Marx-Engels Correspondence 1873

Engels to Friedrich Sorge

Abstract

Source: Marx Engels On Art and Literature, Progress Publishers, 1976;
Transcribed: by Andy Blunden.

June 29, 1883

The critique of H. George, which Marx sent you, is so clearly a masterpiece in content, so stylistically monolithic, that it would be a shame to weaken it by adding the desultory English notes written in the margin of Marx’s copy. These can always be used later. This letter to you is written, as was Marx’s custom, with an eye to future publication in toto. You would therefore commit no indiscretion of you let it be printed. If it is to be published in English, I’ll do the translation for you since, as the translation of the Manifesto has shown once again, there seems to be no one over there who can convey our German into literary, grammatical English. For that one must have literary experience in both languages, and not only the experience of writing for the daily papers.

To translate the Manifesto is fearfully hard. The Russian translations are by far the best I’ve seen.