Helene Weyl: Difference between revisions

Friederike Bertha Helene Weyl
Friederike Bertha Helene Weyl
Born	30 March 1893; Ribnitz
Died	June 1948; Princeton
Occupation(s)	Writer and Translator
Spouse	Hermann Weyl

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Friederike Bertha Helene Weyl née Joseph (born 30 March 1893 in Ribnitz; died June 1948 in Princeton) was a German writer and translator. She was married to the mathematician Hermann Weyl.

Life

Weyl grew up as the daughter of the Jewish country doctor Bruno Joseph (13 June 1861 – 10 June 1934) and his wife Bertha in Ribnitz. Her father was born in Pomerania, and her mother came from a well-established Mecklenburg family. Weyl and her younger sister were raised atheists. When she was fourteen, her parents sent her to a Realgymnasium in Berlin. There she discovered a great passion for theatre and became known with the actress Tilla Durieux. After graduating from high school, Weyl returned to Mecklenburg and began studying German and history at the University of Rostock. Through Emil Utitz, who taught there, she came into contact with the philosophical current of phenomenology. With her passion for philosophy thus awakened, she began studying this subject at the University of Göttingen with a minor in mathematics. During her first semester, she met her future husband Hermann Weyl, who worked at the university as a private lecturer. Also, she formed a close friendship with Arnold Zweig, who was 25 years old at that time. Zweig was fascinated by the beautiful and clever student. Between 1912 and 1934 and from 1938 to 1939 there was a long, intensive exchange of letters between the Zweig couple and Helene Weyl, fragments of which have been preserved. These correspondences appeared in 1996 under the title Komm her, wir lieben dich – Briefe einer ungewöhnlichen Freundschaft zu dritt (Come here, we love you - Letters of an unusual friendship between three people). Helene and Zweig's wife Beatrice became the model for the main character in the short stories about Claudia.

Hermann Weyl was appointed professor at ETH Zurich and the now-engaged couple moved there in 1913. Helene continued to attend mathematical lectures, but gave it up when her first son Fritz Joachim Weyl (19 February 1915 – 20 July 1977) was born in 1915. When her husband was drafted into the German army in 1916, she returned to her parent's house in Ribnitz for a short time. A year later, at the request of the Swiss government, he was released from military service, and both were able to return to Zurich. In the Fall of 1917, their second son Michael was born. Since the First World War many German intellectuals had fled to Switzerland, and she came into contact with many scientists, writers and actors there. Acquaintances developed with Albert Einstein, Elisabeth Bergner, William Dieterle and Walter Dällenbach (1892–1990), among others.

In 1923, Hermann Weyl received invitations to lecture in Madrid and Barcelona, and the couple went to Spain for three months. The trip and her acquaintances there shaped her so much that from now on she dealt intensively with Romance languages and especially Spanish. She got in touch with the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset and translated several of his books into German. She was attracted by Ortega's philosophical world of ideas, his brilliant style and the challenge of translating language nuances and the foreign Spanish into German.^{[citation needed]} She also translated works by Arthur Stanley Eddington and James Jeans from English into German and, during his time in Princeton, set about translating Ortega's essays into English. Ortega y Gasset comments on his translator in the fourth volume of the Collected Works from 1956:^{[citation needed]}

“It is clear that the public of a country does not particularly appreciate a translation in the style of its own language, which it has in abundance in the production of native authors. What it appreciates is the opposite: that the idiom peculiar to the translated author shines through in a translation in which the possibilities of the native language have been pushed to the extreme limit of intelligibility. The German translations of my books are a good example of this. More than fifteen editions have appeared in just a few years. The case would be incomprehensible if four-fifths of it could not be attributed to the successful translation. My translator Helene Weyl, who died in 1948, pushed the grammatical tolerance of the German language to its limit in order to translate exactly what which is not German in my way of speaking. In this way the reader finds himself effortlessly performing mental gestures that are in fact Spanish. He recovers a bit from himself and it's amusing to feel like someone else for once."

