John E. Woods

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Edwin Woods (born August 16, 1942 in Indiana ) is an American translator of German-language literature. In addition to the focus on Thomas Mann and Arno Schmidt , Woods' translational profile is largely based on the literary period of the middle and late 20th century.

Many of these transmissions have received awards. Woods received the prestigious PEN Translation Prize of the PEN American Center in 1981 for the translation of Schmidt's Evening with Gold Edge and in 1987 for Süskind's Das Parfum . In 1990 he received the Schlegel-Tieck Prize for Translation from the Society of Authors for broadcasting Christoph Ransmayr 's The Last World . In 1995 he received the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator Award from the Goethe Institute twice and in 2008 the Goethe Medal .

translator

Woods came to Tübingen from Ohio in 1971 and began studying theology there under Jürgen Moltmann . He also had a desire to become a writer. In a state of persistent writer's block , Woods nevertheless decided to give up his own writing ambitions. Reading Schmidts Abend mit Goldrand gave the impetus to a more intensive discussion with the author. Woods attempted a translation into his native language, which took several years to complete. The manuscript came to the influential German-American publisher Helen Wolff , Kurt Wolff's partner , with whose help the publication should finally be made possible. The transmission has received several awards.

In the following years Woods took over the translation of important German-language fiction, primarily of modern literary and contemporary literature. Thomas Mann's novels were thus partially re-translated, since the first translations by Helen Lowe-Porter are now considered outdated. Arno Schmidt's multi-layered and allusive prose, lovingly described by Woods himself as "fairy tales for adults", remains meaningful for Woods' translation work, which he understands as a declaration of love for his mother tongue.

From the initially purely private passion, Jan Philipp Reemtsma turned it into a standing order for the transmission of the entire narrative work of the writer, who is considered untranslatable. Woods has been doing this since 1986. The conclusion of the agreement is the transmission of Schmidt's magnum opus Zettel's Traum , which was published in 2016. Woods had previously announced that he would see his work as completed and that he would then retire from the translation work entirely.

Woods lives in Berlin .

Selected translations

  • Alfred Doblin
    • A People Betrayed ( Betrayed people ). Fromm International, New York 1983.
    • Karl and Rosa ( Karl and Rosa ). Fromm International, New York 1983.
  • Thomas Mann
  • Friedrich Dürrenmatt
    • The Execution of Justice ( Justice ). Random House, New York 1989.
  • Günter Grass
    • (Show Your Tongue show tongue ). Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego 1989.
  • Arno Schmidt
    • Evening Edged in Gold ( evening with a gold rim ). Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York 1980.
    • Scenes from the Life of a Faun ( From the Life of a Faun ). Boyars, London; New York 1983
    • Collected Novellas. Dalkey Archive Press, Normal 1994.
    • Collected Early Fiction, 1949-1964. Dalkey Archive Press, Normal, IL 1994-1997.
    • Nobodaddy's Children ( Nobodaddy's Children ). Dalkey Archive Press, Normal 1995.
    • The Collected Stories of Arno Schmidt. Dalkey Archive Press, Normal 1996.
    • Two Novels - The Stony Heart, B / Moondocks ( Das steinerne Herz / KAFF also Mare Crisium ). Dalkey Archive Press, Normal 1997.
    • The School for Atheists: A Novella = Comedy in 6 Acts (The School of Atheists). Green Integer / EL-E-PHANT 53 København & Los Angeles 2001
    • Radio Dialogs I & II (radio essays). Green Integer, Los Angeles 1999-2003.
    • Bottom's Dream ( list's dream ). Dalkey Archive Press, Victoria TX 2016.
  • Libuše Moníková
    • The Facade ( Facade ). Knopf, New York 1991.
  • Christoph Ransmayr
  • Bernhard Schlink
  • Patrick Süskind
  • Ingo Schulze
  • Hans-Ulrich Treichel

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Awardee John E. Woods (translator). (No longer available online.) Goethe-Institut , 2008, formerly in the original ; accessed on September 22, 2014 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / 109.68.50.141  
  2. ^ Mark Harman: A Conversation with John E. Woods. In: Translation Review. 44-45, 1994, p. 4, doi : 10.1080 / 07374836.1994.10523614 .
  3. ↑ Charlotte Ryland: Of Fiction and Fairy Tales: An interview with John E. Woods. (No longer available online.) New Books in German , archived from the original on September 17, 2015 ; accessed on September 22, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.new-books-in-german.com
  4. ↑ Kathryn Toolan: An Interview with John E. Woods. Dalkey Archive Press, accessed May 16, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Gabi Wuttke: The covetous word worker. NZZ , accessed on May 16, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Gabi Wuttke: A language-obsessed American. Deutschlandradio Kultur , January 14, 2014, accessed on September 22, 2014 .
personal data
SURNAME Woods, John E.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Woods, John Edwin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American translator from German
DATE OF BIRTH August 16, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Indiana