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6
ТЕОРИЯ И ПРАКТИКА ПЕРЕВОДА
UDC 821.112.5 + 81'255.2
Wilken Willem Karel Hugo Engelbrecht
Palacky University Olomouc
John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
THE MELODY OF DISTANT THINGS:
JOHAN FABRICIUS AS A CZEOH WINDOW ON EXOTIC WORLDS*
For citation: Engelbrecht W. W. K. H. The melody of distant things: Johan Fabri-cius as a Czech window on exotic worlds. Scandinavian Philology, 2020, vol. 18, issue 1, pp. 142-167. https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu21.2020.110
From an international point of view, Dutch-written literature is a periphery literature for some 24 million native speakers. Nevertheless, a fair amount of Dutch-written works have been translated into foreign languages, especially since World War II. Johan Fabricius (1899-1981) was during his life one of the most widely read popular Dutch authors. His works, especially his 'immortal' novel De scheepsjongens van Bontekoe (1924) is still edited in Dutch as well as abroad (the last Czech edition dating from 2012), are ranked among the most popular at home as well as abroad. However, in Central Europe his works were translated mainly into German and into Czech. This is no coincidence as Czech is one of the languages into which a good number of Dutch-written works are translated. Czech translations offer a mix of popular authors and typical 'canon' writers. In this article, the Czech reception is divided into several periods: between the World Wars, during the German occupation, the democratic years 1945-1948, the Communist period, and after 1989. The article provides information about the translators, (Lida Faltova (1899-1944) and Olga Krijtova (1931-2013) being the most important ones), publishers, print runs, and the reasons why certain books were not published in Czech. This occurred
* This paper is the result of the project NTU Olomou (117)/MR/rv Receptie van Nederlandstalige literatuur in Tsjechische vertaling of the Dutch Language Union, visiting scholarship no. NWO 300-1-0025 of the Dutch Research Council, and the project FPVC 2016/02 Recepce nizozemske a vlamske literatury v ceskem prekladu 1848-1948 of Palacky University, Olomouc.
primarily in the periods 1945-1948 and 1949-1989. For each period, a short description of the background is provided. In the appendix, a complete survey of all the translations of Fabricius' works is given in accordance with the most recent situation.
Keywords: Johan Fabricius, translation, Dutch, Czech, exotic worlds, novels.
1. INTRODUCTION
A look in the database of the Dutch Literary Fund1 indicates that some kind of 'foreign canon of Dutch-written literature' exists. This may seem logical as most translations after 1994 are published with the financial aid of Dutch and Flemish literary funds. The pre-war bibliography Nederlandsche schrijvers in vertaling by A. J. van Huffel [van Huffel, 1939] demonstrates that this was also the case in that period without subventions. The foreign choice of Dutch-written works to be translated aroused already astonishment before World War II, as shows a review by the renowned Dutch critic Menno ter Braak [ter Braak, 1939] about the 1939 exhibition Nederlandsche schrijvers in vertaling organized by Van Huffel in the Dutch Royal Library.
Variations in translation choices between different languages are due to the circumstances of the receiving literatures, like connections between translators, publishers or literary movements. In East Central Europe, the big number of literary translations from Dutch in the period 1845-1948 into Czech was caused by good connections between Czech publishers and literary agents with their German colleagues and the presence of translators specialized in Dutch. When after World War II chairs of Dutch language were founded in Poland and Hungary, these differences disappeared. One of them was the presence of the work of the novelist Johan Fabricius (1899-1981).
2. JOHAN FABRICIUS
Johan Fabricius2 was one of the most read and translated Dutch authors during the twentieth century. Over the course of his long life, he
1 Available at: https://letterenfonds.secure.force.com/vertalingendatabase/search (accessed: 02.01.2020).
2 Data from Fabricius' life according to Bulthuis (1959), additions from G. J. van Bork, 'Fabricius, Johan', in: G. J. van Bork & ..., Schrijvers en dichters. Dbnl Biografieenproject I, 2004 — Available at: http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/bork001schr01_ 01/bork001schr01_01_0324.php (accessed: 19.11.2019), and Fabricius' personal archive in the Literatuurmuseum in The Hague.
produced 106 titles, partly written for children and youth. His books were translated into twenty languages3, foremost into German — 27 titles in 59 editions; Czech is third with 19 translated titles in 35 editions (see attachment)4. After the first German translation Eiko, der Junge vom Reiherhof (1924) of Fabricius' first novel Eiko van den Reigerhof (1922), one German translation followed nearly every year at least up until 1934, often published within one year after the original. As Fabricius' own command of German was very good and his wife Ruth Fabricius-Freud-enburg (1900-1968) was a native speaker of German, they were themselves often the translators of his work.
Things changed, however, when Hitler came to power, especially after the public book burnings in May 1933 and the famous PEN-Congress in Dubrovnik in the same month. Fabricius, being present as a private member, was an eyewitness of the scene of 26 May, when the new PENpresident Herbert G. Wells (1866-1946) asked the German author Ernst Toller to give the opening speech and the official Dutch delegation supported in their behaviour the Nazi German delegation in their protest against this [Ross, 1999; Dorleijn, van Voorst, 2010].
After Dubrovnik, Fabricius' German publisher Zsolnay divided into a German and a Swiss division. While the Swiss part continued with its
3 In German (29 titles), English (22 titles), Czech (19 titles), Swedish (12 titles), French and Norwegian (6 titles), Danish and Finnish (5 titles), Spanish (3 titles), Indonesian (2 titles) and (in these languages just 1 title) in Afrikaans, Croatian, Estonian, Frisian, Hebrew, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Slovenian and Slovak.
4 When counting the number of editions, Czech is even the second language, as 22 titles were translated in 31 editions into English. Data according to Bulthuis (1959, p. 86-94), the database of the Dutch Literary Fund (see note 2) and www.worldcat.org (accessed: 01.01.2020).
