Arthur W. Ryder: Difference between revisions
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{{short description|Professor of Sanskrit at the University of California, Berkeley}} |
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[[File:Arthur W. Ryder.png|thumb|200px|right|Arthur W. Ryder]] |
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{{Infobox writer/Wikidata |
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⚫ | '''Arthur William Ryder''' (March 8, 1877 – March 21, 1938)<ref name="memoriam"/> was a [[professor]] of [[Sanskrit]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley]]. He is best known for translating a number of Sanskrit works into English, including the [[Panchatantra]] and the [[Bhagavad Gita]]. |
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⚫ | '''Arthur William Ryder''' (March 8, 1877 – March 21, 1938)<ref name="memoriam"/> was a [[professor]] of [[Sanskrit]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley]]. He is best known for translating a number of Sanskrit works into English, including the [[Panchatantra]] and the [[Bhagavad Gita]]. |
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In the words of [[George Rapall Noyes (Slavic scholar)|G. R. Noyes]],<ref name="noyes"/> |
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{{quote|Taken as a whole, Ryder's work as a translator is probably the finest ever accomplished by an American. It is also probably the finest body of translation from the Sanskrit ever accomplished by one man, if translation be regarded as a branch of literary art, not merely as a faithful rendering of the meaning of the original text.}} |
{{quote|Taken as a whole, Ryder's work as a translator is probably the finest ever accomplished by an American. It is also probably the finest body of translation from the Sanskrit ever accomplished by one man, if translation be regarded as a branch of literary art, not merely as a faithful rendering of the meaning of the original text.}} |
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==Life== |
==Life== |
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Ryder was born on March 8, 1877 at [[Oberlin, Ohio]] in the |
Ryder was born on March 8, 1877, at [[Oberlin, Ohio]], in the United States. He had his early education at [[Ann Arbor, Michigan]], and the [[Phillips Academy]] in [[Andover, Massachusetts]], from which he graduated in June 1894, to join [[Harvard University]]. He got his [[Bachelor of Arts|A.B.]] degree from Harvard in June 1897. After teaching [[Latin]] and literature at Andover for a year, he went to [[Germany]] for graduate studies. He studied at the [[University of Berlin]] and the [[University of Leipzig]], from which he got the degree of [[Doctor of Philosophy]] in 1901, with a [[dissertation]] on the [[Rbhus]] in the [[Ṛgveda]]. He was an instructor in Sanskrit at Harvard University from 1902 until January 1906, when he moved to the University of California at Berkeley,<ref name="memoriam"/> to its linguistics department,<ref name=bdz19260107/> as an instructor in Sanskrit and German.<ref name="fontenrose"/> |
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He became an |
He became an instructor in Sanskrit alone later in the same year, became assistant professor in 1908, associate professor in 1919, and professor in 1925.<ref name="fontenrose"/> From his arrival at Berkeley until his death, Sanskrit was a separate department with Ryder as chairman and sole member, after which it was absorbed into the Department of [[Classics]].<ref name="fontenrose"/> When in summer 1920 Berkeley first began offering courses in religion and religious education, Ryder was among the faculty, along with Herbert Francis Evans, [[Walter Goodnow Everett]], [[Morris Jastrow Jr.]], and [[Walter B. Pitkin]].<ref name=berkeleydaily/> |
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He was a member of the [[American Oriental Society]] and the [[American Philological Association]].<ref name=whosWho/> He was also a member of the [[Phi Beta Kappa Society]], and wrote the society's annual poem for its meeting in 1912.<ref name=bdg19120506/><ref name=sfcall/><ref name=tolstoi/> |
He was a member of the [[American Oriental Society]] and the [[American Philological Association]].<ref name=whosWho/> He was also a member of the [[Phi Beta Kappa Society]], and wrote the society's annual poem for its meeting in 1912.<ref name=bdg19120506/><ref name=sfcall/><ref name=tolstoi/> It is also said that he was at one time ranked one of the two best chess players on the Pacific Coast.<ref name=chess/> |
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It is also said that he was at one time ranked one of the two best chess players on the Pacific Coast.<ref name=chess/> |
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==Work== |
==Work== |
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In 1905, when still at Harvard, Ryder translated [[Śudraka]]'s [[Mṛcchakatika]] into English as ''The Little Clay Cart'', which was published as volume 9 of the [[Harvard Oriental Series]]. He translated [[Kālidāsa]]'s [[Abhijñānaśākuntalam]], [[Meghadūta]], and other works, as well as the [[Bhagavad Gita]]<ref name="nyt-gita"/> |
In 1905, when still at Harvard, Ryder translated [[Śudraka]]'s [[Mṛcchakatika]] into English as ''The Little Clay Cart'', which was published as volume 9 of the ''[[Harvard Oriental Series]]''. He translated [[Kālidāsa]]'s [[Abhijñānaśākuntalam]], [[Meghadūta]], and other works, as well as the [[Bhagavad Gita]]<ref name="nyt-gita"/> |
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and several volumes of verse translated from works by [[Bhartṛhari]] and others. His prose translations included the [[Panchatantra]] in 1925,<ref name="nyt-kashmir"/><ref name=p25news/><ref name=p25foot/> |
and several volumes of verse translated from works by [[Bhartṛhari]] and others. His prose translations included the [[Panchatantra]] in 1925,<ref name="nyt-kashmir"/><ref name=p25news/><ref name=p25foot/> |
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excerpts from which were published as ''Gold's Gloom'',<ref name="nyt-remus"/> |
excerpts from which were published as ''Gold's Gloom'',<ref name="nyt-remus"/> |
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His ''Little Clay Cart'' was also enacted in [[New York City]] in 1924 at the [[Neighborhood Playhouse]],<ref name="obit"/><ref name=georgia/> which was then an [[off-Broadway]] theatre, at the [[Lucille Lortel Theatre|Theater de Lys]] in 1953,<ref name="nyt-hayden"/> |
His ''Little Clay Cart'' was also enacted in [[New York City]] in 1924 at the [[Neighborhood Playhouse]],<ref name="obit"/><ref name=georgia/> which was then an [[off-Broadway]] theatre, at the [[Lucille Lortel Theatre|Theater de Lys]] in 1953,<ref name="nyt-hayden"/> |
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and at the Potboiler Art Theater in [[Los Angeles]] in 1926, when it featured actors such as [[James A. Marcus]], [[Symona Boniface]] and [[Gale Gordon]].<ref name="la-playdom"/> |
and at the Potboiler Art Theater in [[Los Angeles]] in 1926, when it featured actors such as [[James A. Marcus]], [[Symona Boniface]] and [[Gale Gordon]].<ref name="la-playdom"/> |
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Following his death in 1938, some of his original poems were published in a posthumous memorial volume with a biography, along with several of his translated verses.<ref name="noyes"/> This was the only book of original poetry published by the [[University of California Press]] for several decades.<ref name=fruge/> |
Following his death in 1938, some of his original poems were published in a posthumous memorial volume with a biography, along with several of his translated verses.<ref name="noyes"/> This was the only book of original poetry published by the [[University of California Press]] for several decades.<ref name="fruge"/> |
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==Views on scholarship and education== |
==Views on scholarship and education== |
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Therefore seek intelligence.</poem>| |
Therefore seek intelligence.</poem>| |
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an [[epigram]] Ryder translated from the [[Panchatantra]] and quoted often.}} |
an [[epigram]] Ryder translated from the [[Panchatantra]] and quoted often.}} |
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He would say that "A professional [[Literary criticism|literary critic]] is a man who hates literature."<ref name=bacon/> |
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Perhaps for this reason, [[ |
Perhaps for this reason, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine described him as the "greatest Sanskrit student of his day",<ref name="Time"/> and an Italian Sanskritist<ref name=tenmen/> said of him: "Ten men like that would make a civilization". |
