Interview: Martin Hilský

Earlier this year, Martin Hilský, professor of English Language at Charles University & South Bohemian University and renowned for his translations of Shakespeare into Czech, released Dílo. Meaning artistic work, it is the first time all of Shakespeare’s plays have been released in Czech in a single volume. At 4,000 pages, the book is a culmination of a life devoted to English literature. Prof. Hilský spoke with Expats.cz about this passion and how to keep the essence of Shakespeare in a different language.

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This is an interesting question. Basically, I approach them individually but later on I realized I was more interested in books based on dialogue. One of my earliest translations was The Darling Buds of May by H.E. Bates, which is based on dialogue. I think it was from this interest in dialogue that I began translating the plays. First was Peter Schaeffer’s Amadeus for ABC Theater. Because it was a success the same director asked me in 1983 to translate A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I must say that I refused at first because I didn’t have the courage to do it. Then I began sketching the dialogue and realized that it came out differently and the play was slightly different to the previous translations. The director liked it and the audience liked it so this is how my Shakespearean journey began.

Shakespeare’s work is 400 years old. There are layers and layers of language between him and us. Many changes have happened in those 400 years, both here and in England so I realized that to translate Shakespeare means [not just] to translate words but to translate the two cultures. You’re translating the English culture of the Renaissance into contemporary Czech culture. The puns and slang are based on aspects of everyday life which are irretrievably lost. The challenge of any translator of Shakespeare into any language is to somehow preserve this wordplay. Oddly enough it can be done, though it is difficult.

It’s from sonnet 86 in which Shakespeare is addressing a rival poet. The word play is based on two words – womb and tomb, the womb meaning the beginning of life and tomb, which is obviously connected with death. When I came across this I thought I’d stop translating. Womb in Czech Is lůno and tomb is hrob and there is no possible way to find two words which would have those meanings and have that beautiful sound – tomb and womb it’s like an organ. It took several days if not weeks, I’d almost forgotten about it, when suddenly I realized there was one word in Czech – kolébka, which means cradle – and it’s the beginning of life which had in it another word – lebka, which means skull. I discovered the way to go about this. [Note: You can read and hear the original and Hilský’s translation here.]

I try to present Shakespeare as though he wrote those poems to address us. When I do the plays its obvious. You may make it into a drama, a great adventure, discovering the meaning of these plays, so I want to make it interesting, but not in a superficial way. You see, no single reading of Shakespeare – either a play or poem – is the same. Each person understands him differently and that’s the great adventure. I do not instruct my students. I share my experience of Shakespeare with them and it becomes a common pursuit and together you try to discover the meaning of his work.

Oddly enough, not much. I taught what I wanted and I could do that only because I was in the Department of English. If I were in the Department of Czech I would have no chance. This could be done, especially with Shakespeare, because in the 40s, 50s and 60s Shakespeare’s plays were often produced. Shakespeare can survive all regimes. So I was almost free but not free as I am now. I couldn’t have a seminar on Orwell but you could still teach a huge number and you could definitely teach Shakespeare. So it was an island of freedom.

On one hand, it is a great joy because it was not easy. In fact, it wasn’t my goal at first at all. All I wanted was to translate each play as well as I could. The further ambitions came later. When I’d translated more than fifteen plays, which is about half of Shakespeare’s canon, then I thought what about doing the whole body of work. It’s like climbing Mount Everest. You start climbing and then you find that you can’t go down, you must continue. But this was the book which for many years I wanted to have. And it’s special way. In its modest way, it may help to bridge the two cultures.