Fig. 1. Portrait of Johan Fabricius in the translation Z dvoji krve (Praha: Horizont, 1948). Copy of the author
former publishing policies, the German branches began to eliminate Jewish and 'degenerate' authors from their collections. Finally, Paul Zsolnay was forced to go into exile, his German and Austrian branches were 'ari-siert', and Fabricius' works were placed on the Nazi list of forbidden books [Bulthuis, 1959, p. 45]. No German translations of his works appeared as of 1934, with the exception of one Swiss edition. When the Netherlands were occupied in May 1940, Fabricius managed to escape with his Jewish wife to England. During the War, he was engaged in Radio Oranje, the Free Netherlands broadcast aimed at occupied Netherlands.
In his free time, Fabricius wrote new novels, mainly with 'Dutch-Indies' themes, as exile awoke in him a longing for his birth land, occupied by the Japanese since 1942. Immediately after the liberation of Indonesia in August 1945, he visited the country as an allied war press journalist, thus being a witness to the bersiap atrocities of extremist groups resulting in thousands of victims among the European and Chinese inhabitants. The War and the exile situation caused alienation between him and his wife Ruth with whom he had three children. Divorce followed in 1963 and Fabricius began to live with his girlfriend Anneke Bleeker (1929-1999), who he married after the decease of his former wife in 1968. After the War, the Fabricius narration became somewhat old fashioned. His post-War novels were consequently less successful, with Czech translations once more being the exception.
3. FABRICIUS IN CZECH RECEPTION
Nineteen works in 35 editions in all of which 11 up until 1946 and 24 afterwards (including several reprints, often in very large print runs) provokes the question as to why Fabricius was so successful in Czech. The first translation of his works was of Het meisje met den blauwen hoed (1927), published in 1933 as Divka s modrym kloboukem in a translation by Josef Mach (1883-1951). Presumably, the 1934 expensive black and white cinema production, produced under the direction of the Jewish-Austrian director Rudolf Meinert (1882-1943)5, would have played
5 Meinert fled in 1933 through Prague to the Netherlands. Because of the anti-refugee policy of the Dutch government, he went to France in 1937, where he was seized after the Nazi occupation, probably killed in 1943 in Majdanek.
a role. Mach probably used the German 1928 translation because he did not speak Dutch6.
A major role in the introduction of Fabricius' works into the Czech literary field was played by Lída Faltová (1899-1944), the first Czech translator focusing on Dutch-written literature. Between 1932 and 1944, she translated 38 Dutch-written titles, of which many were reprinted, mostly for the Social-democrat publishing houses Melantrich and Druzstevní práce [Cooperative Labour, hereafter DP], the latter interested in good storytellers. She had a good nose for Dutch-language books that could be interesting and recommended Fabricius' work, being fully comparable with the wishes of DP's target audience. In the years 1933-1936, she translated the three parts of Fabricius' Italian trilogy7, being from an international perspective his most successful work alongside De Scheepsjongens van Bontekoe (1924, The Cabin Boys of Bontekoe). The first part, Komedianten trokken voorbij (1931, Players Passed By) was published in 1933 as Jeli tudy komedianti. One year later, the second volume, Melodie der verten (Melody of Distant Things), was released the same year as the original as Melodie dálek. The third part De dans om de galg (1934, Dance around the Gallows) came out in 1936 as Tanec kolem sibenice. The publisher began with a circulation of 7,000 copies for each volume. Apparently the sales went well, because the edition was increased to 7,300 copies for the last part, while at the same time both earlier parts were reprinted. During the war, the entire trilogy came out in a circulation of 7,700 pieces8. The trilogy was well received and received positive reviews9.
6 According to the colophon, the rights were in the possession of Zsolnay, the publisher of the German translation.
7 This trilogy consisted of the novels Komedianten trokken voorbij (1931), Melodie der verten (1934) and De dans om de galg (1934) about the baby girl Marietta, left by a vagant troop of theatre players in an inn, in eighteenth century Italy. She falls in love with a Cardinal with whom she has a son, Benedetto. The boy was spoiled by his mother and came to no good. In the last part he is sentenced to the gallows.
8 Figures according to the communication of DP to the Press Office of the Presidium of the Ministers' Council of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, 8 February 1941 and January 1942 (PNP 70/57, part 220/13 korespondence DP s ostatnimi urady).
9 Cf. Panorama 12 (1934), back page of no. 3 in the section Kritika o nasich knihäch [Critics about Our Books]. The trilogy was, along with other books by Fabricius in the period 1934-1938, always among the ranking list of the 40 best selling books that Panorama published regularly. Fabricius was usually among the first 15 books.
In 1934, Faltova also translated Leeuwen hongeren in Napels (1934, The Lions Starve in Naples) which as Lvi hladoveji v Neapoli was published by DP in a print run of 8,000 copies. This book was also published in German (1934), English (1935), Swedish and Spanish (1937). Reception was poor in Germany but positive in the Czech Republic, where a second print run of 3,000 copies in the same year was needed.
Internationally, Fabricius' most famous book is De Scheepsjongens van Bontekoe translated by Faltova in 1935 as Plavcici kapitana Bonte-koea. With over one hundred thousand copies in eight editions in all up until 2012, this is probably one of the most successful Dutch-written books in Czech translation. The book was explicitly promoted by the publishing house as youth literature10.
In summer 1934, Fabricius and his wife Ruth took a Central European trip, visiting also Prague, where they met Faltova. He described himself for recognition as "Tall and thin, my wife is small and will have a handkerchief in her hand". He joked that he hoped not to suffer the fate of 'his ancestor' Philips Fabricius11. He also used his visit to prepare his book about the Jewish intellectual Siegfried van Praag [Kneidl, 2005, p. 328-329]. During the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, several works were reissued notwithstanding the fact that Fabricius was as an active fighter against the Nazi regime on the German black list.
4. CZECH RECEPTION OF FABRICIUS IN THE FIRST FREE YEARS
In the short democratic period of the years 1945-1948, a reprint of the sold out Plavcici kapitana Bontekoea was published, as well as four new translations by new translators as Faltova died in 1944. Of them, Josef Mach, already had experience with Fabricius. He translated Hotel Vesuvius (1947) on the basis of the English translation Hotel Vesuvius: a Gay Novel of Grapes, Wine and Sunshine, the Czech title copying the English one. As far as is known, Czech is the only language besides English and Dutch in which this novel exists. The print run of 5,500 copies
10 Cf. e. g. the back cover of the last issue of Panorama 15 (1937), 'Reading for our boys and girls', and of Panorama 16 (1938), 249, section 'For children under the Christmas tree.
