I've been grinding away at a new translation of Richard Wagner's Oper und Drama for many years. Because the whole affair is a long and complicated story, I won't go into the details in this short progress report. But if you want to know the reasons for the long delay in my finishing this project, then you should go to my academic autobiography.
It's been a painfully slow slog, but there is good news to report to you today. I'm getting close to completing a first draft of the translated text of Wagner's book!
Right now I'm working on section 5 of part III. I should be able to begin section 6 in early 2026. After that, only section 7 (the final section of the book as a whole) will remain to be translated. I hope to complete the first draft of this section by mid- to late-2026.
Once I have a complete first draft of Wagner's entire book, there will still be a great deal to be done. But the first draft of a translation is always, by far, the hardest portion of the overall project. After the first draft comes a period of extensive revision followed by the writing of the necessary editorial and explanatory apparatus.
At this stage of the work, I can't say when I'll finish the entire manuscript. But, fortunately, at least I can now envision actually completing it and then submitting it to the publisher.
So, sooner than later, maybe in three years, I hope to bring this translation project to a close. What I'll do as a scholar after that, well, I can't say right now. We'll see how I'm feeling about scholarship at that point in my life. I'll be in my mid-60s by then.