Table Of ContentANNOTATED TRAIT SLAT I OHS OF THREE ONE-ACT PLAYS
BY BAR01T'LUDVIG HOLBEKQ,
THE CHRISTMAS PARTY. THE TRANSFORMED BRIDEGROOM.
AND THE ARABIAN POWDER,..
WITH AIT INTRODUCTORY ESSAY ON HOLBERG’S LIFE
AND HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO DRAMA'
A Thesis
Presented to
the Faculty of the Department of Drama
The U niversity of Southern C alifornia
In P a rtia l Fulfillm ent
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts
by
.
Francis Andersen,
June 1950
UMI Number: EP55123
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This thesis, written by
..........................ERAJICXa.-M DmSE!f..............................
under the guidance of his.... Faculty Committee,
and approved by all its members, has been
presented to and accepted by the Council on
Graduate Study and Research in partial fulfill
ment of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OP ARTS ....................
H .J.D euel,Jr.
...........................................................Dean...................
Faculty Committee
TABLE OP CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE PROBLEM, THE TRANSLATOR’S POINT OP VIEW
AND THE REVIEW OP PREVIOUS TRANSLATIONS . . 1
The problem .............................................. i
Statement of problem ............................................... 1
Importance of study . . . . . . . 1
T ran sla to r’s point of view . . . . . 2
Problems of tra n sla tio n . . . . . . 2
Texts used . . . . . . . . . . 3
Q ualificat ions of the tra n s la to r . . . 3
Review of previous tra n sla tio n s . . . . 3
Weber’s tra n sla tio n . . . . . . . 4
W estergaard and Ruud’s tra n sla tio n . . 4
Hime’s tra n sla tio n ............................................... 4
Campbell and Schenck’s tra n sla tio n . • 5
Payne’s tra n sla tio n ....................................... • 6
A lexander’s tra n sla tio n . . . . . . 6
II. HOLBERG'S LIPE AND CONTRIBUTION TO DRAMA . 7
B irth and education ................................................. 7
E arly w ritin g s 8
U niversity appointment ............................................... 9
Experiments in s a tire .............................................. 10
Holberg as playw right ............................................... 11
. . . . 13
Holberg’s la s t years ...............................
iii
CHAPTER PAGE
Hol'berg’s contributions to drama . . . . 13
I I I . THE CHRISTMAS PA R T Y ...............................................' . . 17
IV. THE TRANSFORMED BRIDEGROOM . . . . . . 46
V. THE ARAB I AH PO W D E R ................................................................. 70
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................... 105
APPENDIX.................................................................................... 108
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM, THE TRANSLATOR’S POINT OP VIEW
AND THE REVIEW OP PREVIOUS TRANSLATIONS
I . THE PROBLEM
Statement of the -problem* It was the purpose of
th is study (l) to tra n s la te three of Ludvig Holberg’s one-
act comedies from the E ighteenth Century Danish in which
they were o rig in a lly w ritte n , into present day collo q uial
E nglish; (2) to annotate these tra n sla tio n s so as to c la rify
h is to ric a l references they might contain or to explain ob
scure passages; (3) to present b rie fly the p rin cip al events
in H olberg!s l if e ; and (4) to trace the nature and extent
of h is contribution to drama.
Importance of the stud y . In Denmark the plays of
Holberg have enjoyed over two hundred years of continual
p o p u larity . In th at country, Holberg is recognized not
only as the Pather of the Danish Drama but also as the
Father of Modern Danish L ite ra tu re . His plays have been
e n th u sia stic a lly received in a l l the Scandinavian countries
and in Germany and Prance as w ell. However, as explained
below, only a few of H olberg’s plays have been tra n sla te d
into E nglish. Therefore, the author f e lt th at a tra n s la
tio n of th ree one-act plays from the Holberg rep ertory
might c o n stitu te a worthwhile contribution to students of
the drama or others in te re ste d in Holberg*s w ritin gs and un
able to read them in the o rig in a l Danish. It was also f e lt
th at a b rie f sketch of Holberg’s l if e and an ap p raisal of
h is worth as a dram atist might serve as convenient references
for the reader of the present study, and th at in addition
they might supply background m aterial fo r a more complete
appreciation of the follow ing tra n s la tio n s .
I I . THE TRANSLATOR'S POIHT OF VIEW
Problems of tr a n s la tio n . The Danish language has
n a tu ra lly undergone changes since the early part of the
E ighteenth Century, when Holberg wrote h is plays. For th is
reason a question arose in the mind of the tra n s la to r as to
whether the plays should be tra n sla te d into the English of
the E ighteenth C entury,— the English of such w riters as
Addison, S teele, Etherege and Congreve,--or whether they
should be rendered into present day co llo q u ial E nglish.
The l a t t e r was decided upon, since it was f e lt th at the
plays would be more e a sily understood and hence more valu
able to the contemporary th eatre if they were in present-
day E nglish. However, the tra n s la to r sought to avoid the
use of words d is tin c tly modern in flav o r and whenever
possible used words and expressions th a t are c h a ra c te ristic
of both early E ighteenth Century and contemporary E nglish.
