In Class Clarification Exercise (11/8/99)

(Paragraph from Preface of Beyond Good and Evil)

Aber nunmehr, wo er überwunden ist, wo Europa von diesem Alpdrucke aufathmet und zum Mindesten eines gesunderen - Schlafs geniessen darf, sind wir, deren Aufgabe das Wachsein selbst ist, die Erben von all der Kraft, welche der Kampf gegen diesen Irrthum grossgezüchtet hat.

My original translation:

But now, where it is overcome, where one may sleep in the asthmatic and muddy (but at least healthier) peaks of Europe, have we set ourselves the task of a vigil, to be the heirs of all the power, which the struggle against this error has largely bred.

Dissecting the sentence, first we find the core structural elements:

Aber nunmehr …sind wir …die Erben von all der Kraft…

But now …we are … the heirs of all the strength…

Some key words that I could not understand or find in the dictionary were Alpdrucke (nightmare), and aufathmet (to catch one's breath). Also, another subtle point is that "wo" can mean "when", which I did not know.

The sentence is quite convoluted, with several sidebars and self-referential chunks which connect in a complex way with each other and the previously mentioned concepts from the earlier portions of the preface (the "er" refers to the Error of Plato). But, after clarifying these essential points, I could gradually develop a better translation of some of the parts:

…wo Europa von diesem Alpdrucke aufathmet und zum Mindesten eines gesunderen - Schlafs geniessen darf,

…when Europe can catch its breath after this nightmare and at least may savor a healthy sleep,

…welche der Kampf gegen diesen Irrthum grossgezüchtet hat.

… which the struggle against this Error has fostered.

 

And finally, I can put it all together:

But now, when it is overcome, when Europe can catch its breath after this nightmare and at least may savor a healthy sleep, we, whose task is the vigil itself, are the heirs of all the strength which the struggle against this Error has fostered.

This exercise was enormously helpful to me, because it somehow seemed to make the really convoluted parts of Nietzsche comprehensible and logical. For me it was, in miniature, the synthesis of the entire semester in many ways.