GR translation: snarling inward toward that famous S-curve

[Charles Albert]

Seems to me that the missing/implied verb should be "are".....

love,
cfa

On Thu, Jul 11, 2013 at 11:15 AM, Bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> Snarling can also mean twisting or tangling - and not in a smooth manner.
>   Like snarled hair -  or it's often said that "the traffic is snarled at
> the LA intersection of Interstates 405 and 110."    and  so imo,  there
> could be a snarl of traffic in this case.   That said,  I don't necessarily
>  disagree with snarl as being the noise an engine makes -  I think it's
> really ambiguous in the original.
>
> Look at the opening of the sentence,     "Amateur Fritz von Opels all over
> the place here,"    what does that phrase mean exactly?  Where is the verb?
>  Is there a missing "is"?    " Amateur Fritz van Opels *is* all over the
> place here…"     Is the "is" understood rather than explicit?  Does it
> depend on what your definition of "is" is?  (sorry - had to do that).
> I've no objections to whichever you use - ,  I'm just curious.
>
>
> http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/Motorcycle-Crash-Snarls-Traffic-On-The-Interstate-215072601.html
>
> Becky
>
>
> On Jul 11, 2013, at 7:58 AM, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Well, if you have to know, it was totally butchered, of course, and not
> just in the sense that the style was completely lost, but also that they
> misunderstood several things in the sentence.  For example, the "snarling"
> and "shrieking" refer to the sound made by the engines and tires of the
> cars, respectively, and they got that wrong.  So they have more basic
> problems to worry about.
> >
> > On the other hand, I agree completely with what you said about the
> style, and I am learning to appreciate it more and more.  I also try to
> preserve it as much as possible, although often time it doesn't work too
> well in Chinese.  So I am most likely butchering it as well, but i hope it
> will be to a lesser degree.  Compromise is inevitable, but like I always
> say, all i can do is to try my best.
> >
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Jul 11, 2013 at 9:12 AM, alice wellintown <
> alicewellintown at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I'm curious. How does the other translator deal with this passage? It
> > is certainly difficult, though I wouldn't characterize the phrase
> > Monte has labeled "awkward" as awkward, but rather typical Pynchon,
> > Monte's suggestion works for me. That is, move the phrase between the
> > comma and the dash (",promising a lively sprint for Slothrop--"),
> > perhaps, to the beginning of the sentence, and we have almost the same
> > meaning.
> >
> > But the structure of the passage is so typical of Pynchon's style that
> > it seems to me that if one is going to characterize it, or even a part
> > of it, as "awkward" or as having an "awkwardly inserted"  phrase or
> > whatever, then one is going to have to fix or edit a materpiece,
> > re-arrange hundreds off such passages, thousands of sentences.
> > Moreover, P continues to write with these "awkwardly inserted"
> > phrases, so it seems that he, and his editors, don't think of them as
> > awkward or in need of revision.
> >
> > A minor quibble, sure. But, while I agree with Monte's reading of it,
> > and with his solution, for getting at the meaning, moving the phrase
> > also alters, ever so slightly, the meaning of the original. How slight
> > is the alteration?  Well, it's the kind of change that Wood, the
> > famous English critic, who would fix Pynchon's style by re-arranging
> > the use, Wood would say, abuse, of the free indirect. Here, of course,
> > we have the author's free indirect causing some confusion because
> > some, as MalignD has, will misread the passage because P has elected
> > to place the "snarling" cars as close to Slothrop, on the page, and in
> > the mind of the character, as possible. It works, brilliantly. The
> > author wants the reader to experience Slothrop's difficulty navigating
> > the dangerous crossing of the highway, wants the reader to experience
> > the paranoia in THEY and THEM, somehow controlling the system of cars,
> > and to experience the allusion to Opel and so forth, through
> > Slothrop's paranois point of view. Moving the "awkward" phrase may
> > clear up some ambiguity that, a closer reading resolves without
> > editing, but at a price.
> >
> > On 7/10/13, Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > OK.  The other translation is totally off then.  Thanks, Monte.
> > >
> > >
> > > On Wed, Jul 10, 2013 at 12:48 PM, Monte Davis
> > > <montedavis at verizon.net>wrote:
> > >
> > >> “Snarling” (like the later ”shrieking”) works for the noise of racing
> > >> automobile engines, and “inward” reinforces the idea from the sentence
> > >> before your quotation:****
> > >>
> > >> ** **
> > >>
> > >> “The drivers are out tonight because They need them where they are,
> > >> forming a deadly barrier.” ****
> > >>
> > >> ** **
> > >>
> > >> Something is drawing traffic in from all over Berlin.****
> > >>
> > >> ** **
> > >>
> > >> Maybe it’s the awkwardly inserted “promising a lively sprint for
> > >> Slothrop”
> > >> that causes trouble – read the passage without that, or move it
> > >> elsewhere,
> > >> and it’s clear enough.****
> > >>
> > >> ** **
> > >>
> > >> *From:* owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org]
> *On
> > >> Behalf Of *Mike Jing
> > >> *Sent:* Wednesday, July 10, 2013 8:33 AM
> > >> *To:* Pynchon Mailing List
> > >> *Subject:* GR translation: snarling inward toward that famous
> S-curve****
> > >>
> > >> ** **
> > >>
> > >> P386.9-16   Amateur Fritz von Opels all over the place here,
> promising a
> > >> lively sprint for Slothrop snarling inward toward that famous S-curve
> > >> where
> > >> maniacs in white helmets and dark goggles once witched their
> wind-faired
> > >> machinery around the banked brick in shrieking drifts (admiring eyes
> of
> > >> colonels in dress uniforms, colonels’ ladies in Garbo fedoras, all
> safe
> > >> up
> > >> in their white towers yet belonging to the day’s adventure, each
> waiting
> > >> for his own surfacing of the same mother-violence underneath . .
> .).****
> > >>
> > >> Who or what is doing the "snarling" here?****
> > >>
> > >
> >
>
>
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