colloquialisms: see below
English translation: Ah, Helen Zahavi...!
| 07:55 Aug 30, 2000 |
| French to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary | |||||||
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|  Selected response from: Heathcliff United States Local time: 01:01 | ||||||
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| Summary of answers provided | ||||
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| na | See Below |
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| na | Ah, Helen Zahavi...! |
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| na | see below |
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Answers
28 mins
See Below Explanation: Just wondering if you are planning on picking any of our answers.... Here is what I proposed for this one: Her first novel, "Dirty Week End" (1991), yet led her to face being in the spotlight... and being publicly called a slut by what could be called all the hicks and religious nuts combined in England. Beauf=hick Cul-bénit=religious nut |
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2 hrs
Ah, Helen Zahavi...! Explanation: "However, her first novel, _Dirty Weekend_ (1991), thrust her into the spotlight and forced her to face public condemnation from the massed forces of England's religious right." Notes: 1) In this context, "salope" (slag, slut, loose woman, depraved sensualist, etc.) seems a little old-fashioned. I toyed with "face public charges of depravity...," but that, too, sounded clumsy. We all know what kind of condemnation comes from the religious right, so I opted for a looser rendering. 2) The word "beauf" has a fascinating history. Originally an abbreviation of "beau-frère" ("brother-in-law"), it was the source of a character created aroudn 1970 by the cartoonist Cabu as a caricature of a middle-aged, dull-witted, backward-thinking _petit bourgeois_ with fascistic tendencies. Together with the "culs-benis" (literally, "blessed asses" -in every sense), the "beaufs" cover the reactionary religious waterfront quite neatly. (And, just for drill, here's the opening paragraph in an article you'll find at the web site below:) "How times change. When Helen Zahavi's_Dirty Weekend_ was first published in 1991 it was widely condemned as amoral and pornographic. Now Michael ("Death Wish") Winner has brought the story to the cinema screen as a moral tale for the nineties. The transformation of_ Dirty Weekend_, the porno novel, into _Dirty Weekend_, the morality tale, is a sign of the times…." Reference: http://www.junius.co.uk/LM/LM60/LM60_Living.html Cellard & Rey, _Dictionnaire du Francais Non-conventionnel_ (Hachette, 1981) |
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19 hrs
see below Explanation: "Her fist novel "Dirty Weekend" (1991), forced her into the spotlight...where she was referred to publicly as a a bitch by the best of England's chauvanists and religious freaks combined." I think you have to come out with it! The text is deliberately rough as the situation was for the writer, reluctant to stand up in public, no doubt for fear of the inevitable comments from inevitable quarters. salope : slut, bitch beauf : literally, familiar French for brother-in-law, although more often used as here, to refer to males who are described in English as chauvanistic, narrow-minded and vulgar cul-bénit (with a 't') : literally means "blessèd arse" but the term is for a religious nut, religious freak conjuguer used here to mean combined. Nikki You often hear of someone being 'thrust into the spotlight'. Here though, the person is being led into facing up to the spotlight - she is reluctant to do so - hence 'forced'. Robert & Collins |
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