Grímur Thomsen and Pindar’s Foreignization

Abstract

Grímur Thomsen’s translations have usually been viewed as excellent examples of the domestication or adaptation of foreign poetry to Icelandic traditions and mentality. The originals have been regarded as all but a pretext for Thomsen’s thoroughly Icelandic poetry. Such a view, however, disregards his translations of ancient Greek poetry, in particular the odes of Pindar. Famous for his obscurity, Pindar is arguably the most foreign of ancient Greek poets. Thomsen’s translations were badly received and explained away as the eccentricities of a senile querulous of the times. In this article the argument is made that domestication played little or no role in Thomsen’s translations of Pindar. The translator should rather be regarded as a champion of foreignization, through which he clearly intended to enrich Icelandic literature.

Keywords: Grímur Thomsen, Pindar, foreignization