The Parritch and the Partridge: The Reception of Robert Burns in Germany

This book sets out to explore the reception of Scotland's best-loved writer Robert Burns in Germany, beginning in the life-time of the poet and ending only today. The author not only traces Burns's growing popularity through the ages but also analyses some of his best-known poems along with selected translations, such as «Tam O' Shanter».

Autorentext

Rosemary Anne Selle, born in London, read German, English and Romance Studies in London and Heidelberg. She received her doctorate in 1981 at the English Department at the University of Heidelberg and teaches British Studies at the Institute for Translation and Interpreting at the University of Heidelberg. She has published in English Studies and Translation Studies as well as translating books (German-English) in Theology and History.

Klappentext

This book sets out to explore the reception of Scotland s best-loved writer Robert Burns in Germany, beginning with Burns s contemporaries in a German state and at a time when instant international fame of foreign writers was yet to develop. The author traces Burns s growing popularity and, for instance, demonstrates how a single line from a foreigner s poem could become the motto of a generation of German revolutionists. Many of Burns s well-known poems do not only figure in this first part but are also the subject of specific case studies in the second. Here works such as «Tam O Shanter» or «A red, red rose» are analysed in translation through the ages. The author s comprehensive work is complemented by a short research update on the reception of Burns.

Inhalt
Contents: Phases of reception: Early reception Translation and appropriation Critical evaluation and political appropriation Domestication and stagnation Prejudice and revaluation Burns in German: The translation challenge Case studies, a.o. «Tam O' Shanter», «For a' that and a' that», «A red, red rose».