11 This Fabricius was the secretary of the Catholic governors who had been thrown out of the castle during the so-called Prague defenestration in 1618 by representatives of the Czech Estates.
was a rather large number for that time, paper being in limited distribution.
At the end of 1946, the novel Nacht over Java was published in Czech as Noc nad Jâvou after the English translation. In this work we find for the first time a typical phenomenon from the Communist period: an afterword by an 'expert' showing the reader the 'right interpretation'. In this case, it presented a short biography of Fabricius followed by a comparison between the Japanese occupation of Java and the German occupation of the Czech lands. The author of this afterword, Donat Saj-ner (pseudonym of Jaroslav Sajner, 1914-1990), had been the director of the publishing house Evropsky literarni klub (ELK) since 1943, where the translation was published. After 1948, he was one of the officials of Socialist Realism and from 1972 until his retirement in 1982 secretary of the writers' association Svaz ceskych spisovatelû during the so-called normalization period. The Czech language was also the only besides English into which this novel was translated. The print run was quite large with 10,000 copies.
In 1947, Ostrov démonù, the Czech translation of Eiland der demo-nen, was the second Indonesian novel by Fabricius published by a smaller Prague publishing house, Jaroslav Koliandr. It was the first book Ella Kaz-dova (1909-1982) translated from Dutch. Although the cover text explicitly states that the book was translated from Dutch, the colophon and the agreement refer to the title Démons à Bali of the 1945 French translation. Given the relatively high price of 75 Czechoslovakian crowns at the time (100 Kcs for the bound version), the circulation of 4,000 items was quite large. The cover text emphasizes the novel's exotic sides.
The fourth translation was Z dvoji krve of Halfbloed by Milada Simsova (1904-1992) who had begun to translate from Dutch during the war. In this edition, which came out in 1948 in 4,448 copies, there is an afterword as well, this time by Alois Humplik (1909-1966), again from someone who would later play a 'party-true' role. His afterword discusses Fabricius and his most important works, focusing primarily on the exotic atmosphere. Remarkably, the Czech translation was the first to be known in a foreign language. The book was also later translated into German (1954), French (1957) and Hebrew (1959).
The reason these novels were published by five different houses was the paper distribution. During 1945-1948, Czechoslovakia was governed by a coalition of the Communist Party KSC with several demo-
NnklodaWlitvi
JAROSLAV KOUAMDS PRAHA XIV, DÈKANfA 806 ,'„. , «kto-Pl»HA il, PMCPÏ 12
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rragui) the 29th liai 1947.
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Johan Fabricius, 93,Baron's Keep, London W. 14
Dear Sir,
We are compelled to let you know that we had to restrict oar presumed editorial programme because of lack of paper.For this reason we should not be able to puolish your novel "Démons a Bali" as late as in two years.Therefore we suppose it would be much better for you to have it published before in another publishing-house.We have promised your novel to the well-known publishing-house Kolia:.dr which is able to put it out as early as in this year.Kr.Koliandr will write you himself one of these days.
We would kindly know if you agree with our suggestion and thank your very much for your kindness.
Yours truly
EI.LF.R AND ! J
.„ ■ :■'■'". f e tfeg to inform you thst w^ took oter from publishers SI K,1 PraJilr the;-,publishers right to your book DS'iCNG OF BALI Vie got the permission by the Ministry of Information for the book to* be published, v/e shall publish it under the seme conditions as they r re stated in your agreement with 3 L K end we trust that. you ■will have nobjections.
40 L we aire forwarding you., presently.
as soon as possible. The publishing house EL K , according to information: reserved,'^©ould -publish your book, at the earliest after one years time, ith as it will be pu|)li^hdd| m August this year. HHEggt' |y >■1 Expec ting your netvs
",Ve a re,
Yours ■ fajraa Sully
VO
Fig. 2. Twice Eiland der Demonen (The Demons of Bali). Left (a) the letter (19 May 1947) in which ELK communicates that they cannot publish because of paper shortage and right (b) the letter of Koliandr (29 May 1947)
cratic parties. The KSC occupied strategic ministries such as Information and Culture, ensuring paper distribution. In the case of Ostrov demonй, letters to Fabricius from ELK of 19 May 1947 and of Koliandr of 29 May 1947 show that the latter took over the publication because ELK did not receive the assigned paper. Another ELK planned edition of Mario Ferraro's ijdele liefde, for which an agreement is in Fabricius' records, was cancelled for the same reason.
The archives also tell us about two other non-editions. At the turn of the year 1947, Fabricius' youth novel Flipje (1936) about the little rascal Flip Valckenier was reviewed by Mirko Pasek (1910-2002) and Pavel Eisner (1889-1958). Both were positive but felt that the novel was not 'literary enough' to be published. The fate of the Java Revisited (1947) is even more typical for that time. Fabricius depicted in the book his experiences as official War reporter in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) during the winter of 1945/6, including the cruelties of the bersiap. Eisner remarked at the end of his review of 7 April 1948:
The book embarrasses us. Our public opinion is generally predominantly sympathetic to the camp of the Indonesian revolutionary movement. Not entirely logical: we ignore the reality that Sukarno was undoubtedly a collaborator with the Japanese and therefore indirect, but extensive, damaging and dangerous to our national interests. Fabricius' convincing account also shows that the Indonesian Revolutionary Guards were thugs who fatally resembled the well-known SS, namely, crafty murdering, pillaging sadists and cowards. Czech people cannot stand these kinds of people.
It is a convincingly truthful and at the same time very captivating book. It is by no means a book by a colonial imperialist. It is, however, the duty of the reviewer to point out that neither the tenor of the book nor its facts are in accordance with our semi-official verdict on the Indonesian revolutionary movement. The reviewer therefore recommends that this political point of view should be subject to closer scrutiny.