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At a time when the university curriculum was undergoing upheavals, Ryder was a staunch defender of the traditional system of education in the [[ |
At a time when the university curriculum was undergoing upheavals, Ryder was a staunch defender of the traditional system of education in the [[classics]]. In his ideal world, the university curriculum would have been mostly limited to Latin, Greek, and mathematics, with subjects like history, philosophy, physics, and languages like Sanskrit, Hebrew, German, and French being allowed to serious students only later, as a sort of reward. The then-new disciplines like psychology and sociology were dismissed "out of hand as not worth damning."<ref name="fontenrose"/> |
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==Style of translation== |
==Style of translation== |
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Despite being described as "a loner with a caustic wit", as an educator he was encouraging and generous toward students, and consequently he found many devoted students.<ref name="may"/> [[Harold F. Cherniss]] described him as "a friend half divine in his great humanity".<ref name="noyes"/> When [[Anthony Boucher]], who had been a student of his at Berkeley, wrote his novel ''The Case of the Seven of Calvary'', he based the lead character of "Dr. Ashwin", professor of Sanskrit, after Ryder. (Ashvin is a Sanskrit word meaning a "[[Equestrianism|rider]]".)<ref name=ashvin/> |
Despite being described as "a loner with a caustic wit", as an educator he was encouraging and generous toward students, and consequently he found many devoted students.<ref name="may"/> [[Harold F. Cherniss]] described him as "a friend half divine in his great humanity".<ref name="noyes"/> When [[Anthony Boucher]], who had been a student of his at Berkeley, wrote his novel ''The Case of the Seven of Calvary'', he based the lead character of "Dr. Ashwin", professor of Sanskrit, after Ryder. (Ashvin is a Sanskrit word meaning a "[[Equestrianism|rider]]".)<ref name=ashvin/> |
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Another of his devoted students was [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]]. In 1933, Oppenheimer, then 29, was a young physics professor at Berkeley and studied Sanskrit under Ryder. Ryder introduced him to the [[Bhagavad Gita]], which they read together in the original language. Later Oppenheimer cited it as one of the most influential books to shape his philosophy of life, famously recalling the Gita at the [[Trinity test]].<ref name=oppenheimergita/> |
Another of his devoted students was [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]]. In 1933, Oppenheimer, then 29, was a young physics professor at Berkeley and studied Sanskrit under Ryder alongside enrolled students, doing assignments and recitation, and reading [[Kalidasa]].<ref name="fontenrose"/>{{rp|25}} Ryder introduced him to the [[Bhagavad Gita]], which they read together in the original language. Later Oppenheimer cited it as one of the most influential books to shape his philosophy of life, famously recalling the Gita at the [[Trinity test]].<ref name=oppenheimergita/> |
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He described his teacher thus:<ref name=" |
He described his teacher thus:<ref name="Time"/> |
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{{quote|"Ryder felt and thought and talked as a Stoic |
{{quote|"Ryder felt and thought and talked as a Stoic ... a special subclass of the people who have a tragic sense of life, in that they attribute to human actions the completely decisive role in the difference between salvation and damnation. Ryder knew that a man could commit irretrievable error, and that in the face of this fact, all others were secondary." Tartly intolerant of humbug, laziness, stupidity and deceit, Ryder thought that "Any man who does a hard thing well is automatically respectable and worthy of respect."}} |
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Ryder died on March 21, 1938 of a heart attack,<ref name="noyes"/> while teaching an advanced class with only one student.<ref name="obit"/><ref name="may"/> |
Ryder died on March 21, 1938, of a heart attack,<ref name="noyes"/> while teaching an advanced class with only one student.<ref name="obit"/><ref name="may"/> When he died, [[Gilbert N. Lewis]] said that the greatest mind in [[University of California, Berkeley|the university]] was gone.<ref name=bacon/> |
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==Bibliography== |
==Bibliography== |
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;Articles |
;Articles |
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Although Ryder disdained "scholarship", he published a few scholarly papers early in his career. |
Although Ryder disdained "scholarship", he published a few scholarly papers early in his career. |
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* {{citation | year=1901 | title=Die Ṛbhu's im Ṛgveda. | author=Arthur William Ryder | publisher=Druck von C. Bertelsmann | url=https://books.google.com/?id=_lrblc8MoxsC}}. [[Dissertation]] (in [[German language|German]]). |
* {{citation | year=1901 | title=Die Ṛbhu's im Ṛgveda. | author=Arthur William Ryder | publisher=Druck von C. Bertelsmann | isbn=9780524022320 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_lrblc8MoxsC}}. [[Dissertation]] (in [[German language|German]]). |
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* {{Citation |
* {{Citation |
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| doi = 10.2307/592381 |
| doi = 10.2307/592381 |
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;Translations |
;Translations |
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Besides books, some were published in the ''University of California |
Besides books, some were published in the ''University of California Chronicle''. |
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* {{citation | year=1905 | title=The |
* {{citation | year=1905 | title=The Little Clay Cart (Mrcchakatika): A Hindu Drama Attributed to King Shūdraka | author1=Śudraka | author2=Arthur William Ryder | series=[[Harvard Oriental Series]] | isbn=9781465579935 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-B4pAAAAYAAJ | author-link1=Śudraka}} |
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* {{citation | year=1908 | title=The Old Tiger and the Traveller | last=Ryder|first=A.W. | magazine=University of California |
* {{citation | year=1908 | title=The Old Tiger and the Traveller | last=Ryder|first=A.W. | magazine=University of California Chronicle | volume=10 | pages=450–453 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WE0MAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA450}}. A story translated from the [[Hitopadesha]]. |
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* {{citation | year=1910 | title=Women's Eyes: Being verses translated from the Sanskrit | author2=Arthur William Ryder | author1=Bhartṛhari | publisher=A.M. Robertson | url=https://books.google.com/?id=05ooAAAAYAAJ | |
* {{citation | year=1910 | title=Women's Eyes: Being verses translated from the Sanskrit | author2=Arthur William Ryder | author1=Bhartṛhari | publisher=A.M. Robertson | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05ooAAAAYAAJ | author-link1=Bhartṛhari}} |
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* {{citation | year=1912 | title=More Verses From the Sanskrit | author=Arthur W. Ryder | magazine = University of California Chronicle | volume=14 | pages=296–314 | url = https://archive.org/stream/universityofcali14berkuoft#page/296/mode/2up}} Translations from [[Bilhaṇa]]'s Chaura-panchashika, the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Raghuvamsha, etc. |
* {{citation | year=1912 | title=More Verses From the Sanskrit | author=Arthur W. Ryder | magazine = University of California Chronicle | volume=14 | pages=296–314 | url = https://archive.org/stream/universityofcali14berkuoft#page/296/mode/2up}} Translations from [[Bilhaṇa]]'s Chaura-panchashika, the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Raghuvamsha, etc. |
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* {{citation | year=1912 | title=Kalidasa: Translations of Shakuntala, and Other Works | author1=Kālidāsa | author2= Arthur W. Ryder | publisher=J. M. Dent & |
* {{citation | year=1912 | title=Kalidasa: Translations of Shakuntala, and Other Works | author1=Kālidāsa | author2= Arthur W. Ryder | publisher=J. M. Dent & sons, ltd. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JbpfAAAAMAAJ | author-link1=Kālidāsa}} |
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* {{citation | year=1914 | title = Shakuntala: an acting version in three acts | author1=Kālidāsa | author2=Arthur William Ryder | author3=Garnet Holme | url=https://books.google.com/?id=Ly4pAAAAYAAJ}} |
