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VIII. George Borrow and Goethe's Faust

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

William A. Speck
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Extract

In a letter from William Taylor of Norwich to Robert Southey, is to be found perhaps the earliest trustworthy clue to the date of Borrow's first acquaintance with the German language. Writing on March 12th, 1821, Taylor, whose name will probably survive because of his relation to Borrow, says:

A Norwich young man is construing with me, Schiller's Wilhelm Tell with a view of translating it for the press. His name is George Henry Borrow, and he has learnt German with extraordinary rapidity, indeed, he has the gift of tongues, and, though not yet eighteen, understands twelve languages—English, Welsh, Erse, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, German, Danish, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese….

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 41 , Issue 1: American Bibliography for 1925 , March 1926 , pp. 167 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1926

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References

1 Literary Gazette, July 16, 1825.

2 The authorized editions of 1791 and 1794, attributed to St. Petersburg, were actually issued by the publisher, Jacobaer of Leipzig.

3 Goethe's Poetische und Prosaische Werke, Stuttgart und Tübingen, 1836.