5. VICTORIOUS FEBRUARY AND ITS AFTERMATH
Eisner's remarks foreshadowed the period to come. During the year 1947, tensions between the democratic parties and KSC grew. When the Communist Minister of Interior purged the National Police Force from all non-Communist members in 1948, the majority of the government members voted for a withdrawal of these illegal decisions. When the Minister refused, twelve democratic ministers resigned, expecting that
the crisis would provoke early elections which the KSC would have lost. Gottwald proposed, however, to President Edvard Benes (1884-1948) a minority government that would rule until the elections planned in autumn 1948. Under the pressure of strikes and street terror, the President accepted on 25 February 1948. Afterwards, the Parliament accepted on 9 May 1948 a Communist constitution — many democratic MP's at that time had already fled because of the terror abroad or were arrested for semi-legal reasons. The date 25 February was later declared an official Communist State Holiday as 'Victorious February'.
Between February 1948 and March 1949, the Communist government exerted increased pressure on the publishing houses. Finally, on 4 March 1949, all the private houses were nationalised and in the years 1950-1951 new combined state publishing houses with names such as the State Publishing House for Beautiful Literature, Music and Art were set up, this being a process known as 'ressortisation' [Simecek, Travnicek, 2014, p. 324-333]. The quality of the editions deteriorated to such an extent that the books looked worse than editions from the last 1945 war months. During 1948, the Communist Ministry of Information and Enlightenment took over all the public libraries and published strictly secret lists on the grounds of which they should be purified of all 'objectionable' literature. Some 27.5 million books were eliminated in all in an attempt to wipe the parliamentary democratic First Czechoslovak Republic from memory [Wogerbauer, 2015, p. 1130-1132; Engelbrecht, 2018].
On the first list from 1949-1950, counting 7,579 titles, Fabricius is represented with five novels [Samal, 2009, p. 274, nos. 1483-1487]: Divka v modrem klobouku (1933); Hotel Vesuvio (1948); Noc nad Javou (1947); Ostrov dëmonй (1947); Z dvoji krve (1948), all classified as 'escapist literature'. The first concerned his novel about a soldier based on his experiences from his service time in the Dutch army, the second a cheerful novel about the Italian bum Renato Colleoni, living on the beautiful island of Capri in Hotel Vesuvio just before World War II and misusing his Fascist uniform to impress young ladies. The latter three novels give impressions from Indonesia in a way that was then, to speak with Eisner, no longer in accordance with the official judgment on Indonesia.
Interestingly, his most successful novels, Plavcici kapitana Bontekoea (1935) and Italska trilogie (1933-1936) were not eliminated. Presum-
ably, Fabricius' narration of the heroic struggle of the poor cabin boys Padde Kelemeijn and Peter Hajo, and of the main protagonists of the Italian Trilogy, the poor girl Marietta and her son Benedetto, illustrating the harsh circumstances of simple people in eighteenth century Italy, was in accordance with the official literary ideology of Socialist Realism. Literature in this style should evoke the idea of reality, focusing on scenes from the everyday life of people — especially illustrating the struggle of lower class (proletarian) people. No new Fabricius edition was published, however, during the Stalinist years.
6. FABRICIUS DURING THE COMMUNIST REGIME
When Czechoslovak publishers began after Stalinist times to be once more interested in Fabricius' works, it was a good job for him. The first book to be edited was a reissue of his acclaimed De scheepsjongens van Bontekoe in Faltová's translation but now accompanied by a long afterword by the historian Vladimir Kadlec (1905-1969) focusing on the 'first bourgeois revolution' by the Dutch against the 'greedy Spanish tyrants'12. The agreement signed in 1958 with the State Publishing House for Children's Literature through the mediation of the state literary agency Dilia stated royalties of 10,000 Dutch guilders13, of which 20 % was paid in advance. Most Communist countries paid only in non-convertible currency, a fact that e. g. the in the Eastern Block popular Communist author Theun de Vries (1907-2005) often regretted [Perry, 2011, p. 50-51].
Even where Dilia deducted as usual a mediation fee of 10 % and a the 2 % fee for the Czechoslovak Literary Fund14, Fabricius' royalties remained some 31.5 to 78 cents per copy — his Dutch publishing houses paid normally 30 to 35 cent per copy. The following reissues of 1966 and 1977 had even larger print runs.
12 This afterword was present in the edition of 1966 but was left out as of the 1977 edition.
13 This would be today some € 31,840.
14 The deducted sums were explained by Dilia to the Amsterdam publishing house Querido in a letter of 16 November 1957 in connection with the first translation by Olga Krijtova (LM, 2 Que Correspondentie Drijvers, map 1). Till 1968, Dilia was obliged to withheld also an income tax, after that year their payment order contained a notice that income taxes should be paid by the author in his own country. Pre-War private literary agencies mostly withdrew a fee of 15 % for mediation.
The first newly translated book was Herinneringen van een oudepruik (1968, Memories of an Old Wig) being published only three years after the original as Vzpominky stare paruky in a translation by Olga Krijtova (1931-2013) who built up a similar cordial relationship with Fabricius as had Faltova before the war. As with most of his translations, the book was published by Odeon, the most important publisher of literature. This was seemingly the only translation of this historical novel about the innovator of the Italian comedy Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793). One year later, the romantic novella Yoshi? set in Japan was issued in a translation by Ella Kazdova as Pamatujes, Josi? being also the only known translation. The back flap explicitly indicates that the combination of romance, clash of cultures and exoticism (Japan) is of interest for the reader.
In the same Far East, the novel Wij, Tz'e Thsi, Keizerin van China (1968, We, Tz'e Thsi, Empress of China) is situated, published in 1971 as Tajny denik cinske cisafovny: Cisafovnin zivotni pfibeh jak jej sama sepsala a jak jej doslovem opatfil jeji vrchni eunuch Li Lien-jing. Fiktivni denik [The Secret Diary of the Chinese Empress: the Life Story of the Empress as She Wrote it Down and with an Afterword by her Supreme Eunuch Li Lien-jing. A Fictional Diary]. The translator Krijtova discussed in a letter to Fabricius the transliteration of the Chinese names that was checked by Prague sinologues. This translation, with four Czech editions with more than a quarter of a million copies over forty years, was by far Fabricius' most successful Czech translation, being the only foreign edition. It seems that novels about exotic environments, once denounced as 'escapist literature', were now a good publication argument. The exotic environment of the Antilles certainly also played a role in the decision to publish Het geheim van het oude landhuis (1965, The Secret of the Old Country House) in a print run of 35,000 copies. The official translator Stanislava Hrebickova (*1935) was a colleague of Olga Krijtova who occasionally also translated from Dutch. She was presumably covering for the real translator, Krijtova herself, who received a publication ban in 1971 because of her protest against the brutal occupation of Czechoslovakia in August 1968 that ended the Prague Spring.
