Mark Twain Project Online
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Source: Collection of Todd M. Axelrod, Gallery of History ([Axelrod])

Cue: "The translators all"

Source format: "MS"

Letter type: "[standard letter]"

Notes:

Last modified:

Revision History: Larson, Brian

Published on MTPO: 2025

Print Publication:

MTPDocEd
To Lorenz Rohr
12 May 1884 • Hartford, Conn. (MS: Axelrod, UCCL 02975)
Dear Sir:

The translators all approach it, but they all fail, in one place or another. You cannot punctuate the first line of your second stanza so in such a way as to make it rational. & A comma after “height” will not r do it, a comma after “entrancing” will not do it; a comma in both places would make prose of it. One knows what you mean by “melody, charm-beholden,” but the phrase does not itself convey a distinct meaning. There is a subtle, intangible something about the Lorelei which is as intangible as air, & as elusive as a fragrance; & no translator has quite capturesd that, & in my belief no translator ever will. It is the soul of the thing, the poetry. We all get at the facts & the music, without difficulty; but of that thing we get only the a good or bad counterfeit, we don’t seem to get the thing itself.

Truly Yours
S L Clemens

Mr. Lorenz Rohr | Editor “Freie Presse” | Leavenworth | Kansas. return address: return to s. l. clemens, hartford, conn., if not delivered within 10 days. postmarked: hartford remainder of postmark illegible and leavenworth ka may 15 1884 11am

Textual Commentary
Source text(s):

MS, collection of Todd M. Axelrod.

Previous Publication:

Christie, Manson and Woods International catalog, sale of 11 April 1980, lot 141, partial transcript; MicroPUL, reel 2.

References

  1. Machlis, Paul, ed. Union Catalog of Clemens Letters. Edited by Paul Machlis. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press. [In some cases, UCCL catalog numbers cited in this volume supersede those assigned in 1986 and reflect corrections or additions to the catalog since publication. An updated version of the catalog can be consulted via the Letters Search page at MTPO.] 1986
  2. Microfilm Edition of Mark Twain’s Previously Unpublished Letters. Prepared by Anh Quynh Bui, Victor Fischer, Michael B. Frank, Robert H. Hirst, Lin Salamo, and Harriet Elinor Smith. 8 vols. Berkeley: The Bancroft Library. 2001
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