36 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



tion, for he would be unable to compare the English with the Russian 

 original. In the case of a translation from the German, the modern- 

 language student would be able to find out the truth. If, for example, 

 he were to compare the recent translation of Wagner's autobiography 

 with the original, he would discover inaccuracies in profusion. Not 

 only is the sense in many places inaccurately rendered, but the tone 

 of the English is in places misleading. Wagner speaking a dignified 

 German is made to speak an English that is colloquial and even 

 flippant. 



The whole question of foreign books in English editions is more 

 than a question of mere accuracy. The Germans and the French 

 claim in all sincerity and not only in their jocose moments that the 

 English are both prudish and hypocritical. Mrs. Grundy sits at the 

 elbow of the English translator as he prepares an English edition of 

 works which in the original German or French enjoyed a free and 

 unrestricted sale in their native land. The English reader is offered 

 a volume by some author plus the translator plus Mrs. Grundy. 

 In other words, unless one reads his books in the original he does not 

 know what he is getting. If he depends on the English translation 

 he may or may not be getting the truth, and unless Mrs. Grundy is 

 willing he gets no book at all. In any case she is very apt to suppress 

 or ignore what she does not approve of, so that her editions cut a 

 pathetic, not to say ridiculous, figure behind the bars of the closed 

 cabinet in English and American libraries. Though expurgated, they 

 are still regarded as harmful. Be that as it may, the adult, and still 

 more the adult student or scholar, cannot afford to be at the caprice 

 of Mrs. Grundy. In matters of the mind he must be free of her 

 chaperonage, and the only way to rid himself of it is to learn modern 

 languages. They may not be indispensable to him in a mere tour 

 round the world, but in the larger aspects of life they will help him to 

 maintain his self-respect. 