The five last translations from Fabricius are situated in Europe. Two of them concern a murder case: the play in three acts Hendrik Jacobus Jut, of De dubbele moord aan de Bogt van Guinea (1974, Hendrik Jacobus Jut, or The Double Murder on the 'Bogt of New Guinea'), a Hague folk drama, was presented in the Czech translation Otec neznamy [Father Unknown]
CZECHOSLOVAK THEATRICAL AND LITERARY AttFlvrv COOPERATIVE SOCIETY VYêEHRADSKA 28, PRAGUE 2 - NOVE MËSTO
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT made and entered into Chi«
d> °*r. Johan FabnciJ" lyHF'ÄE.S*
llOl-L^d
(hereinafterjcaJJed the Proprietor) of the one pari and
the *tate Publishing Bouse of Children3 Books, otaxopramermd 12, Praha XVI, Czechoslovakia
(hereinafter called the Publisher) of the other part
WHERKBY it is mutually agreed as follows rega raing the work
DB SCBBBPSJOgSBHS VAN BONÏIKOI by Johan Fabxlolus
1. The Proprietor hereby grants to the Publisher the sole and exclusive licence to translate,
print, publish and sell the said work in volume form only in the..................................................
language subject to the terms and conditions following':
„ . . . ii£l 2.000 /tB-othoussnd/ 2. The Publisher shall pay to the Proprietor the sum of.......................................................................................
, on signature of this agreement, such sum to be in advance
and on account of aiBPSS^RS?
for all edition of 20,000 copies to be published in 1959.
............
............of the publication» ...................:........................................................
3. The Publisher agrees to bring out his edition of the said work within
eighteen
'3.OOÖ.....
.. months of the date of this agreement. The first edition will comprise at
4. ..*„..„,...........LJ....X...... gratis copies of the said work in translated form shall be sent to the
'"'""".....-'«Mi-' AAi '
Proprietor on publication. "•*' **
5. The translation of the said work shall be paid for by the Publisher and it shall be made faithfully and accurately and no abbreviations or alterations shall be made in the text thereof
•witVvoMt the written consent o£ tHe Proprietor or the Propi&tor's reprcsenfcafcK-o.
6. The Publisher undertakes that the name of the Author shall appear in its customary form in due prominence on the title page and on the binding of every copy produced and on all advertisements of the said work issued by the Publisher or his agents.
Fig.. 3. Agreement of DILIA for Fabricius' De scheepsjongens van Bontekoe, 1958
by Ella Kazdova in Prague15 — it is quite remarkable that this Czech production from May 1975 was on stage just within one year after the original play. The second murder case was Jongensspel (1963, A Boys' Play), a
15 Typoscript edition by DILIA in Prague as publication no. 10 097. The title page gives as the original Dutch title Vader onbekend, a retranslation of the Czech title.
novel adaptation of a 1960 controversial murder case that came to court in 1963, being by Fabricius on behalf of the newspaper De Telegraaf. Olga Krijtova made the translation Klukovska hra from this novel, published in 1984 with 48,000 copies by the Prague publisher Mlada fronta [The Young Front]. It was accompanied by an afterword by Karel Cech (19442015), a member of Mlada fronta's editorial board, presenting criminality as a typical capitalist feature.
In 1978, the historical novel De grote geus (1949, The Big Beggar) was published. It had been translated by Krijtova three years earlier but was upheld due to her publication ban. Her former student Milena Perglerova (*1935) functioned as cover translator. The novel was very successful with 72,000 copies and was published again in 2003, this time with the name of the right translator. The last work that appeared in book form was Toontje Poland about the Alkmaar grocery son Dorus Poland (1795-1857) who made a career in the army of Napoleon and later in the colony of the Dutch East Indies. The translation Tonek z Napoleonovy armady (1981), once more by Krijtova, was published in a circulation of 70,000 copies at the Prague publisher of youth literature Albatros. Finally, for an issue of the magazine Svetova literature [World Literature], two students of Krijtova translated two stories from the collection De bruiden in bad en andere duistere daden [The Brides in Bath and Other Dark Deeds] that was released in the year of Fabricius' death. The publication was accompanied by an in memoriam written by Krijtova.
7. FABRICIUS AFTER COMMUNISM — AN EPILOGUE
Only a few foreign authors could boast that their works were published in the Interwar period, during German occupation, in the first free post-War years, during Communism, and even after 1989. Apart from the new issue of his Wij, Tz'e Tshi, Keizerin van China in 1994 and the above-mentioned new 2003 edition of De grote geus, two more editions of De scheepsjongens were issued, the last in 2012. Thus, Czech translations of Fabricius' works were issued over a time span of nearly 80 years.
A part of this success story is that Czech society, like Dutch, is a relatively egalitarian one. Well-told stories about ordinary people set in historical periods or connected with historical events do well in all periods and under all regimes. Fabricius was undeniably a born storyteller
as few writers were. Even the pre-War literary critic Menno ter Braak (1949), being mostly very negative about best-selling 'easy reading writers', acknowledged this fact in his reviews.
The close connection between the Czech book market with the German undoubtedly played a role as well. At least until 1938, Czech publishers issued mostly translations of books that did well in Germany. Finally, the translators played a relatively large role in transmitting works from smaller literatures. The choice of Lída Faltová clearly plays a role here, while the translations of often recent work by Fabricius after World War II were due to Olga Krijtová, especially when it comes to novels that were only published in Czech.
