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English to German translations [Non-PRO] Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / Correctly poetic wording of term for certain desired impact
English term or phrase:Refugee from civilisation
Ok, so here's the background:
1. In English, nouns can be used without articles where the object is a broad thematic representative.
e.g. "John needs love" means John needs 'love (the concept)', not "John needs SOME love" or "John needs SOMEBODY'S love" (in particular).
2. A second, more relevant example is the title of the Megadeth music album "Countdown to extinction"
In this title, it's not "Countdown to the extinction" because the extinction is a general state, or end, that the countdown is leading to.
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WHAT I WANT: (please)
A German translation of the subject "Refugee from civilisation", treating it as a compound noun, and using the most poetic sounding answer that is still acceptable grammatically.
That is NOT to say that the term should not fit with the sentence "I am a refugee from civilisation", but provided it can stand on its own as an 'impact title', then it isn't REQUIRED to be used in a full sentence.
I have almost no knowledge of German, so can't really give any more context than that. Hope it's enough.
Babelfish gives me "Flüchtling von der Zivilisation". I asked a friend who said I should just leave out the "der", giving me "Flüchtling von Zivilisation".
Is this right? Is there a better (more poetic) translation?
Another term is "Aussteiger", but nowadays it's sufficient to open a McDonalds store in New York to become an "Aussteiger" in the eyes of former colleagues in a bank at Frankfurt ;-)
I am open to suggestion on this. Yes, he is a refugee, since the situation has reached the point where he simply cannot remain, and of course he is driven by push factors far more than pull factors - while the quiet of a remote location attracts him, very few people really undergo the effort of 'gulching' unless they really have to.
Yes, he gets there - although that's as much as I am willing to tell you. You'll have to read the book to find out what happens after that ;)
If there is something which is a different translation but still captures the same fundamentals, I would be grateful to receive suggestions. If anyone wants to do this, could they please give me the German word and both the literal and poetic translations in English.
I would be very grateful to anyone who wants to help in this way. I'm sure I can throw a free copy of the book their way! :)
is your best choice, if you have to stick to a noun denoting an individual that made the somewhat involuntary choice. A book title could go in another direction, like "Auf der Flucht vor (!) ...", "Der ... entflohen" etc. --- Just some reflections.
Thanks for the feedback. You write it's a poetic name for a character, a character who hates civilization and wants to get away but hasn't yet gotten away (is he really a refugee? - "A refugee is a person who has been forced to leave their home and seek refuge elsewhere" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugee
It also seems hard to combine the fierceness of his attitude with a "poetic" name but I guess you mean more like using "poetic license"
So is he a strong character to tell civilization off, ready to sail to that island and begin a long life of running up and down the beach - And does he really get there in the book?
Even Robinson Crusoe didn't want to stay on that island forever:)
I guess what I am asking is do you want a strong name or a weak one - refugee of civilization is pretty weak/rather passive and so is anything with Flüchtling IMO.
please dolet us know what the title of the book will be, sound like an interesting book. You might also look for Utopia, a novel from the 18th century, I believe, about the perfect state from Locke, I think, no, I forgot the author.
@ Bernhard Sulzer - The key thing is the anti-civilisational stance, in the broadest possible scope. The person wants to leave civilisation completely as it is, for him, completely oppressive and intolerable. So yes, the mental state of the refugee, in particular his total antipathy for ALL of civilisation.
Hi. To give you a good poetic rendering, what is the meaning/direction/point of view of the poem? The mental state of the refugee? Does it have to be a compound noun?
There are plenty of more solutions than have been posted.
"Flüchtling von Zivilisation" doesn't even sound German... :-)
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Answers
30 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +6
refugee from civilisation
Zivilisationsflüchtling
Explanation: Very idiomatic term in German that's not only pretty much the literal translation of your source term, but expresses it's content equally well, I would say.
Guido Schenkel Canada Local time: 06:57 Specializes in field Native speaker of: German
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +6
