#themanwithoutqualities β Public Fediverse posts
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Happy birthday, Robert Musil! π π π π βοΈ π₯
β€οΈ "The Man Without Qualities"
> "Clarisse, however, rubbed her nose very vigorously. βBut I think it's very important,β she said, βthat there's something impossible in all of us. It explains so much. While I was listening I got this feeling: if someone could cut us open, our whole life might look like a ring, just something round about something.β She had already a moment earlier pulled off her wedding-ring and now peeped through it at the lamp-lit wall. βI mean, after all there's nothing in the middle of it, and yet it looks as if that were the very thing that was important to it.β"
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Of course, in the end it's a subjective choice. My preference for the old is because of examples like the following, from the very first chapter:
> They obviously belonged to a privileged section of society, their good breeding being apparent in their clothes, their bearing and their manner of conversing. They had their initials significantly embroidered on their underclothing. And likewise β that is to say, not outwardly displayed, but, as it were, in the exquisite underlinen of their minds β they knew who they were and that they were in their proper place in a capital city that was also an imperial residence.
The first time I read this, the adverb "significantly" in "significantly embroidered" really hit me. Not only it somehow shows the perspective of these two people, but has also a sarcastic undertone. Without this adverb, which is in the original German ("bedeutsam"), that sentence loses much of its wit.
That was the older, E. Wilkins & E. Kaiser's translation. The new one by S. Wilkins & B. Pike runs as follows:
> They clearly belonged to a privileged social class, with their distinguished bearing, style of dress, and conversation, the initials of their names embroidered on their underwear, and just as discreetly, which is to say not for outward show but in the fine underwear of their minds, they knew who they were and that they belonged in a European capital city and imperial residence.
That significant "significantly" is gone in this translation, despite being in the original German. No idea why Wilkins & Pike omitted it.
There are also other subtle differences. For instance the German openly says "In the manner in which they were conversing" ("der Art, wie sie miteinander sprachen"), rather than just "conversation". The latter is less precise and might be instead be taken to refer, say, to the *topic* of conversation rather than its manner. Other example: the "European" appearing in the newer translation is *not* in the original.
Anyway, this is just a typical example of why I prefer the older translation.
Enjoy this outstanding novel!
#robertmusil #themanwithoutqualities #dermannohneeigenschaften
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Happy birthday, Robert Musil! π π π π βοΈ π₯
β€οΈ "The Man Without Qualities"
> "Clarisse, however, rubbed her nose very vigorously. βBut I think it's very important,β she said, βthat there's something impossible in all of us. It explains so much. While I was listening I got this feeling: if someone could cut us open, our whole life might look like a ring, just something round about something.β She had already a moment earlier pulled off her wedding-ring and now peeped through it at the lamp-lit wall. βI mean, after all there's nothing in the middle of it, and yet it looks as if that were the very thing that was important to it.β"
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Transformations of Discourse β’ 3
β’ https://oeis.org/wiki/Differential_Logic_and_Dynamic_Systems_%E2%80%A2_Part_3#Transformations_of_DiscourseβThe same thing cannot, however, be said about mathematics; for here we have the new method of thought, pure intellect, the very wellβspring of the times, the fons et origo of an unfathomable transformation.β
β Robert #Musil β’ #TheManWithoutQualities
#Logic #DifferentialLogic #DiscreteDynamicalSystems
#LogicalTransformations #TransformationsOfDiscourse -
Transformations of Discourse β’ 2
β’ https://oeis.org/wiki/Differential_Logic_and_Dynamic_Systems_%E2%80%A2_Part_3#Transformations_of_Discourseβ¦ βfor he no more needs to be capable of applying to his own personal soul what is daring and new in the soul of his subject than a machine is in fact capable of applying to itself the differential calculus on which it is based.β β¦
β Robert #Musil β’ #TheManWithoutQualities
#Logic #DifferentialLogic #DiscreteDynamicalSystems
#LogicalTransformations #TransformationsOfDiscourse -
Transformations of Discourse
β’ https://oeis.org/wiki/Differential_Logic_and_Dynamic_Systems_%E2%80%A2_Part_3#Transformations_of_DiscourseβIt is understandable that an engineer should be completely absorbed in his speciality, instead of pouring himself out into the freedom and vastness of the world of thought, even though his machines are being sent off to the ends of the earth;β β¦
β Robert #Musil β’ #TheManWithoutQualities
#Logic #DifferentialLogic #DiscreteDynamicalSystems
#LogicalTransformations #TransformationsOfDiscourse(1/3)
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Pencil sketch of the great #translator Burton Pike, from a photo I took of him after our 2016 #podcast. He died yesterday (Dec. 22, 2022) at 92. Our conversation is at http://chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-159-burton-pike if you'd like to listen to it
#books #bookstodon #translation #Musil #RobertMusil #TheManWithoutQualities #art #amateurartist