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04:27 Apr 22, 2011
German to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature
German term or phrase:Zwischensteg
I'm translating the poems of H.G. Adler. The first line of the poem titled Jodokus reads as follows: "Zwischensteg eigner Gruft."
The word "Zwischensteg" doesn't appear in any of the dictionaries I have. Jodokus was a young man destined to become a king, but renounced the power that fell to him when his brother joined a cloister. Jodokus threw his crown on the floor where a spring supposedly sprang up. He went on to found a refuge where if fed birds and fishes and shared his bread with Christ who appeared to him three times as a beggar. The "Gruft" which translates as vault or tomb, I'm assuming is Jodokus' tomb which is visited by pilgrims in the poem, but I can't figure out what a Zwischensteg is. In modern usage Zwischensteg can mean gutter, but it could also translate as cross path.
I took to be a passive perfect participle, which would imply a transitive verb. I also found "schiefern", as to disintegrate into splinters (a familiar fate of slate roofs, or stepping stones), an intransitive. That would incline me toward slate-covered, but a tinge of ambiguity would linger.
After further research I learned that threshing floors are often made of slate so the line could also read "Jodokus commanded the fields with threshing floors of slate.
According to Wahrig, schiefern means "zersplittern" and can apply to wood as well as stone, so geschieferten Tennen probably means split, or hewn threshing floors.
I like the idea of a "loved one" visiting the grave of a departed one, as Horst suggested.
I'm wondering if "Stepping stone that is one's own grave" is too far from the original as a translation for "Zwischensteg eigener Gruft."
is a reluctance to introduce metaphors or figures not already there, I will support it. I spend my days translating texts in which hugely technical terminology is transformed into poetry. --- All the bright thoughts suggested should indeed come to the reader's mind. The poem should be, not mean? To stick my neck out once again, I would suggest "median stage" (condemnation certain).
To continue my and some other people's line of thought, i.e. that the term "Zwischensteg" denotes transition, a possible translation for the line: Halfway-house that is one's own tomb. As for the meaning of "steg", might there not be an allusion here to "Landungssteg" as in the jetty from which Charon rows the Dead over the river Styx?
I would translate "Zwischensteg" as intermediate bridge to one's own grave.
"Tennen" could also mean the Tennen mountains located in Bohemia which consist of slate.
Funerary architecture is not arcane', it just has its own terminology like everything else. But Zwischensteg here is referring to the transitory nature of one's (eigener) own crypt. I take it that one person is looking at the tomb of a lost lover(?). And I imagine there is some reference to St Joost on it or around it and he/she is musing on the connections. 'St Joost/Jodocus called slate-covered threshing barns into being'. If we are going with slate, that is then describing the roofs, I presume. It is unlikely to be a flooring at that time!
I started from the assumption that "Steg" is something by which to step over open space. It could be a kind of rib, or ridge, maybe forming a division? Funeral architecture is fairly arcane, but there is quite a literature. This poem seems to be influenced by Trakl. Still, I think "Verlassener" is as much a person as "Wandlerin", therefore "Liebesrufe". "Schiefern" is intransitive, usually, so "geschiefert" would be slate-covered. Are you really sure the crown story is the plot line here? Quite correctly, "Flur" is open space, but not necessarily greensward. "Hieß" is the difficult word; as Jodokus appears in the last line, we may take it as transitive, so named or commanded would come to mind, my guess for now wold be "bade" (leaving unanswered what?)
It was not my intent in sharing the paraphrase of the poem to suggest that I was going to use that as the translation. I agree with Horst that my job as a translator is to give the reader a reasonably accurate representation of what the poem actually says, but to do that I felt I needed to really understand the poem myself - hence the paraphrase. In any case I've found this exchange immensely helpful. I really liked Helen's suggestion that "Flur" in the context of the poem means meadow rather than floor. I also liked her suggestion "hieß" in the poem means to "call into being" rather than to "name". I'm thinking of translating the line as "Jodokus ordained the meadow with hewn planks". I'm still struggling with the line "Zwischensteg eigener Gruft". "Zwischensteg" is counfounding enough, but I'm not even sure how to handle the word "eigener" in this context. In any case, thanks for all your help and suggestions. I'm sure I'll be posting more questions as I struggle to make sense of H.G. Adler's poems.
imply that anyone here is putting forth a paraphrase for a translation. All I am saying is that, as Thurber would say, it would not lead us anywhere. "Crosswalk" is used here for paths that get you across something, dug up streets or the like. "Pony" is the local word for the tiny "translations" that pupils in Latin school used instead of doing their homework unaided. My sincere apologies for seeming rude. Neither you or the asker should assume I made that assumption. I am not sure I am opaque, saying that we need something that corresponds to the impact a poem had on its first intended readers, even to demand the same kind of effort in comprehension. I am working in a field that is brimful of translations that tell me "what it means" but give me only the vaguest idea of how it was said.
Your posts are rather opaque so I may misunderstand what you mean, unsurprisingly. If you are suggesting that I am offering 'a paraphrase' of my own 'interpretation' as a final translation, then you are mistaken. Quite what you mean by 'crosswalk' or 'pony' here passes me by. It would be helpful if native GER speakers were to provide the sense here, but then leave the translation up to native ENG speakers.
also for Helen Shiner (who knows I respect her judgment), the point of a poetry translation is to give the reader the reading experience of the poem. If one gives a paraphrase of one's own interpretation (it may be absolutely brilliant and correct) the result is the proverbial "pony".
