Åke Ohlmarks (1911–1984) was a philologist and prolific translator, who during his career published Swedish versions of Shakespeare, Dante and the Qur'an.^[1] His translation of J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy The Lord of the Rings was the only one available in Swedish for forty years. He ignored complaints and calls for revision from readers,^[2] stating in his 1978 book Tolkiens arv ("Tolkien's legacy") that his intention had been to create an interpretation of Tolkien, not a translation.^[3][a]

After The Silmarillion was published in 1977, Tolkien's son and literary executor Christopher Tolkien consented to a Swedish translation only on the condition that Ohlmarks have nothing to do with it; the translation was made by Roland Adlerberth.^{[T 1]} Ohlmarks subsequently published a book called Tolkien and Black Magic.^[4]

Tolkien's response edit

Tolkien intensely disliked Ohlmarks and his translation of The Lord of the Rings.^{[5][T 2][T 3]} He disliked Ohlmarks' version even more than Shuchart's 1956–57 Dutch translation, as is evident from a 1957 letter to his publisher Rayner Unwin:^{[T 4]}

The enclosure that you brought from Almqvist &c. was both puzzling and irritating. A letter in Swedish from fil. dr. Åke Ohlmarks, and a huge list (9 pages foolscap) of names in the L.R. which he had altered. I hope that my inadequate knowledge of Swedish - no better than my kn. of Dutch, but I possess a v. much better Dutch dictionary! - tends to exaggerate the impression I received. The impression remains, nonetheless, that Dr. Ohlmarks is a conceited person, less competent than charming Max Schuchart, though he thinks much better of himself.^{[T 4]}

Examples singled out by Tolkien in the same letter include:^{[T 4]}

In his 1967 "Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings", produced in response to Ohlmarks' version,^[9] Tolkien pointed out numerous other translations that he found dubious. For example, Ohlmarks used Vattnadal "Water-dale" for Rivendell, apparently, Tolkien commented, by way of taking riven for river.^{[T 8]} The Ent Quickbeam becomes Snabba solstrålen, "Swift Sunbeam", apparently taking beam in the sense of "beam of light" instead of "tree", ignoring the fact that all Ents have names connected with trees. Tolkien stated that Quickbeam was so named because he was a "hasty" Ent; Tolkien advises translating the name to give the sense "quick (lively) tree", noting that both "Quickbeam" and "Quicken" are actual English names for the rowan tree.^{[T 9]}

Ohlmarks sometimes offers multiple translations for names: for example, he renders Isengard variously as Isengard, Isengård, Isendor or Isendal. The "Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings" states that this name was meant to be so "archaic in form" that its etymology had been forgotten. Tolkien advises that it could be used either as it was or, for Germanic languages (like Swedish), "one or both elements in [the] name" could be translated using "related elements" in those languages, mentioning gård as an option.^{[T 10]}

Reception in Sweden edit

Early welcome edit

Some of the initial reception was warm; the author and translator Sven Stolpe wrote in Aftonbladet that Ohlmarks "has made a "swedification" (försvenskning) – he has found wonderful, magnificent, Swedish compound words, he has translated poem after poem with great inspiration, there is not a page in his magnum opus that does not read like original Swedish work by a brilliant poet".^[10] Staffan Björck [sv], reviewing the book for Dagens Nyheter, listed some objections but wrote that "I only list these objections so that I can with greater emphasis praise the translation as a whole: it is magnificent."^[11]

Later hostility edit

Later, the translation's reception became more hostile. In 2000, the author Leif Jacobsen [sv] of Lund University's Institute of Linguistics, noting among other things Ohlmarks' confusion of Eowyn and Merry in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, wrote that "There can be no doubt that the Swedish translation is defective and in many ways a failure".^[12] Jacobsen argued that where Tolkien was writing for adults, Ohlmarks translated for children. Further, in his view Ohlmarks seemed to be trying to make the text his own, supplanting Tolkien rather than directly translating him.^[12] In 2004, Malte Persson wrote in Göteborgsposten that the translation was "so full of misunderstandings, misconceptions, inconsistencies, and arbitrary additions that it must mean that Ohlmarks was either significantly worse at English than Icelandic, or that he had not taken the assignment seriously".^[13] Also in 2004, Anders Stenström, known as Beregond, stated that the translation contains numerous factual errors, mistranslations of idiomatic expressions, and non-sequiturs.^[14] Andreas Brunner commented in Sydsvenska Dagbladet that Ohlmarks' prose is hyperbolic in style, where the original uses simple or even laconic language.^[15]