From 1930 to 1933, her husband again accepted a teaching position in Göttingen. After the Nazis came to power in Germany, the family decided to accept a position at Princeton University that was offered to Hermann Weyl and to give up his teaching position in Göttingen. After a long and serious battle with cancer, Weyl died in Princeton in 1948.

Works (Selection)

Arnold Zweig; Beatrice Zweig; Helene Weyl (1996), Ilse Lange (ed.), Komm her, wir lieben dich – Briefe einer ungewöhnlichen Freundschaft zu dritt, Berlin: Aufbau, ISBN 3-351-03439-3
Andalusische Reiseblätter. 1923
Die Ausgrabungen in den Kalifenschlössern bei Cordoba. 1923

Translations from Spanish

José Ortega y Gasset (2007), Der Aufstand der Massen, ISBN 978-3-421-06503-2
José Ortega y Gasset, Die Aufgabe unserer Zeit, Deutsche Verlagsanstalt
José Ortega y Gasset (1937), Stern und Unstern
José Ortega y Gasset, Buch des Betrachters
José Ortega y Gasset (1933), Über die Liebe, ISBN 3-421-06187-4
José Ortega y Gasset, Die Vertreibung des Menschen aus der Kunst
José Ortega y Gasset, Triumph des Augenblicks – Glanz der Dauer
José Ortega y Gasset, Um einen Goethe von innen bittend
José Ortega y Gasset, Gespräch beim Golf oder Über die Idee des Dharma
José Ortega y Gasset, Europa
Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, Der Dreispitz
Pedro Antonio de Alarcón (1925), Der Fischzug
Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Der Cid in der Geschichte
Ramón Menéndez Pidal (1925), Das Nachleben des Cid
Gonzalo de Céspedes y Meneses (1930), Die standhafte Cordobesin

Translations from English

Arthur Stanley Eddington (1933), Dehnt sich das Weltall aus?
James Jeans (1934), Die neuen Grundlagen der Naturerkenntnis
James Jeans (1934), Die Wunderwelt der Sterne
James Jeans (1936), Durch Raum und Zeit
Hermann Weyl (1948), Mathematik und die Naturgesetze

Bibliography

Fritz Joachim Weyl (1948), In memoriam Helene Weyl
Correspondencia: José Ortega y Gasset y Helene Weyl, Ediciones Tharpa España, 2008, p. 270, ISBN 978-84-9742-839-2

References

External links

Literature by and about Helene Weyl in the German National Library catalogue
Persönlichkeiten der Stadt Ribnitz-Damgarten, Retrieved 9 October 2011
Glanz und Elend des Übersetzens: Neue Zürcher Zeitung vom 21 May 2001, Retrieved 5 March 2019
Center for Jewish History: In memoriam Helene Weyl, Retrieved 9 October 2011

