Translation of the Keywords: Hauptman’s Drama The Holiday of Reconciliation and its Russian Version

Abstract

The problem of understanding original foreign text connected with its translation and interpretation implies a double process - the juxtaposition of the author's original and its translated version. Hauptman's early drama The Holiday of Reconciliation is an interesting case in this respect. The German playwright's fundamental idea, e.g. the development of the ethical response to life in general and to the individual existence in particular in the soul of the person originates in this drama. Inaccuracies in the Russian translation lead us to the wrong understanding of the deep meaning of Hauptman's drama. While comparing both texts, the Russian one and the original one, it becomes clear that the translation lacks connotations that in the original text serve as a poetic key to clarify the authors intention. The valuable meaning of the noun "das Gemut" ("inner warmth," "spiritual life," "generosity, high virtue") is lost in the Russian equivalent. The wrong translation obscures the central idea of the drama that allforgiveness is the supreme blessing. The Russian translation of the word "die Fugung" as "fate, destiny" does not convey a feeling of the global inner unity. In the original text, the etymological scale of the die Fugung is much wider: it means connection of everything with everyone. The contrasting pairs of words, such as "in uns" (the Stolz family) and "in ihr" (Ida) that are not preserved in the Russian version, underline the kindness of Wilhelm's bride that Hauptman sees as the source of the Light of Truth.