Publication
Hesperus Press (2010), Paperback, 72 pages
Physical description
72 p.; 8 inches
ISBN
1843911795 / 9781843911791
Language
Collections
Description
In "The Madwoman on a Pilgrimage," a man's passion for a woman is shared--rather inconveniently--by his son, and both declare themselves her suitors. The woman struggles to escape their pursuits by implying a rather indelicate state of affairs. Her ploy works, and the resultant chaos and confusion for father and son create a brilliantly comic ending. Also included are "Who is the Betrayer?" in which a man's nocturnal monologues reveal rather more than he would wish, and a third tale where erotic infidelity and inadvertent revelation are shown to go hand in hand.
Genres
User reviews
LibraryThing member Bengan
Praise to Hesperus Classics for publishing these old classics and thus making them available to new readers. Praise also to the translators Jonathan Katz and Andrew Piper who have managed to find the right stile, which I recognise from the original German text that I read in the early sixties.
The
The
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three short stories in this book are written in the early nineteenth century so it is no surprise that they are old fashioned. Rereading them to day is not a great experience but I found myself reading them with a smile on my lips. I suppose that means they have something that attracts people living in the world of today. Show Less
LibraryThing member sneuper
I've read Goethe in German and in Dutch, but this was the first time in English. It was a pleasant surprise: the translators have been able to capture the typical way of Goethe's writing: without using many words creating the right atmosphere for the stories he wants to tell.
As always with
It's hard to choose which story is the best of the three. After a first read, it would be "Who is the traitor?", but my opinion might change after reading this book again - which I surely will.
As always with
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publications from the Hesperus Press, this copy comes with a foreword and an introduction that puts the writer and the stories in a historical perspective. This makes the appreciation even higher: besides enjoying the stories because they are so well written, you grow in understanding the objectives Goethe had when writing these.It's hard to choose which story is the best of the three. After a first read, it would be "Who is the traitor?", but my opinion might change after reading this book again - which I surely will.
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LibraryThing member greeniezona
Pleasantly surprised by The Sorrows of Young Werther, I was eager to move on and also explore this collection of (the inside cover calls them novellas? But they seem too short. Novellettes?) Only to find what expectations had held me back from reading Goethe in the first place 00 the passage of
The book itself is lovely enough with its French flaps that I am halfway inclined to keep it, but I think it is time to release this book to the wild.
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time and changing conventions made some allusions baffling to the point of utter opaqueness, dry narration, etc. For instance, I missed so much in the title story that it was largely incomprehensible to me. The last story, "Not too far!" was fine, just not particularly exciting. The story I enjoyed the most was "Who is the Traitor?" which was a bit Austen-like with its familial obligations meets mis-matched love and well-intentioned secrets.The book itself is lovely enough with its French flaps that I am halfway inclined to keep it, but I think it is time to release this book to the wild.
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LibraryThing member melomaan
This book contains three short stories: The Madwoman on a Pilgrimage, Who is the Traitor? and Not Too Far. It is well translated by Jonathan Katz and Andrew Piper. They managed to find the right words for keeping the atmosphere of the original writing from Goethe from the early 19th century. The
I loved to read this book and couldn't stop 'till I finished it. I hope this publisher decide to translate and publish more of Goethe's work, especially his short stories.
Well done!
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foreword of Lewis Crofts tells about the history of and the similarity between the three stories. I loved to read this book and couldn't stop 'till I finished it. I hope this publisher decide to translate and publish more of Goethe's work, especially his short stories.
Well done!
