holberg, Comedier (P. L. Liebenberg, e d ito r,
Kj^benhavn: Publisher not lis te d , 1869), Y ol. I, 623 pp.,
Vol. II, 638 pp., Yol. I l l , 652 pp.
2 ..Ludvig Holberg, Comoedier (Torvald Str/m . e d ito r,
K^benhavn: M artius Truelsens Porlag og Tryk, 1899), 518 pp.
3 Ludvig Holberg, Comoedier (Dr. Hans Brix, e d ito r,
Kj/benhavn: Gyldendalske Boghandel, 1922), 491 pp.
Weber ’s tra n s la t io n. In 1884» on the b icentenn ial
of H olberg’s b irth , T. Weber tra n s la te d The Blue- Aaron
Statesman (Den P o litisk e Kandestifeer)4 and Erasmus Montanus
5
or Rasmus Berg into E nglish. However, Weber’s knowledge of
English was not extensive and hence h is tra n sla tio n s are
very in fe rio r and are of questionable value.
W estergaard and Ruud’s tr a n s la tio n . In 1906, Jeppe
of the H ill or The Transformed Peasant was tra n sla te d by
Waldemar V/estergaard and Martin B. Ruud at the U niversity of
Worth Dakota. Their tra n sla tio n is adequate if not out­
standing.
Hime * s tr a n s la tio n . L ieutenant-C olonel H. W. L. Hime
of the Royal A rtille ry (B ritish ) tra n sla te d three plays,
Henry and Pern i l i a , Bombastes Thunderton (P iderick Menschen-
skraek) and S catterb rain s (Den S t u n d e s l i f s e into E nglish.
4 Ludvig Holberg, The Blue-Apron Statesman (T. Weber,
tra n s la to r. Copenhagen; E. Plensborg, 1885J ,”64 pp.
5 Ludvig Holberg, Erasmus Montanus or Rasmus Berg
(T. Weber, tr a n s la to r . Copenhagen; J. H. Schultz, 1884),
104 pp.
6 Ludvig Holberg, Jeppe of the H ill (Waldemar C.
W estergaard and M artin B. Ruud, tr a n s la to rs . Grand Eorks;
Mimer Club of the U niversity of Uorth Dakota, 1906), 51 pp.
7 Ludvig Holberg, Three Comedies (Lieut-Colonel H. W.
L. Hime, tra n s la to r. London; Longmans, Green and Co.,
1912), 208 pp.
It is the opinion of the in v estig ato r th at Hime’s tra n s­
la tio n s are of in fe rio r q u a lity . Too often he avoids a
l i t e r a l tra n sla tio n when such would have been preferable
to h is own free re n d itio n . He a r b itr a r ily chooses to con­
sid er D iderick Menschenskraek as a th re e -a c t play although
Holberg sp e c ific a lly e n title d it "a play in one-act."
Furthermore, Himet s statem ent in the preface to the edition
th at "Holberg is seldom coarse,"® ra is e s considerable
doubt as to h is fa m ilia rity w ith the Danish playw right.
Campbell and Schenck* s tr a n s la ti on. Three of
Holberg’s plays, Jeppe of the H ill (Jeppe paa B.ierget),
The P o litic a l Tinker (Den P o litisk e Kandestifber) and
9
Erasmus Montanus, tra n sla te d by Oscar James Campbell and
Frederic Schenck were f i r s t p rin ted in 1914. These tra n s­
la tio n s are e x c e lle n t. Campbell is an outstanding au th o rity
on H olbergiana, having w ritten The Comedies of Holberg.
the d e fin itiv e work in English on the Danish playw right.
Q Ib id .. p. X.
9 Ludvig Holberg, Comedies (Oscar James Campbell, Jr.
and Frederic Schenck, tra n s la to rs . Hew York: The American-
Scandinavian Foundation, 1914), 178 pp.
10 Oscar James Campbell, J r ., The Comedies,of Holberg
(Harvard Studies in Comparative L ite ra tu re , Yol.*~III.
Cambridge: Harvard U niversity Press, 1914), 363 pp.