Dita Šebelová

Harriet Beecher Stowe started to publish her novel in the National Era Magazine in 1851- 1852. Shortly after (1852) she released it as a book and in 1853 accompanied it by the "Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin" in which she documented her statements. In Uncle Tom's Cabin she works up a theme of slavery, she describes life of black slaves in the South of the USA in the first half of the 19th century. The key point of the book is that slavery and Christianity cannot exist together, slavery representing sin and Christianity representing love. The book was appreciated very much by many authors like G. Eliot, G. Sand, L. N. Tolstoy, H. James..., but rather for its moral power than for its artistic value. The book was the greatest fiction success of the 19th century. Since then it has been released in numerous editions, translated to 37 languages, has never gone out of print and also has been dramatized. In Czech many editions can be found as well.

In this essay I will deal with three Czech translations from various times. I will give basic characteristic of each of them and I will look into what extent they correspond to the original. Similarities will be shown on Chapter 32 "Dark Places". (Note: Two other translations of Uncle Tom's Cabin will be discussed in the essay of Marta Mlejnková.)

The three Czech translations are the following:

1. Beecher Stowe, H.: Chatrč strýce Toma. Přel. W. F. Waller. Praha, nakl. Alois Hynek ?. 252 s.
2. Beecher Stowe, H.: Chaloupka strýčka Toma. Přel. J. Kalenský. Praha, nakl. Rudolf Storch 1900. 159 s.
3. Beecher Stowe, H.: Chaloupka strýčka Toma. Přeložil V. Patejdl. Praha, nakl. Jos. R. Vilímek 1946. 294 s.

The original I worked with is the following:

Beecher Stowe, H.: Uncle Tom's Cabin. NY, Bantam Classic Edition 1981.

None of the three translations contains the complete text of the original. Thus, all of them should be spoken about as adaptations rather than translations.

First a few words to the structure of each adaptation.

Waller's adaptation is in its structure the closest to the original. It contains 40 chapters (the original contains 45 chapters) and these in most cases, in numbers of chapters and titles of chapters, correspond to the original ones. Five chapters are omitted and these are:

Chapter 11 (In Which Property Gets into an Improper State of Mind. The chapter in which the manufacturer Mr. Wilson helps George to escape.)

Chapter 18, 19 (Miss Ophelia's Experiences and Opinions, Miss Ophelia's Experiences and Opinions, Continued. In these two chapters the questions of religion and slavery are raised. These two chapters are in Waller's edition replaced with one chapter - Tom and Eva - which is in fact the last part of Chapter 19 in the original where Eva helps Tom to write a letter to his wife)

Chapter 21 (Kentucky. The chapter in which Mrs. Shelby helps Chloe to earn money for Tom so that he could be bought back to Mr. Shelby's house.)

Chapter 23 (Henrique. The chapter in which Eva has an argument with Henrique because of his bad behaviour to the slaves and she refers to the Bible which says that we must love everybody and to Thomas Jefferson's "all men are born free and equal".)

Chapter 45 (Concluding Remarks.)

When considering the topics of the left out chapters, it can be clearly seen that the author tries to avoid two basic topics: religion and slavery and white people helping black people. It is quite a paradox to have avoided these chapters because the above mentioned topics are in the rest of the adaptation quite openly spoken about.

Kalenský's adaptation is much more condensed than Waller's adaptation and neither does this one correspond in its structure to the original. It is a free adaptation for children, as the book has it in its subtitle ("Chaloupka strýčka Toma, povídka pro mládež, volně vypravuje Josef Kalenský"). It contais 12 chapters only. These are numbered and titled. Though they are not titled in the same way as they are in the original. Let us have a look how these chapters are titled and which chapters are left out. The chapters are:

1. The Slave Owner - Difficult Decision - The Evening in Uncle Tom's Cabin
2. Discovery - Sam's Stratagem - Mother's Escape
3. New Dangers - In the Senator's House - Departure of uncle Tom
4. Known Characters
5. Scenes in Washington and on the Ohio River
6. Among Quakers
7. Evangeline
8. "The Grass Withereth - the Flower Fadeth"
9. Slave Trade in New Orleans - Uncle Tom on the Red River
10. The Ghost Story
11. 11.The Martyr
12. Results.