Texts used * The tra n s la to r had access to three
d iffe re n t ed itio n s of H olberg’s plays, namely those of
1 2 3
Liebenberg. Str^m, and B rix. Of these e d itio n s, th at of
Brix was f e lt to be the most scholarly and hence the most
r e lia b le . In case of disputed passages, the reading of the
B rix tex t was follow ed.
Q.ualif icatio n s of the tra n s la to r . The tra n s la to r
f e lt th at he was q u a lifie d to undertake the present work
since he is equally flu en t in both English and Danish,
having spent almost h is e n tire youth in Denmark. He is
also fam iliar w ith Danish culture and has a considerable
knowledge of Danish lite ra tu r e and h isto ry .
I I I . REVIEW OP PREVIOUS TRANSLATIONS
Holberg wrote a to ta l of th irty -fo u r play s. Of th is
number only nine have been tra n sla te d into English, so far
as the in v estig ato r was able to determ ine.
1 Ludvig Holberg, Comedier (P. L. Liebenberg, e d ito r,
Kj^benhavn: Publisher not lis te d , 1869), Y ol. I, 623 pp.,
Vol. II, 638 pp., Yol. I l l , 652 pp.
2 ..Ludvig Holberg, Comoedier (Torvald Str/m . e d ito r,
K^benhavn: M artius Truelsens Porlag og Tryk, 1899), 518 pp.
3 Ludvig Holberg, Comoedier (Dr. Hans Brix, e d ito r,
Kj/benhavn: Gyldendalske Boghandel, 1922), 491 pp.
Weber ’s tra n s la t io n. In 1884» on the b icentenn ial
of H olberg’s b irth , T. Weber tra n s la te d The Blue- Aaron
Statesman (Den P o litisk e Kandestifeer)4 and Erasmus Montanus
5
or Rasmus Berg into E nglish. However, Weber’s knowledge of
English was not extensive and hence h is tra n sla tio n s are
very in fe rio r and are of questionable value.
W estergaard and Ruud’s tr a n s la tio n . In 1906, Jeppe
of the H ill or The Transformed Peasant was tra n sla te d by
Waldemar V/estergaard and Martin B. Ruud at the U niversity of
Worth Dakota. Their tra n sla tio n is adequate if not out
standing.
Hime * s tr a n s la tio n . L ieutenant-C olonel H. W. L. Hime
of the Royal A rtille ry (B ritish ) tra n sla te d three plays,
Henry and Pern i l i a , Bombastes Thunderton (P iderick Menschen-
skraek) and S catterb rain s (Den S t u n d e s l i f s e into E nglish.
4 Ludvig Holberg, The Blue-Apron Statesman (T. Weber,
tra n s la to r. Copenhagen; E. Plensborg, 1885J ,”64 pp.
5 Ludvig Holberg, Erasmus Montanus or Rasmus Berg
(T. Weber, tr a n s la to r . Copenhagen; J. H. Schultz, 1884),
104 pp.
6 Ludvig Holberg, Jeppe of the H ill (Waldemar C.
W estergaard and M artin B. Ruud, tr a n s la to rs . Grand Eorks;
Mimer Club of the U niversity of Uorth Dakota, 1906), 51 pp.
7 Ludvig Holberg, Three Comedies (Lieut-Colonel H. W.
L. Hime, tra n s la to r. London; Longmans, Green and Co.,
1912), 208 pp.
It is the opinion of the in v estig ato r th at Hime’s tra n s
la tio n s are of in fe rio r q u a lity . Too often he avoids a
l i t e r a l tra n sla tio n when such would have been preferable
to h is own free re n d itio n . He a r b itr a r ily chooses to con
sid er D iderick Menschenskraek as a th re e -a c t play although
Holberg sp e c ific a lly e n title d it "a play in one-act."
Furthermore, Himet s statem ent in the preface to the edition
th at "Holberg is seldom coarse,"® ra is e s considerable
doubt as to h is fa m ilia rity w ith the Danish playw right.
Campbell and Schenck* s tr a n s la ti on. Three of
Holberg’s plays, Jeppe of the H ill (Jeppe paa B.ierget),
The P o litic a l Tinker (Den P o litisk e Kandestifber) and
9
Erasmus Montanus, tra n sla te d by Oscar James Campbell and
Frederic Schenck were f i r s t p rin ted in 1914. These tra n s
la tio n s are e x c e lle n t. Campbell is an outstanding au th o rity
on H olbergiana, having w ritten The Comedies of Holberg.
the d e fin itiv e work in English on the Danish playw right.
Q Ib id .. p. X.
9 Ludvig Holberg, Comedies (Oscar James Campbell, Jr.
and Frederic Schenck, tra n s la to rs . Hew York: The American-
Scandinavian Foundation, 1914), 178 pp.
10 Oscar James Campbell, J r ., The Comedies,of Holberg
(Harvard Studies in Comparative L ite ra tu re , Yol.*~III.
Cambridge: Harvard U niversity Press, 1914), 363 pp.
