68. Vincenz Knauer: “The Songs of Anakreon”

In a faithful adaptation
Berlin, Vienna, Leipzig 1888

This little book was a very pleasant surprise from the author, who is very important in the field of philosophical research. It is rare for a translator to be able to convey the freshness and originality of the feelings in the other language as well as in this case. This requires a true poetic talent, for it is more than a literal translation, it is a re-creation that has been so absorbed into the feelings of the people from whom these songs originate that it is fully absorbed into them. No one will put this translation down without having been gripped by the true spirit of Greek feeling and thought that it conveys, and nowhere will they encounter a violation of the spirit of their own language. The author has now prefaced the songs with a foreword that is a subtle aesthetic examination of the spirit of Greek culture and brilliantly demonstrates the justification of the Anakreontas. The author has once again demonstrated with the same subtlety that we have always admired in his literary work how, in contrast to modern humanity and its escapism, which sees the spirit of evil in the moment when it says, “Stay, you are so beautiful,” the Greeks grasp the immediate reality and draw the divine from the moment.