The titles of five chapters only correspond to the titles of the original. As it can be seen, several chapters are included in one chapter. As in Waller's adaptation, Chapter 45 is totally omitted.

The most difficult orientation is in Patejdl's adaptation, as the structure of this edition is not clearly arranged. The chapters are numbered (29 chapters in total) but have no titles. And, of course , the book has no contents (the same case with Waller's adaptation). As in the two adaptations mentioned above, Chapter 45 is omitted and so all the three adaptations end with what in the original the Chapter 44 (Liberator) is.

As far as the ways of adaptation are concerned, the three versions have very much in common. Though they differ to the extent (Patejdl's adaptation: 294 pages, Waller's adaptation: 252 pages, Kalenský's adaptation: 159 pages, consider the size and the type of letters as well), they tend to avoid very similar and sometimes even the same passages of the text. All three translators adapt the original to a younger reader trying to make their adaptations more attractive. And this results in avoiding or reducing of these passages in particular:

1. meditative passages

2. moralizing passages

3. religious passages

4. descriptive passages (Quite an inventive way of omitting these passages can be found e.g. in Waller's adaptation, see, for example, Chapter 9 "In Which It Appears That a Senator is But a Man" when the senator takes Eliza and her son to a friend of his. In the original Harriet B. Stowe describes this journey into a great detail up to the accident in the creek and then just says:"But we forbear, out of sympathy to our readers' bones.", pg. 88. This is all described in two and half pages. In Waller's adaptation the journey is described in 4 lines only and right away we read:" Ze soucitu ke kostem svých čtenářů nebudeme však tuto vyjížďku popisovati.", p. 55.)

The original aim of Harriet Beecher Stowe was to write a sentimental, moralizing and mainly didactic book. All three adaptations seem to lose this tendency: descriptive passages containing these aspects are omitted or reduced to a minimum. Unlike H. B. Stowe, the three adaptators, rather than taking over the moralizing and didactic aspects, put greater emphasis to the adventureous elements. They tend to retell the story, sticking to dynamic passages and more attractive scenes. They adjust the book according to the age of the reader, omit the passages young readers would not be very much interested in, they would not understand,... simply those passages they predicted the readers would skip. They thought an adventureous story would attract the readers much more than a moralizing or didactic story would.

And so a short note made in Patejdl's adaptation's preface could , in fact, refer to all three of them:" Dnešnímu čtenářstvu bylo třeba pouze rozlehlý a příliš rozkošatělý román upravit, proklestit poněkud houšť některých jeho rozvleklých úvah, spád vyprávění příliš zatěžujících."

Let us be more particular and have a look at Chapter 32, Dark Places (pg. 340 - 348).

Chapter 32 in each adaptation:

Waller, pg. 176 - 179

Kalenský, pg. 117 - 121

Patejdl, pg. 223 - 229

(Note: The following abbreviations will be used: Original (O), Waller (W), Kalenský (K), Patejdl (P).)

First, let us compare some of the descriptive passages in the three adaptations:

1/ description of the Legree's place

O: " What was once a smooth-shaven lawn before the house, dotted here and there with ornamental shrubs, was now covered with frowsy tangled grass, with horse posts set up, here and there, in it, where the turf was stamed away, and the ground littered with broken pails, cobs of corn, and other slovenly remains. Here and there, a mildewed jessamine or honeysuckle hung raggedly from some ornamental support, which had been pushed to one side by being used as a horse-post. What once was a large garden was now all grown over with weeds, through which, here and there, some solitary exotic reared its forsaken head. What had been a conservatory had now no window-sashes, and on the mouldering shelves stood some dry, forsaken flower pots, which sticks in them, whose dried leaves showed they had once been plants. (pg. 342-343)

W: "Místo před domem, kde býval kdysi hladký trávník, na němž rostly místy ozdobné křoviny, bylo teď zarostlé nepěstěnou, zcuchanou travou, vydupanou v místech, kde stály koly k uvazování koní a posetou rozbitými vědry, odrolenými šiškami kukuřičnými a jinými odpadky. Tu a tam visel zetlelý jasmín nebo zimolez s ozdobné opory, jež byla odsunuta stranou, aby zastávala úkol kolu k uvazování koní. To, co bývalo kdysi velikou zahradou, bylo teď zarostlé býlím, z něhož místy pozvedal nějaký exotický květ svoji opuštěnou korunku. To, co bývalo kdysi skleníkem, nemělo teď oken ani rámů a na práchnivících policích stálo několik suchých, zapomenutých květináčů, v nichž stály hůlky s uschlými listy, svědčícími o tom, že to bývaly kdysi rostliny." (pg. 177)

