THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE
AN ACADEMIC GUIDE to GOETHE'S "PROMETHEUS"
and NERUDA'S "PUEDO ESCRIBIR"
in TRANSLATION
How does translation affect critical interpretations of a piece of literature? Click through the slideshow to compare translated versions of "Prometheus."
SELECTED VERSIONS OF THE POEM
This is Goethe's original manuscript. If you were a German-speaking scholar trying to find a work that would accurately represent the author's intention, you wouldn't need to look anywhere else. The only problem is, academics who do not speak German cannot read it.
It's hard to rival the convenience of a German version next to the translated version. Still, we don't know if the translation expresses the meaning of the original as closely as possible. Not to mention the punctuation and line spacing of the German version on the left differs from other versions. Find the full version of this translation of the poem at: http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=6556
Bowring's translations of Goethe's poetry can be found in his anthology 'The poems of Goethe: tr. in the original metres.'
This is Goethe's original manuscript. If you were a German-speaking scholar trying to find a work that would accurately represent the author's intention, you wouldn't need to look anywhere else. The only problem is, academics who do not speak German cannot read it.