grgr (29): pain city

[Lorentzen / Nicklaus]

 "and we go to happyville, instead of to pain city. or 'der leid-stadt', that's 
 what the germans call it. there is a mean poem about the leid-stadt, by a 
 german man named mr. rilke. but we will not read it, because  w e  are going to 
 happyville." (644)

 the poem here is the zehnte duineser elegie. (- and, btw, the genitive form 
 there probably mislead trp concerning the grammar sex: in german "stadt" is 
 female, which is, unlike in the case of "sonne" (sun), quite fitting. so us  
 germans call it "die leid-stadt"). the lyrics go:

 "freilich, wehe, wie fremd sind die gassen der leid-stadt,
  wo in der falschen, aus übertönung gemachten 
  stille, stark, aus der gussform des leeren der ausguss 
  prahlt: der vergoldete lärm, das platzende denkmal."

  well, this one really requires professional translation. maybe someone with a 
  translation (- terrance?) can offer the official english version. anyway, 
  better than that babel fish i'll probably be:

  "though, woe, how strange are the alleys of pain city,
   where in the wrong calm, made of oversounding, strongly 
   the sink boasts out of the mould of emptiness:
   the gilded noise, the bursting monument."   

  later in the poem, we hear about "die sterne des leidlands" which can be put 
  into "the stars of pain country". 


o, wie spurlos zerträte ein engel ihnen den trostmarkt ...    kfl