Claude Napier
Claude Gerald Napier-Clavering (3 February 1869–29 May 1938) was a British jeweller, politician and English translator of the Scandinavian languages. He was the father of actor Alan Napier.
Claude Napier was the son of Reverend John Warren Napier-Clavering. After having emigrated to Canada but returned home sick, Napier decided to become a student at the Birmingham School of Art, and joined the Birmingham Guild of Handicraft around 1894 as a metalworker specialized in silver jewellery. In 1897 he married Millicent Mary Kenrick and by 1898 his father-in-law, William Kenrick, had become chairman of the board of directors of the guild.[1] This led to Napier finding himself by 1899 being the first paid managing director of the Birmingham Guild of Handicraft. With the competition of machine-made jewellery which undercut prices of the Guild’s handmade jewellery by fifty percent Napier needed to find a new market to save the business. He went to New York in 1911 to find new customers but soon returned home and sold his share of the guild.
As a politician Napier served several years as a member of the Birmingham City Council.[2]
In the 1920s Napier started translating Scandinavian literature, often in collaboration with his daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Sprigge, who had married his son Mark in 1921 and lived in Sweden for a few years.
In 1937 Napier translated Hjalmar Bergman's novel Grandma and our Lord under the English title Thy Rod and Thy Staff.[3][4][5] [6][7] [8][9][10][11][12][13][14] [15][16] After receiving permission[17] from Stina Bergman, the author’s widow, Napier in collaboration with his son Alan Napier dramatized and adapted the novel into a theatre play. Bergman decided to buy the performing rights in Scandinavia and Germany for the play and translate it back to Swedish, herself. The play written by father and son Napier received its world premiere at the Burgtheater in Vienna in 1940[18][19][20] and has been performed in Sweden many times since then.
Other translations into English by Claude Napier include Sigurd Hoels Sinners in Summertime, Kristmann Gudmundsson's Morning of Life,[21] Nis Petersen's Spilt Milk (with Elizabeth Sprigge), August Strindberg's The Bond,[22] and Sven Hedins Riddles of the Gobi Desert.
Translations[edit]
- Kings, Churchills and statemen : a foreigner's view, by Knut Hagberg; translated by Elizabeth Sprigge; Claude Napier. London : John Lane ; New York : Dodd, Mead and Co. [1929][23][24][25][26][27]
- An eyewitness in Germany, by Fredrik Böök, translated from the Swedish by Elizabeth Sprigge and Claude Napier, London, L. Dickson, Limited [1933]
- The Street of the Sandalmakers, by Nis Petersen, translated by Elizabeth Sprigge & Claude Napier. Lovat Dickson: London. [1933]
- Tents in Mongolia (Yabonah): Adventures and Experiences Among the Nomads of Central Asia, by Henning Haslund-Christensen; translated by Elizabeth Sprigge; Claude Napier. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co. [1934] (later also reprinted under the title In Secret Mongolia)[28]
- Men and Gods in Mongolia (Zayagan), by Henning Haslund-Christensen; translated by Elizabeth Sprigge; Claude Napier. New York: E.P. Dutton & co. [1935]
- The Head of the Firm, by Hjalmar Bergman. Translated from the Swedish by Elizabeth Sprigge and Claude Napier. Anglo-Swedish Literary Foundation. London: George Allen & Unwin. 294 pp., [1936][29][30][31]
- Zest for life, by Johan Wøller, translated by Claude Napier. New York: A.A. Knopf, [1937][32]
References[edit]
- ↑ By Hammer and Hand: The Arts and Crafts Movement in Birmingham, by Alan Crawford, Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, 1984
- ↑ Birmingham Daily Gazette, 30th March 1932, p. 9.
- ↑ The Birmingham Post, December 14th 1937
- ↑ The Daily Herald, December 2nd 1937
- ↑ The Dominion [Wellington], February 19th 1938
- ↑ The Evening Standard December 16th 1937
- ↑ Friend [Bloemfontein, South Africa], January 15th 1938
- ↑ John O'London's Weekly, December 3rd 1937
- ↑ H O H, The Montreal Daily Star, January 14th, 1939
- ↑ The Church Times, December 10th 1937
- ↑ The Irish Times, December 11th 1937
- ↑ The Manchester Guardian December 26th 1937
- ↑ Frank Swinnerton, The Observer December 5th 1937
- ↑ The Times, December 28th 1937
- ↑ The Times Literary Supplement December 18th 1937
- ↑ Victor Murray, The Yorkshire Post December 8th 1937
- ↑ Stina Bergman, ”Farmor och Vår Herre.” Röster i Radio, Iss. 1, 1956, p. 9.
- ↑ Mirko Jelusich, Neues Wiener Tagblatt, April 12th 1940
- ↑ Hans Rutz, Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, April 14th 1940
- ↑ Max von Millenkovich-Morold, Völkischer Beobachter [Munich ed.] April 17th 1940
- ↑ Grønland, Erling (1961). Norway in English: books on Norway and by Norwegians in English 1936-1959: a bibliography, including a survey of Norwegian literature in English translation from 1742 to 1959. Norwegian Universities Press. Search this book on
- ↑ Oversettelse til engelsk av nordisk skjønnlitteratur (in Norwegian). Nordic Council. 1954.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
- ↑ ”A Swede looks at Britain”, The Scotsman, Thursday 18 April 1929.
- ↑ ”Through Swedish eyes”, Northern Whig. Saturday 9 March 1929.
- ↑ Illustrated London News, Saturday 23 March 1929
- ↑ ”Reviews”, The Sphere, Saturday 13 April 1929
- ↑ ”As others see us”, Truth, Wednesday 13 March 1929.
- ↑ http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1086753116
- ↑ The Liverpool Post, June 9th 1936
- ↑ The Sydney Morning Herald, May 15th 1938
- ↑ The Times, February 29th 1936
- ↑ http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1837441
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