Max Schuchart (16 August 1920 – 25 February 2005) was a Dutch journalist, literary critic and translator. He is most famous for translating the works of J. R. R. Tolkien into the Dutch language.
Life
He was born on 16 August 1920 in Rotterdam.
He died in 2005 in The Hague.
Career
His Dutch translation of the Lord of the Rings (In de Ban van de Ring) appeared in 1957 and was a resounding success,[1] though Tolkien deeply disliked it, criticising its approach in a letter to his publisher Rayner Unwin. In particular, Tolkien objected to the translation of proper names, writing that "In principle I object as strongly as is possible to the 'translation' of the nomenclature at all (even by a competent person). I wonder why a translator should think himself called on or entitled to do any such thing. That this is an 'imaginary' world does not give him any right to remodel it according to his fancy, even if he could in a few months create a new coherent structure which it took me years to work out."[2]
He translated many other English authors into Dutch language. These include Oscar Wilde, Terry Goodkind, Richard Adams, Lord Dunsany, William Horwood, Daniel Defoe and Salman Rushdie.
Distinctions
He has received the Martinus Nijhoff Prize.[1]
In 1978, he received an MBE from Queen Elizabeth.[1]
Bibliography
Some of his books are:[3]
- The Netherlands
- Het zwaard van de waarheid
- Steen der tranen
- The Lord of the Rings (Dutch translation)
- The Hobbit (Dutch translation)
References
- 1 2 3 "Max Schuchart". hebban.nl. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
- ↑ Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (1981). The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-31555-2. Letter 190 to Rayner Unwin, 3 July 1956
- ↑ "Max Schuchart". goodreads.com. Retrieved 17 January 2017.