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LibraryThing member SusieBookworm
The three stories in this short book (excerpted from one of the Wilhelm Meister novels) were okay. They're definitely not my favorites of the little Goethe that I've read, but they are worth reading. The middle story, in particular, is a humorous love story that reminded me a bit of A Midsummer
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Night's Dream, while the two others are more pessimistic views of the trials of love and relationships. Show Less
LibraryThing member HonourableHusband
An intriguing idea lies behind this slim volume. Goethe's last novel, Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre, is a picaresque in which father and son wander for a year, never staying more than three days in a single spot. In the course of it, they hear a number of tales—fables, parables, gossip, call them
Publisher Hesperus felt it a useful exercise to extract these tales from their context, the better to look at themes which exercised Goethe in his later years and private writings. Both translator Andrew Piper in his introduction, and forewordist Lewis Crofts, argue that these themes centre on sexual transgression and betrayal. Madwoman, the title piece of this collection, had caused a scandal in Goethe's small circle of Weimar pals, when it was circulated among them in its original French.
Nice idea, but two elements work against us.
First, no matter how much allowance we make for the context of his era, Goethe brings a bourgeois attitude to affairs of the heart. He talks of passion, but his characters behave as though they walked out of Jane Austen.
And second, even though these tales may have been stand-alone stories in Goethe's head or notebooks, they very much pine for the context which his original book provided. Forewords and introductions occupy a fifth of the space, seeking to provide the context which the concept of the publication deliberately dispensed with. Somehow, the tales seem too short; they need to be made into fully rounded stories. In the midst of a larger work, this structural problem would grate less.
Still, the tales themselves are intriguing—and like Austen, show how characters channel their emotions through the stifliing maze of bourgeois propriety, with varying degrees of success.
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what you like. Publisher Hesperus felt it a useful exercise to extract these tales from their context, the better to look at themes which exercised Goethe in his later years and private writings. Both translator Andrew Piper in his introduction, and forewordist Lewis Crofts, argue that these themes centre on sexual transgression and betrayal. Madwoman, the title piece of this collection, had caused a scandal in Goethe's small circle of Weimar pals, when it was circulated among them in its original French.
Nice idea, but two elements work against us.
First, no matter how much allowance we make for the context of his era, Goethe brings a bourgeois attitude to affairs of the heart. He talks of passion, but his characters behave as though they walked out of Jane Austen.
And second, even though these tales may have been stand-alone stories in Goethe's head or notebooks, they very much pine for the context which his original book provided. Forewords and introductions occupy a fifth of the space, seeking to provide the context which the concept of the publication deliberately dispensed with. Somehow, the tales seem too short; they need to be made into fully rounded stories. In the midst of a larger work, this structural problem would grate less.
Still, the tales themselves are intriguing—and like Austen, show how characters channel their emotions through the stifliing maze of bourgeois propriety, with varying degrees of success.
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LibraryThing member Koen1
The Madwoman on a Pilgrimage bevat drie korte verhalen van Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Het zijn verhalen uit zijn Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre.
Ik kreeg het boek via de Early Reviewersservice van Librarything.
Gegroepeerd rond het centrale thema “verraad” is het wel een aardig idee
Het eerste verhaal vond ik nog het meest veelbelovend. Een onbekende, eenzame vrouw komt op het pad van de Herr von Revanne die zich net aan het verpozen is op zijn land. Dat geeft direct een stukje “vintage” Goethe:
A few years ago he was strolling along the wall that accompanies the main road of his park when he decided to rest in a delightful little grove, a favourite spot of repose for travellers. The trees’ lofty branches loomed over young thickets, as guests found shelter from wind and sun and a translucent spring directed its water over roots, rocks and grass. The wanderer carried with him a book and musket as usual…A beautiful morning was well under way when a woman, charming and youthful, strode towards him.
Een prachtig vertrekpunt voor een verhaal. Dame gaat mee, blijft zelfs enkele jaren en wordt het hof gemaakt door vader en zoon. Toch worden de hoofdpersonen geen echte karakters, het verhaal is daarvoor te kort.
Ook de twee andere verhalen lijden aan dat euvel. Het verhaal “Who is the Traitor?” is het langst en is wat levendiger dan de andere twee. Een man wil niet trouwen met de vrouw die zijn vader voor hem uit heeft gekozen en hij laat hier iets teveel over los in zijn nachtelijke monologen:
….he could restrain himself from bursting out; but he did indeed do so as soon as he was alone. ‘I contained myself!’ he exclaimed. ‘I must not grieve my good father with such bewilderment. I controlled myself, for in this worthy family friend I see the representative of both fathers. It is to him I will speak, to him I will reveal everything…I must have relief from this anguish!’
