Translations of Ida Görres into Swedish
A Discovery: Translations into Swedish from 1945–1971
I recently discovered translations of works by Ida Friederike Görres into Swedish. This was a happy surprise.
For several years, I have been compiling a bibliography of translations of works by Ida Friederike Görres into other languages. In 2023, I published a bibliography of these translations in fourteen languages.1 Recently, I discovered translations into one more language: Swedish.
This brings the total to fifteen languages.
How I Discovered Translations of Görres into Swedish
In October 2024, while searching the AbeBooks website of used booksellers for something by Ida Görres (I no longer remember what), my search for “Ida Friederike Görres” yielded an unusual listing: a journal from 1954 in Swedish!
I contacted the seller, Antikvariat Patrik Andersson in Lund, to ask whether the text “Jeanne d’Arc” is in Swedish, German, or French. Mr. Andersson kindly checked for me and responded that the essay is in Swedish.
Swedish! One more language to add to my list of Görres translations.
Next, I thought, “If there is one translation into Swedish, there might be more.” Knowing no Swedish and no Swedish Catholics, I turned to the next best option—a Norwegian Catholic, and not just that, but one who is a fan of Ida Görres, namely, Bishop Erik Varden.
I wrote to him about what I had found and my suspicion there might be more. He kindly contacted Helena D’Arcy, Editor of Katolskt magasin in Sweden. Some days later, scans of two translations of works by Görres in Swedish were in my inbox along with a link to the Swedish-language Catholic journal Signum (1975–present), formerly known as Credo (1920–1974).
I began to dig. Fortunately, this journal has scanned all the past issues of Credo and Signum and made them available online.
Below you will find:
A chronology of the publications
A bibliography of what I found.
CHRONOLOGY OF GÖRRES IN SWEDISH
1945: Review
Gunnel Vallquist (1918–2016) reviewed Das Verborgene Antlitz. Eine Studie über Thérèse von Lisieaux by Ida Friederike Görres (1944).
This came as a surprise because almost all copies of this first edition were destroyed when an Allied bomb hit the publisher’s warehouse in 1944. Yet, somehow, bombs or not, war or not, one copy found its way to a Swedish reviewer. (The book was reprinted in Germany in 1946 and repeatedly thereafter.)
1951: “Nocturner”
A translation of excerpts from Görres’ journals from 1937 to 1947, Nocturnen (1949). Most of the excerpts translated into Swedish are about Nordic authors such as Olav Dunn, Selma Lagerlöf, and Sigrid Undset.
1954: “Jeanne d’Arc”
A translation of an excerpt from the introduction by Görres to the German translation (1954) of Jeanne d’Arc (1949) by Sven Stolpe.2
Stolpe (1905–1996) wrote a book in Swedish: Jeanne d’Arc, 1949.
Alfred von Sterneck translated the book from Swedish into German: Das Mädchen von Orléans: Das Schicksal der Joanne d’Arc, 1954. For von Sterneck’s translation, Ida Görres wrote an introduction.
Next, in 1954, someone translated an excerpt of Görres’ introduction from German to Swedish and published it in the Swedish-language Catholic journal Credo. (This is the discovery that launched my research into Swedish.)
1958: Review
Sven Stolpe reviewed Görres’ revised (and retitled) book, Das Senfkorn von Lisieux. Das verborgene Antlitz, Neue Deutung (1958).
1959: Review
Sven Stolpe reviewed Görres’ book Der göttliche Bettler (1959).
1971: “Från Celibat till Äktenskap?” & “Tillit till kyrkan”
A translation of almost all of Section 2 of the essay “Bemerkungen zum Zölibat” from Im Winter wächst das Brot (i.e., “Remarks on Celibacy” from Bread Grows in Winter).
A translation of the lecture “Vertrauen zur Kirche” from Im Winter wächst das Brot (i.e., “Trusting the Church” from Bread Grows in Winter).
2002
Jan Kerkhofs mentions Ida Görres among the prominent lay Christian (mostly Catholic) authors who rose to prominence in the mid-20th century and ushered in a more prominent role for lay Christian authors.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
with hyperlinks to the texts
TRANSLATIONS from German to Swedish of works by Ida Friederike Görres:
Görres, Ida Friederike. “Från Celibat till Äktenskap?” Translated by Anonymous. Credo Katolsk Tidskrift 51, no. 1 (1971): 9–14.
_____. “Jeanne d’Arc.” Translated by Anonymous. Credo katolsk zidskrift 35, no. 3 (1954): 107–17.
_____. “Nocturner.” Translated by Anonymous. Credo katolsk tidskrift 32, no. 4 (1951): 155–58.
_____. “Tillit till kyrkan.” Translated by Anonymous. Credo Katolsk Tidskrift 4, no. 52 (1971): 168–74.
REVIEWS in Swedish of works by Görres:
Stolpe, Sven. “[Review of] Ida Friederike Görres: Der Göttliche Bettler, Frankfurt/Main, 1959, Josef Knecht.” Credo Katolsk Tidskrift 40, no. 4 (1959): 186.
_____. “[Review of] Ida Friederike Görres: Das Senfkorn von Lisieux. Das Verborgene Antlitz, Neue Deutung. Freiburg 1958, Herder.” Credo katolsk tidskrift 39, no. 4/5 (1958): 239–40.
Vallquist, Gunnel. “[Review of] Das Verborgene Antlitz. Eine Studie über Thérèse von Lisieaux von Ida Friederike Görres (1944).” Credo katolsk tidskrift 26, no. 4 (1945): 226–28.
MENTION of Ida Görres in an article in Signum
Kerkhofs, Jan. “Europeisk andlighet?” Signum, 2002, no. 3. https://signum.se/artikelarkiv/europeisk-andlighet/
I wish to thank Patrik Andersson, Bishop Erik Varden, and Helena D’Arcy for their assistance in my search, and to Signum for scanning and providing access to the archives of Signum and Credo online.
FORTHCOMING BOOK UPDATE
An update about my translation of Bread Grows in Winter (Im Winter wächst das Brot, 1970): Ignatius Press recently sent me the copy edits of the manuscript to review. The book is winding its way toward publication and is scheduled for release in 2025.
Bryson, Jennifer S. “Ida Friederike Görres in Translation 1932–2022: A Bibliography in Fourteen Languages.” In “Glut und Schmerz Des Glaubens”: Ein neuer Blick auf Ida Friederike Görres (1901-1971), edited by Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz and Sigmund Bonk, 212–23. Regensburg, Germany: Verlag Friedrich Pustet, 2023.
A list of these translations (without the bibliographic details) is available at: idagoerres.org/translations.
This introduction by Görres is not included in the English edition of Stolpe’s book, The Maid of Orleans, 1956. I have suggested to the current publisher of The Maid of Orleans that a translation of Görres’ preface into English could be added to a future edition.
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