The abandoned one in the poem is the privileged life Jodokus gave up to tend to pilgrims. His name is associated with the floor that splintered when he cast off his crown. Fall leaves with their intoxicating incense became his refuge rather than the throne he was destined to ascend. His “castle” is decorated with spider webs and dew drops rather than chandeliers. Nature itself with its lime, beach and birch trees provided him a dwelling and bed, and shepherds, rather than lords were the priests of his grove. Those who wander as pilgrims to his shrine live without expectation, trusting only in the the brief hour they will have in the presence of the floors whose reflection greets them like a mother’s smile. It’s at this crossroads that Jodokus patiently persists.
Zwischensteg eigener Gruft. Ferne Wandlerin,
Du weißt von deinem Verlassenen, er färbt seine
Schatten mit Liebesrufen kleiner böhmischer Dörfer.
Jodokus hieß die Flur mit geschieferten Tennen.
Herbst umränderte Laub mit satt verstrahlendem Goldlicht
Und von den Kräutern dampfte betäubender Duft.
Staulbige Spinnen zogen schmeichelnde Fäden und
Treu hingen Perlen daran mit gließend kühlem Schmelz.
Wie Linden, Birken und Buchen zwishen den Wegen
Sich lispelnd fast zu heimlichen Hütten verschlossen
Und Wohnungen boten auf Reisig und wendigem Gras.
Hirten waren die gereiften Seelen im Hain.
Zwischensteg eigener Gruft. Rüstige Hände besorgen Eifrig das Feld, Blinzelnde Wanderer schreiten
Weit aus; ihre Münder bekümmert kein gedämpftes
Erwarten, denn sie vertrauen ihrer Stunde vorm dem
Lächeln der mütterlichen Flur. Am Zwischensteg
Geschieferter Tenne harrt geduldig Jodokus aus.
Here's my sense of the poem's meaning:
The abandoned one in the poem is the privileged life Jodokus gave up to tend to pilgrims. His name is associated with the floor that splintered when he cast off his crown. Fall leaves with their intoxicating incense b
it says "deinem Verlassenen", "böhmischer Dörfer" (a code word for Podunk)? I have a sense the "slate" idea is more important than any damage (left up to the reader to guess at). Whatever you think "Zwischensteg" connotes, you might stick to concrete descriptives, "crosswalk" "connecting bridge", it will (trust me) convey the meaning. In the end "It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing", conversely, if it swings, it will get the idea across ...
if you want a good harvest: Attribute: als Pilger
Patron der Pilger, Schiffer, Bäcker; der Blinden; der Siechenhäuser und Haustiere; für eine gute Ernte; gegen Gewitter, Schadenfeuer, Getreidebrand, Fieber, Pest und Krankheiten (http://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienJ/Jodokus_Jobst.htm... Perhaps supports my understanding of the sentence.
for future reference, you will tend to get more assistance if you make your questions 'for points'. It costs you nothing, but answerers gain points if their suggestion is chosen (which affects their rankings) and are often more keen to assist if there is a pay-off. Just the nature of the beast.
I think 'heißen' here might be something along the lines of 'called into being' or simply 'made', rather than naming, and I think 'Flur' might be 'meadows' or 'open fields' or 'lea' here. I believe 'Tenne' means 'threshing floor'. From what I have read, St. Joost caused a river to flow around his cell, so he brought fertility to the land perhaps, thus meaning it became productive and there was thus the need for threshing floors. I'm not sure about 'geschiefert' here. It could be 'slate(covered)' (rather unlikely) or perhaps 'crooked' or 'uneven' (most likely). Maybe a native speaker of GER will look by and confirm.
I'd missed the connotation of transition and really like your suggestions. Any thoughts about the line "Jodokus hieß die Flur mit geschieferten Tennen"? Part of the Jodokus legend is that he cast off his crown, splintering the floor, when he declined to ascend the the throne when his older brother decided to enter a monastery. I think the idea is that the name of Jodokus became associated with the splintered floor, hence he "gives him name" to the floor. "The name of Jodokus resounds in the splintered floor" is one option.
'The transitory nature of the crypt' or 'the crypt as transition' or 'the limbo of the crypt' (which may be putting a slightly different meaning on it).
I like Helen's interpretation and also have been thinking along the lines of "transition stage", but that sounds wrong in this context, hence halfway - as "halfway to heaven"? I have never seen the word "crossway" and am not sure it would mean something to most readers.
Is this just a poetic version of Zwischenstufe or Zwischenstadium - intermediate stage. I am not proposing this as a translation, just posting it in search for meaning.
I would have thought this means the body's resting place until the Day of Judgment (when we are all supposed to rise again or descend into hell). By the way, that should be 'monastery' not 'cloister' that the brother joins/enters.
Zwischensteg eigner Gruft. Ferne Wandlerin,
Du weißt von deinmen Verlassenen er färbt seine
Schatten mit Liebesrufen kleiner böhmischer Dörfe.
Jodokus hieß die Flur mit geschieferten Tennen.
Herbst umränderte Laub mit satt verstrahlendem Goldlicht
Und von den Kräutern dampfte betäubener Duft.
I'm also stumped by the four line "Jodokus hieß die Flur mit geschieferten Tennen." Since a part of the Jodokus legend is that he threw his crown on the floor when he gave up his right to ascend to the throne, I'm thinking this means that his name became associated with the damaged floor. In other words, he named the floor with splintered planks.
The translation workplace 
