2009/05/04 New York
Lost
I live alone in my heaven
On a rainy Sunday I went to a recital at Lincoln Center. The tenor Christoph Prégardien sang Schumann, Wolf and Mahler. One of the songs by Mahler is on a poem by Friedrich Rückert, “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” (“I am lost to the world”).
"Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen,/ Mit der ich sonst viele Zeit verdorben,/ Sie hat so lange nichts von mir vernommen,/ Sie mag wohl glauben, ich sei gestorben!
Es ist mir auch gar nichts daran gelegen,/ Ob sie mich für gestorben halt,/ Ich kann auch gar nichts sagen dagegen,/ Denn wirklich bin ich gestorben der Welt.
Ich bin gestorben dem Weltgetümmel,/ Und ruh’ in einem stillen Gebiet!/ Ich leb’ allein in meinem Himmel,/ In meinem Lieben, in meinem Lied."
In the translation by Emily Ezust
"I am lost to the world/ with which I used to waste so much time,/ it has heard nothing of me for so long/ that it may very well believe that I am dead!
It is of no consequense to me/ whether it thinks me dead:/ I cannot deny it,/ for I really am dead to the world.
I am dead to the world’s tumult,/ and I rest in a quiet realm!/ I live alone in my heaven,/ in my love and in my song!"
Some of the translator’s choices struck me as doubtful. To translate “ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” with "I am lost to the world” is a bit pedestrian. But to be honest I could not come up with a better alternative.
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36 comments 
"I came to the world forlorn"?
Alternative
''I lost my grip of the world'' probably describes better what Herr Rückert meant.Nice picture of Mahler.
Nice poem (I am in the mood).
After three days of searching I came to the conclusion today that I must have lost my most important jotter.
Juliane
A jotter? A Moleskine?Juliane
Could you tell us more about your jotter? The word is not in my dictionary.Arnon
No. A Ciak. Lined and ochre-coloured.Oscar
Indeed, it's not in Ofxord American Dictionary, but you can find it onhttp://www.thefreedictionary.com/jotter
Noun1.jotter - a small notebook for rough notes
Arnon
Thanks for the reference.Juliane
What can we do to compensate you for the loss of your jotter?The most beautiful thing of Molskine is the 'As a reward: $' part.
To Bernard
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i suggest:
"the world got lost of me"
but i admit
it's difficult to translate that sentence properly
"the world got lost of me"
but i admit
it's difficult to translate that sentence properly
Oscar Wilde
I don't know. Any suggestions?i just found out
that anne clark also made a song out of that poem
she translated it like this
"i have lost touch with the world"
not bad, but not correct
that anne clark also made a song out of that poem
she translated it like this
"i have lost touch with the world"
not bad, but not correct
Arnon, did you enjoy the singing by Christoph Prégardien? He did the same recital in Amsterdam. A cd is available.
by the way
That poem reminds me a novelist who is from turkey .his name was sait faik abasıyanık.
If I remember throughly what he said ... I guess it was something like that:
'' If I do not write I would be insane ! '' İt was a short story about a lonely author who can not stop himself without writing about things that he saw around.
any way , I really like that poem
JJ Soetekouw
Yes, I enjoyed Christoph Prégardien.Juliane
What consoles you?@Pjotr
Thanks!
@Juliane B
By some coincidence, last Sunday I ruined (lost) my jotter too. I have left it in the pocket of my shirt and put everything in the washing machine…
Thanks!
@Juliane B
By some coincidence, last Sunday I ruined (lost) my jotter too. I have left it in the pocket of my shirt and put everything in the washing machine…
Oscar / Bernard
My own creativity, I guess. And time, to a certain extent. This makes it difficult for others to console me. Therefore I shouldn't be such a crybaby, hunt for another jotter that meets my demands and fill it (I'm really picky, though).Bernard, my deepest sympathy!
Arnon
Not longer alone in your heaven, you have a new competitor; young, Jew , grew up in Amsterdam-Zuid: Robert Vuijsje.Let the battle begin.
Jotter
I lost my Jotter as well (Moleskine). I have several, but the most important one is missing. It contained clippings, drawings and a lot of ideas/sketches. I'm afraid I won't find it back again. I did leave my address, but where it says "reward" I hadn't written anything because I didn't know what it would be worth to me.What's appropriate for a jotter? 10, 50, 100 euro's?
Dens
Depends on your income, I'd say. I'd pay ~30€ for a jotter that cost 15€ when I bought it.Dens
That's sad. I have a lot of them and put in every one this note:"Mocht u dit boekje gevonden hebben, bel mij op dit nummer: *********** Ik zal uw reiskosten vergoeden, en meer."
I buy my small notebooks in bulk, very cheap, 1,50 euro a piece. They come in different colours, black, red, blue or green and I simply love them. It takes me approximately three months to fill one, then I transmit the best ideas to a bigger cahier or map wich I use for my drawings, paintings and sculptures. On the frontpage I leave my phonenumber.
Notebooks
After shrinks, every die hard Grunberg blogger must also have a notebook, is it so that you all are affraid to forget you're unmistakably brilliant ideas or is it just 'chique' to write or drawn now and then something while bored in the metro? Strange guys, Grunberg readers, but entertaining, that's for sure.@Strasse’s partner
Of course we are bored in a brilliant way. We are Arnon Grunberg’s flying circus. The ministry of silly thoughts, at your service!
Of course we are bored in a brilliant way. We are Arnon Grunberg’s flying circus. The ministry of silly thoughts, at your service!
translation
"The word doesn't belong to my life anymore."(the point of no-return far behind)
"The world got rid of me"
What i miss in sentences with the world as the subject, such as the world got rid of me, is the responsibility of the storyteller's feelings, understand?
... his responsibility for his own feelings and choices.
das ist mir abhanden gekommen: i have lost that.
The world lost the storyteller in the poem (or the poet) but anyway, let's call this person 'he/him'. The world has lost him. If you say: 'the world got rid of him', to me, that sounds too much like 'the world didn't want him anymore'.
Translating can be so hard if language turns to it's nice subtleties.
I wanted to write some more but my baby's crying so i keep quiet now. (Arnon once told me to do so now and than ; ))
The world lost the storyteller in the poem (or the poet) but anyway, let's call this person 'he/him'. The world has lost him. If you say: 'the world got rid of him', to me, that sounds too much like 'the world didn't want him anymore'.
Translating can be so hard if language turns to it's nice subtleties.
I wanted to write some more but my baby's crying so i keep quiet now. (Arnon once told me to do so now and than ; ))
Rückert floating in space
"Van de wereld ben ik losgeraakt...." was de eerste en voorlopig laatste zin op mijn blog afgelopen vrijdag. Zomaar, spontaan. Ik volgde die dag een workshop wordpress en zocht naar een dromerige openingsfrase. Als de workshop vruchten afwerpt horen jullie meer van me. Spannend?ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
I think it better to avoid the dative construction and translate it idiomaticaly into english and follow with a direct conjugated verb in the second line instead of the infinitive. more saxon immediacy methinks. I have lost track of the world with which I've wasted so much time[ Add comment ]
