chasse aux cadavres

English translation: gravedigging

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

French term or phrase:	chasse aux cadavres
English translation:	gravedigging
Entered by:	kashew

16:24 Oct 1, 2013

French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / Shakespeare

French term or phrase: chasse aux cadavres

For context, the entire sentence in which this phrase occurs is the following:

"Malgré la chasse aux cadavres politiquement incorrects des années soixante-dix, William Shakespeare en fin de compte ne se porte pas si mal que cela, si on tient compte du fait qu’il était de race blanche et de sexe masculin et qu’il est mort il y a trois cent quatre-vingt-seize ans."

I understand the rest of the sentence, but "la chasse aux cadavres" escapes me. Does it have a literal meaning, as in the search for Shakespeare's body? This doesn't seem to make sense, since it is known where his body is buried, and that also would not seem to fit within the context of the rest of the sentence.

The sentence is from a small piece on Shakespeare's influence on modern English studies. I did some research on the 60s to see if perhaps there was something pertinent but was unable to find anything. If anyone could help me better understand, I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks.

-KT

Katie Consales

gravedigging

Explanation:
Perhaps hinting at grave-robbing - to disect his corpus of work?

Selected response from:

kashew
France
Local time: 21:27

Grading comment

In the context of the entire paragraph, this translation makes most sense. Exactly as you suggested, to dissect or "gravedig" his corpus of work. Very similar to "witch hunt", I think, which would also make sense in the context of attacking his works. Thank you (all) for the help!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

1 +9

search for skeletons in the cupboard

Wendy Streitparth

3 +6

dig up dirt on

John Holland

1 +6

witchhunt

Terry Richards

4 -1

the witch hunt for un-PC skeletons in his cupboard

Daryo

gravedigging

kashew

Summary of reference entries provided

skeleton in the closet/cupboard

Yvonne Gallagher

Discussion entries: 1

Answers

19 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +9

search for skeletons in the cupboard

Explanation:
Just a guess.

Wendy Streitparth
Germany
Local time: 21:27
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

neutral

Daryo: in the right direction - it's not about literal bodies // had the same association: bodies buried in the garden? under the planks? sounds too much like murder - "unmentionables" are supposed to be hidden in the cupboard?

23 mins

-> I had fully appreciated that. Strange that you should use the same expression.

agree

Helen Shiner: Don't understand the previous commenter's remarks. I don't recall ever reading this as having a literal meaning!

1 hr

-> Thanks, Helen. Sometimes one begins to have doubts about one's linguistic ability!

agree

Yolanda Broad: Agreed. (In the US, we'd say "in the closet")

2 hrs

-> Thanks, Yolanda. Yes, agreed, but no indication of what is required.

agree

Sheri P

2 hrs

-> Thanks, Sheri P

agree

Victoria Britten

2 hrs

-> Thank you, Victoria

agree

Yvonne Gallagher: politically incorrect ones

2 hrs

-> Thanks gallagy. Of course, but that wasn't part of the question.

agree

Ben Karl: Also second Yolanda's comment, ENUS would use "closet" instead of "cupboard."

3 hrs

-> Thanks, Benjamin. See comment to Yolanda.

agree

Janice Giffin: Good guess. Cupboard is British; Closet is American. Big deal.

3 hrs

-> Many thanks, