The Misadventures of Kazantzakis's Kapetan Michalis in Translation

Ben Petre
Journal of Modern Greek Studies, Supplement to Volume 28, Number 1, May 2010, pp. 241-262 (Article)
Published by The Johns Hopkins University Press DOI: 10.1353/mgs.0.0107

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The Misadventures of Kazantzakiss Kapetan Michalis in Translation

Ben Petre

Abstract
It has long been known that Jonathan Griffins English translation of Nikos Kazantzakiss Kapetan Michalis is plagued by omissions and inaccuracies. Previous investigations accounted for these in terms of an attempt to remove blatantly anti-Turkish sentiment (Vamvaka 1998) or to reduce the authors tendency to digress or provoke (Beaton 2006), without investigating the possibility that Griffin was not translating from the original Greek text. Recently catalogued unpublished correspondence between translators, publishers, and Eleni and Nikos Kazantzakis reveals that Griffin based his version on Helmut von Steinens rendition of the novel in German, which was substantially altered by Walter Kahnert of Herbig Verlag before appearing in print. Moreover, it emerges that the English text is just one in a series of translations commissioned by the German-Jewish publisher Max Tau, who made use of an extensive network of contacts to promote Kazantzakiss work on the international market, with what was often scant regard for the accuracy of foreign language editions. Based on this finding, a comparison of translations published in six Germanic languages (German, English, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Dutch) enables us to propose a stemma for Northern European versions of Kapetan Michalis.

To state that Nikos Kazantzakis is the most translated modern Greek prose author is something of a platitude. For decades now, the colorful dust jackets adorning foreign editions of his works have been on display at the Historical Museum of Crete and the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum in Varvari, Crete; since 1997 they have also been viewable online, thanks to the Historical Museums Nikos Kazantzakis Files.1 Yet beyond the admiration and pride justifiably felt in Greece at such a publishing feat, recent years have seen growing academic interest in the quality of the translations per se. In a 1997 paper given at the Eighth Congress of Cretan Studies, Stamatis Philippidis pointed out that a number of scenes were absent from the English translation of Kapetan Michalis (published in
Journal of Modern Greek Studies 28 (2010) 241262 2010 by The Johns Hopkins University Press

241

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the in the U.S. as Freedom or Death and in the U.K. as Freedom and Death) (2000:213, note 7). The following year, Aristea Vamavaka used information provided by Philippidis about these omissions to check the French edition, which she discovered was much closer to the Greek original (1998). Six years later, at a conference in Rethymnon, Roderick Beaton examined numerous problems associated with the English translations of Zorba the Greek, Kapetan Michalis, and Christ Recrucified (2006).2 Due to the overall complexity of the issue, the present investigation is restricted to Kapetan Michalis, which fared worse than the other novels in terms of heavy-handed editing, abridgement, and mistranslation. This applies not only to English, but also to a series of editions commissioned in other Germanic languagesGerman, Norwegian, Danish, and Dutcheven extending to Swedish, where it would appear that the accurate rendition by Brje Knsa conscientious modern Greek scholar and close friend of Kazantzakiswas abridged before appearing in print. Diether Roderich Reinschs important observation that the Norwegian text was based on the German translation led to the inclusion of Scandinavian and Dutch-language editions in this study, since they allow for comparison with problematic passages in the English translation by Jonathan Griffin (Reinsch forthcoming). Four principal threads guide us through this linguistic labyrinth: previous studies, publication history, correspondence between the Kazantzakis couple and their editors and translators, and, of course, the texts themselves. Whatever our findings may be, it is worth bearing in mind just how radically things have changed since the 1950s when Kazantzakiss novels were written and first marketed abroad. At that time, professional modern Greek scholars capable of producing renditions equal to those by Brje Kns, and later by Peter Bien, were extremely rare.3 With their eyes firmly fixed on the Nobel Prize for Literature, to say nothing of financial gain, Kazantzakis, his wife Eleni, and their publishers would not unnaturally have been interested in establishing a worldwide readership as rapidly as possible. Beyond this, we know that the practice of indirect translation was far from unknown to Kazantzakis, since his numerous Greek renditions of works by German authors, and even Charles Darwins On the Origin of Species, were based on French editions rather than on original texts (Koutsourelis 2007; Kazantzaki 2007:93).4 So how did Kazantzakiss works come to be translated so rapidly and into so many languages? Investigation reveals that the key figure in disseminating the novels abroad was the German author, editor, and publisher Max Tau.5 His role, which is instantly apparent from relevant correspondence, as well as from multiple references to him by Pandelis Prevelakis (1965) and Helen Kazantzakis (1983), is stressed by Reinsch

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Figure 1. Cover illustration for the first Greek Edition of Kapetan Michalis by Mavridis Press (1954). Photography by Ben Petre.

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(forthcoming). Taus acquaintance with Kazantzakis dates to 1951. In a warm letter written in Oslo on 29 August of that year, he stated: Sie haben durch Ihr Werk meinem Leben eine neue Aufgabe gegeben; ich werde nicht ruhen, bis ich diese Aufgabe erfllt habe (Through your work you have set me a new task in life. I shall not rest until I have accomplished that task) ( 1795).6 Others assisting in the attempt to win over publishers were the Dutch left-wing author, A. Den Doolard (Cornelis Spoelstra), and his wife, Erie, who lost no time in establishing contacts in the U.S. Prologues by den Doolard later appeared in the American editions of Christ Recrucified (original U.S. title, The Greek Passion) and Freedom and Death.7 Kazantzakis did have some reservations about Tau. In a letter to Eleni in June 1951, he described the publisher as (over the top) and claimed that it might be wise not to accept his opinion. Yet he had no doubt of Tau (the prestige Tau has in the Scandinavian countries) ( 196196). Much harsher judgment was passed by Kns, whose main concern as an academic was that the translations be of high quality. Writing to Kazantzakis on 2 December 1951, he commented: -, [sic], [sic], (a very enthusiastic person and a highly skilled publisher-cum-dealer, neither illiterate nor highly educatedabove all a dealer) ( 500). In a postscript, Kns expresses his indignation at the fact that Tau wanted the translation to be completed rapidly, without necessarily being accurate. The letter ends: , . , ! (I am a serious philologist, and do not like this. [Keep] this between us, please!). The deal went ahead, nonetheless, and on 12 March 1952 the Kazantzakises informed Kns that Tau had signed contracts with publishers in America, Denmark, and England ( 674). The publishers in question were Simon and Schuster in New York, Jespersen og Pios Forlag in Copenhagen, and the press run by Taus former employer Bruno Cassirer, re-established in Oxford after Cassirer and his son-in-law Gnther Hell (later known as George Hill) fled Germany in 1938.8 From 1952 onwards, Dutch translations of Kazantzakiss works were produced by De Fontein Press, possibly following mediation by Tau. This network also extended to Herbig Verlag in Germany, then owned by Taus old friend, Walter Kahnert, and to Tanum in Oslo, whose editor-in-chief was none other than Tau himself. This group of publishers produced two of the editions most plagued by mistranslations and omissions: Christ Recrucified 9 and Kapetan Michalis. Matters were rather

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different in Sweden, where Kns collaborated with Ljus Frlag in producing accurate translations based on the original Greek manuscripts, beginning with Zorba the Greek in 1949, but the Swedish translation of Kapetan Michalis did not appear in full. What were the consequences of this publishing network for the fate of Kapetan Michalis? To answer this question, we must turn to the translators and their texts. Here we are fortunate in having correspondence relating to the first translation to appear in a Germanic language, issued by Herbig Verlag as Freiheit oder Tot in 1954. The translation was entrusted to Helmut von der Steinen, a German-Jewish (like Tau) Homeric scholar and friend of Kazantzakis. From late 1953 onwards, he sent a series of letters from Cairo, where he was working from a Greek manuscript. Two of these letters unravel the mystery surrounding the omissions in so many editions of the novel. On 28 February 1954, von den Steinen wrote to advise Kazantzakis of the following:
, , , , . . Kahnert Herbigverlag. undeutsche . . , . , , , banalise . . . . Hill. , , , , Herbig . . . Hill , . . ( 3436) I did what I could to render the wild freshness of your language into German, which as you know is quite easily applied in foreign tones. But that did not please your friend Mr. Kahnert at Herbigverlag one bit. He made stern remarks to me about the undeutsche style of my translation and changed it from top to toe. And he cut out a great deal. I dont know the details, because he has not sent me proofs of the altered text. Of course, there was nothing I could do about it, since he knows the German public better than I, and will probably get more readers with the banal edition than with the authentic, wild one . . . I have also written the same to Mr. HillI hope he will look at some chapters Herbig is sending him. Of course, Ive got nothing in my hands. Mr. Hill wrote to me that he wants to translate KM directly from the Greek, not from German. All he wanted from me was a general idea of the work.

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In August of the same year, von den Steinen received the proofs at the State Hospital in Baden-Baden, Germany where he was convalescing. It was then that he discovered precisely what had occurred:
.. . ( . ) undeutsch, . , , , , . . ( 3437) Well, its been two weeks since I finished the proofs of K.M. and I now have a good idea of how the book will be presented to the German public. Several episodes have been cut out, and since (according to Mr. Kahnert) my style is undeutsch, it has been mellowed and ironed out. All the same, I must admit that the sum total makes a good impression, and is possibly easier to sell than the unrefined complete translation. So you can be satisfied with your publisher.

To a great extent, these letters absolve von den Steinen of any responsibilityhe delivered a full translation, and we have no way of knowing how many of the other inaccuracies in the published edition owe their existence to Kahnerts attempts to render the style less undeutsch. What we do know is that the abridgements were not the work of an English publisher, motivated by political sensibilities aroused by tension on Cyprus, as hypothesized by Vamvaka (1998:55). Precisely what is meant by undeutsch is another question, best addressed by Kazantzakis scholars with a comprehensive knowledge of German reality at the time, such as Reinsch or Dimadis.10 Whatever the case may be, it is tempting to conjecture that a decade after the end of World War II, Kahnert removed descriptions of Turkish atrocitiesparticularly from chapter XIIIbecause he knew or sensed that they were essentially a fictional reworking of similar crimes committed by German occupation forces on Crete. Angela Kastrinaki has shown how in writing the novel, Kazantzakis drew extensively on an earlier text entitled (Crete), initially derived from his experiences as a member of the Commission for the Verification of German Atrocities on Crete (2001:392393). Valuable testimony on the matter of foreign editions is also provided by Eleni Kazantzakis, in a letter written some 24 years later, in September 1978, to a Ms. Elisabeth Stader. Addressing concerns about the poor translations and the possibility of putting them aright, she notes:
Oui, je le savais depuis fort longtemps que les traductions en allemand et malheureusement aussi en anglais des livres de mon mari sont trs trs

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mauvaises. . . . Nous aurions pu avoir en allemande encore deux merveilleuses traductions, celles qua fait Helmut von den Steinen, d.i. Freiheit oder Tod et Le Pauvre dAssise. Mais le propritaire de Herbig Verlag, Walter Kahnert, tait un homme absolument impossible, il se croyait crivain et encore grand crivain et se permettait de . . . corriger Kazantzaki. Von den Steinen tait venu en Suisse, et cest avec des larmes aux yeux quil nous a dnonc Kahnert. Figurez-vous quil avait change 200 adjectifs du seul roman La Libert ou la Mort. ( 1846) Yes, I have known for a very long time that the translations of my husbands books into German, and unfortunately also into English, are extremely poor. . . . We could have had another two wonderful translations into German, done by Helmut von den Steinen, i.e. Freedom and Death and Gods Pauper. But the proprietor of Herbig Verlag, Walter Kahnert, was an altogether impossible manhe considered himself an author, and an excellent one at that, and he allowed himself to . . . correct Kazantzakis. Von den Steinen came to Switzerland and, with tears in his eyes, denounced Kahnert to us. Just imagine that he had changed 200 adjectives in the novel Freedom or Death alone.

Returning to the 1950s, we have already seen that the adulterated German translation was used as the basis for numerous other editions. The provenance of the Norwegian version cannot be doubted, since the title of the original work is cited on the flyleaf in German (Freiheit oder Tod), rather than in Greek. The Danish edition clearly states that it is: Med forfatterens tilladelse forkortet og oversat fra tysk efter Freiheit oder Tod ([a]bridged with the authors permission and translated from German after Freiheit oder Tod ).11 As one would expect, the Swedish edition clearly states that it is translated frn frfattarens manuskript av Brje Kns (from the authors manuscript by Brje Kns).12 The Dutch version refers to the Greek original: Titel van de oorspronkelijke Griekse uitgave: (Title of the original Greek edition: O Kapetan Michalis),13 but in other respects follows the Swedish so closely that the two texts appear to be related. Lastly, the English translation is devoid of any such reference other than the translators name. With regard to English, we have seen that George Hill at Cassirer obtained the German text from Kahnert, but told von den Steinen that he was only interested in gaining a general impression of the work, with a view to having it translated straight from the Greek. Whatever the case may be, the translator was Jonathan Griffinin 1955 his rendition was issued by Simon and Schuster in New York as Freedom or Death and the following year by Cassirer in Oxford, under the slightly altered title Freedom and Death. Unfortunately, unlike other translators, Griffin would not appear to

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have entered into direct correspondence with Nikos or Eleni Kazantzakis.14 From other sources we learn that, during his lifetime (19061990), he wrote poetry and produced translations from several languages, mainly from Portuguese and French, in addition to serving as a diplomat and director of BBC European Intelligence during the war.15 Yet, apart from turning up two problematic Kazantzakis novelsKapetan Michalis and Christ Recrucifieda search of library databases fails to yield any other translations by him from modern Greek. Perhaps more importantly, the 1976 Manchester Royal Exchange production of Heinrich von Kleists Prince of Homburg was based on a translation by Griffin. There can thus be no doubt that he was capable of producing literary translations from German.16 Moving on to the texts, it is immediately obvious that the passages missing from the German translation are almost identical to those already noted by Vamvaka and Beaton in the English editions (Table 1). At the above points in the novel, the gaps in the English translation are exactly the same as those in the German, Norwegian, and Danish texts, with the exception of the fainting episode involving Kapetan Polyxingiss sister Chrysanthi in Chapter Three, which has been cut out of the English version. At additional points, the Norwegian and Danish texts vary in what they omit; yet, as we would expect, they do not contain any passages missing from the German translation on which they were based. Furthermore, neither the Swedish nor the Dutch translation is complete, but the gaps they contain are different from those in the German group. The fact that the Dutch text includes the tale narrated by Barbayiannis, which is missing from the Swedish edition, is a point to which we will return later. What Table 1 reveals is that the 12 different episodes translated into six different languages should in theory have yielded 72 renditions, yet only ten of these ever appeared in print. Could there be any other way to corroborate the claim that Griffin was working from the corrupt German translation, as we now suspect? As it turns out, in the novels opening chapter there is a passage that will serve as an admirable litmus test. In the first few pages of most editions, there is a paragraph which contains several pronounced deviations from the Greek original. It depicts Kapetan Michalis looking out over the harbor at Megalokastro:
, , . , , , , , , , , . , , o.

Table 1. Omissions identified by Vamvaka17 (1998) and Beaton (2006) in the English translation, and corresponding passages in other editions18 GK1 GK2 GER 117118 [190] [267] [267] [267] [267] [267] [267] [381] [389] [424] [426] 12 12 1 1 [339] [371] [346] [378] [379] [413] [381] [415] [238] [258] [238] [258] [190] [190] [276] [284] [318] [320] 1 [238] [258] [190] [238] [258] [190] [236] [236] [236] [236] [317] [324] [345] [347] 1 [238] [258] [190] [235] [237] [258] [189] [235] 159 [159] 159160 160 [161] [161] [241] 249252 [280] [280] 4 [166] [181] [144] [167] [109] [126] 187 187189 189 [190] [190] [190] [273] [280] [308] [308] 3 [101] [111] 9394 104105 [68] [81] DAN NOR SWE NL 104105 119120 174182 196206 257 291 258259 292294 260 294 261 295 261262 296297 262 297 373380 418426 389392 435439 426427 477478 429430 480481 ENG1 ENG2

Chapter

Passage

III

Chrysanthi and the fainting episode

Kapetan Polyxingis at the graveyard

1. Turks set out for Kapitan Michaliss house

2. Barbayiannis tells the Pasha a story

3. Kapetan Michaliss dream

VIII

4. Kapetan Michalis stabs himself

5. Thrasaki performs the donkey liturgy

6. Kapetan Michalis and the fear of death

XI

Thrasaki comes near to provoking a riot

XII

Kriaras the rhymester visits Kapetan Sifakas

1. How the old ladys sons were executed

XIII

2. How Kubelinas son was executed

TOTAL NUMBER OF EPISODES PER EDITION

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, , , . (GK1:10)

The corresponding passage in the Griffin translation is as follows:

He gazed leftwards at the harborat the steamers, the sailing ships and the sea. Sounds came from up on the mole: dealers, sailors, boatmen and porters were swarming between oil- and wine-casks and piles of rubbish, shouting, cursing, loading and unloading. They were hurrying to be done with it by the time the sun went down and the fortress gate shut. The sea poised sultrily, and the harbor stank of rotten oranges, turnips, wine and oil. Two or three middle-aged Maltese women sprinkled with spray stood on the wharf and chattered hoarsely. They were waving to a broad-beamed Maltese steamer, which was coming in with a cargo of bottles. (ENG1:4; ENG2:8)19

At the very minimum, this could be emended to read:

He gazed leftwards towards the harborat the caiques, the skiffs and the sea. Sounds came up from the mole: dealers, sailors, boatmen and porters were swarming between oil- and wine-casks and piles of carob, shouting, cursing, loading and unloading carts. They were hurrying to be done with it before the sun went down and the fortress gate shut. The sea poised sultrily, and the harbor stank of rotten citron, carob, wine and oil. Two or three middle-aged Maltese women plastered in make-up stood on the wharf and chattered hoarsely. They were waving to a broad-beamed Maltese ketch, which was coming in with a cargo of fish.

The original Greek text is taken from the 1953 Greek edition by Mavridis, which differs from later ones only with respect to the prologue which was written some years later, and therefore never appeared in translationand Kazantzakiss somewhat idiosyncratic spelling. Table 2 gives the renditions of the italicized words and phrases published in each language. Turning first to the German text, we note the removal of any reference to carob, which is translated in the first instance as rubbish and in the second as turnips. Quite apart from the marked inconsistency, this does away with an important historical detail, since at the time described by Kazantzakis, considerable quantities of carob were exported from Crete (Perakis 2005, vol. I:289291). These substitutions may perhaps owe their existence to Kahnerts efforts to render the text more comprehensible to the German reading public, which would obviously have been more familiar with rubbish and turnips than carob. Be that as it may, Kns had no hesitation in choosing the correct word johannisbrd on both

The Misadventures of Kapetan Michalis in Translation

Table 2. The Harbour at Megalokastro Edition GK1 GK2 GER Page 10 14 8 .. .. gehuftem Abfall piles of rubbish piles of rubbish hauger av sammenrasket boss affaldsdynger Orangen Rben vom Schaum bespritzt sprinkled with spray sprinkled with spray oversprytet med sjskum

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mit Flaschen beladen with a cargo of bottles with a cargo of bottles lastet med flasker

ENG1

oranges

turnips

ENG2

oranges

turnips

NOR

appelsiner

rotfrukter

DAN

appelsiner

roer

mens vandet lastet med sprjtede op p flasker dem tjockt mlade som med murselv lastad med fisk

SWE

hger av johannisbrd

frukt

johannisbrd Johannesbrood

NL

hopen fruit Johannesbrood

dik onder het volgeladen blanketsel, alsof met vis er een troffel aan te pas gekomen was

occasions. Furthermore, the meaning of the phrase (plastered with make-up) either escaped the translator or was purposely altered to sprinkled with spray. Lastly, the German word Flaschen; i.e., bottles rather than fish, may have been due to an error on the typesetters part, particularly if a handwritten manuscript was the source, since it closely resembles the accurate rendition Fischen. However the errors are accounted for, it is instantly apparent that they passed into Griffins English text, as well as into the Norwegian and Danish editions. On the other hand, the Swedish and Dutch texts follow the original more closely. The fact that both of them render (citrons) simply as fruit may be taken as an indication that one is dependent on the other. And since we know that Kns was translating

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from Greek, it is not unreasonable to surmise that the Dutch was based on the Swedish.20 Furthermore, it emerges that the German text may well shed light on other errors in the English version. One striking inaccuracy examined in some detail by Beaton concerns the phrase (two Circassian eyebrows), which return to haunt Kapetan Michalis in a nightmare he has in Chapter Three. As Beaton points out, the published English renditiontwo Circassian womenfails to establish the obvious connection with Emine, who is the object of Kapetan Michaliss desire, and instead depicts the protagonist as lusting after Circassian women in general (2006:114). In this particular case, von den Steinen is entirely accurate in choosing the word Brauen (eyebrows). What appears to have happened is that Griffin misread this word as Frauen (women); in German the two words differ only by one letter, whereas Greek (eyebrows) bears absolutely no resemblance to (women). Furthermore, Table 3 clearly shows that the error cannot have originated in any of the other languages under examination. There is, however, at least some evidence that Griffin may occasionally have consulted the Greek text.21 In Chapter 13, the ribald ditty about Aunt Thodora is rendered fully and reasonably faithfully in German, but with an altered rhyme scheme. On the other hand, Griffin constructs rhyming couplets in tune with the Greek, but leaves two of them out (see also Vamvaka 1998:56). The same spirit of bowdlerism may account for the alteration of the phrase , (Its you Im at odds with, my God, not with people) uttered by Kapetan Michalis towards the end of Chapter Four. This is faithfully translated into German (Mit dir bin ich zerworfen, mein Gott, murmelte er, mit dir, nicht mit
Table 3. Two Circassian eyebrows Edition GK1 GK2 GER ENG1 ENG2 NOR DAN SWE NL Page 87 101 98 84 93 87 77 59 72 Translation Zwei tscherkessische Brauen two Circassian women To tsjerkessiske yenbryn To tjerkessiske jenbryn tv cirkassiska gonbryn Twee Cirkassische ogen... Referent eyebrows eyebrows women eyebrows eyebrows eyebrows eyes Women Frauen (Weiber) women kvinner kvinder kvinnor vrouwen

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Table 4. The Ditty about Aunt Thodora (Chapter XIII) GK1 (p. 429) GK2 (p. 480) . GER (p. 426) ENG1 (p. 381) ENG2 (p. 415)

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Mit meiner Tante Theodora I took my Aunt Thodora down Ging ich zur Stadt in froher One summer evening to the Lust town Wir sprachen vielsie griff an meine, Und ich griff auch an ihre Brust. Gott lie es zu,und hingebreitet Lag dann die Tante dicht vor mir.

-, , ! Wie bist du schn, ach, meine Your beautys set me in a whirl Tante, Ah, if you were some other girl! , ! Ach, wrst du eine andre hier! , , ! Tu deine Pflicht, mein Sohn! Hernieder! Und deine Tante werd ich spter wieder. Child, be a man, and have your way, Ill be your aunt again, some day

den Menschen. GER:155) but, as Beaton showed, in English it becomes With Thee I can endure life, my God, he muttered. with Thee, not with men (ENG1:134; ENG2:147), perhaps indicating that Griffin could not bring himself to accept such hubris (2006:114). Returning to all six translations, we find that they can be grouped according to specific phrases and sub-sections. On the phrase level, the message rung out by the bells of Saint Minas at Eastertoward the end of Chapter Fiveis rendered in one of three distinct ways: The Swedish and Dutch versions are accurate but interpretive: Kapetan Manolis is Emmanuel; i.e., Christ. Yet for some unknown reason, in the German group Manolis is taken to mean Crete itself, which is not liberated, but simply alive. The resurrection of Christ is thus dissociated from the notion of national rebirth once the Ottoman yoke has been cast off. The above phrase appears on the last page of Chapter Five in all of the translations examined here, since the episode involving Kapetan Polyxingiss visit to the graveyard is omitted, as we saw in Table 1. Yet once again there are differences which clearly separate the various editions into groups. At this point the Greek text consists of five distinct paragraphs (see GK1 173; GK2 195196; GER 189190; ENG1 165166;

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Table 5. The message rung out by the bells (Chapter V) Edition GK1 GK2 GER ENG1 ENG DAN SWE NL
2

Page 173 195 189 165 180 167 144 109 126

.. , , ! .. , , ! Kreta ist nicht tot. Kreta lebt! Crete is not dead. Crete lives! Crete is not dead. Crete lives! Kreta er ikke dd! Kreta lever! ... Kreta er ikke dd. Kreta lever! ... (att) Kristos inte var dd, att Kreta var fritt! ... (datt) Christus niet dood was, datt Kreta vrij was!

NOR

ENG2 180181; NOR 167; DAN 144; SWE 109; NL 126). The Norwegian and Swedish versions, which are the shortest of all, end with the pealing of the bells; the German and English editions omit paragraphs two and three, but include one, four, and five, whereas the Swedish and Dutch translations leave out paragraphs one, three, and five, but include two and four. Lastly, similar findings emerge from a closer look at subsections of the novel that run to several pages. The journey made by Kosmas and Kostandis to the village where Kapetan Sifakas lies on his deathbed is a good example (Chapter 13). This contains a series of digressions concerning the people and places the two young men encounter; it attracted the attention of previous researchers precisely because several passages are absent from the translations (Vamvaka 1998:54; Beaton 2006:113). Table 6 shows that the Norwegian text is the most heavily abridged, and that once again the omissions in the English edition are identical to those in the German one. It is somewhat surprising to see that the Dutch translation yet again includes a passage on how Sifakas abducted his bride, absent from the Swedish edition. The most likely explanation is that H. C. M. Edelman who does not appear to have translated any other works from modern Greekhad the entire unpublished Swedish text by Kns at his disposal, but that different choices regarding abridgement were made before the two translations went to press. This hypothesis is entirely credible if one considers that other novels by Kazantzakis were translated from Swedish into Dutch.24

Table 6. The journey to Kapetan Sifakass village (Chapter XIII) GK1 GK2 421 471 419 420422 422 [422] 423 424 [424] 425426 [426] 427 427 427 12 9 379381 413415 [381] [415] 381 415 381 415416 381 416 9 [379] [413] [318] 318320 [320] 320 321 321 9 378379 412413 317318 377378 411412 316317 [345] [345] [345] [345347] [347] 34723 347 347 4,5 [377] [411] [316] [345] 377 411 316 [345] 278 279 279280 [280] [280] [280] [280] [280] 280 280 6 375376 409410 314315 [345] [277] 313 344 277 305 306307 307 307308 308 [308] [308] [308] [308] [308] [308] 308 6 422423 472473 423424 474475 424425 475476 425 476 426 477 426427 477478 427429 478480 429 481 430 481 430 482 430 482 374 408 GER ENG1 ENG2 DAN NOR SWE NL

Introduction

How Sifakas abducted his bride

The murder of HusseinArnaoutis22

Description of the mass execution ordered by Hussein

With the old people at the village where the execution took place

On the plainthe meeting with the (rendered asold woman)

How the old womens sons were executed

At Kubelinas villagethe mealthe ditty

How Kubelinas son was executed

10

Kubelinas gift to Kosmas

11

Kosmas reflects on Crete and her children

12

Arrival at the villagethe hot south wind

TOTAL NUMBER OF PASSAGES

Table 7. Postulated stemma for Germanic-language translations of Kapetan Michalis

Kapetan Michalis manuscript(s).

von den Steinen (German)

Greek editions (GK1,2)

Kns (Swedish)

Interventions and abridgements by Kahnert

Abridgements 2A

German edition (GER)

Swedish edition (SWE)

Abridgements 1A

Abridgements 1B

Abridgements 1C

Abridgements 2B

Hornelund (DAN)

Kristiansen (NOR)

Griffin (ENG 1, 2)

Edelman (NL)

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To sum up, on the basis of the similarities and differences between editions in the Germanic languages, Table 7 proposes a stemma for the translations discussed. It is clear that two translations were based on the original Greek textthose by von den Steinen (German) and Kns (Swedish). The Norwegian, Danish, and English editions all derive from von den Steinens text after the heavy-handed interventions made by Kahnert; each was further abridged according to the preferences of the publisher concerned (1A, 1B, and 1C). On the other hand, a different set of passages was removed from Knss accurate Swedish translation before it appeared in print (2A). His text appears to have been used in its entirety for the Dutch version, which was abridged in yet another way prior to publication (2B). The obvious conclusion is that Kapetan Michalis was never published in full in any of the Germanic languages.25 In German, Danish, Norwegian, and English we have only Kahnerts interpretation of Kazantzakis. The Swedish and Dutch renditions of the novel are more accurate, even if the abridgements do an injustice to the serious efforts undertaken by Kns. Although we do not know precisely why these abridgements were deemed necessary, they may well be attributable to the editorial policy practiced by Tau, who established contacts in Sweden while living in exile during the war.26 As others have stressed, over half a century after Kapetan Michalis first appeared in print, the time is ripe for a new series of full translations, all of which should be based on the original modern Greek text (Beaton 2004:115; Reinsch forthcoming). Yet beyond any such exhortations, the existing foreign-language editions provide fertile ground for research into publishing history, offering valuable insight into the misadventures of an important novel on the international market UNIVERSITY OF CRETE

NOTES Acknowledgements. A Greek version of this paper, entitled ; , originally appeared in (Ariadne), academic journal of the School of Letters at the University of Crete, vol. 13, 2007:127146. 1 See http://www.historical-museum.gr/kazantzakis/en/index.html. Cover illustrations

