[lit-ideas] Re: The Life and Death of Wittgenstein

JL wrote


From wiki, re: Wittgenstein:
"Un istante prima di perdere conoscenza, sussurrò ai presenti la sua ultima frase: "Dite a tutti che ho avuto una vita meravigliosa"." I would translate, perhaps "Tell them all ..." [etc.]
Oh, those Italians. How they love embellishment. In the English Wiki, Wittgenstein is made to say, "Tell them I've had a wonderful life." I would bet a fair amount of money that the Italian is a bad translation of that, and that the Ur source of the English, is Norman Malcolm's memoir of Wittgenstein:
'Before losing consciousness he said to Mrs. Bevan (who was with him throught the night) "Tell them I've had a wonderful life!" By "them" he undoubtedly meant his close friends." [p. 100, of the paperback edn.] 

Robert Paul,
basking in the sun
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