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Dreadful translation, but important texts
The German word "Erdball" means "world". It takes a weird translator to want to render it into English as "Earthball". H Ashton Ellis is that translator, a man who, inlearning German, forgot all his English. Ellis translates German compoundwords not with plain English but with strange Germanic formulations, eg"leg-dancers", or "tone-arranger" for a German wordthat simply means "composer".So while it's good to have theseWagner texts available in English, it's a shame that the re-appearance ofthese awful translations in a modern edition will publishers fromcommissioning a new, competent, plain-English translation discourage. Ellis also makes Wagner's "Das Judentum in Musik" harder toevaluate by introducing antisemitic overtones (perhaps of his own) wherethe Wagner text doesn't justify it. For example, the Ellis text describesMendelsohn as"a Jew composer", which has a hostile, sneering,sound to it. But Wagner's text has "Judaische"; the correcttranslation is the merely descriptive "a Jewish composer". Thereare other, similar examples.

As for Wagner, "Das Judentum inMusik"'s argument is that because [in mod-19th Century Europe] Jewsare partly involved in the cultures amongst which they live, and are partlyseparate and aloof from them, their music and poetry don't have the warmth,depth and humanity that come from having strong folk roots; Jewish art,while Jews remain apart and not assimilated into the mainstream"folk", is likely to be imitative, clever, ironical, and so on,but not deep or passionate.

The essay brings no comfort toWagner-lovers, but not quite as much comfort to Wagner-haters as issometimes claimed.Some people, by no means antisemitic, eg Patrick Magee,defend Wagner's analysis (stripped of its few paragraphs of merely racistwriting). The essay makes an argument about the need for art to have folkroots if it is to be great. Me, I'd say its too easy to findcounter-examples, for Wagner's analysis to stand. Personally, if I were todefend any part of the essay it would be Wagner's valuing of sincereemotional expression in art over irony. We're starting to hear the phrase"post-irony", but it's not yet a reality. I'd welcome a trendback to having the courage to express emotion, in life as well as art,without always hiding behind quote marks. One of Wagner's merits is assupreme non-ironist.

But, point out the detractors, rightly, there's astrong thread of antisemitism in amongst Wagner's discussion of culture andof art in this essay. There is a tone of "balance" in most ofWagner's paragraphs, an assumption of the mask of mere intellectualcuriosity over the odd position of Jewish musicians and poets in themid-19th Century. But in some paragraphs animosity shows throughundisguised.

On the other hand, the essay is not the same thing as thepolitical antisemitism that had its horrifying culmination under the Nazis.Wagner's subject was the arts. And his proposed "remedy" was forJews to assimilate into the mainstream population and lose their separateidentity. That's a despicably racist idea (why should they, if they don'twant to?), but it's diametrically the opposite of what the Nazis called for- racial segregation followed by mass murder.Reading it, you'll find thatthe essay contains specific offensive passages, and is permeated by ideaswe now find offensive, but that it is not simply a screed of racial orreligious bigotry; mostly the text argues about art and music. In sum,anyone who loves Wagner's music will wish he'd never written or published"Das Judentum in Musik". It disfigures the man's posthumousreputation. But nor is it quite the screed of racial vilification it issometimes made out to be. Wagner was a bigot and a crank, but not amonster. The book gets three stars, because though it is an appallingtranslation of a bad essay, it does at least make this infamous essayavailable for people to judge it for themnselves.

Laon ... Read more

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Originally published in 1893-1899.This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more

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Fully updated and revised for this Third Edition, Differential Diagnosis in Dermatology now includes sections on treatment, as well as serving as a useful guide to dermatological diagnosis in the surgery or clinic. It takes the reader through the process of diagnosing skin disease, from the basic biology of skin, history taking, describing skin lesions and carrying out special investigations. This book provides excellent clinical photography, practical text and clear diagrams throughout. The chapters are divided into different body areas, and possible diagnosis can be made by reading through the text or looking through the photographs. ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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A collection of letters from Richard Wagner (1832-1874) to his family, containing material on his early years. First published at the beginning of the century, this volume includes notes which comment on this historical translation in the light of modern scholarship. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

"Abundant leisure for good reading is the single boon for which one cannot strive enough."
First of all, I should make a note about the edition. While the bulk of the letters were translated by William Ashton Ellis, the edition that I have (The University of Michigan Press, 1994) also includes additional letters and notes by John Deathridge. Looking this volume up on Amazon, I was a little bit ashamed of myself as selecting it for summer reading. The new price of the book ($70.00!) makes it clear that this was supposed to be a Very Serious Scholarly Volume for Very Serious Wagner Scholars. I picked it up myself second-hand for five euros at Waterlooplein Market, so I am very clearly *not* a Very Serious Wagner Scholar. So bear in mind that this is going to be a review of the book as something for the mostly casual reader and not as a tool for music studies.

I picked it up because it was available and looked interesting, and also because Wagner was working in a period of music and writing about which I have been increasingly interested. It seemed to me that many of his contemporaries and their issues would likely be people about whom I wanted to hear. I also know little more about Wagner than the cliffnotes biography that is widely known, and as such a controversial figure it seemed to me good to get a view of him straight from the horse's mouth.

As summer reading this volume filled its task admirably. It was very interesting. The first thing that caught my attention were the obvious translator wars going on my edition.

Deathridge on Ellis:

"Ellis' translations of Wagner's letters, including those in the present book, are less annoying probably because the original German is clearer and more spontaneous, though the reader still has to endure the bouts of mad-translator disease to which Ellis was always prone."

I also found it interesting as both Deathridge and Ellis discuss problems that exist in assembling this kind of volume of collected letters. They discuss the issue that many similar letters have been lost because they were sold privately to autograph collectors/dealers who are uninterested in the text and may even destroy the rest of the letter-- keeping only the signature.

Wagner himself seemed like a perfectly unpleasant person, pausing only in his supreme self-absorption to be bombastically encouraging to young relatives. As a reader, I applauded the editor's decision to include a note from another relative to Wagner, letting him know what the family thought of him. (Not very much.) As in many books of letters by artists of every variety, there is a great deal of talk about money panic, money troubles, demands for money, schemes to raise money and irritation that no money is forthcoming. There is also a great deal of what I hope for in this kind of book-- domestic detail, discussion of contemporary arts and letters, and Wagner's thinking about his life and work. After reading this, I would also be interested in a good biography if someone could recommend something considered worth the time.

I do feel badly discussing this book at such a superficial level, but that's the only level that I feel qualified to discuss. You'll need to look elsewhere for more depth, I am afraid. ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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Volume: 1General Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 1909Original Publisher: C. Scribner's sonsSubjects: ComposersBiography ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more