Who does not know that the English care the Non-Anglo-Saxon world with a little bit of jealousy, as they can write again and again their own Hamlet and Othello from era to era.

And as all translations are interpretations at the same time, from time to time a new Shakespeare can be born, fixed to the new era and language. Now it is the Italians turn to be a little bit jealous: two new Dante translations are being made, one by Ádám Nádasdy and another one by Ferenc Baranyi.

In connection with The Divine Comedy, most Hungarian readers would think about the name of Mihály Babits for the first time. However, he was not the first one for sure. The glory goes to Ferenc Császár, who was born in 1807, who put the first longer translation on the Hungarian readers’ table. The whole Hungarian version can be connected to Károly Szász’s name, who finished the work by the end of the XIX. century, then he published it in three parts too. Besides Babits, who owned the most well-known and even today used version, Antal Radó’s and Árpád Zigány’s names can be important, who made less successful versions, but their works are very witty and reliable.

The newer translators have to fight most with the poet master of Nyugat, and with his spirit and authority. Of course, tradition cannot be a barrier. As Nádasdy said it: with great respect, but passes it. As someone would like to build a modern church, he must not take care of the gothic cathedral, which is also in the town. However, this “cathedral” is not perfect at all. While Ferenc Baranyi accepts Babits’ monumental work, he would like to create a stylistically loyal version. The well-known poet, translator, has already collected Babits’ “mistakes” and mistranslations in his dissertation of university (“Knowing and going on” Babits translated that way for example in the XXVI. part of the Inferno, while in the original one, it is about the fact, that humans have to follow the way of knowledge and virtue. But the new version cut many of Babits’ stylistic elements, which were characteristic of romanticism too, as they are more characteristic to the XIX. century than to the Middle Ages. So love does not become an easy blight in the new version. Baranyi has also made rhythmical changes: on the one hand, the Hungarian quantitative verse made the text a little bit monotonous, as the original one was written with stressed iambic pentameter. On the other hand, the iambic downing sometimes did not take into consideration, that in case of Italian language it matters (from the point of view of the content too), that which syllable the stress is put on.

The modernisation has brought up other problems too as Nádasdy emphasized it. For example, that since Babits, the readers’ knowledge in connection with religion and the Bible has been decreasing, while The Divine Comedy offers a kind lexicon of different kind of religious references. The new translator has to deal with it too if he wants to bring the story closer to the readers. At the same time, he has to take a stand on an argument, which has been going on for centuries, which is about the fact, that who we have to respect in connection with Dante mostly? The musician poet, whose text is similar to a stick material, and it flows in front of the reader like this? Or the accurate story writer, who describes the journey to the Inferno, as he would take minutes, or as an engineer, who arrives to a technical handover? Dante tried to balance and emphasize the fantastic things, which appear in the story, with this meticulousness and discipline. It is a disciplined pureness, which must be taken into consideration. Seemingly, Babits was less interested in this side of the story, he emphasized its poetic nature, its musicality. However, if we take into consideration the rhymes of the original work, then sometimes, we have to make a concession at the expanse of sense. For example, we write yoghurt instead of kefir, if it works that way, and we does not care about the tiny difference. However, in a technical description it is important if we use nail or screw in the text, and Nádasdy tries to avoid exactly it. Between the Hungarian translations we can find examples for both of them: Babits and Szász preferred the musical version, while Zigány and Radó did the more punctual, ordered version. In Babits’ version, the first part starts like this: “At the half of the Human life / I got into a big, dark forest / as I could not find the right way.” In case of Nádasdy, it sounds like this: “Reaching the half way of my life / I found myself in a dark forest / because I missed the right way.”

According to the poet, linguist the compulsion of rhyme drives the translator’s energy and attention away, and that way he would like to see a more ordered text under Dante’s name. We have not talked about that, the text, which takes into consideration the chains of rhythms, can result in very complicated sentences, as Baranyi warned us, while the original text is easy to understand. At the same time, he pays attention that in contrast to Nádasdy, lets the musical effects work in the Hungarian version. If the outcast ones are crying, then the Hungarian text has to cry the same way, as the original one does it. And he does not let an alliteration get lost, if it is not necessary. For example: “as a dead body, I fell on the ground” as Babits wrote it, but according to Baranyi it would be more loyal that way: as a corpse came collided forever. So the translator’s main viewpoint while he was making the translation was Dante, who is easy to read and loyal to the form, he was the poet. According to him that many versions of the text are not for nothing, as after we have read those many versions, we could get closer to the power and beauty of the original one.

From the Inferno, which is Baranyi’s version, the Hungarian viewers have already listened to some parts in this August. He would like to finish the translation of the most exciting part of the work by autumn (only three parts are missing). However, as our journal has already said, as in case of everybody else, his appetite has come with eating, so he has set his eyes on the Purgatory and Paradise too, but we must afraid of, that his health will not let him translate the whole work. Nádasdy needs two or three more years to make the whole translation. We have listened to some parts of it in the performance of the troupe of Maladype.

It is a strange gesture by Babits. Mihály Babits also got an award for The Divine Comedy, which he translated for ten years, with a minor defect: the award was given by Italy, lead by Mussolini in 1940. The poet, who was seriously ill at that time, could get the San Remo Award by the compulsory rising of his arm (the photo, which was hidden for a long time, now the HVG has published again and mentioned the story.) “This was the last pleasure, the last glory he got” – Sophie Török noted it not long after the death of her husband.

Zsigmond Sándor Papp, Nol.hu, 2011

(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)