Wolfgang Krege

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Wolfgang Krege (born February 1, 1939 in Berlin ; † April 13, 2005 in Stuttgart ) was a German author and translator . Among other things, he worked for the Klett-Cotta Verlag in Stuttgart.

life and work

Wolfgang Krege was born in Berlin, where he also grew up. In the early 1960s he began studying philosophy at the Free University of Berlin . He then worked as a dictionary editor , advertising copywriter and publisher's editor . Since 1970 he has been working as a translator, initially with non-fiction books .

His translation of JRR Tolkien's book The Silmarillion made him known to a larger readership in the 1970s. In the 1990s, he re- translated The Hobbit . Compared to the earlier translation by Walter Scherf , in which most of the songs and poems embedded in the plot were omitted or shortened and which also contained illustrations by Klaus Ensikat , who became famous as a children's book illustrator , Krege's version appeals more to an adult audience. Another difference lies in the lack of proximity to the original: Krege's version has the tendency to want to be funnier and more original than the original. Some sentences are reproduced in a way that can no longer be considered a free translation, but is clearly a new poetry. However, Krege is closer to the original in the names of the places. Where Rivendell remained untranslated “Rivendell” in Walter Scherf's version, Krege standardized and translated all names with regard to the Lord of the Rings .

Krege's new translation of The Lord of the Rings is very controversial among fans. The new German translation from 2000 tries harder than the old one (by Margaret Carroux ) to reproduce the language style, which changes greatly between the different characters in the plot, in German as well. In the old translation, the German style is fairly uniform throughout - moderately old-fashioned, according to some critics even artificially "folk-style"; In the original, on the other hand, one finds language levels from the pronounced “Bible style” of the 16th century to the rural and urban, sometimes coarse everyday English of the 1940s, i.e. the time of writing. Krege tried to imitate this in German, but set the German of the 1990s instead of the 1940s as the reference point. So he translated the salutation "Master Frodo", which Samweis Gamdschie used in the English original, with "Chef". Since 2012, Krege's translation has been distributed by Klett-Cotta in a revised version, which has replaced some controversial points in Krege's translation (such as the salutation "boss").

In Wolfgang Krege's translation, the appendices are complete for the first time, except for one.

Wolfgang Krege was also responsible for the - also controversial - new translations of Anthony Burgess ' A Clockwork Orange and other works by Burgess. In addition, Krege was the German standard translator of Amélie Nothomb's books .

Works (selection)

As an author

As translator

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ A b Wolfgang Krege biography, books, information. In: klett-cotta.de. Retrieved November 13, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Thorsten Werner: Competition: The Companions - The audio book . German Tolkien Society. August 4, 2008. Accessed on March 9, 2011: "The intensely discussed translation by Wolfgang Krege was used for the audio book."
  3. ^ Rüdiger Sturm: New Tolkien translation: Dalli Dalli in Middle Earth. In: Spiegel Online . November 3, 2000, accessed November 13, 2015 .
  4. ↑ The Lord of the Rings - Three Translations from the Point of View of a Long Time Fan - Hobbit Press Blog. Accessed June 19, 2020 (German).
  5. ↑ Hobbit, Shades of Gray and Co .: The books behind the blockbusters. In: n24.de. December 9, 2014, accessed November 13, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Krege, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German author and translator
DATE OF BIRTH February 1, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin , German Empire
DATE OF DEATH April 13, 2005
Place of death Stuttgart , Germany