ABSTRACT

The anonymous translation of Werther that was published by James Dodsley (1724-1797) in 1779 has been attributed to both Daniel Malthus (1730-1800) and Richard Graves (1715-1804). The case for the latter can be appreciably strengthened if the Dodsley Werther is re-examined in the context of Graves’s life and work. The death of his wife in 1777 precipitated an emotional crisis, which could have led him to identify with Goethe’s protagonist. The Dodsley Werther exhibits, moreover, some notable similarities to Graves’s Columella (1779) and Lucubrations (1786) (both of which are indicative of a complex, ambivalent attitude to Goethe’s novel). In the light of these findings, the evidence for Malthus’s authorship of the translation should now be subjected to a thoroughgoing reappraisal.

摘要

詹姆斯·多兹利（James Dodsley，1724-1797）于 1779 年出版的《维特》的匿名译本被归于丹尼尔·马尔萨斯（1730-1800）和理查德·格雷夫斯（1715-1804）。如果在格雷夫斯的生活和工作的背景下重新审视Dodsley Werther，后者的情况会明显加强。1777 年他妻子的去世引发了一场情感危机，这可能使他认同歌德的主人公。此外，Dodsley Werther与 Graves 的Columella (1779) 和Lucubrations 有一些显着的相似之处（1786）（两者都表明对歌德小说的复杂、矛盾的态度）。根据这些发现，马尔萨斯是该译本的作者的证据现在应该进行彻底的重新评估。