Abstract
This paper refers to a translation theory of a German poet group called “George Kreis”. The “fidelity” principle of translation was dominant in Germany in the early 19th century; prominent poets and thinkers of the time, especially those who considered seriously the future of their language and culture, such as Goethe, Humboldt and Schleiermacher, all supported this principle, establishing a Germanic tradition of translation. After about 50 years of dominance, however, the principle of fidelity was denied by Wollamowitz-Moellendorff, the authority on classical philology. George-Kreis was a rival to Willamowitz in translation of the ancient Greek, and they revitalized the old traditional methodology. It is the purpose of this paper to consider the process and the motives of this revival.
