Filologija, No. 74, 2020.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21857/ypn4oc10x9
Three László’s translations of the Invocation of the Muse from the Iliad
Bojan Marotti
orcid.org/0000-0002-0470-3569
; Zavod za povijest i filozofiju znanosti HAZU
Abstract
Professor Bulcsú László translated the Invocation of the Muse from the Iliad three times. In each of these three translations, the original Greek dactylic hexameter has been transmitted to Croatian in different ways: (1) “meta-metrically” – in the verse type of twenty syllables, (2) retaining in Croatian quantitative versification as well, and (3) developing his own approach – in hexameter consisting of 23 or 24 so called “stressed morae”. In this latter way he translated the first two books of the Iliad, of which he published only the first book (“roll”) in the journal Književna smotra (László 1996). The paper compares each of the three translations, but at the same time compares each of them to the “usual” or “central” way in which dactylic hexameter has been translated in Croatia over the last 140 years, namely to the “syllable hexameter”, as it was established by Tomo Maretić and later refined by Stjepan Ivšić. Then, the more frequent “meta-metrical” translation of dactylic hexameter, i.e. in our epic decasyllable, is also indicated. Several attempts at quantitative versification in Croatian literature are mentioned too. Although he intended, László unfortunately did not complete the translation of the Iliad in his own way, which is, of course, a pity, because only in that case could its value be fully estimated.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
241121
URI
Publication date:
17.7.2020.
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