Subject
Re: ENC: [NABOKV-L] A problem in a translation: "Crack of light"
- "short circuit of light"
- "short circuit of light"
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I had the privilige of translating Speak, Memory into Turkish in 2011.
My translation for "a brief crack of light" was "kısa bir ışık çakması".
"Çakma" or "çakış" have several meanings in our language. For example,
we say "çivi çakmak" which means "driving a nail". But when we say
"şimşek çaktı", it means there is a lightning bolt in the air!
2014-07-12 19:27 GMT+03:00 Jansy Mello <jansy.mello@outlook.com>:
> quinta-feira, 10 de julho de 2014 14:30 – Sending again old posting...
>
> *JM: Today I came across a most curious translation of a line from S,M: “…* *our
> existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.*
> *”/* *“Nossa existência não é mais que um curto circuito de luz entre
> duas eternidades de escuridão.” **Literally: “our existence in nothing
> more* *than a short circuit of light** between two eternities of
> darkness.” *
>
> *Mary H. Efremov * *"crack of dawn, crack of light suggests an onset, a
> beginning"*
>
> *JM:* One of the meanings of “crack” seems to be an ancient onomatopoeic
> choice for “sharp noise”* and, when the sentence is by Nabokov, I always consider
> sound together with image, meaning and other stuff. About the latter,
> although the comforting crack of light in “S,M” (“Mademoiselle”) isn’t
> horizontal like the horizon, I always associate VN’s famous opening
> sentence to this other one: “ I had nothing - save a door left slightly
> ajar into Mademoiselle's room. Its vertical line of meek light was
> something I could cling to, since in absolute darkness my head would swim,
> just as the soul dissolves in the blackness of sleep.”
>
> Thanks, Mary. It’s always fascinating to find how many different
> interpretations and readings we get for a simple VN sentence - and most
> of them remain as possibilities, we cannot ever be certain that we reached
> the definite own.
>
> The “short circuit” option led me to imagine split darkness engendering
> light and existence.**
>
> ………………………………………………………………………………….
>
> *- crack (v.) Old English cracian "make a sharp noise," from
> Proto-Germanic *krakojan (cognates: Middle Dutch craken, Dutch kraken,
> German krachen), probably imitative. Related: Cracked; cracking. From early
> 14c. as "to utter, say, speak, talk," especially "speak loudly or
> boastingly" (late 14c.). To crack a smile is from 1835, American English;
> to crack the whip in the figurative sense is from 1886.
>
> crack (n.) "a split, an opening," mid-15c., earlier "a splitting sound; a
> fart; the sound of a trumpet" (late 14c.), probably from crack (v.).
> Meaning "rock cocaine" is first attested 1985. The superstition that it is
> bad luck to step on sidewalk cracks has been traced to c.1890. Meaning
> "try, attempt" first attested 1830, nautical, probably a hunting metaphor,
> from slang sense of "fire a gun."(etc) Etymology Online Dictionary
>
>
>
> ** - After the List was re-established I read *Barrie Akin’s* message: *My
> guess is simply that the translator must have had in mind the intensity of
> the flash (and the noise) that you often get from a short circuit. If the
> translator thought that VN's "crack" was intended to convey the idea both
> of light and of sound, the use of "short circuit" would perhaps convey both
> meanings.*
>
> *Jansy Mello*: We seem to agree in relation to the flash and noise from a
> short circuit. The original sentence acquired a new possible meaning,
> though.
>
>
>
> Google Search
> <http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&hl=en%0A>
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>
--
*Yiğit Yavuz*
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My translation for "a brief crack of light" was "kısa bir ışık çakması".
"Çakma" or "çakış" have several meanings in our language. For example,
we say "çivi çakmak" which means "driving a nail". But when we say
"şimşek çaktı", it means there is a lightning bolt in the air!
2014-07-12 19:27 GMT+03:00 Jansy Mello <jansy.mello@outlook.com>:
> quinta-feira, 10 de julho de 2014 14:30 – Sending again old posting...
>
> *JM: Today I came across a most curious translation of a line from S,M: “…* *our
> existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.*
> *”/* *“Nossa existência não é mais que um curto circuito de luz entre
> duas eternidades de escuridão.” **Literally: “our existence in nothing
> more* *than a short circuit of light** between two eternities of
> darkness.” *
>
> *Mary H. Efremov * *"crack of dawn, crack of light suggests an onset, a
> beginning"*
>
> *JM:* One of the meanings of “crack” seems to be an ancient onomatopoeic
> choice for “sharp noise”* and, when the sentence is by Nabokov, I always consider
> sound together with image, meaning and other stuff. About the latter,
> although the comforting crack of light in “S,M” (“Mademoiselle”) isn’t
> horizontal like the horizon, I always associate VN’s famous opening
> sentence to this other one: “ I had nothing - save a door left slightly
> ajar into Mademoiselle's room. Its vertical line of meek light was
> something I could cling to, since in absolute darkness my head would swim,
> just as the soul dissolves in the blackness of sleep.”
>
> Thanks, Mary. It’s always fascinating to find how many different
> interpretations and readings we get for a simple VN sentence - and most
> of them remain as possibilities, we cannot ever be certain that we reached
> the definite own.
>
> The “short circuit” option led me to imagine split darkness engendering
> light and existence.**
>
> ………………………………………………………………………………….
>
> *- crack (v.) Old English cracian "make a sharp noise," from
> Proto-Germanic *krakojan (cognates: Middle Dutch craken, Dutch kraken,
> German krachen), probably imitative. Related: Cracked; cracking. From early
> 14c. as "to utter, say, speak, talk," especially "speak loudly or
> boastingly" (late 14c.). To crack a smile is from 1835, American English;
> to crack the whip in the figurative sense is from 1886.
>
> crack (n.) "a split, an opening," mid-15c., earlier "a splitting sound; a
> fart; the sound of a trumpet" (late 14c.), probably from crack (v.).
> Meaning "rock cocaine" is first attested 1985. The superstition that it is
> bad luck to step on sidewalk cracks has been traced to c.1890. Meaning
> "try, attempt" first attested 1830, nautical, probably a hunting metaphor,
> from slang sense of "fire a gun."(etc) Etymology Online Dictionary
>
>
>
> ** - After the List was re-established I read *Barrie Akin’s* message: *My
> guess is simply that the translator must have had in mind the intensity of
> the flash (and the noise) that you often get from a short circuit. If the
> translator thought that VN's "crack" was intended to convey the idea both
> of light and of sound, the use of "short circuit" would perhaps convey both
> meanings.*
>
> *Jansy Mello*: We seem to agree in relation to the flash and noise from a
> short circuit. The original sentence acquired a new possible meaning,
> though.
>
>
>
> Google Search
> <http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&hl=en%0A>
> the archive
> <http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&hl=en%0A>
> Contact <nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu>
> the Editors <nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu> NOJ
> <http://www.nabokovonline.com> Zembla
> <http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm> Nabokv-L
> <http://web.utk.edu/%7Esblackwe/EDNote.htm>
> Policies <http://web.utk.edu/%7Esblackwe/EDNote.htm> Subscription options
> <http://listserv.ucsb.edu/> AdaOnline <http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/> NSJ
> Ada Annotations <http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html> L-Soft Search
> the archive <https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L> VN
> Bibliography Blog <http://vnbiblio.com/>
>
> All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.
>
--
*Yiğit Yavuz*
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/