Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Phenomenology of Spirit, Preface, paragraph 72
For the rest, at a time when the generality of spirit has become so greatly strengthened, and particularity has become, as it ought to, that much more indifferent, when, too, that generality of spirit holds onto its entire extent and cultivated wealth, and requires that the share in the total work of spirit that falls to the activity of any particular individual can only be very small, therefore must the individual, as in fact the nature of science entails, all the more forget himself, and in fact become and do what he can – but less must be demanded of him, just as he can expect less from himself and ought to demand less for himself.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Good job!
ReplyDeleteHi there! I'm looking forward to reading your translation of Hegel. Given what I've heard about this work's difficulty level, I'm probably going to be re-reading each section quite a few times! Since I'm going to be re-reading anyway, I thought I might as well read different translators' takes. It might be illuminating to see the differences between their versions. Since your version is as of yet unfinished, which translation would you recommend? Good luck with your experiment, and thanks for sharing it with the rest of the world.
ReplyDeleteI think your criticism at the head of the blog is particularly valid of AV Miller's translation of the Phenomenology from the 1970s. JB Baillie's was more literary and more to my taste for that reason though it was also less precise.
ReplyDeleteHegel does not go well into the Latin languages either. I have drawn attention on my own blog to a recent more literary translation into French by Jean-Pierre Lefebvre. The first French version by Jean Hyppolite was a classic, particularly for its explanatory notes, whilst the succeeding version of Gwendolyn Jarzyk and Jean-Louis Labarrière was full of unnatural coinages. I am still trying to improve my German enough to read the original myself.
Thank you for this great work. I have just finished translating the preface into Icelandic. I have constantly consulted your translation and I have found it admirably true to the original, always accurate and there are always sensible solution to the difficult places.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind comments, Skúli, I'm glad this was of service to you. Good luck with the further translation.
ReplyDelete