P: "Místo úpravného parku před stavením byl bídný, zcuchaný trávník, tu a tam zaraženy koly k vázání koní, kolem nich byla tráva zdupána, po nádvoří se válely rozbité nádoby, kukuřičná sláma, kusy beden a sudů a jiné smetí. Rozsáhlá kdysi zahrada byla všecka zarostlá plevelem, jen tu a tam nějaká cizokrajná rostlina věšela opuštěnou hlavu. Někdejší skleník byl bez oken a z rozbitých květináčů se plazilo něco zaschlých trsů - zbytků toho, co bývalo květinami." (pg. 225)

K: "Květinové koberce vyplenil a na místě nich nasázel zelin kuchyňských, velké trávníky a záhony zryl, osel obilím a jinak užitku věnoval. Ve sklennících, jež dříve chloubou byly majetníka, skládala se nyní bavlna a po nádvoří vydlážděném mramoremválely se různé sudy, bedny a rozlámané polní nářadí. (pg. 118)

2/ description of the two slaves of Legree

O: "As they stood there now by Legree, they seemed an apt illustration of the fact that brutal men are lower even than animals. Their coarse, dark, heavy features, their great eyes, rolling enviously on each other, their barbarous, guttural, half-brute intonation, their dilapidated garments fluttering in the wind, - were all in admirable keeping with the vile and unwholesome character of everything about the place. ( pg. 344)

W: "Když tu stáli s Legreem, zdáli se být živoucím dokladem fakta, že suroví lidé stojí níže než zvířata. Jejich hrubé, zasmušilé rysy, jejich veliké oči, jimiž po sobě závistivě pošilhávali, jejich barbarské hrdelní, polozvířecí hlasy, jejich roztrhaný oděv, vlající po větru - to vše shodovalo se podivuhodně s ohavným a nezdravým rázem jejich okolí." (pg. 178)

P: description omitted

K: description omitted

3/ description of Tom's new dwelling

O: "The quarters was a little sort of street of rude shanties, in a row, in a part of the plantation, far off from the house. They had a forlorn, brutal, forsaken air. Tom's heart sunk when he saw them. He had been comforting himself with the thought of a cottage, rude, indeed , but one which he might make neat and quiet, and where he might have a shelf for his Bible, and a place to be alone out of his labouring hours. He looked into several, they were mere rude shells, destitude of any species of furniture, except a heap of straw, foul with dirt, spread confusedly over the floor, which was merely the bare ground, trodden hard by the tramping of innumerable feet." (pg. 345)

W: "Byla to jakási ulička z primitivních chatrčí v odlehlé části plantáže. Příbytky měly pustý a odpuzující ráz. Toma pojala zklíčenost, když je spatřil. Těšil se v duchu představou domku prostého sice, ale čistého a tichého, v němž by mohl míti poličku pro svoji bibli a útulek po práci. Podíval se do několika domků, byly to pouhé kůlny, postrádající jakéhokoliv nábytku, vyjma kupu nečisté slámy, rozházené neladně po holé zemi, ušlapané nesčíslnýma nohama."

(pg. 179)

P: "Byla to ulička hrubých chatrčí daleko od domu Legreeova. Tom nahlédl do několika chýší, bylo v nich jen něco špinavé slámy, rozprostřené po holé zemi. Tomovi se sevřelo srdce při vzpomínce na skrovnou, ale čistou chaloupku daleko odtud... (pg. 226)

K: " V jedné odlehlé části plantáže stála řada malých bídných chatrčí, sem vedeni byli Tom a druzi jeho. Až dosud Tom doufal, že dostane se mu aspoň tiché chaloupky, v níž bude moci po celodenním lopocení modlitbě a vzpomínkám se věnovati, nyní však, když pohlédl do těch baráků a viděl tu spoustu a nepořádek, klesal na mysli." ( pg, 119)

Now, according to the translations of descriptive passages in each adaptation, clear distinctions have become apparent. Waller's adaptation tends to be the closest to the original, rarely omitting words or phrases. On the other hand, Kalenský's adaptation is definitely the most distant version to the original. It reduces the descriptive passages to a minimum, changes them to a great extent or simply leaves them out. Patejdl's adaptation appears to be some kind of a compromise.

