GR translation: patches will flash up now and then

David Morris fqmorris at gmail.com
Sat Sep 5 21:24:43 CDT 2015


Yes. But the impossible is always the challenge.

On Saturday, September 5, 2015, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Quitters never win.
>
> On Sat, Sep 5, 2015 at 9:19 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com
> <javascript:;>> wrote:
> > Understanding anything is impossible.
> >
> >
> > On Saturday, September 5, 2015, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com
> <javascript:;>>
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> Des tours de Babel
> >>
> >> "What the multiplicity of idioms comes to limit is not only a 'true'
> >> translation, a transparent and adequate interexpression, it is also a
> >> structural order, a coherence of construct...."
> >>
> >>
> >>
> http://users.clas.ufl.edu/burt/deconstructionandnewmediatheory/destourdebabel.pdf
> >>
> >> On Sat, Sep 5, 2015 at 9:08 PM, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com
> <javascript:;>>
> >> wrote:
> >> > The Task of the Translator
> >> >
> >> > "... any translation that intends to perform a transmitting function
> >> > cannot transmit anything but communica- tion-hence, something
> >> > inessential. This is the hallmark of bad translations. But do we not
> >> > generally regard that which lies beyond communication in a literary
> >> > work-and even a poor translator will admit that this is its essential
> >> > substance-as the unfathomable, the mysterious, the 'poetic'? And is
> >> > this not something that a translator can reproduce only if he is
> >> > also--a poet? Such, actually, is the cause of another characteristic
> >> > of inferior translation, which consequently we may define as the
> >> > inaccurate transmission of an inessential content. Whenever a
> >> > translation undertakes to serve the reader, it demonstrates this.
> >> > However, if it were intended for the reader, the same would have to
> >> > apply to the original. If the original does not exist for the reader's
> >> > sake, how could the translation be understood on the basis of this
> >> > premise?
> >> >    "Translation is a form. To comprehend it as a form, one must go
> >> > back to the original, for the laws governing the translation lie
> >> > within the original, contained in the issue of its
> >> > translatability...."
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> http://users.clas.ufl.edu/burt/deconstructionandnewmediatheory/walterbenjamintasktranslator.pdf
> >> >
> >> > On Sat, Sep 5, 2015 at 9:01 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com
> <javascript:;>> wrote:
> >> >> Yes, but that threshold is too high for normal world translators.
> Real
> >> >> translation of poetry is impossible. The reader must become the
> learned
> >> >> translator, eventually.
> >> >>
> >> >> On Saturday, September 5, 2015, Dave Monroe
> >> >> <against.the.dave at gmail.com <javascript:;>>
> >> >> wrote:
> >> >>>
> >> >>> ... too many resonances to catch to translate "literally" (see,
> e.g.,
> >> >>> my earlier notes on hysteron proteron in GR).  You're not just
> >> >>> translating words, you're translating relationships ...
> >> >>>
> >> >>> On Sat, Sep 5, 2015 at 8:33 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com
> <javascript:;>>
> >> >>> wrote:
> >> >>> > I think Mike's translation challenge with Pynchon is in NOT
> >> >>> > interpreting
> >> >>> > the
> >> >>> > text. Be literal, because poetry should be translated prior to
> >> >>> > interpretation.
> >> >>> >
> >> >>> > David Morris
> >> >>> >
> >> >>> > On Saturday, September 5, 2015, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com
> <javascript:;>>
> >> >>> > wrote:
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >> Getting specific, patches flashing up on the visible
> mountainsides
> >> >>> >> resembles a divisional patch.  That association is the point. But
> >> >>> >> it
> >> >>> >> shouldn't be explicit in translation. Indeed it can't be
> >> >>> >> translated.
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >> David Morris
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >> On Saturday, September 5, 2015, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com
> <javascript:;>>
> >> >>> >> wrote:
> >> >>> >>>
> >> >>> >>> This passage is trying to relate a drug induced experience, and
> >> >>> >>> thus
> >> >>> >>> is
> >> >>> >>> impossible to translate into a normal experience, except by
> >> >>> >>> extreme
> >> >>> >>> analogies, which is what Pynchon so often does. So throw out
> >> >>> >>> normal
> >> >>> >>> analogies.
> >> >>> >>>
> >> >>> >>> In extreme drug-induced experience, "patches" of perception will
> >> >>> >>> flash
> >> >>> >>> brightly. Messages from the paranoid beyond, which might, or
> might
> >> >>> >>> not, be
> >> >>> >>> crucial to survival. And which you might forget having received
> in
> >> >>> >>> the
> >> >>> >>> next
> >> >>> >>> second.
> >> >>> >>>
> >> >>> >>> David Morris
> >> >>> >>>
> >> >>> >>> On Saturday, September 5, 2015, Mike Jing
> >> >>> >>> <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com <javascript:;>>
> >> >>> >>> wrote:
> >> >>> >>>>
> >> >>> >>>> V640.30-641.2   On the mountainsides, patches will flash up now
> >> >>> >>>> and
> >> >>> >>>> then, bright as dittany in July at the Zippo’s ceremonial
> touch.
> >> >>> >>>> Pfc.
> >> >>> >>>> Eddie
> >> >>> >>>> Pensiero, a replacement here in the 89th Division, also an
> >> >>> >>>> amphetamine
> >> >>> >>>> enthusiast, sits huddling nearly on top of the fire, shivering
> >> >>> >>>> and
> >> >>> >>>> watching
> >> >>> >>>> the divisional patch on his arm, which ordinarily resembles a
> >> >>> >>>> cluster
> >> >>> >>>> of
> >> >>> >>>> rocketnoses seen out of a dilating asshole, all in black and
> >> >>> >>>> olive-drab, but
> >> >>> >>>> which now looks like something even stranger than that, which
> >> >>> >>>> Eddie
> >> >>> >>>> will
> >> >>> >>>> think of in a minute.
> >> >>> >>>>
> >> >>> >>>> Are these patches of vegetation, or something else entirely?
>
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