O. J. Matthijs Jolles

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Otto Jolle Matthijs Jolles (1911–1968) performed a major service to

Czech, and Dutch. Military historian Jay Luvaas once quoted an unidentified Israeli professor as saying "whereas the first English translation was by an Englishman who did not know German, the 1943 American translation was by a Hungarian who did not know English." There is little in the Jolles translation to warrant such a comment. In the field of German literature, Jolles is quite well known, especially for his work on Friedrich Schiller
. Most of his published work, however, is in German.

Life

Born in

Cornell
.

University of Chicago

Even before the United States entered the war, the University of Chicago had begun casting about for ways to assist the war effort. These efforts grew out of both patriotism and self-interest: the university's leaders were concerned that unless they established Chicago as a center of military learning and research, the university's considerable assets (particularly in cartography and linguistics) might be hauled off in army trucks, "to be returned torn and soiled, if at all." (31) Courses in preinduction military training began as early as September 1940. A formal Institute of Military Studies was created in April 1941. Since Jolles taught military German and German military organization, and On War was considered to be a key to German military behavior, he seemed to be the natural man for the job even though he was not familiar with Clausewitz when he set out. His British father-in-law (a retired professor of classics) provided assistance with the English, although he too had little military background and was new to Clausewitz.

Translation

Jolles quickly developed a good appreciation of On War's significance. His purpose in translating it was to argue that what Clausewitz had to say was much more relevant to the Western Allies than to Germany, and that the Germans' one-sidedly offensive interpretation of On War would prove to be, for them, a fatal error. Jolles's short but penetrating introduction stressed Clausewitz's fundamentally conservative,

balance-of-power view of international affairs, finding its most important expression in Clausewitz's argument concerning the power of the defense: Clausewitz's aim was not merely to prove the strategic superiority of Napoleon
's lightning attacks as so many writers and strategists--British and American, unfortunately, as well as German--seem to believe. This is but one part of his theory and far from the most important one, for he goes on to show why Napoleon, greatest of all aggressors up to that time, was necessarily in the end completely defeated. More than one third of his work On War is devoted to Book VI, on "Defense."

Reception

Jolles's translation of Clausewitz is generally considered to convey more of Clausewitz's subtleties than the older Graham translation did and is certainly clearer on some points than the overrated Howard/Paret translation (1976/84). Oddly, Jolles's translation did not catch on, and the Graham translation continued to serve as the basis for most subsequent condensations. This development was most likely a result of financial considerations rather than of the qualities of the respective versions, since the Jolles translation remains under copyright (Random House) whereas the Graham copyright had lapsed.

References

  1. ^ On War, New York: Random House, 1943. O. J. Matthijs Jolles, translator.
  2. .