* {{citation | year=1914 | title = Shakuntala: an acting version in three acts | author1=Kālidāsa | author2=Arthur William Ryder | author3=Garnet Holme | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ly4pAAAAYAAJ}} |
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* {{citation | year=1915 | title=Malavika: A Five-act Comedy of Kalidasa | magazine = University of California |
* {{citation | year=1915 | title=Malavika: A Five-act Comedy of Kalidasa | magazine = University of California Chronicle | volume=17 | author1=Kālidāsa | author2=Arthur W. Ryder | pages=123–167 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UJ8jAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA123 | author-link1=Kālidāsa}} |
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* {{citation | year=1917 | |
* {{citation | year=1917 | orig-year =1910 | title=Women's Eyes: Being verses translated from the Sanskrit | edition =third reprint | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tx81AQAAMAAJ | author2=Arthur William Ryder | author1=Bhartṛhari | publisher=A.M. Robertson | author-link1=Bhartṛhari}} |
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* {{citation | year=1917 | title=Fables from the Hitopadeça | magazine=University of California |
* {{citation | year=1917 | title=Fables from the Hitopadeça | magazine=University of California Chronicle | volume=(Jan.) | pages=15–29 | series=19 | author=Arthur W. Ryder | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jNHMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA15}} |
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* {{citation | year=1917 | title=Lovers' Meeting | magazine=University of California |
* {{citation | year=1917 | title=Lovers' Meeting | magazine=University of California Chronicle | volume=(Oct.) | pages=364–76 | series=19 | author=Arthur W. Ryder | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lk8MAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA364}}. Translated from [[Kathāsaritsāgara]], Canto 104, which inspired the plot of [[Bhavabhuti]]'s drama ''Mālati-mādhava''. |
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* {{citation | year=1908–1917 | title = Malavika: A Five-Act Comedy and Stories from the Hitopadeça and Kathasaritsagara | author=Arthur W. Ryder | publisher = University of California Press | place=Berkeley | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pK1HAQAAMAAJ}} |
* {{citation | year=1908–1917 | title = Malavika: A Five-Act Comedy and Stories from the Hitopadeça and Kathasaritsagara | author=Arthur W. Ryder | publisher = University of California Press | place=Berkeley | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pK1HAQAAMAAJ}} |
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* {{citation | year=1917 | title=Twenty-two Goblins: With 20 Illustrations | author1=Arthur W. Ryder | publisher=J.M. Dent | url=https://archive.org/details/twentytwogoblins00rydeuoft | |
* {{citation | year=1917 | title=Twenty-two Goblins: With 20 Illustrations | author1=Arthur W. Ryder | publisher=J.M. Dent | url=https://archive.org/details/twentytwogoblins00rydeuoft | author-link1=Somadeva}} |
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* {{citation | year=1919 | title=Relatives: Being Further Verses Translated from the Sanskrit| author=Arthur William Ryder | publisher=A.M. Robertson | url=https://books.google.com/?id=KRxHAAAAIAAJ}} |
* {{citation | year=1919 | title=Relatives: Being Further Verses Translated from the Sanskrit| author=Arthur William Ryder | publisher=A.M. Robertson | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KRxHAAAAIAAJ}} |
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* {{citation | year=1925 | author=Arthur W. Ryder | title=The Panchatantra | publisher=University of Chicago Press | isbn=81-7224-080-5}} |
* {{citation | year=1925 | author=Arthur W. Ryder | title=The Panchatantra | publisher=University of Chicago Press | isbn=81-7224-080-5}} |
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* {{citation | year=1925 | author=Arthur W. Ryder | title=Gold's gloom: tales from the Panchatantra | publisher=University of Chicago Press}} |
* {{citation | year=1925 | author=Arthur W. Ryder | title=Gold's gloom: tales from the Panchatantra | publisher=University of Chicago Press}} |
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* {{citation | year=1927 | title=Dandin's Dasha-kumara-charita: The ten princes | author1=Daṇḍin | author2= Arthur William Ryder | publisher=University of Chicago Press | url=https://books.google.com/?id=RKMlAAAAMAAJ | |
* {{citation | year=1927 | title=Dandin's Dasha-kumara-charita: The ten princes | author1=Daṇḍin | author2= Arthur William Ryder | publisher=University of Chicago Press | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RKMlAAAAMAAJ | author-link1=Daṇḍin}} |
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* {{citation | year=1929 | title=The Bhagavad-gita | author=Arthur William Ryder | publisher=The University of Chicago Press | url=https://books.google.com/?id=1HeBAAAAIAAJ}} |
* {{citation | year=1929 | title=The Bhagavad-gita | author=Arthur William Ryder | publisher=The University of Chicago Press | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1HeBAAAAIAAJ}} |
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* {{citation | year=1939 | title=Original poems: together with translations from the Sanskrit | author1=Arthur William Ryder | author2= George Rapall Noyes | publisher=University of California Press}} |
* {{citation | year=1939 | title=Original poems: together with translations from the Sanskrit | author1=Arthur William Ryder | author2= George Rapall Noyes | publisher=University of California Press}} |
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==References== |
==References== |
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{{reflist|2|refs= |
{{reflist|2|refs= |
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<ref name="nyt-kashmir">{{citation | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=October 18, 1925 | page=E4 | title=The Wisdom of Kashmir | url= |
<ref name="nyt-kashmir">{{citation | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=October 18, 1925 | page=E4 | title=The Wisdom of Kashmir | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1925/10/18/archives/the-wisdom-of-kashmir.html}}</ref> |
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<ref name=whosWho>{{citation | title=Who's who in America | author1=John W. Leonard | author2= Albert Nelson Marquis | year=1913 | publisher=Marquis Who's Who | page=1816 | url=https://books.google.com/?id=sUUzAAAAMAAJ& |
<ref name=whosWho>{{citation | title=Who's who in America | author1=John W. Leonard | author2= Albert Nelson Marquis | year=1913 | publisher=Marquis Who's Who | page=1816 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sUUzAAAAMAAJ&q=Arthur+William+Ryder&pg=PA1816}}</ref> |
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<ref name="memoriam">[http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=hb0g50035s&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00011 University of California: In Memoriam 1938]</ref> |
<ref name="memoriam">[http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=hb0g50035s&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00011 University of California: In Memoriam 1938]</ref> |
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<ref name="noyes">{{citation | author=George Rapall Noyes | contribution=Arthur William Ryder | title=Original Poems, together with translations from the Sanskrit | year=1939 | publisher=University of California Press | url=http://mit.edu/vatsa/www/sanskrit/ryder/lighter.pdf}}</ref> |
<ref name="noyes">{{citation | author=George Rapall Noyes | contribution=Arthur William Ryder | title=Original Poems, together with translations from the Sanskrit | year=1939 | publisher=University of California Press | url=http://mit.edu/vatsa/www/sanskrit/ryder/lighter.pdf | access-date=2010-05-25 | archive-date=2011-06-07 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607104855/http://mit.edu/vatsa/www/sanskrit/ryder/lighter.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> |
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<ref name="fontenrose">{{citation | author= |
<ref name="fontenrose">{{citation | author=Joseph Fontenrose | title=Classics at Berkeley: The First Century 1869–1970 | date=January 1, 1982 | publisher=Department of Classics, UCB | url=http://repositories.cdlib.org/ucbclassics/FontenroseHistory/| author-link=Joseph Fontenrose }}</ref> |
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<ref name="nyt-walton">{{citation | author=Eda Lou Walton | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=November 19, 1939 | title=Translations from the Sanskrit epics | page=BR2 | url= |
<ref name="nyt-walton">{{citation | author=Eda Lou Walton | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=November 19, 1939 | title=Translations from the Sanskrit epics | page=BR2 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/11/19/archives/translations-from-the-sanskrit-epics.html}}</ref> |
