The Cádiz Association of Nativity-Scene Makers. They have a show on Onda Cádiz called Cribs.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Unionised
The Cádiz Association of Nativity-Scene Makers. They have a show on Onda Cádiz called Cribs.
Portrait of Some Other People in a Convex Mirror
The time of day or the density of the light
Adhering to the face keeps it
Lively and intact in a recurring wave
Of arrival. The soul establishes itself.
Well, if you say so.
Boids
We went out for a walk on Christmas Day. The above is what Cádiz looks like on Christmas Day. There were lots of extremely aggressive seagulls all congregating near the Hotel Playa Victoria. We think this is because someone had broken a bottle of whiskey on the beach. They certainly behaved drunk.
But there were also more reputable birds in the city.
Plaints
I have had a good Christmas in Spain. We ate a lot of ham. I took lots of photographs which have disappeared between the camera and the computer and are unrecoverable. So I am a little annoyed not to be able to gloat with photographic evidence. The picture I am saddest at losing was taken when the coast was battered with 90kph winds and all the seabirds came and were cold and miserable on the city walls. I got this close to a sad and bedraggled Correlimpos commún, and filmed it in all its shivering glory. But you won't get to see that. Sorry.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Another Theory
'Translation is a subject that everyone always makes exactly the same points about. You can't translate anything exactly. Approximate and inaccurate translations are often closer to the original than literal ones. There is an irreducible core of the original work. Yet translation has a vitality of its own.
And then they always, always, quote the absurd French translation of Finnegans Wake.'
Well, that's my doctorate judged, weighed, filleted and abandoned, then. I didn't even get to mention French translations of Joyce. The whole review I take these sentences from is here.
In other news:
'I was wildly in love with the Countess of ***; I was twenty years old and I was naive; she betrayed me; I lost my temper; she dropped me. I was naive, I missed her; I was twenty years old, she forgave me, and because I was twenty years old, because I was naive, still betrayed, but no longer dropped, I thought myself the most beloved of lovers, the happiest of men.'
Problems (a non-exhaustive list):
1. translating 'ingénu' as 'naive' is really swapping one French word for another different French word.
2. 'j'avais vingt ans' is OK the first time as 'I was twenty years old', but the more natural English is to say 'I was twenty' in subsequent repetitions. Which means they are no longer repetitions.
3. 'elle me quitta': more natural to say 'she left me'. But then, how do you deal with 'plus quitté' later on? 'No longer left' doesn't work.
4. I kept on wanting to use inappropriate idioms - she cheated on me, she dumped me. But I think this is just because they fit more easily in with the repetitions: she dumped me, no longer dumped.
Oh it's difficult. You can't translate anything exactly. Maybe an approximate and inaccurate translation would be closer to the original than a literal one. Of course, there is an irreducible core of the original work. Yet translation has a vitality of its own...
Toute choses sont dites déjà, mais comme personne n’écoute, il faut toujours recommencer. As André Gide said.
And then they always, always, quote the absurd French translation of Finnegans Wake.'
Well, that's my doctorate judged, weighed, filleted and abandoned, then. I didn't even get to mention French translations of Joyce. The whole review I take these sentences from is here.
In other news:
'I was wildly in love with the Countess of ***; I was twenty years old and I was naive; she betrayed me; I lost my temper; she dropped me. I was naive, I missed her; I was twenty years old, she forgave me, and because I was twenty years old, because I was naive, still betrayed, but no longer dropped, I thought myself the most beloved of lovers, the happiest of men.'
Problems (a non-exhaustive list):
1. translating 'ingénu' as 'naive' is really swapping one French word for another different French word.
2. 'j'avais vingt ans' is OK the first time as 'I was twenty years old', but the more natural English is to say 'I was twenty' in subsequent repetitions. Which means they are no longer repetitions.
3. 'elle me quitta': more natural to say 'she left me'. But then, how do you deal with 'plus quitté' later on? 'No longer left' doesn't work.
4. I kept on wanting to use inappropriate idioms - she cheated on me, she dumped me. But I think this is just because they fit more easily in with the repetitions: she dumped me, no longer dumped.
Oh it's difficult. You can't translate anything exactly. Maybe an approximate and inaccurate translation would be closer to the original than a literal one. Of course, there is an irreducible core of the original work. Yet translation has a vitality of its own...
Toute choses sont dites déjà, mais comme personne n’écoute, il faut toujours recommencer. As André Gide said.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Current Favourite Sentences
'J'aimais éperdument la comtesse de *** ; j'avais vingt ans, et j'étais ingénu ; elle me trompa ; je me fâchai ; elle me quitta. J'étais ingénu, je la regrettai ; j'avais vingt ans, elle me pardonna ; et comme j'avais vingt ans, que j'étais ingénu, toujours trompé, mais plus quitté, je me croyais l'amant le mieux aimé, partant le plus heureux des hommes.'
It's also one of Milan Kundera's favourite sentences, but that shouldn't put you off. The whole conte it kicks off, Dominique Vivant Denon's Point de Lendemain (1777) is pretty good too. What with yesterday's post from Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1782), I seem to be starting 2008 stuck in an earlier Age of Scandal.
It's also one of Milan Kundera's favourite sentences, but that shouldn't put you off. The whole conte it kicks off, Dominique Vivant Denon's Point de Lendemain (1777) is pretty good too. What with yesterday's post from Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1782), I seem to be starting 2008 stuck in an earlier Age of Scandal.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Current Favourite Sentences
'Monsieur sait sûrement mieux que moi, me dit-il, que coucher avec une fille, ce n’est que lui faire faire ce qui lui plaît : de là à lui faire faire ce que nous voulons, il y a souvent bien loin.'
'Mais moi, qu'ai-je de commun avec ces femmes inconsidérées? Quand m'avez-vous vue m'écarter des règles que je me suis prescrites et manquer à mes principes? je dis mes principes, et je le dis à dessein: car ils ne sont pas, comme ceux des autres femmes, donnés au hasard, reçus sans examen et suivis par habitude; ils sont le fruit de mes profondes réflexions; je les ai créés, et je puis dire que je suis mon ouvrage.'
'Mais moi, qu'ai-je de commun avec ces femmes inconsidérées? Quand m'avez-vous vue m'écarter des règles que je me suis prescrites et manquer à mes principes? je dis mes principes, et je le dis à dessein: car ils ne sont pas, comme ceux des autres femmes, donnés au hasard, reçus sans examen et suivis par habitude; ils sont le fruit de mes profondes réflexions; je les ai créés, et je puis dire que je suis mon ouvrage.'
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