The large print runs during Communism were a consequence of the system. The protagonists in Fabricius' novels such as Paddeltje in De scheepsjongens van Bontekoe were ordinary people who with some goodwill could be counted as 'working class' types. Fabricius presented historical facts preferably through the eyes of common people which corresponded to the premises of Socialist Realism. Furthermore, the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands was officially seen as a 'precursor of Socialism'. The extensive afterword in Velky Géz by the historian Josef Polisensky (1915-2001), full of due references to Soviet historians and explicitly quoting the important Dutch historian Jan Romein as a 'Marxist historian', is a clear witness to this. Finally, the system was keen to have some international focus, which means that Fabricius also acted as a sort of 'show-foreigner'. All this means that Fabricius acquired a position among the Dutch-language writers translated into Czech for a major part of the twentieth century that is only comparable to that of Hendrik Conscience a century earlier.
ARCHIVE RECORDS
Památník národního písemnictví [Memorial of National Scripture], Prague:
— 70/57 Druzstevní práce, several records;
— 70/57 — 220/13 Druzstevní práce, correspondence with the Tiskovy odbor Predsednictva vlády [Press Office of the Presidium of the Government of the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia].
Literatuurmuseum [Literature Museum], The Hague:
— F. 1072 Johan Fabricius. Correspondence of Johan Fabricius.
— 2Que Correspondentie DILIA. Correspondence of the publishing house Querido with the Czech state literary agency Dilia.
— 2Que Correspondentie Drijvers. Correspondence of the publishing house Querido with the literary agency Drijvers.
— 12.799 doos 490. Manuscripts and typoscripts of Johan Fabricius.
REFERENCES
Anonymous. Description of grave no. 1185170 on the Hervormde Begraafplaats Noordlaren, where no. A3/062/11-12 are the graves of Johan Fabricius and his second wife Anneke Bleeker. Available at: https://www.online-begraafplaatsen. nl/zerken.asp?command=show graf &bgp=2243& grafid=1185170&view=-Zerkenlijst&page=5 (after 1999) (accessed: 31.12. 2019)
Bulthuis R. Johan Fabricius. Den Haag: Leopold, 1959. 94 p.
Dorleijn G., van Voorst S. PEN Nederland betreurt dat het moeilijk is buiten de politiek te blijven. In 1934. Nederlandse cultuur in internationale context. Amsterdam; Antwerpen: Querido, 2010. P. 219-227.
Engelbrecht W. Sorela or Dutch literature through Czech socialist realistic eyes (1945-1990). TRANSFER of Dutch, Flemish and Scandinavian Literatures to Eastern Europe (1945-1990). Moscow: Nauka Publ., 2018. P. 29-44.
Faltova L. Johan Fabricius v Praze. Panorama 12 (1934). P. 78-79.
Kneidl P. Setkänt s Prahou. Vztahy mezi mestem a zahranicnimi umelci a vedci od Francesca Petrarcy po Allena Ginsberga. Praha: Perseus, 2005. 440 p.
Opelik J. Lida Faltova. Lexikon ceske literatury. Osobnosti, dtla, instituce 1A-G. Praha: Academia, 1985. P. 680-981.
Perry J. Balsem voor de ziel. Theun de Vries in vertaling. Filter, tijdschrift over vertalen 18, 2011, no. 4. P. 45-55.
Ross L. Jo van Ammers-Küller in Dubrownik 1933: Een congres van de internationale PEN-club in Dubrownik. Literatuur 16, 1999. P. 225-232.
Smolka Fruhwirtova L. Recepce nizozemske literatury v ceskem literärntm kontextu let 1945-2010. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackeho, 2011. 149 p.
Samal P. Soustruzntci lidskych dust. Lidove knihovny a jejich cenzura na pocätku padesätych let 20. stolett (s edict seznamü zakäzanych knih). Praha: Academia, 2014. 613 p.
Simecek Z., Travnicek J. Knihy kupovati... Dejiny knizntho trhu v ceskych zemtch. Praha: Academia, 2014. 500 p.
Ter Braak M. Wij en het buitenland. Een tentoonstelling van vertalingen in de Kon. Bibliotheek. Stijging van het aantal uit het Nederlandsch vertaalde boe-ken sedert 1930. Het Vaderland, 1939. Available at: http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/ braa002vade08_01/braa002vade08_01_ 0083.php (accessed: 15.12.2019).
Ter Braak, M. Kunst en vertelkunst. Verzameld werk, Amsterdam: Van Oorschot, 1949. P. 145-150.
Van Huffel A. J. Nederlandsche schrijvers in vertaling (van Marcellus Emants tot Jan Eekhout): proeve van eene bibliografie. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1939. 89 p.
Van Uffelen H. Bibliographie der modernen niederländischen Literatur in deutscher Übersetzung 1830-1990 (= Niederlande-Studien 7). Münster: Lit, 1993. 543 p.
Van Uffelen H. Bibliographie der niederländischen Kinder- und Jugendliteratur in deutscher Übersetzung (1830-1990) (= Niederlande-Studien 8). Münster: Lit, 1990. 338 p.
Wögerbauer M. (red.). V obecnem zäjmu. Cenzura a sociälni regulace literatury v moderni ceske kultufe, 1749-2014. II. 1939-2014. Praha: Academia & Üstav pro ceskou literaturu AV CR, 2015. 863 p.
