GR translation: Far from rag, snow, lacerated streets

[Mike Jing]

"Noise" probably came from this:

rag, n.4

Chiefly University slang.

  Originally: an act of ragging (see rag v.3); spec. a noisy debate or
rowdy celebration, esp. as carried on in defiance of authority or
discipline; (also) a boisterous prank or practical joke. Now usually:
a programme of satirical revues, frivolous stunts, parades, etc.,
organized by students to raise money for charity. Now chiefly in
compounds.

1825   J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl.   Rag,..2) a debate
or contention.
1864   H. Sidgwick Let. July in A. Sidgwick & E. M. Sidgwick H.
Sidgwick (1906) ii. 111   They enjoy beer, tobacco and students'
‘rags’.
1892   Isis No. 13. 88/2   The College is preparing for a good old rag to-night.
1894   W. H. Wilkins & H. Vivian Green Bay Tree I. 275   It was the
usual senseless ‘rag’ in which Pimlico and his friends were wont to
indulge at their convivial gatherings.
1930   J. Buchan Castle Gay iv. 60,   I do not wish to have my name
associated with an undergraduate—‘rag’, I think is the word.
1975   Times 23 May 14/5   Students at the University of East Anglia
have admitted their guilt, in the cause of a forthcoming student rag.
1990   N. Annan Our Age vi. 90   The philistine members of Our Age
wanted to regard life as a rag in order to forget the Great War.

Maybe the celebration after the revolution? Seems a bit far-fetched,
but that's just me.

Compare this with:

rag, n.1

 2. Any hard, coarse sedimentary rock that can be readily broken into
thick slabs for use as paving, whetstones, etc.; = ragstone n. 1.
Formerly also †in pl. with sing. concord.

1847   Tennyson Princess iii. 64   Hornblende, rag and trap and tuff.
1879   F. Rutley Study of Rocks iii. 20   Some..as the Kentish rag,
afford good building stones.
1908   Geogr. Jrnl. 32 277   The Hythe Beds, an important
water-bearing bed, consist of alternate layers of hard limestone and
chert termed rag.
1942   Mariner's Mirror 28 21   The transport of coral rag and firewood.
2005   Western Morning News (Plymouth) (Nexis) 15 June 7   The
farmhouse is an attractive south-facing property traditionally
constructed with stone and part cob elevations under a rag slate roof.

Not quite obvious either, but it's indeed singular and without
article. I was just thinking of the paving stones on those "lacerated
streets".


On Sat, Jun 10, 2017 at 1:36 AM, Jochen Stremmel <jstremmel at gmail.com> wrote:
> David has something there but in the case of "rag" his advice is hard to
> follow: Mike has to decide which of the different "rags" P had in mind here.
>
> The German translation has "Lärm" [Laerm] (noise) and although the
> translator is one of the very best (and the word does make sense in the
> context) I cannot see where he did get it from.
>
> 2017-06-10 4:00 GMT+02:00 David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>:
>>
>> Often, though we all love to interpret, I think in instances like this,
>> Mike should go more with literal translation, word for word as bast he can.
>> Let others interpret.
>>
>> This advice is 180 degrees opposite from my previous advice on poetry
>> translation.  There the text was layered, overlapping with rich close by
>> allusions.  Here any allusions are opaque.  Just go literal.
>>
>> David Morris
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 9, 2017 at 11:09 AM Monte Davis <montedavis49 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> It may refer back to "The winds, the city snows and heat waves of
>>> Galina's childhood were never so pitiless" (341), but we don't get more of
>>> her back story than that, although the equestrian statue says it was in St.
>>> Petersburg. I can imagine metaphorically "lacerated" streets there during a
>>> 1914-1921 (WWI - Revolution - Civil War) childhood, but don't have anything
>>> for "rag" beyond a weak association with the little match girl or other waif
>>> in rags...
>>>
>>>
>>> https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/The_Little_Match_Girl_-_Bayes_1889.jpg
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Jun 9, 2017 at 9:13 AM, Jochen Stremmel <jstremmel at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> no, most definitely not.
>>>>
>>>> 2017-06-09 14:58 GMT+02:00 Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>:
>>>>>
>>>>> V343.15-21, P348.17-23   . . . even now in her grownup dreams, to
>>>>> anxious Galina comes the winged rider, red Sagittarius off the
>>>>> childhood placards of the Revolution. Far from rag, snow, lacerated
>>>>> streets she huddles here in the Asian dust with her buttocks arched
>>>>> skyward, awaiting the first touch of him—of it. . . . Steel hooves,
>>>>> teeth, some whistling sweep of quills across her spine . . . the
>>>>> ringing bronze of an equestrian statue in a square, and her face,
>>>>> pressed into the seismic earth. . . .
>>>>>
>>>>> The word "rag" here means "ragstone", is that correct?
>>>>> -
>>>>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l