Approach edit

Ohlmarks' translation was not superseded until 2005, when a new translation was made by the author and translator of novels by Nick Hornby and Zadie Smith, Erik Andersson [sv],^[2] with poems interpreted by Lotta Olsson [sv]. This translation is by intention much closer to the original, and abides by Tolkien's instructions. In the translation process, Andersson had access to a team of Tolkien fans as advisors.^[2] In 2007 Andersson published a book called Översättarens anmärkningar ("The Translator's Notes") based on his diary during the project.^[16]

Andersson retained some features of Ohlmarks' version, such as Vidstige ("Wide-step") for "Strider" (a name used in Bree for the hero Aragorn); Strömbom states that this was because it was a well-known name, along with Midgård for Middle-earth and Fylke for the Shire.^[2] Stefan Spjut, reviewing the new translation in Svenska Dagbladet, commented that Ohlmarks' version had its merits, and that Vidstige "even outdoes the original's Strider", but that people would probably get used to the new version.^[17]

Reception edit

The 2005 translation project attracted great interest from Swedish Tolkien fans and the Swedish media. Henrik Williams, reviewing the new translation for Dagens Nyheter, wrote: "Let me say that Andersson & Olsson have prepared a readable, even and in large part correct translation, a test of a very robust piece of work that deserves deep respect, but also a careful review".^[18] Malte Persson wrote in Göteborgsposten that "the new translation follows the original's fluent prose very closely, and only a linguistic pedant could find anything to object to".^[13]

Titles edit

Charlotte Strömbom notes that the Swedish titles chosen for the books immediately indicate differences between Andersson and Ohlmarks' approaches. Andersson's title for the novel is, she writes, plainly closer to Tolkien's in both meaning and form; Ohlmarks' title shifts attention to the Ring itself, unlike the original. Ohlmarks chose to omit mention of "Fellowship" for Volume I, giving what Strömbom suggests is a more epic feeling to the title, where Andersson's is more grounded in reality.^[2]

Names edit

Strömbom comments that Ohlmarks preferred to give names a desired form, where Andersson chooses to stay close to the original names' meanings. Thus Ohlmarks uses Lavskägge (Lichen-beard) for Treebeard and Vattnadal (Water-dale) for Rivendell, where Andersson chooses the more literal Trädskägge and Riftedal. She adds that sometimes Ohlmarks' choices come closer to the sound of Tolkien's names.^[2]

Prose edit

Commentators including Petter Lindgren in Aftonbladet have remarked on Ohlmarks' wordy text compared to Andersson's more laconic version.^[19] A sample of the prose was translated as follows:

Strömbom notes the following as an instance of the difference in styles:^[2]

Verse edit

Aftonbladet wrote of the poetry that "Lotta Olsson has had the thankless task of translating the book's numerous verses which many readers skip, though she does it well and economically".^[19] Olsson rendered a sample of Tolkien's verse like this:

• Translations of The Lord of the Rings
• Translations of The Lord of the Rings into Russian

Primary edit

Secondary edit

Ohlmarks' translation of The Lord of the Rings:

• Sagan om ringen. Stockholm: Gebers. 1959. OCLC 43127536. (Volume 1)
• Sagan om de två tornen. Stockholm: Gebers. 1960. OCLC 186811060. (Volume 2)
• Sagan om konungens återkomst. Stockholm: Gebers. 1961. OCLC 43141566. (Volume 3)

Andersson and Olsson's translation of The Lord of the Rings:

• Ringens brödraskap: första delen av Ringarnas herre. Stockholm: Norstedt. 2004. OCLC 186369912. (Volume 1)
• De två tornen: andra delen av Ringarnas herre. Stockholm: Norstedt. 2005. OCLC 186594636. (Volume 2)
• Konungens återkomst: tredje delen av Ringarnas herre. Stockholm: Norstedt. 2005. OCLC 186770341. (Volume 3)

Tolkien:

• Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (2023) [1981]. The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien Revised and Expanded Edition. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-35-865298-4.
• Hammond, Wayne G.; Scull, Christina (2005). The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-720907-X.
• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1975). "Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings". In Lobdell, Jared (ed.). A Tolkien Compass. La Salle, Illinois. pp. 159–201. ISBN 0-87548-316-X. OCLC 1055562.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)