Вилкен Энгельбрехт
Университет Палацкого, Оломоуц
Католический университет Люблина имени Иоанна Павла II
МЕЛОДИЯ ДАЛЕЙ: ЙОХАН ФАБРИЦИУС -ОКНО ДЛЯ ЧЕХОВ В ЭКЗОТИЧЕСКИЕ МИРЫ
Для цитирования: Engelbrecht W. W. K. H. The melody of distant things: Johan Fabricius as a Czech window on exotic worlds // Скандинавская филология. 2020. Т. 18. Вып. 1. С. 142-167. https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu21.2020.110
С точки зрения мирового литературного процесса литература на нидерландском языке, на котором говорит всего 24 миллиона человек, — это более или менее периферийное явление. Однако большое количество нидерландских книг переведено на иностранные языки, особенно после Второй мировой войны. Йо-хан Фабрициус (1899-1981) был при жизни одним из самых читаемых нидерландских писателей. Его произведения, в первую очередь бессмертная книга для юношества «Юнги на корабле Бонтеку» (1924), до сих пор переиздающаяся как в Нидерландах, так и за рубежом (последнее чешское издание увидело свет в 2012 г.), входит в число самых популярных литературных произведений как на родине писателя, так и за границей. Тем не менее, из европейских языков произведения Йохана Фабрициуса переведены преимущественно на немецкий и чешский. И это не случайно, так как именно на чешский язык переведено вообще исключительно много нидерландскоязычных книг. Среди них — как легкая, популярная литература, так и серьезные классические произведения. В данной статье история рецепции нидерландской литературы в Чехии разделена на ряд периодов: время между двумя мировыми войнами, время немецкой оккупации, демократическое время с 1945 по 1948 г., годы правления коммунистической партии и, наконец, время после 1989 г. В статье приводится информация о переводчиках (важнейшими из которых являются Лида Фальтова (1899-1944) и Ольга Крейтова (1931-2013)), издателях, тиражах, а также о причинах, по которым чешские переводы тех или иных книг в итоге не были опубликованы. Данное явление особенно характерно для периодов 1945-1948 (из-за нехватки бумаги) и 1949-1989 (из-за цензуры). В статье вкратце обрисована специфика каждого из выделенных периодов. В приложении приводится полный обзор всех переводов произведений Фабрициуса на сегодняшний день.
Ключевые слова: Йохан Фабрициус, перевод, нидерландский, чешский, экзотические миры, романы.
Wilken Engelbrecht
Full Professor of Dutch and of Literary Theory, Univerzit Palackeho,
512/10, Krizkovskeho, Olomouc, 771 80, Czech Republic E-mail: wilken.engelbrecht@upol.cz Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawla II 14, al. Raclawickie, Lublin, 20-950, Poland E-mail: wilken.engelbrecht@kul.pl
Received: January 9, 2020 Accepted: April 13, 2020
ATTACHMENT
Survey of all translations of the works of Johan Fabricius
Original Dutch title German translation English translation Czech translation Other translations
Eiko van den Reigerhof (1922) Eiko, der Junge vom Reiherhof (1924) Riddarfejden (1935, SW)
Hansje Bluf, of Het zangersfeest van koning Hangelip (1923) Prahlhänschen oder das Sängerfest bei König Hängelippe: ein Märchen (1924) Hans Storskyter og hans merkelige evendyr hos Kong Hengelebe (1924, NW),Pralhans (cl924, DA); Jasiek Samochwat czyli uroczystosc spiewacza u krola wargali (1924, PL)*
De scheepsjongens van Bontekoe (1924) Kapitän Bontekoes Schiffsjungen (1926, 21926,31926,41929, 51929,61937,71938, 81949,91953, 101964, 111970,121981, 131991) Java ho! The adventures of four boys amid fire, storm and shipwreck (1931, 21933) Plavcici kapitdna Bontekoea (1935, 21940,31946,41958, 51966, 61977, 72010) Plavcici kapitdna Bontekoea (1996 — new translation) Peter Dekksgut. Kaptein Bontekoes Skibsgutter( 1934, NW); Skibsguttene i Urskogen (19352, NW); Skeppskamraterna (1934, SW); Kapteeni Bontekoen laipva-pojat (1945, FI), Cap sur Java (1948, FR); Kapitan Bontekoe in njegovi mornarcki (1975, SL); Plavcici kapitdna Bontekoea (1975, SK); Kipper Bontekoe laevapoisid (1994, EST), De skipsjonges fan Bontekoe (2015, FRIS)
Hans de klokkeluider (1925) Hans, der Glöckner: ein Wintermärchen in 5 Bildern (1925)
Nachtegael (1925) Nachtegal: die Liebe eines Malergesellen (1927)
De wondere avontu-ren van Arretje Nof (1926-1927): 1. Bar-rebart, de wildeman uit de bergen (1926); 2. Het rooverseiland in de Perzische zee (1927); 3 .De draak en de Chineesche prinses (1927); 4. Brekkek-kwak-kwak en de zeven (1927); 5. De vroolijke bruiloft van Arretje en Anne-tje{ 1927) Barrabart, der Wildemann aus den Bergen: ein Märchen-Bilderbuch (1927); Die Räuberinsel im Arabischen Meer: ein Märchen-Bilderbuch (1928); Die Prinzessin von China und der Drache: ein Märchen-Bilderbuch (1929)
* This Polish translation is missing in the survey by Bulthuis (1959, p. 86-94). According to the title description, it was translated from Danish, which causes some doubts about its accuracy. The translator Pawel Hulka-Laskowski ( 1881-1946) translated mostly from German, English and Czech.