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now also appear in the website recently created by the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum, along with a comprehensive bibliography of works in translation (http://www.kazantzakismuseum.gr/). 2 Interest in the subject shows no sign of abating: in March 2007 the Institut Franais dAthnes joined with other institutes in organizing a conference entitled (Nikos Kazantzakis as a Translator and in Translation). I wish to thank Professor Diether Roderich Reinsch of the Freie Universitt Berlin for kindly agreeing to send me a copy of his paper (Reinsch forthcoming). 3 The scarcity of qualified translators in the 1950s is also mentioned by Reinsch (forthcoming). For comments on Werner Kerbs, German translator of Christ Recrucified, see note 21 below. 4 In Galatea Kazantzakis novel (Men and Supermen) (2007), the young Alexandros Artakisa fictional mask for Kazantzakisis depicted as translating Darwins On the Origin of Species from the French. In true life, Kazantzakiss Greek translation of the work was published by Fexis Editions in 1915. Professor Stylianos Alexiou has informed me that the French edition of Darwin used by Kazantzakis was later given to his father Lefteris Alexiou, and has since been donated to the Vikelaia Library in Heraklion. On Kazantzakis and the Alexiou family, see Stylianos Alexiou (2004). Ironically, however, there is evidence that later in life Kazantzakis was not in favor of indirect translation. In a letter to Stamos Diamantaras regarding a series of mass-market translations into Greek, dated 7 February 1942, he wrote: ; , , , [authors stress and original orthography retained] (Let there be an inviolable general rule: whoever undertakes a translation must do so from the books original language and not from a secondary translation, as our scholars do to make things easy, translating everything from French.) (manuscript K. /25, Historical Museum of Crete). Many thanks to Professor Peter Bien (his translation) for this recently discovered reference. 5 Details of Taus biography are from the website of the Friedenspreis des deutschen Buchhandels: http://www.boersenverein.de/de/96671?pid=110657 (accessed 8 December 2008). The network of contacts he established in Scandinavia was partly a consequence of the exile forced upon him by Nazi anti-Semitism, which involved him fleeing from Germany to Norway and then to Sweden. After the war Tau returned to Norway, where he worked extensively for reconciliation between Christians and Jews. 6 (Nikos) and (Eleni) code numbers are given as used in the database for the Nikos and Eleni Kazantzakis Correspondence Archives established and maintained by the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum in Varvari, Crete. Following extensive renovations to the entire building in progress at the time of writing, summaries and full images of the original letters will be accessible via the digital library on the museum website (http:// www.kazantzakis-museum.gr). 7 See the numerous letters from the den Doolards to Nikos and Eleni Kazantzakis, now held in the Kazantzakis Museum correspondence archives. For the prologue to the U.S. edition of Kapetan Michalis, see ENG1, vviii. The ill-fitting opening reference to Kazantzakiss following in Holland is due to the fact that the text is an English translation of the prologue written by den Doolard for the Dutch edition by Uitgeverij Bosch and Keuning (Baarn, undated:57). 8 In later correspondence with the Kazantzakis couple, Hell is referred to by the anglicized name Dr. George Hill. 9 Originally published in English as The Greek Passion (1953), in line with the German title Griechische Passion (1951).

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See Reinsch (forthcoming) and also Dimadis (2002) who analyzes the impact of politics on Kazantzakiss travel writing, and the British-German cultural rivalry on the eve of World War II. 11 Reverse side of title page (DAN). It is worth noting that though the completed Swedish translation was handed over to the publisher in 1951 ( 501); i.e., two years before the first Greek edition appeared in print and three years before the German one, it was not to be published until 1955. To Knss disappointment, it did not serve as the basis for the German translation, as had been the case with previously published novels by Kazantzakis ( 531). Indeed, one cannot rule out the possibility that Kns worked from a different, shorter manuscript than that used for the first Greek edition by Mavridis. In order to establish this, further efforts must be made to locate the manuscript or manuscripts in question, which are not among the holdings at the Historical Museum of Crete in Heraklion or the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum in Varvari. 12 Title page (SWE). 13 Reverse side of title page (NL). 14 Regarding translators of Kapetan Michalis, museum collections on Crete only have letters from Kns and von den Steinen (written in Greek in both cases). There are also a few from Kerbs (in German), but they concern his translation of Christ Recrucified, which was based on the Swedish edition. 15 Brief biographical information on Griffin appears on the Poetry Library website maintained by the Southbank Centre, London England (http://www.poetrymagazines.org .uk/magazine/record.asp?id=12679, accessed 7 December 2008). 16 Information on the Royal Exchange production is taken from the theaters website (http://www.royalexchangetheatre.co.uk/page.aspx?page=474, accessed 4 December 2008). Griffin is highly unlikely to have translated the Kazantzakis novel from the French, since Gisele Prassinoss and Pierre Fridass French version appeared one year after the English version (in 1956), and does not omit the passages removed by Kahnert (see Vamvaka 1998:53). 17 In a personal communication, Professor Stamatis Philippidis has informed me that Vamvaka based her comparative examination of the Greek original and the English and French translations on the omissions that he had observed in English editions. 18 Page numbers where omissions occur are given in square brackets. For abbreviations of editions, see works cited. Beyond the slightly altered title and page numbering, the 1955 U.S. edition (ENG1) is almost identical to the U.K. one which first appeared the following year (ENG2). Minor differences in punctuation and spelling may have allowed interested parties to determine the origin of pirate editions. 19 There are minor differences between the British and American versions here, though not with regard to the mistranslated words and phrases examined here. 20 I have been unable to locate any evidence that H. C. M. Edelman, the Dutch translator, ever produced any other translations of works in modern Greek. Furthermore, correspondence by Kns indicates that foreign-language editions of previous novels were based on his Swedish text ( 531see note 11 above). 21 As in the case of Werner Kerbs, German translator of Christ Recrucified. On 25 April 1951, he wrote to Kazantzakis (in German) to request a copy of the original Greek text ( 3118). While working from Knss Swedish text, he had come up against a number of difficulties and apparent inconsistencies. While he had no knowledge of modern Greek, he believed that his high school lessons in the ancient tongue and a modern Greek dictionary would assist him in getting the main gist of the original. Indeed, it is not unreasonable to assume that other translators would likewise have drawn on their

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familiarity with the classical language, which lay at the core of European school curricula in the early twentieth century. 22 Vamvaka erroneously claims that reference to the murder is missing from the English translation (1998:54). 23 At this point, the Norwegian text is consistent with regard to editing; Kubelina does not say that the dark red stains on the stone were formed by her sons blood. On the other hand, the German, English, and Danish versions retain this remark, despite having removed the previous reference to the sons existence and the circumstances surrounding his gruesome death. 24 See letter from Kns to Kazantzakis dated 30 July 1953 ( 531). 25 It was not possible to obtain a copy of the Icelandic translation by Skli Bjarkan for inclusion in the original study (Kazantzakis 1957). A recent preliminary examination, mainly on the basis of the litmus test in Chapter I described above, suggests that it belongs to what I have termed the German group of translations. 26 See biographical information on Tau, note 5 above. Alterations to the Swedish translation may have been associated with the delays and difficulties Kns encountered in finding a Swedish publisher for Kapetan Michalis, which he attributed to Taus negative stance toward the novel (see 531).