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<ref name="nyt-remus">{{citation | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | author=Charles Johnston | title=In India Too There Lived An Uncle Remus: Ancient Tales of the Panchatantra Now Appear in English | date=November 29, 1925 | page=BR2 | url= |
<ref name="nyt-remus">{{citation | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | author=Charles Johnston | title=In India Too There Lived An Uncle Remus: Ancient Tales of the Panchatantra Now Appear in English | date=November 29, 1925 | page=BR2 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1925/11/29/archives/in-india-too-there-lived-an-uncle-remus-ancient-tales-of-the.html}}</ref> |
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<ref name="nyt-hayden">{{citation | author=Milton Bracker | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=June 7, 1953 | title=Story of a Determined Lady | page=X3 | url= |
<ref name="nyt-hayden">{{citation | author=Milton Bracker | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=June 7, 1953 | title=Story of a Determined Lady | page=X3 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/06/07/archives/story-of-a-determined-lady-terese-hayden-sponsor-of-new-play-series.html}} |
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</ref> |
</ref> |
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<ref name="folklore">{{Citation | issn = 0015-587X | volume = 67 | issue = 2 | pages = 118–120 | last = Murray | first = M. A. | title = Review: The Panchatantra | journal = Folklore | date = June 1956 | jstor = 1258527 | publisher = Folklore Enterprises, Ltd. | postscript = . }}</ref> |
<ref name="folklore">{{Citation | issn = 0015-587X | volume = 67 | issue = 2 | pages = 118–120 | last = Murray | first = M. A. | title = Review: The Panchatantra | journal = Folklore | date = June 1956 | jstor = 1258527 | publisher = Folklore Enterprises, Ltd. | postscript = . }}</ref> |
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<ref name=fruge>{{citation | year=1993 | author=August Frugé | contribution=Chapter 15: The Poetry-Hating Director | title=A Skeptic Among Scholars: August Frugé on University Publishing | publisher=University of California Press | page=217 | url=http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft2c6004mb&chunk.id=d0e4985&toc.depth=1&toc.id=&brand=eschol}}</ref> |
<ref name="fruge">{{citation | year=1993 | author=August Frugé | contribution=Chapter 15: The Poetry-Hating Director | title=A Skeptic Among Scholars: August Frugé on University Publishing | publisher=University of California Press | page=217 | url=http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft2c6004mb&chunk.id=d0e4985&toc.depth=1&toc.id=&brand=eschol}}</ref> |
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<ref name=berkeleydaily>{{citation | title = Religious Courses Taught on Campus | date = April 27, 1920 | newspaper = Berkeley Daily Gazette | page = 8 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1970&dat=19200427&id=Fx0iAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_KYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=779,1529783}}</ref> |
<ref name=berkeleydaily>{{citation | title = Religious Courses Taught on Campus | date = April 27, 1920 | newspaper = Berkeley Daily Gazette | page = 8 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1970&dat=19200427&id=Fx0iAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_KYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=779,1529783}}</ref> |
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<ref name=bdz19260107>{{citation | title = From Gazette Files: Twenty Years Ago Today | date = Jan 7, 1926 | newspaper = Berkeley Daily Gazette | page = 4 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1970&dat=19260107&id=NlYxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tuQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6986,558137 | quote= |
<ref name=bdz19260107>{{citation | title = From Gazette Files: Twenty Years Ago Today | date = Jan 7, 1926 | newspaper = Berkeley Daily Gazette | page = 4 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1970&dat=19260107&id=NlYxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tuQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6986,558137 | quote=Through the efforts of President [[Benjamin Ide Wheeler]] the department of linguistics at the University of California is to be enriched by the acquisition of Professor Arthur W. Ryder of Harvard University, one of the greatest authorities in the world on Sanskrit language and literature.}}</ref> |
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<ref name=bdg19120506>{{citation | title = Phi Beta Kappa to Hold Reunion | date = May 6, 1912 | newspaper = Berkeley Daily Gazette | page = 2 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1970&dat=19120506&id=ZWAlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_eMFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4308,328926}}</ref> |
<ref name=bdg19120506>{{citation | title = Phi Beta Kappa to Hold Reunion | date = May 6, 1912 | newspaper = Berkeley Daily Gazette | page = 2 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1970&dat=19120506&id=ZWAlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_eMFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4308,328926}}</ref> |
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<ref name=sfcall>{{citation | title = College President to Deliver Oration and Professor Ryder to Read Poem | newspaper = San Francisco Call | date = 3 May 1912 | volume = 111 | number = 155 | page = 9 | url = http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19120503.2.109.4&srpos=&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN------#}}</ref> |
<ref name=sfcall>{{citation | title = College President to Deliver Oration and Professor Ryder to Read Poem | newspaper = San Francisco Call | date = 3 May 1912 | volume = 111 | number = 155 | page = 9 | url = http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19120503.2.109.4&srpos=&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN------#}}</ref> |
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<ref name=p25news>{{citation | date = Oct 17, 1925 | newspaper = The Evening News | place = San Jose, California | title = Old Sanskrit Legends Are Given in English | page = 8 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1985&dat=19251017&id=1wkvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8KMFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3499,2911838}}</ref> |
<ref name=p25news>{{citation | date = Oct 17, 1925 | newspaper = The Evening News | place = San Jose, California | title = Old Sanskrit Legends Are Given in English | page = 8 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1985&dat=19251017&id=1wkvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8KMFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3499,2911838}}</ref> |
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<ref name=shakuntalaberkeley>{{citation | date = June 5, 1914 | newspaper = Berkeley Daily Gazette | page = 3 | title = Famous Play to be Given in this City | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1970&dat=19140605&id=D3syAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EOUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1140,1714087}}</ref> |
<ref name=shakuntalaberkeley>{{citation | date = June 5, 1914 | newspaper = Berkeley Daily Gazette | page = 3 | title = Famous Play to be Given in this City | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1970&dat=19140605&id=D3syAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EOUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1140,1714087}}</ref> |
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<ref name=chess>{{citation | year=1993 | title = Adventures of a freelancer: the literary exploits and autobiography of Stanton A. Coblentz | editor1=Scott Alan Burgess | publisher=Wildside Press LLC | isbn=978-0-89370-438-4 | pages=37–38 | url=https://books.google.com/?id=Bd9R-hcy7iEC& |