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 Weyl grew up as the daughter of the Jewish country doctor Bruno Joseph (13 June 1861 – 10 June 1934) and his wife Bertha in Ribnitz. Her father was born in [[Pomerania]], and her mother came from a well-established [[Mecklenburg]] family. Weyl and her younger sister were raised atheists. When she was fourteen, her parents sent her to a [[Gymnasium (Germany)|Realgymnasium]] in [[Berlin]]. There she discovered a great passion for theatre and became known with the actress [[Tilla Durieux]]. After graduating from high school, Weyl returned to Mecklenburg and began studying German and history at the [[University of Rostock]]. Through [[Emil Utitz]], who taught there, she came into contact with the philosophical current of [[Phenomenology (philosophy)|phenomenology]]. With her passion for philosophy thus awakened, she began studying this subject at the [[University of Göttingen]] with a minor in mathematics. During her first semester, she met her future husband Hermann Weyl, who worked at the university as a private lecturer. Also, she formed a close friendship with [[Arnold Zweig]], who was 25 years old at that time. Zweig was fascinated by the beautiful and clever student. Between 1912 and 1934 and from 1938 to 1939 there was a long, intensive exchange of letters between the Zweig couple and Helene Weyl, fragments of which have been preserved. These correspondences appeared in 1996 under the title ''Komm her, wir lieben dich – Briefe einer ungewöhnlichen Freundschaft zu dritt (Come here, we love you - Letters of an unusual friendship between three people)''. Helene and Zweig's wife Beatrice became the model for the main character in the short stories about Claudia.
-Hermann Weyl was appointed professor at [[ETH Zurich]] and the now-engaged couple moved there in 1913. Helene continued to attend mathematical lectures, but gave it up when her first son [[Fritz Joachim Weyl]] (19 February 1915 – 20 July 1977) was born in 1915. When her husband was drafted into the German army in 1916, she returned to her parents' house in Ribnitz for a short time. A year later, at the request of the Swiss government, he was released from military service, and both were able to return to Zurich. In the Fall of 1917, their second son Michael was born. Since the [[World War I|First World War]] many German intellectuals had fled to [[Switzerland]], she came into contact with many scientists, writers and actors there. Acquaintances developed with [[Albert Einstein]], [[Elisabeth Bergner]], [[William Dieterle]] and Walter Dällenbach (1892–1990), among others.
+Hermann Weyl was appointed professor at [[ETH Zurich]] and the now-engaged couple moved there in 1913. Helene continued to attend mathematical lectures, but gave it up when her first son [[Fritz Joachim Weyl]] (19 February 1915 – 20 July 1977) was born in 1915. When her husband was drafted into the German army in 1916, she returned to her parent's house in Ribnitz for a short time. A year later, at the request of the Swiss government, he was released from military service, and both were able to return to Zurich. In the Fall of 1917, their second son Michael was born. Since the [[World War I|First World War]] many German intellectuals had fled to [[Switzerland]], and she came into contact with many scientists, writers and actors there. Acquaintances developed with [[Albert Einstein]], [[Elisabeth Bergner]], [[William Dieterle]] and Walter Dällenbach (1892–1990), among others.
 In 1923, Hermann Weyl received invitations to lecture in [[Madrid]] and [[Barcelona]], and the couple went to [[Spain]] for three months. The trip and her acquaintances there shaped her so much that from now on she dealt intensively with [[Romance languages]] and especially Spanish. She got in touch with the Spanish philosopher [[José Ortega y Gasset]] and translated several of his books into German. She was attracted by Ortega's philosophical world of ideas, his brilliant style and the challenge of translating language nuances and the foreign Spanish into German.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}} She also translated works by [[Arthur Eddington|Arthur Stanley Eddington]] and [[James Jeans]] from English into German and, during his time in Princeton, set about translating Ortega's essays into English. Ortega y Gasset comments on his translator in the fourth volume of the Collected Works from 1956:{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}<blockquote>“It is clear that the public of a country does not particularly appreciate a translation in the style of its own language, which it has in abundance in the production of native authors. What it appreciates is the opposite: that the idiom peculiar to the translated author shines through in a translation in which the possibilities of the native language have been pushed to the extreme limit of intelligibility. The German translations of my books are a good example of this. More than fifteen editions have appeared in just a few years. The case would be incomprehensible if four-fifths of it could not be attributed to the successful translation. My translator Helene Weyl, who died in 1948, pushed the grammatical tolerance of the German language to its limit in order to translate exactly what which is not German in my way of speaking. In this way the reader finds himself effortlessly performing mental gestures that are in fact Spanish. He recovers a bit from himself and it's amusing to feel like someone else for once."</blockquote>From 1930 to 1933, her husband again accepted a teaching position in Göttingen. After the Nazis came to power in Germany, the family decided to accept a position at [[Princeton University]] that was offered to Hermann Weyl and to give up his teaching position in Göttingen. After a long and serious battle with cancer, Weyl died in Princeton in 1948.