REFERENCES CITED Alexiou, Stylianos 2004 , : , (Nikos Kazantzakis: From his life, his thought and his work). In : . : , , 2325 2004 (Nikos Kazantzakis: His Oeuvre and its Reception, Proceedings of the International Conference at the University of Crete Rethymnon Campus, Gallos, 2325 April 2004), edited by Kostis Psychogios, 715. Heraklion: Center for Cretan Literature. Beaton, Roderick 2006 : (The Fortunes of Nikos Kazantzakis in English Translation: The Cases of Zorba and Kapetan Michalis). In : . : , , 2325 2004 (Nikos Kazantzakis: His Oeuvre and its Reception, Proceedings of the International Conference at the University of Crete Rethymnon Campus, Gallos, 2325 April 2004), edited by Kostis Psychogios, 109115. Heraklion: Center for Cretan Literature. Dimadis, Konstantinos 2002 Kunst und Macht: Bemerkungen zu drei Reisebchern von Nikos Kazantzakis. (Art and Power: Observations on Three Travel Books by Nikos Kazantzakis). In Annherungen an Griechenland. Festschrift fr Anastasios Katsanakis zum 65. Geburtstag (Approaches to Greece. A Festschrift for Anastasios Katsanakis on His 65th Birthday), edited by Horst-Dieter Blume and Cay Lienau, 2842. Choregia, Mnstersche Griechenland-Studien, Heft 1, Mnster.

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Kastrinaki, Angela 2001 , . (The experience of victory and the mythologizing of defeat. Images of the Turk in the work of Kazantzakis). In (The Last Phase of the Cretan Question), edited by Th. Detorakis and A. Kalokerinos, 389397. Heraklion: Society of Cretan Historical Studies. Kazantzaki, Galatea 2007 , (Men and Supermen). Athens: Kastaniotis. Kazantzakis, Helen 1983 Nikos Kazantzakis. A Biography Based on his Letters. Berkeley, CA: Donald S. Ellis Creative Arts Book Co. Kazantzakis, Nikos 1951 Griechische Passion. Translated by Werner Kerbs. Berlin-Grunewald: Herbig. 1953 The Greek Passion. Translated by Jonathan Griffin. New York: Simon and Schuster 1957 Frelsi ea dauann (Freedom or Death). Translated by Skli Bjarkan. Reykjavk: Almenna Bkaflagid Koutsourelis, Kostas 2007 , , (Nikos Kazantzakis: Professional translator and translator by conviction). Nea Estia 1806 (December):11011106. Perakis, Manos 2005 , 19 (Researches into the economy and society of 19th century Crete). Doctoral dissertation (2 volumes). Herakleion: University of Crete Philippidis, Stamatis 2000 , . (Folk elements in N. Kazantzakis). (Proceedings of the 8th International Cretan Studies Association), , 2:203219. Heraklion: Society of Cretan Historical Studies. Prevelakis, Pandelis 1965 , (Four hundred letters from Kazantzakis to Prevelakis). Athens: Eleni N. Kazantzaki Editions. Reinsch, Diether Roderich forthcoming (Kazantzakis in German translation). In (Proceedings of the International Congress on Katzantzakis as translator and in translation). Athens, 1315 March 2007. Vamvaka, Aristea 1998 , : (Nikos Kazantzakis: Kapetan Michalis and its French and English translations). Anazitiseis, 6:5356.

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Editions and translations of Kapetan Michalis (cited in the order given in tables) Greek (GK1): , 1953: . Athens: Mavridis. Greek (GK2): , 1981: . Athens: Kazantzakis Editions. German (GER): Kazantzakis, Nikos 1954 Freiheit oder Tod. Deutsch von Helmut von den Steinen. BerlinGrunewald: Herbig Verlagsbuchhandlung. English (ENG1): Kazantzakis, Nikos 1955 Freedom or Death. Translated by Jonathan Griffin, preface by A. den Doolard. New York: Simon and Schuster. English (ENG2): Kazantzakis, Nikos 1956 Freedom and Death. English Translation by Jonathan Griffin. Oxford: Bruno Cassirer. Danish (DAN): Kazantzakis, Niko 1955: Frihed eller Dd. P Dansk ved Karl Hornelund. Kbenhavn: Jespersen og Pios Forlag. Norwegian (NOR): Kazantzakis, Niko 1955: Frihet eller dd. Oversatt av Leif Kristiansen. Oslo: Johan Grundt Tanum. Swedish (SWE): Kazantzakis, Niko 1955: Freihet eller dd. versttning frn frfattarens manuscript av Brje Kns. Stockholm: Ljus Frlag. Dutch (NL): Kazantzakis, Niko 1955: Kapitein Michalis. Vertaling: Mr. H. C. M. Edelman. Baarn: Uitgeverij De Fontein.