Roswith Krege-Mayer

From Tolkien Gateway

Roswith Krege-Mayer (née Mayer) (b. 1937)[1] is a German editor and translator.

Roswith Krege-Mayer began to study ancient languages but left the university without a graduation. She worked for academic publishing companies and wrote entries for encyclopedias. In the early 1970s, she moved with her husband Wolfgang Krege to Stuttgart, where she worked for the Ehapa publishing house since 1972. As a leading editor for the editorial department for children's and youth literature, Roswith Krege-Mayer administrated the German translations and publications of comic book series like Asterix, Mickey Mouse (Micky Maus), Donald Duck pocket books (Das Lustige Taschenbuch), Iznogoud (Isnogud), Lucky Luke and Achille Talon (Albert Enzian).[1]

In 1991 a revised anniversary edition of the first German translation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was published by Klett-Cotta. It contains for the first time the first part of Appendix E (Pronunciation of Words and Names), translated by Helmut W. Pesch. The translated text was improved by Roswith Krege-Mayer.[2] Susanne Stopfel emphasizes in her essay Traitors and Translators: Three German Versions of The Lord of the Rings, that Krege-Mayer had corrected some of the mistranslations made by the first translator Margaret Carroux but had added many others. Stopfel supposes, that Krege-Mayer was unfamiliar with Tolkien’s work and so particularly picked out apparent mistranslations at random, to correct them.[3] Roswith Krege-Mayer’s revised translation of The Lord of the Rings is out of print since 1998.[2]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Alber, Wolfgang: Interview with Roswith Krege-Mayer, in: Comic-Forum 11 (3/1981), p. 26–27.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Ute Lachenmayer (Ed.): Bibliographie – 25 Jahre Klett-Cotta (1977–2002), Stuttgart 2002, p. 300.
  3. Stopfel, Susanne: Traitors and Translators: Three German Versions of The Lord of the Rings, in: Mallorn 43 (2005), p. 12.