<ref name=chess>{{citation | year=1993 | title = Adventures of a freelancer: the literary exploits and autobiography of Stanton A. Coblentz | editor1=Scott Alan Burgess | publisher=Wildside Press LLC | isbn=978-0-89370-438-4 | pages=37–38 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bd9R-hcy7iEC&q=ryder&pg=PA37 | quote = "The publication of my poems brought me new contacts. Above all, I think of Arthur W. Ryder. My first meeting with this professor of Sanskrit and notable writer on Hindu lore occurred before the days of my Examiner appearance, and at the cost of a brief diversion I will tell of it. One evening the members of the university chess team played a team from the faculty. As a sharer of the not highly esteemed, not greatly contested honor of belonging to the student team, I was one of the warriors who was to charge with knights and rooks against a member of the teaching staff. I arrived at the hall of combat aglow with hope— the pride of recent victory over a member of the Stanford team (in a long-drawn game, a last-ditch affair won by a single pawn). Still, the narrowness of my conquest did not make me any the less confident. Now to bring one of the professors crashing into the dust! I found myself seated opposite a quiet-looking, middle-aged man with a clear-cut virile face, who seemed placidly unaware of his impending doom. But something, alas, went wrong at the game's very start. After a mere half-dozen moves, I was hopelessly ensnarled and, after another two or three moves, I was entirely stunned by that most disheartening word, "Checkmate!" How had it happened? In my humiliation, I could not explain. But the flush on my cheeks was somewhat relieved when I learned that my opponent was ranked as one of the two best chess players on the Pacific Coast.}}</ref> |
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<ref name=lieder>[http://www.lieder.net/lieder/r/ryder/ Lied and Art Song Texts Page]</ref> |
<ref name=lieder>[http://www.lieder.net/lieder/r/ryder/ Lied and Art Song Texts Page]{{Dead link|date=May 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> |
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<ref name=greek>[http://illuminations.berkeley.edu/archives/2005/history.php?volume=9 http://illuminations.berkeley.edu/archives/2005/history.php?volume=9]</ref> |
<ref name=greek>[http://illuminations.berkeley.edu/archives/2005/history.php?volume=9 http://illuminations.berkeley.edu/archives/2005/history.php?volume=9] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216120127/http://illuminations.berkeley.edu/archives/2005/history.php?volume=9 |date=2012-02-16 }}</ref> |
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<ref name=saat>[[Sudipto Chatterjee]], [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1865192 South Asian American Theatre: (Un/Re-)Painting the Town Brown]</ref> |
<ref name=saat>[[Sudipto Chatterjee]], [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1865192 South Asian American Theatre: (Un/Re-)Painting the Town Brown]</ref> |
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<ref name=mountainplay>{{cite news |title=Hindu Drama on a California Mountain-Side |url=https://archive.org/stream/independen79v80newy#page/n106/mode/1up |newspaper=The Independent |date=Jul 20, 1914 | |
<ref name=mountainplay>{{cite news |title=Hindu Drama on a California Mountain-Side |url=https://archive.org/stream/independen79v80newy#page/n106/mode/1up |newspaper=The Independent |date=Jul 20, 1914 |access-date=August 23, 2012}}</ref> |
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<ref name=georgia>Lauren Hobbs Sexton, ''[http://vcas.wlu.edu/VRAS/2005/Sexton.pdf The Distance Traveled: ''Little Clay Cart'' in Athens, Georgia]''</ref> |
<ref name=georgia>Lauren Hobbs Sexton, ''[http://vcas.wlu.edu/VRAS/2005/Sexton.pdf The Distance Traveled: ''Little Clay Cart'' in Athens, Georgia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100702034400/http://vcas.wlu.edu/VRAS/2005/Sexton.pdf |date=2010-07-02 }}''</ref> |
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<ref name="la-playdom">{{citation | author=Edwin Schallert | title='Clay-Cart' Hero Wins: 'Twas Ever Thus—Even in the Sanskrit | newspaper=[[ |
<ref name="la-playdom">{{citation | author=Edwin Schallert | title='Clay-Cart' Hero Wins: 'Twas Ever Thus—Even in the Sanskrit | newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] | date=December 9, 1926 | page=A9 | url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/362657072.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=CITE:AI| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090530173029/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/362657072.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=CITE:AI| url-status=dead| archive-date=May 30, 2009}}</ref> |
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<ref name=tenmen>http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/SSEAL/AsiaExhibit/sac.html</ref> |
<ref name=tenmen>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/SSEAL/AsiaExhibit/sac.html|title=South/Southeast Asia Library | UC Berkeley Library}}</ref> |
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<ref name="nyt-gita">{{citation | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | author=Charles Johnston | date=February 23, 1930 | page=68 | title=A New Translation of The Bhagavad-Gita | url= |
<ref name="nyt-gita">{{citation | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | author=Charles Johnston | date=February 23, 1930 | page=68 | title=A New Translation of The Bhagavad-Gita | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/02/23/archives/a-new-translation-of-the-bhagavadgita.html}}</ref> |
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<ref name=grierson>{{citation | last=Grierson|first=George Abraham| |
<ref name=grierson>{{citation | last=Grierson|first=George Abraham|author-link=George Abraham Grierson | title=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland | year=1906 | publisher=Cambridge University Press for the Royal Asiatic Society | page=259 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8t0sAAAAIAAJ&q=fidelity&pg=PA259}}</ref> |
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<ref name=petersburg>{{citation | title='The Panchatantra' is translated by Arthur W. Ryder | newspaper=[[St. Petersburg Times]] | |
<ref name=petersburg>{{citation | title='The Panchatantra' is translated by Arthur W. Ryder | newspaper=[[St. Petersburg Times]] | location=[[St. Petersburg, Florida]] | author=Harvey Clarke | date=February 3, 1926 | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BZwKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mEwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6870%2C707739}}</ref> |
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<ref name=todo>{{citation | year=1979 | title = The Bhagavadgītā: a new translation | author1=Kees W. Bolle | publisher=University of California Press | isbn=978-0-520-03741-0 | page=222 | url=https://books.google.com/?id=eZ81AJtA3tYC& |
<ref name=todo>{{citation | year=1979 | title = The Bhagavadgītā: a new translation | author1=Kees W. Bolle |author-link1=Kees W. Bolle | publisher=University of California Press | isbn=978-0-520-03741-0 | page=222 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eZ81AJtA3tYC&q=outstanding&pg=PA222}}</ref> |
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<ref name=anderson>G. L. Anderson, 1959: "Arthur W. Ryder's translation of Kalidasa's work is the best in English, though Monier Williams' translation of 'Shakuntala' is satisfactory and Sir William Jones' (1789) is still worth reading." Cited in {{Cite journal| author1 = Cannon | author2 = Pandey| title = Sir William Jones Revisited: on His Translation of the Śakuntalā | jstor = 600085 | journal = Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume = 96 | issue = 4 | pages = 528–535 | year = 1976 | doi = 10.2307/600085}}</ref> |
<ref name=anderson>G. L. Anderson, 1959: "Arthur W. Ryder's translation of Kalidasa's work is the best in English, though Monier Williams' translation of 'Shakuntala' is satisfactory and Sir William Jones' (1789) is still worth reading." Cited in {{Cite journal| author1 = Cannon | author2 = Pandey| title = Sir William Jones Revisited: on His Translation of the Śakuntalā | jstor = 600085 | journal = Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume = 96 | issue = 4 | pages = 528–535 | year = 1976 | doi = 10.2307/600085}}</ref> |
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<ref name=bg2c>Gerald James Larson, [ |
<ref name=bg2c>Gerald James Larson, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1398797 The Song Celestial: Two Centuries of the "Bhagavad Gītā" in English]</ref> |
||
<ref name=ashvin>http://www.ramblehouse.com/chroniclesintro.htm</ref> |
<ref name=ashvin>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ramblehouse.com/chroniclesintro.htm|title = The Anthony Boucher Chronicles}}</ref> |
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<ref name=oppenheimergita>{{Citation|author= Hijiya, James A.|url=http://www.aps-pub.com/proceedings/1442/Hijiya.pdf|title=The Gita of Robert Oppenheimer|journal=[[Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society]]|volume=144|issue=2|date=June 2000 |
<ref name=oppenheimergita>{{Citation|author= Hijiya, James A.|url=http://www.aps-pub.com/proceedings/1442/Hijiya.pdf|title=The Gita of Robert Oppenheimer|journal=[[Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society]]|volume=144|issue=2|date=June 2000}}</ref> |
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<ref name=" |
