John_E._Woods_(translator) Knowpia

John Edwin Woods (August 16, 1942 – February 15, 2023)^[1]^[2] was an American translator who specialized in translating German literature, since about 1978. His work includes much of the fictional prose of Arno Schmidt and the works of contemporary authors such as Ingo Schulze and Christoph Ransmayr. He also translated all the major novels of Thomas Mann, as well as works by many other German writers.

Early life and education edit

Woods was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and lived with a foster family in Fort Wayne Indiana until 1949. He attended Wittenberg University, then studied English literature at Cornell and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He learned German at the Goethe-Institute, and married his teacher, Dr. Ulrike Dorda.^[2] Woods lived for many years in California before moving to Berlin in 2005.

Selected translations edit

Alfred Döblin edit

A People Betrayed
Karl and Rosa

Doris Dörrie edit

Love, Pain, and the Whole Damn Thing
What Do You Want from Me?

Friedrich Dürrenmatt edit

A Monster Lecture on Justice and Law
The Execution of Justice

Günter Grass edit

Show Your Tongue

Thomas Mann edit

Joseph und seine Brüder: Joseph and His Brothers
Der Zauberberg: The Magic Mountain
Doktor Faustus: Doctor Faustus
Buddenbrooks: Buddenbrooks

Libuše Moníková edit

Die Fassade: The Façade

Wilhelm Raabe edit

Horacker

John Rabe edit

The Good Man of Nanking

Christoph Ransmayr edit

Die Schrecken des Eises und der Finsternis: The Terrors of Ice and Darkness
Die letzte Welt: The Last World
Morbus Kitahara: The Dog King

Arno Schmidt edit

Nobodaddys Kinder: Nobodaddy's Children
Das steinerne Herz: The Stony Heart
Die Gelehrtenrepulik: The Egghead Republic
Kaff auch Mare Crisium: Boondocks/Moondocks
Zettel's Traum: Bottom's Dream
Die Schule der Atheisten: School for Atheists
Abend mit Goldrand: Evening Edged in Gold (winner of the National Book Award^[3] and the PEN Prize for translation in 1981)

Ingo Schulze edit

Simple Storys: Simple Stories
33 Augenblicke des Glücks: 33 Moments of Happiness
Neue Leben: New Lives
Handy: dreizehn Geschichten in alter Manier: One More Story: Thirteen Stories in the Time-Honored Mode
Adam und Evelyn: Adam and Evelyn

Patrick Süskind edit

Perfume (winner of the PEN Prize for translation in 1987)
The Pigeon

Hans-Ulrich Treichel edit

Leaving Sardinia

Awards edit

For his edition of Schmidt's Evening Edged in Gold, Woods received the 1981 U.S. National Book Award in category Translation (a split award).^[3] He won the PEN Prize for translation twice, for that work and again for Perfume in 1987. Woods was also awarded the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize for his translations of Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain and Arno Schmidt's Nobodaddy's Children in 1996;^[4] as well as the Schlegel-Tieck Prize for the translation of Christoph Ransmayr's The Last World in 1991. He was awarded the Ungar German Translation Award in 1995, and later the prestigious Goethe-Medal from the Goethe Institute in 2008.

References edit

^ Winkler, Willi (February 20, 2023). "Fahndung nach der Melodie: Zum Tod von John E. Woods". Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
^ ^a ^b Sandomir, Richard (March 27, 2023). "John Woods, Masterly Translator of Thomas Mann, Dies at 80". New York Times. Vol. 172, no. 59740. p. A17. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
^ ^a ^b "National Book Awards – 1981". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
There was a "Translation" award from 1966 to 1983.
^ "John E. Woods: Recipient of the 1996 Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize". Goethe Institute. Retrieved 2011-01-09.