Transcriber's Note:
1. Page scan source: http://www.archive.org/details/joyoflivingthe00suderich
The translation of dramatic dialogue is attended withspecial difficulties, and these are peculiarly marked in translating from Germaninto English. The German sentence carries more ballast than English readers areaccustomed to, and while in translating narrative one may, by means ofsubordinate clauses, follow the conformation of the original, it is hard to doso in rendering conversation, and virtually impossible when the conversation ismeant to be spoken on the stage. To English and American spectators the longGerman speeches are a severe strain on the attention, and even in a translationintended only for the "closet" a too faithful adherence to German constructionis not the best way of doing justice to the original.
Herr Sudermann's dialogue is more concise than that of manyother German dramatists; yet in translation his sentences and speeches need tobe divided and recast: to preserve the spirit, the letter must be modified. Thisis true not only of the construction of his dialogue but also of his forms ofexpression. Wherever it has been possible, his analogies, his allusions, his"tours de phrase," have been scrupulously followed; but where they seemed toobscure his meaning to English readers some adaptation has been necessary. Apartfrom these trifling changes, the original has been closely followed; and suchmodifications as have been made were suggested solely by the wish to reproduceHerr Sudermann's meaning more closely than a literal translation would haveallowed.
Count Michael von Kellinghausen.
Beata, his wife.
Ellen, their daughter.
Baron Richard von Völkerlingk.
Leonie, his wife.
Norbert, their son, reading for theBar.
Baron Ludwig von Völkerlingk (Secretaryof State, Richard's step-brother).
Prince Usingen.
Baron von Brachtmann.
Herr von Berkelwitz-Grünhof.
Dr. Kahlenberg (Privy Councillor atthe Board of Physicians).
Holtzmann (candidate for HolyOrders, private Secretary to Baron Richard von Völkerlingk).
Meixner.
A Physician.
Conrad, servant at CountKellinghausen's.
George, Baron Richard's ser