Christian Morgenstern and Henrik Ibsen (an episode in the history of literary translation)

Abstract

This article discusses the history of creative contacts between the great Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen and the German poet Christian Morgenstern (1871–1914). Christian Morgenstern’s life was short and marred by physical suffering, but fantastically full and diverse in creative terms. A significant part of Christian Morgenstern’s lyrical and epistolary legacy was published only after his death thanks to the efforts of his wife and friends. Christian Morgenstern’s translations of Henrik Ibsen’s works date from the late 19th century, when the new Solomon Fischer’s publishing house (S. Fischer Verlag) in Berlin decided to publish the complete works of Ibsen in a translation into a German language that would be worthy of the original language. The publishing house turned to a young and at the time still little known poet who, being in love with Scandinavian literature and with Henrik Ibsen, set to work with great enthusiasm, settled in a family boarding house near Christiania, in a short time learned Norwegian, consulted and corresponded with Ibsen several times and as a result created translations for his plays, the German of which was delighted and earned the high praise of the playwright. An authorized edition of the translations was printed in Germany between 1898 and 1904 and is now a bibliographic rarity. However, many of Ibsen’s works are still published in Germany in the translation of Christian Morgenstern, known primarily as an unsurpassed master of poetic miniatures in a unique style of lyrical humor.