GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [11 February 1854]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [11 February 1854]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [11 February 1854]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1854-02-11
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [11 February 1854]
MS: Yale. Endorsed: Feb. 11. Hitherto unpublished.
Cambridge St. | Saturday.
Dear Sara
I ought to have thanked you before this for sending me the M.S. but too much for the day has been the evil thereof. Cara too has made me her debtor by sending me the extract from the Scotsman. Thank her for me.
I don't think a translator is bound to reproduce the occasional offensive defects of taste in a writer. I confess I have not gone on that principle of damaging faithfulness. Indeed I have felt it necessary in the part you have read to omit a whole sentence. I could not do otherwise -- and indeed German sarcasm may be fairly said to be untranslateable. I think you would agree with me if the whole case were before you, but it is impossible to say what one wants in a letter. I hope your head is well.
Your faithful
Pollian.
MS: Yale. Endorsed: Feb. 11. Hitherto unpublished.
Cambridge St. | Saturday.
Dear Sara
I ought to have thanked you before this for sending me the M.S. but too much for the day has been the evil thereof. Cara too has made me her debtor by sending me the extract from the Scotsman. Thank her for me.
I don't think a translator is bound to reproduce the occasional offensive defects of taste in a writer. I confess I have not gone on that principle of damaging faithfulness. Indeed I have felt it necessary in the part you have read to omit a whole sentence. I could not do otherwise -- and indeed German sarcasm may be fairly said to be untranslateable. I think you would agree with me if the whole case were before you, but it is impossible to say what one wants in a letter. I hope your head is well.
Your faithful
Pollian.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [11 February 1854], Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/93934