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German to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / Poetry
German term or phrase:stilistische Bergung
This is partof a long sentence about Hemingway;s writing sytle: ....der außerordentliche Symbolreichtum, der den Kurzroman nicht nur zum subjektiven Spiegel eines um "stilistische Bergung" bemühten Autors macht. The only translations for Bergung I know are words like "retrieval" or "recovery." ~What does it mean here?
Explanation: This is just a suggestion, since we can't see the whole sentence or wider context. See my discussion box entries.
I think it might be about his paring down of style by 'submerging' meaning, emotional/stylistic flourishes, symbolism, etc. A form of minimalism, but without stripping his work of meaning.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2019-01-13 18:25:55 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
But it could be the opposite. It might be about 'mining' symbolism, i.e. trawling symbolism for something. Though I don't think this sits well with Hemingway as an author in general. As I've said before, we would need to see the whole sentence.
Thanks a lot for this suggestion, Helen. I have used this word and added a brief explanation in line with the contents of the discussion entries. 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
Thanks for all these contributions. I have spent the last two days dealing with a computer problem so have been unable to comment before. The author of my German text put the quotation marks around this phrase. Thanks for all the help with Hemingway. It is a long time since I read anything by him. I have had other concerns.
Am I glad that I'm not the only one thinking this is rather odd. Considering the use of, say, sophisticated language, it is a bit offputting to see those quotation marks in there. I guess the author ran out of steam?
In any case, RE your second paragraph: I might agree with Schätze bergen, but not unlike salvaging, this is virtually the opposite of containment.
While I am by no means a literary scholar, I have no problem understanding the meaning(s) of all these phrases - except for "stilistische Bergung". (N.B.: Were the quotation marks added by you, or by the author?) <br />Is there any possibility of an error? On the other hand, I myself cannot think of any similar words or sequence of letters which could introduce obvious sense. <br />If it is no error, and the quotation marks are from the author, I would tend to agree with Helen's second suggestion: 'Schätze' bergen, Ver-borgenes sichtbar machen, by using stylistic means or a certain style.
Yes, this does refer to The Old Man and the Sea. Here is the full setence. (The previous sentence says "Das Werk füt sich zu einem gestalthaften "single organic whole", dessen tiefe Wirkung mit der des japanischen Dreizeilers vergleichbar ist. ) Was die hierin besonders offenkundige Verwandtschaft ausmacht, sind in erster Linie die an den imagistischen Kriterien höchster Ökonomie, Präzision und Objektivität geschulte, auf die Nähe des Schweigens zielende Sprache und der parataktische Bau der kurzen, transparent und fließend wirkenden Sätze, die, vorgetragen aus der neutralen Erzählperspektive einer dritten Person, statt der Dauer die Intensität des Geschilderten vermitteln; ferner der starke Naturbezug, der sich über die Bildlichkeit hinaus noch im atemgleichen Rhythmus von Systole und Diastole des gesamten Gedanken- und Geschehensablaufs äußert, und der außerordentliche Symbolreichtum, der den Kurzroman nicht nur zum subjektiven Spiegel eines um "stilistische Bergung" bemühten Autors macht, sondern sie zum zeitlosen Gleichnis des Erkenntnis suchenden Menschen erhebt.
Thanks for the suggestions. I did not provide more context because my text is written in a very academic style and this sentence is half a page long. It was difficult to know how to break it down.
"Contain" is no. 3: "(gehoben) enthalten, in sich tragen"
However, Bergung cannot(!) be used in this sense. It's not possible and, no, it wouldn't be understood either. You do have some verb-noun differences like this in English as well.
Also, someone has yet to mention one of the most common translations for Bergung: salvage operation.
Considering that the reviewer uses "bemüht" (trying to), maybe he really is attempting something like the above: "Aldridge believed that Hemingway managed to save the novels by salvaging the characters' values and transcribing them 'into a kind of moral network that linked them together in a unified pattern of meaning'." https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ernest-m-hemingway
Can you, without violating confidentiality, give some more phrases, so that we can get some feel for the style and language use of the author of this review?
It might be worth thinking about this in terms of the iceberg theory (theory of omission). A spare style on the surface with it all going on underneath.
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
1 hr confidence:
delving deep into his (original) style
Explanation: might work
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2019-01-13 17:39:24 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
in the sense of "going back and recovering" as could be meant by "bergen" meaning "recover" or "save" ... thinking of "bergen" as in "bringing miners back to the surface", so figuratively we could stretch to "bringing back to the surface" or "recovering"... bouncing ideas around might help you work this into your overall context....
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2019-01-13 17:41:53 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
would have to be something like "recovering his old/former style"
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2019-01-13 17:45:04 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
and as Helen rightly points out, it will depend on your wider context
David Hollywood Local time: 14:33 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 50
Explanation: This is just a suggestion, since we can't see the whole sentence or wider context. See my discussion box entries.
I think it might be about his paring down of style by 'submerging' meaning, emotional/stylistic flourishes, symbolism, etc. A form of minimalism, but without stripping his work of meaning.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2019-01-13 18:25:55 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
But it could be the opposite. It might be about 'mining' symbolism, i.e. trawling symbolism for something. Though I don't think this sits well with Hemingway as an author in general. As I've said before, we would need to see the whole sentence.
Helen Shiner United Kingdom Local time: 17:33 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 139
Grading comment
Thanks a lot for this suggestion, Helen. I have used this word and added a brief explanation in line with the contents of the discussion entries.