Bearslayer - A free translation from the unrhymed Latvian into English heroic verse
Pumpurs, Andrejs, 1841-1902
English
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Below is a summary of Bearslayer - A free translation from the unrhymed Latvian into English heroic verse
Copyright (C) 2005 by Arthur Cropley.
BEARSLAYER
by
Andrejs Pumpurs (1841-1902)
A free translation from the unrhymed Latvian into English heroic verse
by
Arthur Cropley
University of Hamburg
Copyright (C) 2005 by Arthur Cropley
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword
Technical Notes
Summary
Canto 1: The Revelation of the Bearslayer
Canto II: Bearslayer Begins His Life as a Hero
Canto III: Bearslayer and Laimdota Are Betrayed
Canto IV: The Latvians Suffer Many Hardships
Canto V: The Journey to the Homeland
Canto VI: The Struggle against the Invaders
Glossary of Personal and Place Names
FOREWORD
Most societies seem to have epic heroes and events that define them
as they like to see themselves: Even a young society such as
Australia has Ned Kelly, Eureka Stockade, and ANZAC. Others have
their Robin Hood, Siegfried, Roland, or Davy Crockett. Lacplesis
(Bearslayer) is such a work. Bearslayer is patriotic, brave, strong,
tough, loyal, wise, fair, and virtuous, and he loves nature. He
embodies the strengths and virtues of the Latvian folk in a
legendary age of greatness, before they were subjugated and
corrupted by "Strangers".
The poem was important in the growth of Latvian self-awareness As
Jazeps Rudzitis, the eminent Latvian folklorist and literary
scholar, put it, "There is no other work in Latvian literature whose
story has penetrated mass consciousness as deeply or resounded as
richly in literature and art as Bearslayer." Thus, it seemed
worthwhile to me to make the poem available to people who wish to
read it in English, and this volume is the result. It contains the
fruits of two years' labour.
In writing Lacplesis Andrejs Pumpurs made an enormous contribution
to Latvian literature. Thus, it may seem presumptuous that I have
given myself equal prominence with him on the title page. After all,
he is the author of the original poem, of which the present text is
merely a translation. However, the task of translating a poem is
much more than that of taking the words of the source language and
replacing them with equivalent words from the target language. In
Latvian, in addition to tulkot (to translate), there is a second
verb atdzejot, which means approximately "re-versify". As I explain
in the Technical Notes (p. iii), I have transformed Pumpurs's
original Latvian work into an English poem in heroic verse: The
result is an atdzejojums, not "merely" a translation.
The moral support I received from a number of people during the two
years I worked on the translation was particularly important to
me. I am especially indebted to Edgars Kariks of the Baltic Office
of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies, who gave
constant encouragement and concrete support, and Ojars Kalninš of
the Latvian Institute in Riga, who was extremely positive and
supportive from an early stage in the project. These two gave me the
courage to keep going. Among others, Rita Berzinš read an early
fragment and encouraged me to believe I was on the right track, and
Jana Felder (née Martinson) responded enthusiastically to a
presentation at a conference. Valters Nollendorfs encouraged me to
trust my own feeling of what sounded right, and Guntis Smidchens
showed interest in the translation from the point of view of a
university teacher.
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