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  3. Poetry & Literature

durch ihre fremde Medialität punktieren

English translation: which through their alien mediality puncture the "écriture"

17:31 Jan 13, 2008
German to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / Paper on Djebar's novel L’amour, la fantasia
German term or phrase: durch ihre fremde Medialität punktieren
Ebenso wie auch die hier erwähnten, nahezu kriminalistischen Indizien auf das Weibliche in der Geschichte der Eroberung Algeriens Körperfragmente sind, erweisen sich auch die Stimmen der von Djebar geschilderten Frauen als archäologische Relikte, beispielsweise, wenn in der obig genannten Textpassage von „tessons de sons“ (Lautscherben) die Rede ist: Lautscherben, welche sich durch ihre Scharfkantigkeit und somit durch ihre Heterogenität auszeichnen, welche die écriture durch ihre fremde Medialität punktieren und somit intermediale Effekte der Verfremdung hervorrufen. Entsprechend werden auch die Stimmen der nach der Schlacht Bosquets gegen Abd el Kader klagenden Frauen als eine „étrange parlerie de la guerre“ bezeichnet, deren Wildheit und „inhumanité“ verstörend wirkt (AF 83).
Lorna O'Donoghue
Local time: 17:32
English translation:which through their alien mediality puncture the "écriture"
Explanation:
instead of 'puncture', possibly 'break up'
Selected response from:

franglish
Switzerland
Local time: 18:32
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +2which through their alien mediality puncture the "écriture"
franglish
4which, in their unfamiliar mediality, puncture the ecriture
Tom Tyson
5 -2to gain an advantage through their weird mediumistic powers
Andries Conradie
3which are a rupture of the "ecriture" due to their unfamiliar mediality
Daniela Gieseler-Higgs
3that pointilistically dot the ecriture through their alien mediation
Peter Manda (X)


  

Answers


18 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -2
to gain an advantage through their weird mediumistic powers


Explanation:
to be a medium - to have supranatural powers
In this context then, to gain an unfair advantage. See also PONS Großwörterbuch für Experte und Universität, 2002.

Andries Conradie
Local time: 18:32
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Daniela Gieseler-Higgs: I think you interpreted "Medialität" wrongly (in this context) - in this case it doesn't mean supranatural powers, but it is a term in literary theory meaning "imparted/communicated by means of a certain medium".
33 mins
  -> In this context I stick to my guns!
disagree  mill2: you also misinterpreted punktieren - it's not punkten!
1 day 15 hrs
  -> Thank you! You are right, I did misunderstand punktieren - actually the correct meaning of punktieren does strengthen my suggestion of mediumistic powers, used in a metaphorical sense here.
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
which are a rupture of the "ecriture" due to their unfamiliar mediality


Explanation:
Hi Lorna, tricky text you've got there... I think what it means is that the "Lautscherben" are a very different and in the context unfamiliar, unusual medium and they are ruptures in the normal flow of the "ecriture". I don't think my suggestion is the ideal solution, but I needed to clarify what mediality means IMO (see web references below). Mediality is a media theoretical term which seems to be in common use in literary, media and also historical studies.
http://weblamp.princeton.edu/~acla06/human-time-mediality-an...
http://www.snf.ch/E/targetedresearch/centres/currentNCCR/Sei...

Alternatives:
which break/break into/penetrate the ecriture by...

Daniela Gieseler-Higgs
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 4
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
which through their alien mediality puncture the "écriture"


Explanation:
instead of 'puncture', possibly 'break up'

franglish
Switzerland
Local time: 18:32
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 28
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Bernhard Sulzer: or "impact/pierce"; "punktieren" is fairly weak in German, and I thought of "dotted note" as a musical picture. However, the "Scharfkantigkeit der Lautscherben" the hard edge of these broken sound pieces suggests a more severe impact than the dotting..
38 mins
  -> I'm not happy with "puncture", either; "pierce" is excellent. Thanks for the suggestion, Bernhard
agree  mill2: with Bernhard
1 day 13 hrs
  -> Thank you, Mill
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
which, in their unfamiliar mediality, puncture the ecriture


Explanation:
puncture gives a flavour of the verb. Maybe punctuate would be appropriate too, though without the disruptive feel.

Lorna, what have you got yourself into???!

Tom Tyson
Local time: 17:32
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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14 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
that pointilistically dot the ecriture through their alien mediation


Explanation:
Here, I think punktieren doesn't refer to drilling through but rather to the act/action of pointillism - creating dots on the texture of the written - such that the alien (in its ordinary mediation - [une medialite] - creates a new langue) mediates the text to new - foreign - intermediate expressions/effects. {It is, indeed, interesting to think of translation as criticism pur - to note a marginalism}

Peter Manda (X)
Local time: 12:32
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 4
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