He translated, among others, Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle – in such a way that the author’s intention and the mood of the work are preserved. Hans Wolf has now been honored for this.
The translator and author Hans Wolf (74) has been honored with the German Language Culture Prize for his life’s work. The Baden-Baden native received the main prize (Jacob Grimm Prize), named after the Brothers Grimm and worth 30,000 euros, on Saturday evening in his hometown.
Capture the essence
Wolf, who studied German and English, among other things, has translated works by authors such as Oscar Wilde, Cormac McCarthy, Richard Yates and Arthur Conan Doyle into German since the 1980s. The literary scholar and author Stefana Sabin praised him in her laudatory speech for his ability to capture the essence of a work and to translate it into German in such a way that the author’s intention and the mood of the work are preserved.
“Anyone who takes the work of translation seriously also knows the most serious of his companions, the scruple,” said Hans Wolf at the award ceremony in the Kurhaus Baden-Baden. As a translator, he turns a word or sentence back and forth until he has heard and controlled the subtlest nuances of the tone.
Nobody gets as intimate with the world of a writer’s thoughts as his translator: “He is his best – and often perhaps only – interpreter,” said Wolf, describing the intensive engagement with texts that he translates.
Honors also for love letters
This year, the German Language Initiative Prize, worth 5,000 euros, goes to Steffen Gailberger, initiator and organizer of the “Leseband” concept. It is intended to promote reading fluency in primary schools with linguistically and socially disadvantaged students.
The undoped German Language Institutional Prize went to the love letter archive based in Koblenz and Darmstadt, which has been archiving and digitizing love messages in various forms for almost 30 years – from the classic love letter to the postcard to the messenger message. “Love letters are always documents of their time. What and how two lovers write to each other provides information about social conditions and conventions,” said the laudatory speech.
From Loriot to Lindenberg
The German Language Culture Prize has been awarded annually since 2001 in three categories by the Eberhard Schöck Foundation in Baden-Baden and the German Academy for Language and Poetry in Darmstadt. The award goes to people, institutions and initiatives that have made a special contribution to the German language.
The translator and author Hans Wolf receives the German Language Culture Prize for his life’s work. (archive image)
Photo: Silas Stein
The Jacob Grimm Prize (main prize) most recently went to the science journalist Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim. Udo Lindenberg, Cornelia Funke, Loriot, Ulrich Tukur and the Fantastischen Vier have also been honored.
