kiki1982
06-28-2011, 07:20 AM
Now, I am translating a book and there is this thing that is bugging me. I have heard it somewhere, it seems to ring a bell, but I can't put my finger on it. It seems to have some Werther's Sorrows connotation, but I think it must have been taken from somewhere almost literally apart from Goete's work, though I can't find it and I have been Googling for hours.
"There he lies. Full of ideals he entered life. His heart dared to covet unlimited delight and the highest honour. Still he did not get further than the lot of a miserable player/gambler and contented himself with the caresses of a woman of easy virtue..."
Now, the writer is Dutch author Emants, he published his book in 1878, so anything before 1878 could pass. He was a well read man and read books and poetry in French and German. I don't think he knew English, though, but he can have read something in translation, both French and German. He was a friend of Turgenev and I think based a part of his last story in Monaco on the latter's Smoke (come to think of it, maybe more than I think). He was also an admirer of Zola. He also seems to quote by heart as he sometimes misquotes :rolleyes:. So the passage could be a misquote from something he heard or read in another language or read in translation somewhere. Maybe he translated it in his head or something.
If anyone knows, I would be much obliged. :)
"There he lies. Full of ideals he entered life. His heart dared to covet unlimited delight and the highest honour. Still he did not get further than the lot of a miserable player/gambler and contented himself with the caresses of a woman of easy virtue..."
Now, the writer is Dutch author Emants, he published his book in 1878, so anything before 1878 could pass. He was a well read man and read books and poetry in French and German. I don't think he knew English, though, but he can have read something in translation, both French and German. He was a friend of Turgenev and I think based a part of his last story in Monaco on the latter's Smoke (come to think of it, maybe more than I think). He was also an admirer of Zola. He also seems to quote by heart as he sometimes misquotes :rolleyes:. So the passage could be a misquote from something he heard or read in another language or read in translation somewhere. Maybe he translated it in his head or something.
If anyone knows, I would be much obliged. :)