Goethe's color studies in a new perspective

die Farbenlehre in English

Douglas E. Miller

pp. 101-112

in: Frederick Amrine, Francis J. Zucker, Harvey Wheeler (eds), Goethe and the sciences, Berlin, Springer, 1987

Abstract

It was related in antiquity that in atonement for their misdeeds the daughters of King Danaus were made to spend eternity filling a vessel with water. The bottom of the vessel was riddled with holes so that no matter how they labored their task was never accomplished. The work of the translator bears a certain resemblance to this penance of the children of Danaus: the vessel provided by the second language is often frustratingly inadequate in conveying the meanings found in the original, and this frustration may yield to a sense of despair when the fundamental impossibility of the task is realized.

Cited authors

Goethe Johann Wolfgang