A study on the translation theory of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in his "Noten und Abhandlungen zum besseren Verständnis des Divans "

The German poet and thinker Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1832-1749), has performed a hermeneutic feat in the prose part of his West-Eastern Divan titled "Noten und Abhandlungen zum besseren Verständnis des Divans”. In the penultimate chapter of this part entitled "Übersetzung," (Translation) Goethe attempts to showcase and present his theory of translation. He distinguishes between three types or, as he says, three epochs of translation. The first one which he describes as “parodistic” or adaptation. The second period reflects the effort to recreate the original into the own language; and the last period in which the original along with the translation move forward to the “Grundtext”, the fundamental text. This article attempts to examine the described and mentioned types and to emphasize their peculiarity to his contemporaries in the romantic era. The similarity to the romantics but also its differentiation to those is taken into account. Moreover the similarities to the modern hermeneutics, such as Hans Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur are examined in more detail.