H. T. Lowe-Porter
Encyclopedia
Helen Tracy Lowe-Porter (born Helen Tracy Porter, 1877, Pennsylvania
; died 1963, Princeton, New Jersey
) was an American translator, most celebrated for her translations of the works of Thomas Mann
.
Helen Porter was the niece of Charlotte Endymion Porter, a well-known literary figure of the day. She married the paleographer Elias Avery Lowe
in 1911, and took the married name of Lowe-Porter. The couple lived in Oxford
; after 1937, their residence was in Princeton, New Jersey. One of their daughters, Frances, was the maternal grandmother of London Mayor Boris Johnson
.
Lowe-Porter was the translator who for more than twenty years enjoyed the exclusive rights to translate the works of Thomas Mann
from German into English. She was appointed in this capacity by Mann's American publisher, Alfred A. Knopf
, in 1925.
In her essay "On Translating Thomas Mann", Lowe-Porter said it is not so important that the translator be a great scholar of the foreign language, as few literary practitioners are really and truly bilingual, but that it is very important indeed that he/she be a master of the resources and subtleties of his/her own. She also said, in her note to her translation of Der Zauberberg (The Magic Mountain):
In addition to her translations, Lowe-Porter wrote an original play, Abdication, which received its first production in Dublin in September 1948.
Initially, Lowe-Porter was not Mann's first choice as translator, or "mediator" (Vermittler), in his own term, of his works. Mann had initially wanted Herman George Scheffauer, who had previously translated Mann's short story "Herr und Hund" (as "Bashan and I"). In addition, Mann had received negative reports of Lowe-Porter's translation of Buddenbrooks. However, the American publisher Alfred A Knopf overruled Mann's concerns and selected Lowe-Porter as sole translator of Mann's works into English. Lowe-Porter fulfilled this task for the next 25 years, translating all of Mann's later fiction except for "Die Betrogene" ("The Black Swan") and Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man.
summarised Lowe-Porter's achievement in translating Mann's Buddenbrooks:
Other commentary on her translations has included the following:
Through Lowe-Porter's translations, Mann gained great popularity in the English-speaking world.
The later 20th century saw major revisions on the theory and practice of literary translation. Thus, Lowe-Porter's translations too have been criticized on such grounds as linguistic limitations. For example, while acknowledging the scale of Lowe-Porter's labors and the times when her translations were "most apt and pleasing", Timothy Buck noted that Lowe-Porter rearranged Mann's sentence structure, omitted passages from the originals, added others, and deliberately left out descriptive adjectives and adverbs in the narrative. Buck has also noted inadequacies in Lowe-Porter's understanding of German which sometimes caused her to mistranslate particular words, often on the basis of homonyms. Examples include the following::
Subsequent translators since Lowe-Porter of Mann's work have included Kenneth Burke, David Luke, and John E Woods.
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
; died 1963, Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...
) was an American translator, most celebrated for her translations of the works of Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
.
Helen Porter was the niece of Charlotte Endymion Porter, a well-known literary figure of the day. She married the paleographer Elias Avery Lowe
Elias Avery Lowe
Elias Avery Lowe , original name Elias Avery Loew, was an American palaeographer. His wife was the noted translator H. T...
in 1911, and took the married name of Lowe-Porter. The couple lived in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
; after 1937, their residence was in Princeton, New Jersey. One of their daughters, Frances, was the maternal grandmother of London Mayor Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...
.
Lowe-Porter was the translator who for more than twenty years enjoyed the exclusive rights to translate the works of Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
from German into English. She was appointed in this capacity by Mann's American publisher, Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf (person)
Alfred Abraham Knopf, Sr. was a leading American publisher of the 20th century, and founder of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.. His contemporaries included the likes of Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, and Frank Nelson Doubleday, J. Henry Harper and Henry Holt...
, in 1925.
