Paul Selver

(Percy) Paul Selver (22 March 1888 – 6 April 1970) was an English writer and translator. A prolific translator of Czech literature into English, he was best known as the translator of Karel Čapek.^[1]

Life

Paul Selver was born to a Jewish family, the son of Wolfe and Catherine (Minden) Selver. He gained a B.A. in English and German from the University of London.^[2] After serving in the army during World War I he became a translator, novelist, and contributor to Alfred Richard Orage's magazine The New Age.^[3]

Selver spoke and translated from several Germanic and Slavonic languages. In World War II he was a linguistic assistant to the exiled Czech government, but was dismissed when the Communists took over. In 1968 he was awarded a Civil List pension for his services to literature. He died 6 April 1970, his wife having died six months earlier.^[3]

Works

Translations

• (ed.) An anthology of modern Bohemian poetry. London: Henry J. Drane, 1912
• (ed. with intro.) Modern Russian poetry: texts and translations, London & New York: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, & co., 1917.
• 'The Woman' and 'The Invincible Ship' in People of the Universe: four Serbo-Croatian plays by Josip Kosor. London: Hendersons, 1917.
• (ed. with intro.) Anthology of modern Slavonic literature in prose and verse, London: Kegan Paul & Co., 1919.
• (ed. with intro.) Modern Czech poetry: selected texts with translations and an introduction. London & New York: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd., 1920.
• (with Jaroslav Císař and František Pokorný) The Czechoslovak Republic : its economical, industrial and cultural resources, Prague: L'effort de la Tchécoslovaquie, 1920.
• Poems by Sigbjørn Obstfelder. Translated from the Norwegian. Oxford, 1920. (Norwegian and English on facing pages.)
• Poems by Jens Peter Jacobsen. Oxford, 1920.
• The jail experiences in 1916 by Josef Svatopluk Machar. Oxford: B. Blackwell, 1921.
• And so ad infinitum (The life of the insects) : an entomological review, in three acts, a prologue and an epilogue by Karel Čapek and Josef Čapek. Freely adapted for the English stage by Nigel Playfair and Clifford Bax. London: Humphrey Milford, 1923.
• R.U.R. Rossum's Universal Robots: a play in three acts and an epilogue by Karel Čapek. Adapted for the London stage by Nigel Playfair. London: Oxford University Press, 1923.
• Letters from England by Karel Čapek. London: Geoffrey Bles, 1925.
• The land of many names: a play in three acts and a transformation by Josef Čapek. London: G. Allen & Unwin ltd., 1926.
• The Macropulos secret: a comedy by Karel Čapek
• My war memoirs by Edvard Beneš. London: Allen and Unwin, 1928.
• Music of the heart: selected poems by Emanuel Lešehrad. Prague: K. Zink, 1929.
• (ed.) An anthology of Czechoslovak literature, London, : K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & co., ltd., 1929.
• The good soldier Schweik by Jaroslav Hašek. London: Heinemann, 1930.
• Letters from Spain by Karel Čapek. London: Geoffrey Bles, 1931.
• Tales from two pockets by Karl Čapek. London: Faber & Faber ltd., 1932.
• Thirty Years in the Golden North by Jan Welzl. Edited by Edward Valenta and B. Golombek. London: G. Allen & Unwin, 1932.
• Letters from Holland by Karel Čapek. London : Faber and Faber, 1933.
• The wizard of Menlo by Edmund Konrad. London: K.S. Bhat, 1935.
• The wounded dragon by Francis de Croisset. London : Geoffrey Bles, 1937.
• (tr. with Ralph Neale) Power and glory: a drama in three acts by Karel Čapek. London : G. Allen & Unwin, ltd., 1938.
• Blackmail or war by Geneviève Tabouis. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1938.
• The mother: a play in three acts, London: Allen & Unwin, 1939.
• And this: our life by Jacqueline Vincent. Translated from the French L'enfant qui passe. London, 1939.
• Central stores by Vicki Baum. Translated from the German 'Der grosse ausverkauf. London: Bles, 1940.
• Hollar : a Czech émigré in England by Johannes Urzidil. London: The "Czechoslovak", 1942.
• "Panslavism" past and present by Vladimir Clementis. London : Czechoslovak Committee from Slav Reciprocity, 1943.
• A Complicated Affair; or, Alias Weiskopf by František Kubka. London : Ćechoslovák, 1944.
• Mademoiselle de Maupin by Théophile Gautier. Translated from the French. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1948.
• Gabrielle by Christine Brueckner. London: Robert Hale, 1956.
• Khrushchev of the Ukraine : a biography by Victor Alexandrov. London: Gollancz, 1957.
• The House of Crystal by Hans Kades. London: Angus & Robertson, 1957.
• The Pursuer by Günther Weisenborn. London: Heinemann, 1962.

Novels

• Schooling, London: Jarrolds, 1924.
• One, two, three, London : Jarrolds, 1926.
• Private life, London : Jarrolds Publishers Ltd, 1929.

Poetry

• Personalities, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1918
• A baker's dozen of tin trumpets, and two others of different metal, London, S. Nott, 1935.

Autobiography

• (as Mark Grossek) First movement. London, 1937.

Other

• (ed. with intro., notes and vocab.) The chameleon and four other tales by Anton Chekhov. London: Kegan Paul & Co., 1916.
• 'London mourning', Today, No. 30, Vol. 5 (August 1919)
• Otakar Březina : a study in Czech literature, Oxford : B. Blackwell, 1921.
• Czech self-taught by the natural method with phonetic pronunciation: Thimm's system. London: E. Marlborough & Co, ltd., 1927.
• Masaryk: a biography, London: M. Joseph, 1940
• Czechoslovak literature, an outline, London : G. Allen & Unwin, 1942
• Slovníček Anglického Slangu. Glossary of English slang with Czech equivalents. London: G. Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1942
• A century of Czech and Slovak poetry, London: New Europe Publishing Co.; Prague Press, 1946.
• English phraseology. A dictionary containing more than 5,000 idiomatic and colloquial words and expressions, London, 1957.
• Orage and the New Age circle: reminiscences and reflections, London: Allen & Unwin, 1959
• France under Napoleon III', London: James Brodie, 1961.
• 'Preface' to Song out of darkness: selected poems by Vera Rich. London : Mitre Press, 1961.
• More English phraseology : a supplementary volume to the popular 'English phraseology', Bath: James Brodie, 1965
• The Art of Translating Poetry, London: John Baker Publishers Ltd., 1966

References

1. Robert M. Philmus, 'Matters of Translation: Karel Capek and Paul Selver, Science Fiction Studies, Volume 28, Part 1 (March 2001)
2. Clare D. Kinsman (1994). Contemporary authors, permanent series: a bio-bibliographical guide to current authors and their works. Gale Research Co. p. 468. ISBN 978-0-8103-0037-8. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
3. 'Mr Paul Selver: Translator and man of letters', The Times, 16 April 1970.

External links

• Works by or about Paul Selver at Internet Archive
• Works by Paul Selver at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)