<ref name="Time">{{citation | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091220222141/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,853367-6,00.html | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,853367-6,00.html | magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | title=The Eternal Apprentice | date=November 8, 1948 | page=75 | archive-date=December 20, 2009 | access-date=March 21, 2009 | url-status=dead }}</ref> |
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<ref name="obit">{{citation | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=March 22, 1938 | title=PROF. A. W. RYDER, OF SANSKRIT FAME|url= |
<ref name="obit">{{citation | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=March 22, 1938 | title=PROF. A. W. RYDER, OF SANSKRIT FAME|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/03/22/archives/prof-a-w-ryder-of-sanskrit-fame-head-of-that-department-at.html}} |
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</ref> |
</ref> |
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<ref name="may">{{citation | title=Three Faces of Berkeley: Competing Ideologies in the Wheeler Era, 1899-1919 | author= |
<ref name="may">{{citation | title=Three Faces of Berkeley: Competing Ideologies in the Wheeler Era, 1899-1919 | author=Henry F. May | year=1993 | publisher=Center for Studies in Higher Education and Institute of Governmental Studies, University of California, Berkeley | isbn=978-0-87772-342-4 | url=http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=hb3870050s&brand=calisphere&doc.view=entire_text| author-link=Henry F. May }}</ref> |
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<ref name="cellist">{{citation | title = Singer and Cellist Will Give Concert | newspaper = Berkeley Daily Gazette | date = Oct 2, 1919 | page = 4 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1970&dat=19191002&id=SMQxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oOQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4942,1539983 | quote = The |
<ref name="cellist">{{citation | title = Singer and Cellist Will Give Concert | newspaper = Berkeley Daily Gazette | date = Oct 2, 1919 | page = 4 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1970&dat=19191002&id=SMQxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oOQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4942,1539983 | quote = The 'Arrows of Love Fly True,' in the third number, is a translation from the Sanskrit made by Professor Arthur W. Ryder of the university and set to music by H. B. Pasmore.}}</ref> |
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<ref name=p25foot>{{citation | newspaper = Lewiston Evening Journal | date = Oct 15, 1925 | page = 9 | title = New Sanskrit Tales in English Volumes | place = Chicago | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1913&dat=19251015&id=KQ5HAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4_MMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1799,960011}}</ref> |
<ref name=p25foot>{{citation | newspaper = Lewiston Evening Journal | date = Oct 15, 1925 | page = 9 | title = New Sanskrit Tales in English Volumes | place = Chicago | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1913&dat=19251015&id=KQ5HAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4_MMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1799,960011}}</ref> |
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<ref name=bacon>{{citation | title = Teaching at Berkeley: Recollections of the University of California | author = Leonard Bacon | authorlink = Leonard Bacon (poet) | date = March 1939 | magazine = Harper's Monthly Magazine | pages = 419–420 | id = {{ProQuest|1301520414}} | url=https://archive.org/details/harpersmagazine178decalde/page/n425/mode/2up?view=theater}}</ref> |
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}} |
}} |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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* {{Gutenberg author |id=9679| name=Arthur William Ryder}} |
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* {{Internet Archive author|sname=Arthur William Ryder}} |
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[[Category:Translators of Kalidasa]] |
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Latest revision as of 17:09, 13 December 2024
Arthur W. Ryder | |
---|---|
Born | 8 March 1877 |
Died | 21 March 1938 (aged 61) |
Language | English language |
Arthur William Ryder (March 8, 1877 – March 21, 1938)[1] was a professor of Sanskrit at the University of California, Berkeley. He is best known for translating a number of Sanskrit works into English, including the Panchatantra and the Bhagavad Gita.
In the words of G. R. Noyes,[2]
Taken as a whole, Ryder's work as a translator is probably the finest ever accomplished by an American. It is also probably the finest body of translation from the Sanskrit ever accomplished by one man, if translation be regarded as a branch of literary art, not merely as a faithful rendering of the meaning of the original text.
Life
[edit]Ryder was born on March 8, 1877, at Oberlin, Ohio, in the United States. He had his early education at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, from which he graduated in June 1894, to join Harvard University. He got his A.B. degree from Harvard in June 1897. After teaching Latin and literature at Andover for a year, he went to Germany for graduate studies. He studied at the University of Berlin and the University of Leipzig, from which he got the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1901, with a dissertation on the Rbhus in the Ṛgveda. He was an instructor in Sanskrit at Harvard University from 1902 until January 1906, when he moved to the University of California at Berkeley,[1] to its linguistics department,[3] as an instructor in Sanskrit and German.[4] He became an instructor in Sanskrit alone later in the same year, became assistant professor in 1908, associate professor in 1919, and professor in 1925.[4] From his arrival at Berkeley until his death, Sanskrit was a separate department with Ryder as chairman and sole member, after which it was absorbed into the Department of Classics.[4] When in summer 1920 Berkeley first began offering courses in religion and religious education, Ryder was among the faculty, along with Herbert Francis Evans, Walter Goodnow Everett, Morris Jastrow Jr., and Walter B. Pitkin.[5]
He was a member of the American Oriental Society and the American Philological Association.[6] He was also a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and wrote the society's annual poem for its meeting in 1912.[7][8][9] It is also said that he was at one time ranked one of the two best chess players on the Pacific Coast.[10]
Work
[edit]In 1905, when still at Harvard, Ryder translated Śudraka's Mṛcchakatika into English as The Little Clay Cart, which was published as volume 9 of the Harvard Oriental Series. He translated Kālidāsa's Abhijñānaśākuntalam, Meghadūta, and other works, as well as the Bhagavad Gita[11] and several volumes of verse translated from works by Bhartṛhari and others. His prose translations included the Panchatantra in 1925,[12][13][14] excerpts from which were published as Gold's Gloom,[15] Daṇḍin's Daśakumāracarita as The Ten Princes of Dandin, and Twenty-Two Goblins,[16] a translation of Vetala Panchavimshati. He also wrote excellent original verse which he circulated privately, but did not publish.[1]
Some verses from his translations were set to music.[17][18] His Little Clay Cart was enacted at the Hearst Greek Theatre in Berkeley in 1907,[19] a production that included a real live elephant on stage.[20] Also enacted there in 1914 was Shakuntala, which was performed by the Mountain Play Association, who were invited to perform there[20] after their performance in a natural amphitheatre on top of Mount Tamalpais, California.[21] These two were the only Indian dramas performed there until 2004.[19][22] His Little Clay Cart was also enacted in New York City in 1924 at the Neighborhood Playhouse,[23][24] which was then an off-Broadway theatre, at the Theater de Lys in 1953,[25] and at the Potboiler Art Theater in Los Angeles in 1926, when it featured actors such as James A. Marcus, Symona Boniface and Gale Gordon.[26] Following his death in 1938, some of his original poems were published in a posthumous memorial volume with a biography, along with several of his translated verses.[2] This was the only book of original poetry published by the University of California Press for several decades.[27]
Views on scholarship and education
[edit]He was known for his love of the language, preferring to publish whatever most delighted him, rather than scholarly articles.[28] In fact, he was outspoken in his contempt for such articles, holding the view that Sanskrit ought to be studied not for philological reasons, but for the great literature it opened.[29]
Scholarship is less than sense
Therefore seek intelligence.— an epigram Ryder translated from the Panchatantra and quoted often.
