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* Week 10 -- October 14 – 20. Read from “Vingt et un”(French title) p. 659, until “Mynheer Peeperkorn – Conclusion” (Mynheer Peeperkorn – Schluss) p. 729.
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Kalliope
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Jul 15, 2013 08:23AM
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Just finished "Vingt et un". My God, the food and drink at Peeperkorn's little party would have killed healthy people, much less sick ones under doctor's care! I haven't decided if Peeperkorn is going to be more or less tedious than Naphta & Settembrini. Do I pay attention to his rantings, or skim? Although Hans is showing himself to be quite a devious conversationalist.
Peeperkorn has become an invaluable character, since his magnetic personality neutralizes Settembrini and Naptha with their interminable philosophizing, and shuts them up. Hans, Madame Chauchat and Peeperkorn make an interesting threesome. Poor Hans feels that the world below is lost to him now. I know he must leave the sanitarium after 7 years, because that is in the book desciption, but how will he go? My hope is that he will mature enough to leave of his own accord, and feel ready for the world again.
Diane wrote: "...My hope is that he will mature enough to leave of his own accord, and feel ready for the world again. ..."Stay aware of setting.
Is there anyone still reading this section?I'm enjoying it very much and admiring the writing and the translation.
Today, out of curiosity, I bought a copy in the German original and am trying to read it in parallel with my Woods translation.
I came across this interesting translation dilemma in Woods, page 682:
"There is not that much time left in any case, it's rushing by slapdash as it is, or if that's too noisy a way of putting it, it's whisking past hurry-scurry."
Hurry-scurry sounds noisier than slapdash so I looked at the original:
"Viel ist es ohnehin nicht mehr damit, es geht nachgerade holterdiepolter! oder, wenn das zu lärmend gesagt ist, es geht husch, husch!"
'Holterdiepolter' is brilliant and so much noisier than 'slapdash', which is a bit slapdash as a choice, while 'husch, husch' is wonderfully quiet, in a way that 'hurry-scurry' can't manage.
I understand the translator's dilemma - how do you find a word for fast moving that is as quiet as 'husch'! But the dilemma also underlines the intricacies of Mann's word choices - they're certainly not slapdash...
Fionnuala -- thank you for knowing the two languages and providing the example!
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I'm enjoying it very much and admiring the writing and the translation.
Today, out of curiosity, I bought a copy in the German original and am trying to..."
Wonderful that you got an edition in German. I also had it, with the idea of reading it in parallel, but too many commitments and even finished the English edition too late.
Lily, I wish I did know enough German to read Mann in the original but I only know enough to be able to compare sentences.Kalliope, it would have been great to do this from the beginning but it would have taken such a lot of time and already the reading of the book in English has taken too long. But it is worth it - I'm appreciating Mann's writing skill better as I go along.
Perhaps you've already discussed Peeperkorn but the character intrigued me so I have to offer my thoughts on him.
Mann kept emphasising the 'stature' of this character who appeared out of nowhere, while frequently highlighting that he said very little of any value, that he was a genius at manipulating people and events, that he often used gestures in place of speech and that he stage managed his own death. The whole portrait reminded me so much of Hitler. Perhaps this has already been pointed out?
Fionnuala wrote: "....The whole portrait reminded me so much of Hitler. Perhaps this has already been pointed out? ..."I don't know if it has been here, but it was in the Western Classics and Canon discussion that briefly preceded this one.
I think Peeperkorn is an amalgam of vacuous intellectuals, of which there were many in the 1920s when TM was writing....Hitler maybe not in their league...But after reading the chapter on 21, I HAD to fix an omelette with freshly snipped herbs...so from grand abstractions to lovely aromatic reality...that's why I adore TM...
Anyone still reading? I'm probably the last, slowest. But enjoying watching the little traps laid in the first volume spring shut in the second. TM gets us used to listening for Clawdia to let the dining hall door slam, then it doesn't because of her traveling companion and Hans Castorp's rival, who holds it for her. In the final chapters TM continues to talk about things without naming them, never uses the conventional German word for x-ray. All that Freudian stuff with pencils and cigars without mentioning Freud. Lots of Marxian nonsense spouted by Naphta without mentioning Marx. Now in the bedside conversation with Peeperkorn, Hans discusses the opera Carmen, without using the word opera or the name Carmen. My family does this. I wonder if this circumlocutory talk is a kind of Hanseatic-Danish humor. I might even finish before 2014....
Elena wrote: ".In the final chapters TM continues to talk about things without naming them,.."Carmen has been referred to several times directly and indirectly, hasn't it?
Hans is the soldier who leaves his regiment to follows Carmen/Claudia who abandons him for the 'robust' toreador, Mynheer Peeperkorn.
Elena wrote: "...My family does this. I wonder if this circumlocutory talk is a kind of Hanseatic-Danish humor...."What an unexpected cultural insight!? (I have Danish-German ancestry; also, one of my favorite reference texts is Ethnicity and Family Therapy. :-))