In her essay "On Translating Thomas Mann", Lowe-Porter said it is not so important that the translator be a great scholar of the foreign language, as few literary practitioners are really and truly bilingual, but that it is very important indeed that he/she be a master of the resources and subtleties of his/her own. She also said, in her note to her translation of Der Zauberberg (The Magic Mountain):
"The violet has to be cast into the crucible....The organic work of art must be remoulded in another tongue....Since in the creative act word and thought are indivisible, the task is one before which artists shrink and logical minds recoil." [Translator's note to The Magic Mountain. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1927]
In addition to her translations, Lowe-Porter wrote an original play, Abdication, which received its first production in Dublin in September 1948.
Thomas Mann translations
Lowe-Porter's translations of Thomas Mann works include the following (dates in brackets refer to the German publication, the dates after to the English-language translations).- Buddenbrooks [1901] 1924
- The Magic Mountain [1924] 1927
- Death in Venice [1913] 1930
- Mario and the Magician [1930] 1931
- Joseph and His Brothers, comprising:
- I The Tales of Jacob [1933] 1934
- II Young Joseph [1934] 1935
- III Joseph in Egypt [1936] 1938
- IV Joseph the Provider [1943] 1944
- Stories of Three Decades 1936
- The Beloved Returns [1939] 1940
- The Transposed Heads [1940] 1941
- Essays of Three Decades 1947
- Doctor Faustus [1947] 1948
- The Holy Sinner [1951] 1951
- A Sketch of My Life 1960
Initially, Lowe-Porter was not Mann's first choice as translator, or "mediator" (Vermittler), in his own term, of his works. Mann had initially wanted Herman George Scheffauer, who had previously translated Mann's short story "Herr und Hund" (as "Bashan and I"). In addition, Mann had received negative reports of Lowe-Porter's translation of Buddenbrooks. However, the American publisher Alfred A Knopf overruled Mann's concerns and selected Lowe-Porter as sole translator of Mann's works into English. Lowe-Porter fulfilled this task for the next 25 years, translating all of Mann's later fiction except for "Die Betrogene" ("The Black Swan") and Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man.
Critical reaction
For decades, Lowe-Porter's translations of Mann were the only ones that existed in the English-speaking world. At least one contemporary review misidentified Lowe-Porter's gender as male, rather than female. Mann did express his appreciation to Lowe-Porter for her work, nicknaming her "die Lowe", but also added the caveat "insofar as my linguistic knowledge suffices". In 1993, Theodore ZiolkowskiTheodore Ziolkowski
Theodore Ziolkowski, born 1932 in Birmingham, Alabama, is a scholar in the fields of German studies and comparative literature. He received an A.B. from Duke University in 1951, an A.M. from Duke in 1952 and, following studies at the University of Innsbruck, his Ph.D from Yale University in 1957...
summarised Lowe-Porter's achievement in translating Mann's Buddenbrooks:
"Lowe-Porter provided a valuable service by making Mann's novel initially accessible to the English and American publics."
Other commentary on her translations has included the following:
"The Lowe-Porter translations of Thomas Mann, despite occasional inaccuracies almost inevitable in works of such length and complexity, convey the ironic and pyrotechnical style of the original with great effectiveness."
"Despite minor inaccuracies, misreadings, and possible errors of judgment (to which all translators are subject, whatever they may say) Lowe-Porter's translations are widely beloved and have become classics in their own right, to stand beside Constance Garnett's Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky and Scott Moncrieff's Proust. She is indisputably, in quantity as in quality, one of the great translators of our time."
"Thomas Mann and Proust were lucky in their translators."
Through Lowe-Porter's translations, Mann gained great popularity in the English-speaking world.
The later 20th century saw major revisions on the theory and practice of literary translation. Thus, Lowe-Porter's translations too have been criticized on such grounds as linguistic limitations. For example, while acknowledging the scale of Lowe-Porter's labors and the times when her translations were "most apt and pleasing", Timothy Buck noted that Lowe-Porter rearranged Mann's sentence structure, omitted passages from the originals, added others, and deliberately left out descriptive adjectives and adverbs in the narrative. Buck has also noted inadequacies in Lowe-Porter's understanding of German which sometimes caused her to mistranslate particular words, often on the basis of homonyms. Examples include the following::
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Subsequent translators since Lowe-Porter of Mann's work have included Kenneth Burke, David Luke, and John E Woods.