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Spanish to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting / Baroque painting
Spanish term or phrase:exasperado
This is from an academic article on Castillian baroque painting. The authors would like this into US English. The article is focusing heavily on images of cucifixion. In this section it says:
Justamente, lo que veremos es cómo se produce, con extraordinaria minuciosidad, con gran primor, una enorme concentración de “híper-realización” de la materia: la piel de los pies exasperada en la dureza de sus callos y uñas, la madera exasperada en sus grietas y astillas, el hierro exasperado en su oscura densidad, el papel exasperado en su crujiente sutileza.
It's exasperating how much this author is using the term: exasperado. In some contexts I think exasperating works, in others I'm not sure. According to DRAE exasperar is:
Exasperar.
1. tr. Lastimar, irritar una parte dolorida o delicada.
2. tr. Irritar, enfurecer, dar motivo de enojo grande a alguien.
So here does it mean injured or simply exasperated? Any input would be appreciated. Thank you!
Hi Folks, again I wanted to thank everyone tremendously for their wonderful work and suggestions. The author responded to my request for clarification and said that what they wanted to say was, indeed, overworked or overwrought. This became clearer throughout the text, now that I look back on it. The point was to compare one artists who "overworked" their subject and materials with another who had a more simple approach. In the end, after an "exasperating" search we got our answer for this context. Great job ProZ contributers!
in the context, I get the impression that the idea is perhaps one of intensity, absolute, raw, incarnate etc. Your previous question seems to suggest that his ability to convey the absolute physicality of materials, as opposed to his draughtmanship (for example) was what dominated.
What could be said about iron and wood, then? Poetic licence, I suppose. What keeps coming into my mind is 'fretted' with its various meanings, but I just can't justify it.
Thanks for generating a lively discussion, Rachel. I find that this dilemma crops up quite often in translation work. Your question has provided a good opportunity to compare a lot of opinions.
Thanks everyone for your great suggestions. I am putting a translator's note for the client to ask them to clarify this term. I appreciate eveyone's input.
I posted the first entry "tejido exasperado" when I thought it was a one-off term the author was using. Now that I have found it several times throughout the text I posted a second entry with just exasperdo because I feel that the author is using the term to mean different things.
Although the term doesn't seem right in this context, I get the feeling that the attributes of skin, wood, iron and paper are 'overstated' by the painter.
Two other possibilities just occurred to me: the word tortured and the addition of "painfully" to any number of the other words that have been suggested here.
I hadn't realised that 'exacerbar' and 'exasperar' have almost the same definition. Yes, I did get it off the web page. They evoke different ideas in me, but that may be the influence of English.
Perhaps this is what the author really means (meaning 3, DRAE):
exacerbar.
(Del lat. exacerbāre).
1. tr. Irritar, causar muy grave enfado o enojo. U. t. c. prnl.
2. tr. Agravar o avivar una enfermedad, una pasión, una molestia, etc. U. t. c. prnl.
3. tr. Intensificar, extremar, exagerar.
Explanation: "Exasperar" is a bit broader in meaning than "exasperate", I think: the latter means basically to irritate or annoy extremely, but "exasperar" is that but with a further element of inflicting suffering (see DRAE def. 1).
The (exasperating!) repetition of the word must be deliberate and I reckon that in the sentence quoted, at least, the same word should be used each time. I think "tormented" is the best word here, with "anguished" as an alternative. "Tormented" carries more a sense of mental suffering than "tortured", I think. These words certainly seem to fit with Baroque religiosity.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2 hrs (2011-11-16 11:46:09 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
"Torment" can be to inflict severe mental or physical suffering, but it is also used for annoying, provoking or goading someone. I think it's actually quite close to "exasperar" and doesn't grate in the context (which most of the alternatives do, to me).
Charles Davis Local time: 03:54 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 52
The translation workplace 
