Re: hats off!

I really like Mitchell's translations of just about anything, but I think the
answer to your question depends on what you mean by "accuracy." I was reading
his translation of the Tao te Ching last night and he translated a line to read
something like, "when a ruler follows the Tao, the factories produce trucks.
When a ruler ignores the Tao, the cites stockpile warheads."

Obviously trucks and warheads weren't known when the Tao was written, so his
translation isn't literally accurate, but it's probably more meaningful to a
20th/21st century reader than a literal translation would have been.

He probably didn't feel he needed to take these kinds of liberties with Rilke's
German, but I can't say for sure.

Jim

JennyVV@aol.com wrote:

> I'm so sorry that, after weeks of lurking, I'm introducing myself with a
> question that's not directly related to Salinger, but I can't help it; you
> people seem to be in the know. I've only recently found Rilke and I've been
> getting all of my translations from Stephen Mitchell. Do you Rilke readers
> out there think Mitchell is true to the original, or do you recommend someone
> else?
> Thank you,
> Jennifer
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Received on Sat Sep 28 09:52:13 2002