Second, let us have a look at the passages concerning the religion, the Christianity. Christianity is present in all three versions, however passages talking about this aspect are very much reduced. I guess that the reduction of these passages was not the question of the "taboo" of Christianity in our republic as all these adaptations come from the "pre - Christianity - taboo" time, time before the 1948 (Note: Compare to the ideologically influenced translation by E. and E. Tilsch: Praha, SNDK 1957 or Praha, Albatros 1977. See the essay of Marta Mlejnková.). It was rather the question of reducing the original as a whole. According to this strategy of translation many interesting passages have been left out. Let us have a look at Chapter 32 again where two examples can be found.

1/ The description of the moment when Legree makes the blacks sing, Tom sings a Methodist hymn and after all the slaves and Tom are forced to sing another song together. Neither Waller, nor Kalenský translate this passage, they do not say a word about singing of any kind. The only one to translate this passage is Patejdl.

O: "I say, you! " he said, as he turned back and caught a glance at the dispirited faces behind him. "Strike up a song, boys, come! The men looked at each other, and the "come" was repeated, with a smart crack of the whip which the driver carried in his hands. Tom began a Methodist hymn,

(pg. 341)

P: "Poslyšte, vy!" zvolal, když si pojednou všiml sklíčených obličejů za sebou, "spusťte nějakou písničku, hoši...Chutě!" Muži hleděli druh na druha, když však otrokář znovu vybídl: "Nu tak!" a zapráskal důrazně bičem, začal Tom zpívat methodistickou píseň:

(p. 224)

Here, a short remark could be made when talking about the religious songs. It is interesting to notice the translations of the religious songs in the book as a whole. A short statistics can be made considering the occurence of the translations of songs in each adaptation.

a/ O: pg. 28

W: translation omitted

P: translation omitted

K: translation omitted

b/ O: pg. 259

W: pg. 119

P: pg. 171

K: translation omitted

c/ O: pg. 330

W: translation omitted

P: translation omitted

K: translation omitted

d/ O: pg. 341

W: translation omitted

P: pg. 224

K: translation omitted

e/ O: pg. 389, 391

W: translation omitted

P: pg. 258, 259

K: translation omitted

Thus, the statistics of the occurrence of the songs' translations would be following:

Original : Waller : Patejdl : Kalenský

   5     :    1   :    3    :     0

Again, the reduction of the occurrence of these songs is mainly due to the translators' strategy of reducing the book as a whole. (Particularly interesting would be the comparison of songs in the original and in the translation by E. and E. Tilsch, who changed the lyrics completely out of ideological reasons. See the essay of Marta Mlejnková.)

Another fact, considering the aspects of Christianity is that none of the three adaptations translates a single quotation from the Bible which, in the original, open most of the chapters. In general, all these reductions account for the loss of the religious aspect of the original novel.

2/ The other passage in Chapter 32, having religion as a topic, is the passage describing Tom reading from the Bible to two women slaves. This quite a long passage (4 pages in the original) is totally omitted in the Waller's adaptation. He finished the chapter with the arrival of Tom to the Legree's farm. Kalenský's adaptation goes on further, though his description of the evening is presented in a fairly abbreviated version. His adaptation avoids the very end, describing the dream of Tom. A relatively full translation is present in the Patejdl's adaptation only.

Third, another aspect could be taken into consideration and that is the language and its translation. In Chapter 32 we have an example of distinctive types of language. However, none of the translations shows any tendency of distinguishing them. A Czech reader unfamiliar with the original cannot make any difference between the educated and uneducated English (Compare the uneducated English of the slaves and the relatively educated, Bible influenced, English of Tom...e.g.)... I guess that the translators should take into account the dialectological and stylistic aspects and should try to convert these differences to their translations somehow.

The sample chapter proved that none of the three adaptations intended for children translates fully the text of Uncle Tom's Cabin. As the novel belongs to the area of a non-intentional literature for children the three translators felt the necessity to adapt it and so they did but each of them to a different extent.