Original Dutch title German translation English translation Czech translation Other translations
Het meisje met den blauwen hoed (1927) Das Mädchen mit dem blauen Hut (1928,21931) The girl in the blue hat (1932, 21933) Divka s modrym kloboukem (1933) Djevojka s modrim sëstrom (1930, CR)
Charlottes groote reis (1928) Charlottens große Reise (1929,21929) Charlottes resa (1943, SW)
Mario Ferraro's ijdele liefde (1929) Mario Ferraros eitle Liebe (1930,21932) Vain love (1931); The love of Mario Ferraro (1937) (Agreement signed with Sfinx in 1947, not published) Mario Ferraros olyckliga karlek (1936, SW)
Venetiaansch avontuur(1931) Abenteuerin Venedig (1932) Venetsian seikkaillija (1934, 21960, FI)
Komedianten trokken voorbij (1931) Marietta (1933, 21954) Jeli tudy komedianty (1933,21941) Komedianderne drogforbi (1934, DA); Komedianter drogo fôrbi (1934, SW); Marietta, Komedianter drogforbi (1936, 21945, NW); Marietta (1936, FI); Mariette fille du hasard ( 1961, FR)
Leeuwen hongeren in Napels (1934) Löwen hungern in Neapel. Roman (1934) The Lions starve in Naples (1934, two editions, 21935) Lvi hladoveji v Neapoli (1934) Lejon hungra i Neapel (1937, SW); Leones hambrientes en Nápoles (cl937. SP)
Melodie der verten (1934) Melodie ddlek (1934, 19412) Marietta's Son (1935, DA), Melodie urfjarran (1935, SW); Mariettan poika (1936, 21959, FI); Mariettas Sônn (1937, NW)
De dans om degalg (1934) Tanec kolem sibenice (1936, 19412) Dansen kringgalgen (1935, SW); Dansen om galgen (1936, DA); Dansen om galgen (1936, NW)
Dansen om galgen (Omnibus of Komedianten trokken voorbij, De dans om de galg, Melodie der verten) (1936) The son of Marietta: Marietta, Mother and son, Benedetto (1936, UK); The Son of Marietta: Players passed by, Melody of Distant Things, The dance around the gallows (1936, USA) Italskd trilogie: Jeli tudy komedianty, Melodie ddlek, Tanec kolem sibenice (1934, 21973; audio 1981)
Flipje (1936) Flipje, Roman eines Dreikäsehochs (1950, 21954) Flip wonders why: a novel (1947); The world at six (1950) (not published; review reports in archive DP, 1947 and 1948)
Kasteel in Karinthië (1938) A Castle in Carinthia (1940, 2 editions) (ms. Zámek v Korutanech, undated in archive DP) Slottet in Kärnten (1940, SW), Un castillo en Carintia (1961, SP)
Eiland der demonen (1941) Insel der Dämonen: ein Roman über Bali (1951) No return from Bali (1941) Ostrov démonú. Román (1947) Démons à Bali (1945, FR), Demonernas ö: en roman frän Bali (1941, NW); Demonernas ö: en roman frän Bali (1944, SW); Demonien Saari (1945, FI); Demonernes 0 (1947, DA); Demonios en Bali (1953, SP)
Original Dutch title German translation English translation Czech translation Other translations
Nacht over Java (1944) Night over Java (1944, 21946) Noc nad Jávou (1947 = 1946)
Hoe ik Indie terugvond (1947) Java revisited (1947) (not published; review report in archive DP, 1948)
Hotel Vesuvius (1947) Hotel Vesuvius: a gay novel of grapes, wine and sunshine (1945, UK, 1947, USA) Hotel Vesuvio: Vesely román o hroznech, vine a slunecní zárí (1948)
Halfbloed (1946) = Dutch adaptation Ma Sarinah und die Kinder ihres Blutes (1944); Halbblut (1954) A Malayan tragedy (1942) = original Z dvoji krve. Román z Indonésie (1948) Halvblod (1947, SW), Boung le métis (1957, FR); Ben ta'arovet (1959, HEB)
Brandende aarde (1949) East Indies Episode (1949)
Degrotegeus (1949) Das Festmal der Bettler (1951,21952) The beggars' banquet (1951) Velkygéz (1978, 22003)
Degrote beproeving (1950) Die große Heimsuchung (1951) The great ordeal (1951)
Mijn huis Staat achter de kirn (1951) A Dutchman at large: memoirs (1952) Mitt hem âr bortom synranden (1957, SW)
Langs de Leie: twee variaties op een thema (1952) The pike Beelzebub: two variations on a theme, one in major and one in minor (1953)
De nertsmantel (1953) Der Nerzmantel: Novelle (1954)
Gordel van smaragd (1953) Girdle of Emerald (1955)
Toernooi met de dood. Roman uithet jaar van de grote pest te Florence (1954) Mortal pageant: a romance of the year of the Great Plague in Florence (1956)
Nacht zonder zegen (1955) Nuit maudite (1959, FR)
Setoewo, de tijger (1956) Setuwo, der Tiger (1958) Setuwo the tiger (1957) Setoewo de tyger (1957, AFR), Setuvo la tigre (1958, IT); Setouwo, le tigre (1959, FR)
Het roverseiland in de Perzische zee (1958) Die Räuberinsel im Arabischen Meer: ein Märchen-Bilderbuch (1958)
De heilige paarden (1959) Die heiligen Pferde (1960,21970)
End of attachment
Original Dutch title German translation English translation Czech translation Other translations
Mijn Rosalía (1961) Rosalie (1964)
Herinneringen van een oudepruik (1963) Vzpomínky staréparuky (1966)
Jongensspel (1963) Klukovská hra (1984)
Dag, Leidseplein (1965) Jungweibersommer: meine Hochzeitsreise mit Kleopatra (1976, 21978)
Hetgeheim van het oude landhuis (1965) Die Schmuggler der San Antonio Bucht (1967) Tajemstvi starého venkovského sídla (1972)
De avonturen van Jantje en zijn vrienden Koko en Sebastiaan (1966) Jan, Koko und der Hund Sebastian (1969)
Weetje nog, Yoshi? (1966) Pamatujes, Josi? (1969)
Heintje heeft kabouters op zolder (1967) Heintjes ganz besonderer Winter (1969, 21973)
Wij T'ze Hsi, Keizerin van China (1968) Tajny denik cinské císafovny (1971, 21987, 31994,42012)
Een reis door het nieuwe Indonésie (1973) A sentimental journey (1971)
De duivel in de toren (1971) The devil in the tower. Seven diabolical tales (1973)
Hendrik Jacobus Jut, of De dubbele moord aan de bogt van Guinea (1974) Otec neznâmy. (adaptation for the stage) (1975)
Toontje Poland (1977) Tonek z Napoleonovy armâdy (1981)
De schreeuw van de witte kakatoe (1978) Teriakan kakatua putih (1984, IND)
De zwaluwen van Klappanoengal (1979) Burung-burung walet Klapanung-gal (1986, IND), Mayor Jantje, cerita Tuan Tanah Batavia abad Ke-19 (theatre adaptation, 2008)
De bruiden in bad en andere duistere daden (1981) Cest mladé dâmy (1982), Nevësty ve vanë (1982)
AFR — Afrikaans, CR — Croatian, DA — Danish, EST — Estonian, FI — Finnish, FR — French, FRIS — Frisian, HEB — Hebrew, IND — Indonesian, IT — Italian, NW — Norwegian, PL -Polish, SP — Spanish, SW — Swedish.
Source: Data according to Bulthuis (1959, p. 86-94), the database of the Dutch Literary Fund (see note 2) and www.worldcat.org.