He would say that "A professional literary critic is a man who hates literature."[30] Perhaps for this reason, Time magazine described him as the "greatest Sanskrit student of his day",[31] and an Italian Sanskritist[32] said of him: "Ten men like that would make a civilization".
At a time when the university curriculum was undergoing upheavals, Ryder was a staunch defender of the traditional system of education in the classics. In his ideal world, the university curriculum would have been mostly limited to Latin, Greek, and mathematics, with subjects like history, philosophy, physics, and languages like Sanskrit, Hebrew, German, and French being allowed to serious students only later, as a sort of reward. The then-new disciplines like psychology and sociology were dismissed "out of hand as not worth damning."[4]
Style of translation
[edit]His translations were noted for their high fidelity to the originals[1][11][33] despite his practice of translating into lively and natural conversational language[34] using rhyme and modern English idiom:[28][35][36]
Your nature is a thing you cannot beat;
It serves as guide in everything you do:
Give a dog all the meat that he can eat
You can't prevent his gnawing at a shoe.— from the Hitopadesha.
In particular, his translation of the Shakuntala was regarded as the best at the time,[37] his "accurate and charming" translation of the Panchatantra remains popular and highly regarded, while his translation of the Bhagavad Gita was not so successful.[38]
Legacy
[edit]Despite being described as "a loner with a caustic wit", as an educator he was encouraging and generous toward students, and consequently he found many devoted students.[29] Harold F. Cherniss described him as "a friend half divine in his great humanity".[2] When Anthony Boucher, who had been a student of his at Berkeley, wrote his novel The Case of the Seven of Calvary, he based the lead character of "Dr. Ashwin", professor of Sanskrit, after Ryder. (Ashvin is a Sanskrit word meaning a "rider".)[39]
Another of his devoted students was J. Robert Oppenheimer. In 1933, Oppenheimer, then 29, was a young physics professor at Berkeley and studied Sanskrit under Ryder alongside enrolled students, doing assignments and recitation, and reading Kalidasa.[4]: 25 Ryder introduced him to the Bhagavad Gita, which they read together in the original language. Later Oppenheimer cited it as one of the most influential books to shape his philosophy of life, famously recalling the Gita at the Trinity test.[40] He described his teacher thus:[31]
"Ryder felt and thought and talked as a Stoic ... a special subclass of the people who have a tragic sense of life, in that they attribute to human actions the completely decisive role in the difference between salvation and damnation. Ryder knew that a man could commit irretrievable error, and that in the face of this fact, all others were secondary." Tartly intolerant of humbug, laziness, stupidity and deceit, Ryder thought that "Any man who does a hard thing well is automatically respectable and worthy of respect."
Ryder died on March 21, 1938, of a heart attack,[2] while teaching an advanced class with only one student.[23][29] When he died, Gilbert N. Lewis said that the greatest mind in the university was gone.[30]
Bibliography
[edit]- Articles
Although Ryder disdained "scholarship", he published a few scholarly papers early in his career.
- Arthur William Ryder (1901), Die Ṛbhu's im Ṛgveda., Druck von C. Bertelsmann, ISBN 9780524022320. Dissertation (in German).
- Ryder, Arthur W. (1902), "Note on bṛhácchandas, AV. iii. 12. 3", Journal of the American Oriental Society, 23, American Oriental Society: 77–78, doi:10.2307/592381, ISSN 0003-0279, JSTOR 592381.
- Ryder, Arthur W. (1902), "Krṣṇanātha's Commentary on the Bengal Recension of the Çakuntalā", Journal of the American Oriental Society, 23, American Oriental Society: 79–83, doi:10.2307/592382, ISSN 0003-0279, JSTOR 592382.
- Ryder, Arthur W. (1906), "Notes on the Mṛcchakaṭika", Journal of the American Oriental Society, 27, American Oriental Society: 418–454, doi:10.2307/592869, ISSN 0003-0279, JSTOR 592869.
- Translations
Besides books, some were published in the University of California Chronicle.
- Śudraka; Arthur William Ryder (1905), The Little Clay Cart (Mrcchakatika): A Hindu Drama Attributed to King Shūdraka, Harvard Oriental Series, ISBN 9781465579935
- Ryder, A.W. (1908), "The Old Tiger and the Traveller", University of California Chronicle, vol. 10, pp. 450–453. A story translated from the Hitopadesha.
- Bhartṛhari; Arthur William Ryder (1910), Women's Eyes: Being verses translated from the Sanskrit, A.M. Robertson
- Arthur W. Ryder (1912), "More Verses From the Sanskrit", University of California Chronicle, vol. 14, pp. 296–314 Translations from Bilhaṇa's Chaura-panchashika, the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Raghuvamsha, etc.
- Kālidāsa; Arthur W. Ryder (1912), Kalidasa: Translations of Shakuntala, and Other Works, J. M. Dent & sons, ltd.
- Kālidāsa; Arthur William Ryder; Garnet Holme (1914), Shakuntala: an acting version in three acts
- Kālidāsa; Arthur W. Ryder (1915), "Malavika: A Five-act Comedy of Kalidasa", University of California Chronicle, vol. 17, pp. 123–167
- Bhartṛhari; Arthur William Ryder (1917) [1910], Women's Eyes: Being verses translated from the Sanskrit (third reprint ed.), A.M. Robertson
- Arthur W. Ryder (1917), "Fables from the Hitopadeça", University of California Chronicle, 19, vol. (Jan.), pp. 15–29
- Arthur W. Ryder (1917), "Lovers' Meeting", University of California Chronicle, 19, vol. (Oct.), pp. 364–76. Translated from Kathāsaritsāgara, Canto 104, which inspired the plot of Bhavabhuti's drama Mālati-mādhava.
- Arthur W. Ryder (1908–1917), Malavika: A Five-Act Comedy and Stories from the Hitopadeça and Kathasaritsagara, Berkeley: University of California Press
- Arthur W. Ryder (1917), Twenty-two Goblins: With 20 Illustrations, J.M. Dent
- Arthur William Ryder (1919), Relatives: Being Further Verses Translated from the Sanskrit, A.M. Robertson
- Arthur W. Ryder (1925), The Panchatantra, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 81-7224-080-5
- Arthur W. Ryder (1925), Gold's gloom: tales from the Panchatantra, University of Chicago Press
- Daṇḍin; Arthur William Ryder (1927), Dandin's Dasha-kumara-charita: The ten princes, University of Chicago Press
- Arthur William Ryder (1929), The Bhagavad-gita, The University of Chicago Press
- Arthur William Ryder; George Rapall Noyes (1939), Original poems: together with translations from the Sanskrit, University of California Press
- Original poems
- Arthur W. Ryder (1912), "Tolstoi—A Critical Symposium", University of California Chronicle, vol. 14, pp. 430–436
- Arthur William Ryder; George Rapall Noyes (1939), Original poems: together with translations from the Sanskrit, University of California Press
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d University of California: In Memoriam 1938
- ^ a b c d George Rapall Noyes (1939), "Arthur William Ryder", Original Poems, together with translations from the Sanskrit (PDF), University of California Press, archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-07, retrieved 2010-05-25
- ^ "From Gazette Files: Twenty Years Ago Today", Berkeley Daily Gazette, p. 4, Jan 7, 1926,
Through the efforts of President Benjamin Ide Wheeler the department of linguistics at the University of California is to be enriched by the acquisition of Professor Arthur W. Ryder of Harvard University, one of the greatest authorities in the world on Sanskrit language and literature.