Grote emoties in een kort verhaal. Ook in het laatste verhaal “Not too Far!” dreigen grote emoties een verjaardagsfeest te overschaduwen. De laatste zin van dit verhaal is wel mooi en geeft nog even het centrale thema weer:
But the damage was done; they were forced to sit together again in that carriage, and scarcely even in Hell itself could souls so hateful to one another be so closely crammed together – the betrayed with their own betrayers.
Hier spreekt nog even de auteur van Faust. Ik heb overigens Goethe nog nooit in het Engels gelezen maar dat maakte hier eigenlijk niet uit en dat lijkt me een compliment voor de vertalers.
Ik kreeg het boek via de Early Reviewersservice van Librarything.
Gegroepeerd rond het centrale thema “verraad” is het wel een aardig idee
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van uitgeverij Hesperus om ze zo uit te geven, compleet voorzien van voorwoord, introductie en mini-biografie maar het geheel is toch wat te mager om grote indruk te maken.Het eerste verhaal vond ik nog het meest veelbelovend. Een onbekende, eenzame vrouw komt op het pad van de Herr von Revanne die zich net aan het verpozen is op zijn land. Dat geeft direct een stukje “vintage” Goethe:
A few years ago he was strolling along the wall that accompanies the main road of his park when he decided to rest in a delightful little grove, a favourite spot of repose for travellers. The trees’ lofty branches loomed over young thickets, as guests found shelter from wind and sun and a translucent spring directed its water over roots, rocks and grass. The wanderer carried with him a book and musket as usual…A beautiful morning was well under way when a woman, charming and youthful, strode towards him.
Een prachtig vertrekpunt voor een verhaal. Dame gaat mee, blijft zelfs enkele jaren en wordt het hof gemaakt door vader en zoon. Toch worden de hoofdpersonen geen echte karakters, het verhaal is daarvoor te kort.
Ook de twee andere verhalen lijden aan dat euvel. Het verhaal “Who is the Traitor?” is het langst en is wat levendiger dan de andere twee. Een man wil niet trouwen met de vrouw die zijn vader voor hem uit heeft gekozen en hij laat hier iets teveel over los in zijn nachtelijke monologen:
….he could restrain himself from bursting out; but he did indeed do so as soon as he was alone. ‘I contained myself!’ he exclaimed. ‘I must not grieve my good father with such bewilderment. I controlled myself, for in this worthy family friend I see the representative of both fathers. It is to him I will speak, to him I will reveal everything…I must have relief from this anguish!’
Grote emoties in een kort verhaal. Ook in het laatste verhaal “Not too Far!” dreigen grote emoties een verjaardagsfeest te overschaduwen. De laatste zin van dit verhaal is wel mooi en geeft nog even het centrale thema weer:
But the damage was done; they were forced to sit together again in that carriage, and scarcely even in Hell itself could souls so hateful to one another be so closely crammed together – the betrayed with their own betrayers.
Hier spreekt nog even de auteur van Faust. Ik heb overigens Goethe nog nooit in het Engels gelezen maar dat maakte hier eigenlijk niet uit en dat lijkt me een compliment voor de vertalers.
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LibraryThing member frizero
Hesperus Classics edition of Goethe's THE MADWOMAN ON A PILGRIMAGE is a fine example of a simple though excellent edition of a classic book: the translation, as well as the cover itself, is contemporary but not too distant from the spirit of Goethe's time. The text is clear, with a perfect choice
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of words and the same effects the original probably had in its first readers. For me it was a great surprise to discover a Goethe I had never read before - I was only familiar to some of his plays. I strongly recommend this edition. Show Less
LibraryThing member malgerilubis
Well, it is Goethe. Maybe at the moment I feel more confortable with contemporary literature, including young adults literature, but this English translation was very good and the three novels still amusing.