Ralph Manheim | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ralph Frederick Manheim April 4 1907 New York City, New York, US |
| Died | September 26 1992 (aged 85) Cambridge, England |
| Education | Harvard University,Yale University,Columbia University |
| Occupation | Translator |
Ralph Frederick Manheim (April 4, 1907 – September 26, 1992) was an Americantranslator ofGerman andFrench literature, as well as occasional works fromDutch,Polish andHungarian. He was one of the most acclaimed translators of the 20th century,[1] and likened translation to acting, the role being "to impersonate his author".[2]
Manheim was born to aJewish family inNew York City. His father was a rabbi and his mother a homemaker. He lived for a year in Germany and Austria as an adolescent and graduated fromHarvard at the age of 19,[3] and spent time inMunich andVienna (studying at the universities)[2] beforeAdolf Hitler’s rise to power. He also undertook post-graduate study atYale andColumbia Universities.
His career as a translator began[2] withHitler'sMein Kampf, commissioned byHoughton Mifflin and published in 1943. Manheim endeavored to give an exact English equivalent of Hitler's highly individual, often awkward style, including his grammatical errors.[3]
Manheim translated the works ofBertolt Brecht (in collaboration withJohn Willett),Louis-Ferdinand Céline,Günter Grass,Peter Handke, philosopherMartin Heidegger,Hermann Hesse,Novalis, and many others. His translation ofHenry Corbin's workAlone with the Alone: Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn 'Arabi could be considered a major contribution towards the understanding ofIbn Arabi's andSufi philosophy in the English-speaking world.
In 1961, he rendered transcripts of the trial in Jerusalem ofAdolf Eichmann into English, andGrimm's Tales For Young and Old – The Complete Stories, published in 1977. Modern readers are familiar with his 1986 translation ofE. T. A. Hoffmann's "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was published with illustrations byMaurice Sendak, in conjunction with the release of the 1986 filmNutcracker: The Motion Picture. Lovers of children's books also admire his agile translation ofMichael Ende'sThe Neverending Story.
Manheim moved to Paris in 1950 and lived there until 1985, when he moved with his fourth wife toCambridge, England.[3] He died in 1992, at age 85, from complications associated withprostate cancer.[2]
Manheim received thePEN Translation Prize in 1964.
He received the 1970National Book Award inthe Translation category for the first U.S. edition of Céline'sCastle to Castle.[4]
He was awarded a 1983MacArthur Fellowship in Literary Studies. He won thePEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation, a major lifetime achievement award in the field of translation, in 1988.
Manheim's 1961 translation of Günter Grass'sDie Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum) was elected to fourth place among outstanding translations of the previous half century by theTranslators Association of theSociety of Authors on the occasion of their 50th anniversary in 2008.
