Talk:Peter Wessel Zapffe

Zapffe
Great author. If you're norwegian, read Måke-egg By the way, there's alot more coming on this one, as I'm presently writing a major task on P.W Zapffe and his life as an author and philosopher. I have a question, though, can we go public with bibliographies written by other people?
 * Added an extended introduction to Zapffes philosophy. Alot more coming..Sigg3.net


 * A question to all Norwegian users: kan 'Om det tragiske' med rette oversettes til 'About the Tragedy' eller er 'About the tragical' o.l en bedre oversettelse? Jeg skal se om jeg kan finne noe i Zapffes egen "oversettelse" av innholdet i verket. Tips mottas med takk! -- Sigg3.net


 * I would follow literary tradition and translate it to "On Tragedy" or perhaps more precisely "On the tragical". Actually, perhaps "On what is tragic" would be more in keeping with the content  Espen


 * No, no and yes. "On what is tragic" is probably the best translation, yet this is really beating about the bush. What we need here is a greater general outline of what the treatise advocates, more on Zapffes environmentalism (which I've seen someone added, to which I don't fully agree, but well,) and maybe some more biographic stuff. Added a couple of external links. - Sigg3.net 15:51, 20 May 2004 (UTC)


 * This page by Gisle Tangenes uses On the Tragic. Don't know what's up with that capital T, though. - Sigg3.net 15:55, 20 May 2004 (UTC)


 * In English you use capital letters in the beginning of important words when in the title of a work. Short prepositions (such as 'to', 'for' 'by' but not 'between', 'towards', 'during') and articles are not capitalized in the title. So "On the Tragic" is suppose to have a capital T as Tragic is deemed an important word. --User:Sentius


 * In addition NORLA's webpage on selected titles in Norwegian Non-fiction (Philosophy, religion, ethics): ON THE TRAGIC from 1941 is Zapffe's PhD dissertation in philosophy. It is among the very rare masterpieces that possess both philosophical and literary qualities beyond what is considered the standard academic norm. In ON THE TRAGIC Zapffe elucidates the foundation for his particular philosophy which is..
 * Read the whole thing here. I think we should stay with On the tragic. - Sigg3.net 11:40, 21 May 2004 (UTC)

How about changing 'the fixing mechanism' to 'Anchoring' as I have seen it referred to elsewhere? Zukix
 * It's done. - Sigg3.net 10:40, 18 May 2004 (UTC)

I've got the English summary of On the Tragic on my homepage, but I don't know about copyrights and stuff, so I'm a bit uncertain as to add it to the links on this page. Anyone? - Sigg3.net 10:15, 25 May 2005 (UTC)

Are there any of his works available in English translation? --JBellis 21:59, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

Not except from the Summary noted above, as far as I know. You could find essays, if you search hard and ask people. Translating Zapffe is very difficult, as he writes in Norwegian anno 1907, and writes very lyrically too. I've tried. But look out for a translation of The Last Messiah, which can be considered a compact version of the key to Zapffe's philosophy. - Sigg3.net 11:32, 16 February 2006

Some Quotes
This is Mr.P. I've added a couple of quotes from the documentary that was made about Zapffe in 1990. I hope no one minds.

It's Mr.P again. I've put up the English translations for the titles of Zapffe's major works that previously had no translation. I don't speak Norwegain, but these are the translations that I found in a few Arne Naess works.

Mr.P again. I separated the list of Zapffe's works into 'greater works' and 'collections of shorter writings' to make things clearer. Having them all together makes him seem more prolific than he actually was. Mr.P (the Zapffe enthusiast) 06:35, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

Some more changes
Mr.P again. Apart from a couple of translation 'attempts' that I have put up over the last few months, I have also changed 'Wits and witless' to Wit and whimsy.

The word, 'wits', is almost always understood as someone's senses or alertness (to have your wits about you, as they say). 'Vett' probably means wit, as in clever humour.

Also, the word, 'witless', has a connotation of someone or something being stupid or dumb, rather than unwitty or silly. There probably isn't a correspinding word in English for 'uvett', which literally translates to 'un-wit' or 'non-wit' (but you couldn't use either of these as a translation). I have used the word 'whimsy' (meaning odd or silly humour) instead. Apart from it probably being closer to the meaning of 'uvett', it also has an antiquated feel to it, which fits the style of writing that Zapffe reputedly wrote in. What do you think? Mr.P (the Zapffe enthusiast) 00:55, 27 July 2007 (UTC)


 * I would translate 'vett' to 'sense', because someone who doesn't have 'vett' is senseless, in terms of common sense v. sense of perceiving. Common sense can also be translated to 'folkevett' or 'sense of the people'. The term 'vett' has a prominent place in North-Norwegian sayings and obscenities. But I think it's more important to make the title sound as sharp and witty as possible, which was arguably Zappfe's intention. - Sigg3.net (talk) 11:47, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

I have changed 'Vett og Uvett' translation too 'Sense and Silly', using your suggested translation of 'vett', Sigg3. Mr.P (the Zapffe enthusiast) (talk) 08:22, 1 August 2010 (UTC)

More changes
I have put up two more quotes from the Zapffe documentary made in 1990. Also, I have re-translated a word of two in the quotes (from the English subtitles in the documentary), which seemed confusing or out of place. Mr.P (the Zapffe enthusiast) 03:57, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

Pronunciation
The lead needs to indicate how to pronounce his name. ~ Alcmaeonid (talk) 14:58, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

There you go Alcaeonid. I've put up the correct pronunciation, which I got from the documentary made about Zapffe that I have on DVD (cited in the article). His full name, by the way, is literally pronounced PET-er Vessel ZAP-fe. Yep, that's how Norwegians say Peter, no joke... --Mr.P (the Zapffe enthusiast) (talk) 00:17, 17 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Zapffe is derived from the Dutch weinzappfer (not sure about spelling) meaning wine bottler, tapster. I wrote a school paper on Zapffe and r$ead his philosophy when I was a teenager. I have a telephone interview that I conducted with his second wife, and friend & philosopher Sigmund Kvaløy Setreng, for exactly this purpose. Maybe I could put it on my homepage and we could reference to it as a primary source? I also have his collected works if needed. - Sigg3.net (talk) 11:52, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Zapffe comes from the German word Zapf, meaning a faucet on a keg. It is similar to the English "tap."Lestrade (talk) 15:41, 30 March 2009 (UTC)Lestrade

An 'On the Tragic' section...
I found a great summary of 'On the Tragic' from a book, and have added it to the page as an excerpt. Mr.P (the Zapffe enthusiast) (talk) 21:45, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

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