Erika Fuchs | |
|---|---|
| Born | Johanne Theodolinde Erika Petri (1906-12-07)7 December 1906 |
| Died | 22 April 2005(2005-04-22) (aged 98) |
Erika Fuchs, néePetri (7 December 1906 – 22 April 2005), was a Germantranslator. She is largely known in Germany for her major involvement in thelocalization process of AmericanDisney comics, especiallyCarl Barks' stories aboutDuckburg and its inhabitants, as well the effects on the German language as a whole caused thereby.
Both her grammatical innovations and adaptation of classical literary features into modern pop-cultural works have been recognized as positive contributions to contemporary used language and to the image of comics as media in Germany, having played a major part in delegitimizing public perception of said comics as low-qualitypulp fiction.[1] Fuchs' widely quoted translations have further been described standing in the tradition of great German-languagelight poetry such as the works ofHeinrich Heine,Wilhelm Busch, andKurt Tucholsky. She has been emblematically quoted as saying "You can't be educated enough to translate comic books", reflecting her high standards forlocalization work.[2]
Johanne Theodolinde Erika Petri[3] was born on 7 December 1906 in Rostock[4] as the second of six children of electrical engineer August Petri and his wife Auguste. Erika spent most of her childhood and youth inBelgard, a small rural town inPomerania, where her father became director of the newly-built electric power plant in 1911. In 1922, Erika Petri became the first girl ever to be admitted to the town's boys'Gymnasium, passing herAbitur exam there in 1926. She went on to studyart history inLausanne,Munich andLondon and graduated with a doctorate in 1931. Her dissertation titled "Johann Michael Feuchtmayr: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des deutschen Rokoko" ("A contribution to the history of GermanRococo)" was markedmagna cum laude. It appeared in print only in 1935. In 1932, Erika Petri married engineer, industrialist and inventor Günter Fuchs (1907-1984). From 1933 to 1984, the couple lived inSchwarzenbach an der Saale, a small industrial town inUpper Franconia. They had two sons, Thomas and Nikolaus.
FollowingWorld War II, Erika Fuchs worked as a translator for the German edition ofReader's Digest, as well as for German literary magazine 'Story', published byRowohlt Verlag since 1946. In 1951, she becamechief editor of Disney's newly-formed GermanMicky Maus magazine, where she continued to work until her retirement in 1988.
After the death of her husband in 1984, Erika Fuchs moved to Munich, where she died on 22 April 2005.[5]
Many of her creations as translator of Carl Barks comics entered or reenteredGerman in contemporary use. The phrase "Dem Ingeniör ist nichts zu schwör" ("nothing is too hard for an engineer"), but with the vowels (umlauts) at the end of "Ingenieur" and "schwer" altered to make them rhyme was often attributed to Fuchs, as she had made itGyro Gearloose's catchphrase. However, it was originally based on a song written byHeinrich Seidel. A somewhat more clumsy version of the phrase was the first verse of "Seidels Ingenieurlied" ("The Engineer's Song") and had been used by fraternities at technical universities for the German equivalent ofThe Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer. Fuchs had heard it from her husband, who was an engineer himself.
An example of Fuchs' many allusions to classical German literature may be found found in her translation of Barks's 1956 story "Three Un-Ducks" (INDUCKS story codeW WDC 184-01), whereHuey, Dewey, and Louie speak the oath "Wir wollen sein ein einig Volk von Brüdern, in keiner Not uns waschen und Gefahr" ("We Shall be a United People of Brethren, Never to Wash in Danger nor Distress"), thereby parodyingFriedrich Schiller's version of theRütlischwur from his 1804 playWilliam Tell.
Her use of verbs shortened to theirstems asinterjections— not only to imitate sounds (onomatopoeia), such asschluck,stöhn,knarr,klimper (gulp, groan, creak, chink/jingle), but also to represent soundless eventsgrübel,staun,zitter (ponder, goggle, tremble) — popularized the verb form. While the official technical term for this remainsInflektiv,[6] the termErikativ, atongue-in-cheek reference to Fuchs' first name, made to resemble similar grammatical terms such asInfinitiv (infinitive),Indikativ (indicative mood)or Akkusativ (accusative case), has seen more use. The form itself was commonly used as a form ofemoting inInternet forums and chatrooms well into the 2010s, with users seeking to simulate aspects of face-to-face communication by employingInflektive of off-screen activities enclosed inasterisks (e.g. *lach*, *weglauf*, *zwinker*).[7]
In 2001, Erika Fuchs was awarded theHeimito von Doderer Prize for Literature for her work on Disney comics. Until her death at age 98, Erika Fuchs was an honorary member of the "D.O.N.A.L.D." ("Deutsche Organisation nichtkommerzieller Anhänger des lauteren Donaldismus" or the "German Organization of Non-commercial Devotees of the trueDonaldism"). Some members of the organisation (Patrick Bahners [de] and Andreas Platthaus) occasionally included hidden references to Fuchs' works in the headlines ofFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
In 1991, painterGottfried Helnwein set a portrait of Fuchs among his workDie 48 bedeutendsten Frauen des Jahrhunderts (48 Most Important Women of the Century).[8] The work is now to be found atMuseum Ludwig in Cologne.[9]
A comic museum in her hometown ofSchwarzenbach an der Saale, named after Erika Fuchs, saw its opening on 1 August 2015.[10]
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