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Letter from Ruth Lima McMahon to Ole Rølvaag, 1925 March 2
- Title
- Letter from Ruth Lima McMahon to Ole Rølvaag, 1925 March 2
- Identifier
- p0584_07798
- p0584_07799
- p0584_07800
- p0584_07801
- p0584_07802
- p0584_07803
- Date
- 1925 March 2
- Creator
- Lima McMahon, Ruth, 1898-1981
- Description
- Ruth Lima's letter to Ole Rolvaag.
Transcription:Dear Prof. Rolvaag,
I am going to ask you to release me from our private contract in regard to translating it, after reading this letter, you think it right to do so.
When I wrote my first enthusiastic letter about translating, without having seen the book, I thought of the work merely as a splendid bit of training, and not as a thing of any value to you! When I received your letter offering me both the position at St Olaf, and the job of translation, I thought of the work still pretty much from a personal point of view, though after my first rapid reading of the book, I had a wakeful night! I felt that I was not prepared to wholly identify myself with the novel; and therefore I asked to be anonymous if my translation were published. You will no doubt want me to be more specific: Chiefly I felt uncomfortable about the expression on Beret’s early “sins.” not because I think such writing in itself the last bit immoral in its place, but I thought it seemed unnecessary in the drawing of Beret’s character, in fact, it seems to me to blur the character instead of to clarify it. But, as I say, at the time I minimized my [?] as being perhaps fallacious and childish, while on the other hand I was increasingly eager for the work of translating. And so I answered as I did.
My sins of hurry are actually finding me out, in a matter that I cannot dismiss by mere anonymity There are certain charges against your book coming from quarters in which I shall be called upon to defend my translation, and I shall be not only weakened, but paralyzed in my defense of that whole flood of new freedom with you represent, by the very fact that I think my opponents partly in the right. Am I making myself clear?
To you, of course, the dilemma does not exist. You have written in accordance with your convictions and can defend whole heartedly or leave defuse alone, as you please. My disagreement may be a sign of immaturity. Whatever it is – it is there and must evidently be taken into account.
The criticisms of which I speak have reached me only indirectly, but they have forced me into this reconsideration. You will likely have seen Gjerde’s article in “Broderfaandet” for Feb. 1. I have not seen it, but I can image what it is, and I am pretty sure to disagree with it. I think those people are wrong in dozens of ways, and I think your book is beautiful in dozens of ways. But it is just because I should like some time to hit their wrong view that I don’t want to give cause for just offense. I don’t want to have to answer: “Yes, I grant you I can’t defend these paragraphs but then I translated the book just for the love of doing it.”
I confess I am puzzled, and unfit for the responsibility of publication. At the same time I am under promise, and I realize that the matter may be of some importance to you.
It is not, you understand, that the work of translating is to me personally wrong. In facet I’m determined to do it as if I have every sheet afterward, but I am in the midst of circumstances that make the work doubtful, as well as offensive to a considerable number of my fellowmen.
Further, it appears that it is just among these people that my work will lie, at least in the immediate future, and I shall, as I have already said, paralyze myself by doing right if something lay in their honest hearts believe to be wrong. I told you that I refused the teaching offer in order to live with my father. Now this means living in a community full of exactly such prejudices as I suppose Gjerde expressed in his criticism. Naturally if I live with father I shall seek an outlet in some activities outside the household. For instance, there is an old library society to receive, father and I are planning to collect a history of the community, etc. I am afraid that there, too, my having translated a book condemned by these people’s ministers will not be of a chance of doing the little good I might otherwise accomplish. Do you see how complicated a business it is? Perhaps it is inevitable that I shall sooner or later let these people know how I disagree with their prejudices but I would rather not be tied by work previously done. And I do honestly reverence their faith.
I know that I must at least inconvenience you for the present if you decide to cancel my obligation, and therefore I am sorry. Besides, it may seem to you not only a foolish indecision on my part, but also a gross ingratitude to you after your many kindnesses, not only in regard to the position at St. Olaf, but in Norway and while I was a student. I can only assure you that as a teacher you have done me an immaculate amount of good and that as a friend I not only respect you, but hold for you that strong affection which we naturally conceive for the few in whom we find an “understanding soul.” I am not happy over this. I am torn, as I seem always to have been between irreconcilables.
If you think I am wrong in asking to be released from my promise, say so. I am open to conviction, and your experience on these dangerous seas is wider than mine. Write just as you think best in answer to this muddled letter and do not fear to hurt my feelings by criticism. You can reach me at 5503 16th St. N.W. Washington, or at 1720 Stevens Avenue, Minneapolis. In any ease, I shall probably come down to Northfield for a few days and we can talk it over.
Sincerely yours,
Ruth Lima
- Funding to digitize the O.E. Rølvaag Papers was provided to the Norwegian-American Historical Association through the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, a component of the Minnesota Clean Water, Land and Legacy constitutional amendment, ratified by Minnesota voters in 2008.
- The Ruth Lima McMahon Papers (P0844) are housed at NAHA.
- Type
- Text
- Format
- Letters (correspondence)
- Contributor
- Rølvaag, O. E. (Ole Edvart), 1876-1931
- Rights
- In Copyright
- https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
- This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
- Bibliographic Citation
- [Indicate the cited item here]. O.E. Rølvaag Papers. Norwegian American Historical Association, Northfield, Minnesota.