Tradition and transgression
W. H. Auden’s musical poetics of translation
This chapter interrogates W. H. Auden’s ambiguous relationships with translation and examines his
opera translations. A virtuoso writer who reveled in language complexities, Auden transgressed both translational
rules and public expectations: audiences, music and theatre professionals of his time were all dismayed by his
libretti. Yet he was also guided by established traditions and, in particular, by pre-20th-century English literary
canons. For educated people of his generation in Britain, references to the values of colonial England were shaken,
but not dissolved. Hence, the tendency for Auden to use pastiche and satire as instruments for both criticism and
preservation of tradition. Auden also pioneered collaborative translation, writing with his partner Chester Kallman.
He thus preempted trends in translation which are key to 21st-century productions.
Article outline
- 1.Auden: Translation, pastiche, satire, and tradition
- 2.Auden as translator and the context of opera translation
- 3.Auden and Kallman’s opera translations: Tradition and transmutation
-
Notes
-
References
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