- ^ a b c d e Joseph Fontenrose (January 1, 1982), Classics at Berkeley: The First Century 1869–1970, Department of Classics, UCB
- ^ "Religious Courses Taught on Campus", Berkeley Daily Gazette, p. 8, April 27, 1920
- ^ John W. Leonard; Albert Nelson Marquis (1913), Who's who in America, Marquis Who's Who, p. 1816
- ^ "Phi Beta Kappa to Hold Reunion", Berkeley Daily Gazette, p. 2, May 6, 1912
- ^ "College President to Deliver Oration and Professor Ryder to Read Poem", San Francisco Call, vol. 111, no. 155, p. 9, 3 May 1912
- ^ Arthur W. Ryder (1912), "Tolstoi—A Critical Symposium", University of California Chronicle, vol. 14, pp. 430–436
- ^ Scott Alan Burgess, ed. (1993), Adventures of a freelancer: the literary exploits and autobiography of Stanton A. Coblentz, Wildside Press LLC, pp. 37–38, ISBN 978-0-89370-438-4,
"The publication of my poems brought me new contacts. Above all, I think of Arthur W. Ryder. My first meeting with this professor of Sanskrit and notable writer on Hindu lore occurred before the days of my Examiner appearance, and at the cost of a brief diversion I will tell of it. One evening the members of the university chess team played a team from the faculty. As a sharer of the not highly esteemed, not greatly contested honor of belonging to the student team, I was one of the warriors who was to charge with knights and rooks against a member of the teaching staff. I arrived at the hall of combat aglow with hope— the pride of recent victory over a member of the Stanford team (in a long-drawn game, a last-ditch affair won by a single pawn). Still, the narrowness of my conquest did not make me any the less confident. Now to bring one of the professors crashing into the dust! I found myself seated opposite a quiet-looking, middle-aged man with a clear-cut virile face, who seemed placidly unaware of his impending doom. But something, alas, went wrong at the game's very start. After a mere half-dozen moves, I was hopelessly ensnarled and, after another two or three moves, I was entirely stunned by that most disheartening word, "Checkmate!" How had it happened? In my humiliation, I could not explain. But the flush on my cheeks was somewhat relieved when I learned that my opponent was ranked as one of the two best chess players on the Pacific Coast.
- ^ a b Charles Johnston (February 23, 1930), "A New Translation of The Bhagavad-Gita", The New York Times, p. 68
- ^ "The Wisdom of Kashmir", The New York Times, p. E4, October 18, 1925
- ^ "Old Sanskrit Legends Are Given in English", The Evening News, San Jose, California, p. 8, Oct 17, 1925
- ^ "New Sanskrit Tales in English Volumes", Lewiston Evening Journal, Chicago, p. 9, Oct 15, 1925
- ^ Charles Johnston (November 29, 1925), "In India Too There Lived An Uncle Remus: Ancient Tales of the Panchatantra Now Appear in English", The New York Times, p. BR2
- ^ "Swapping Heads Presents Queer Family 'Mix-Up'", The Evening News, San Jose, California, p. 5, Dec 24, 1917, OCLC 32749491
- ^ Lied and Art Song Texts Page[permanent dead link ]
- ^ "Singer and Cellist Will Give Concert", Berkeley Daily Gazette, p. 4, Oct 2, 1919,
The 'Arrows of Love Fly True,' in the third number, is a translation from the Sanskrit made by Professor Arthur W. Ryder of the university and set to music by H. B. Pasmore.
- ^ a b http://illuminations.berkeley.edu/archives/2005/history.php?volume=9 Archived 2012-02-16 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b "Famous Play to be Given in this City", Berkeley Daily Gazette, p. 3, June 5, 1914
- ^ "Hindu Drama on a California Mountain-Side". The Independent. Jul 20, 1914. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
- ^ Sudipto Chatterjee, South Asian American Theatre: (Un/Re-)Painting the Town Brown
- ^ a b "PROF. A. W. RYDER, OF SANSKRIT FAME", The New York Times, March 22, 1938
- ^ Lauren Hobbs Sexton, The Distance Traveled: Little Clay Cart in Athens, Georgia Archived 2010-07-02 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Milton Bracker (June 7, 1953), "Story of a Determined Lady", The New York Times, p. X3
- ^ Edwin Schallert (December 9, 1926), "'Clay-Cart' Hero Wins: 'Twas Ever Thus—Even in the Sanskrit", Los Angeles Times, p. A9, archived from the original on May 30, 2009
- ^ August Frugé (1993), "Chapter 15: The Poetry-Hating Director", A Skeptic Among Scholars: August Frugé on University Publishing, University of California Press, p. 217
- ^ a b Eda Lou Walton (November 19, 1939), "Translations from the Sanskrit epics", The New York Times, p. BR2
- ^ a b c Henry F. May (1993), Three Faces of Berkeley: Competing Ideologies in the Wheeler Era, 1899-1919, Center for Studies in Higher Education and Institute of Governmental Studies, University of California, Berkeley, ISBN 978-0-87772-342-4
- ^ a b Leonard Bacon (March 1939), "Teaching at Berkeley: Recollections of the University of California", Harper's Monthly Magazine, pp. 419–420, ProQuest 1301520414
- ^ a b "The Eternal Apprentice", Time, p. 75, November 8, 1948, archived from the original on December 20, 2009, retrieved March 21, 2009
- ^ "South/Southeast Asia Library | UC Berkeley Library".
- ^ Grierson, George Abraham (1906), Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, Cambridge University Press for the Royal Asiatic Society, p. 259
- ^ Harvey Clarke (February 3, 1926), "'The Panchatantra' is translated by Arthur W. Ryder", St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg, Florida
- ^ Murray, M. A. (June 1956), "Review: The Panchatantra", Folklore, 67 (2), Folklore Enterprises, Ltd.: 118–120, ISSN 0015-587X, JSTOR 1258527.
- ^ Kees W. Bolle (1979), The Bhagavadgītā: a new translation, University of California Press, p. 222, ISBN 978-0-520-03741-0
- ^ G. L. Anderson, 1959: "Arthur W. Ryder's translation of Kalidasa's work is the best in English, though Monier Williams' translation of 'Shakuntala' is satisfactory and Sir William Jones' (1789) is still worth reading." Cited in Cannon; Pandey (1976). "Sir William Jones Revisited: on His Translation of the Śakuntalā". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 96 (4): 528–535. doi:10.2307/600085. JSTOR 600085.
- ^ Gerald James Larson, The Song Celestial: Two Centuries of the "Bhagavad Gītā" in English
- ^ "The Anthony Boucher Chronicles".
- ^ Hijiya, James A. (June 2000), "The Gita of Robert Oppenheimer" (PDF), Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 144 (2)