On being told that "translation is an impossible thing," Anatole
France replied: "precisely, my friend; the recognition of that
truth is a necessary preliminary to success in art." The task of
"Transplantings" is to add flesh and bones to that familiar quip.
Indeed, Daniel Weissbort notes that Viereck's study represented a
sixty-five year long project. Now, it is finally being brought to
print in its full form, with the completion of the final manuscript
shortly before Viereck's death.
If translation is a special genre in its own right, the
translation of poetry, especially from major foreign languages, is
a special subset of that genre. What emerges in the imperfect act
of translation is an aesthetic dimension that Viereck considers
unique in its own right. "Transplantings" provides new insight into
Viereck as a poet of substance, but more than that as a public
intellectual. He is critical in probing the work of the major
figures such as Stefan George and Georg Heym. To round out this
monumental new look at German poetical history, Viereck reviews
Goethe, Novalis, and Rilke among others.
For Viereck, the difference between the poetical and the
political is critical. The quality of poetry is not measured by
politics, nor can the worth of political action be defined by
commitment to the poetical. The experience of German thought, as
well as French and Italian efforts, reveals a divide that can be
narrowed but hardly bridged by rhetoric. "Transplantings" does not
simplify the task of the reader. Rather it shows without doubt that
the passion of great poetry is part of a national tradition.
Efforts at translation indicate how such poetry becomes part of an
international culture. This is a major work by one of the great
thinkers of the twentieth century. It merits reading, and then,
re-reading.
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