Translating Palamas

Translating Palamas David Ricks I address these remarks to those who are exercised by the practical problem of translating Palamas, and in the first instance to those involved in the teaching of modern Greek literature. After examining the suitability of existing translations for teaching purposes, I go on to examine in the second part of this paper a particular, and particularly difficult, problem: the rendering of the language of Christianity as it appears in the poetry of Palamas. It is my claim that the pedagogical question leads ineluctably to a critical one; but it is also my claim that an initial look at the nuts and bolts of translation is itself not without purpose. Do we need translations of modern Greek poetic works? Some might have a sternly negative answer and claim that, without linguistic fluency, the student's encounter with poetry in a foreign language will be self-defeatingly inadequate. This claim deserves to be taken seriously . Certainly, in the case of a living language especially, the teacher is entitled to expect that translations of works studied will not constantly be used as cribs, and that partial or even tendentious renderings will not form the basis of a whole line of argument. But the existence of translations can still be viewed as an opportunity rather than a threat. In the first place, a translation offers to the linguistically developing student the chance to gain an overview of a whole work with the requisite rapidity: the chance to see the wood as well as the trees. Secondly, the availability of translations opens up the possibility of critical responses from critics, and, par excellence, poet-critics, who are not familiar with the language of the original. Both of these principles have obvious application to the study of Cavafy. An initial survey of the poems in translation permits a number of important observations about the nature of Cavafy's poetry, including its relation to its nonGreek precursors.1 Furthermore, translations have formed the basis of suggestive remarks on Cavafy by fellow poets: Auden (1979), say, or Milosz (1983: 111-114). Journal of Modern Greek Studies, Volume 8, 1990. 275 276 David Ricks There is, then, a role for translations. But my choice of Cavafy as an example, and my reference to later poets, provokes an initial observation and perhaps a couple of objections. The observation is that, on the whole, modern Greek poetry, while widely acknowledged to be of some distinction, has not been translated by well-known poets: the Oxford Book of Verse in English Translation has only two versions from the language, both by Hugh MacDiarmid (Tomlinson 1983:476— 477).2 The possible objections, which are related, are as follows. The first would be that Palamas, unlike his favored contemporary Cavafy, is a nationalist and even an anti-poet who belongs to the history of literature rather than to today's 'canon.'3 To this one might respond that, in the first instance, Cavafy's unique place in the canon, and a large part of his idiosyncrasy, may be understood as being a response to the work of Palamas: in other words, that Palamas deserves attention as a stalking horse at the very least.4 The fact that he is, without question, the least in regard of the major modern Greek poets (with the exception of his critical work, perhaps) ought itself to encourage a revaluation; and it is possible that a look at the problems in translating him will provide further insight into his virtues and vices. A more far-reaching problem, which might seem to make translating Palamas a quixotic task, is the following. Palamas, unlike Cavafy above all, writes in an idiom utterly alien to that of today's poetry. It is impossible to imagine a contemporary poet paying tribute to Palamas by imitation as Alexandru, for example, imitated and developed Cavafy . Palamas is, at the same time, so far rooted in a recent, and largely familiar, historical period, that his alien style does not permit the freedom or even the exoticism that a translator might relish in translating , say, ancient Greek or Chinese poetry.5 The mix of caution and temerity required of any translator has...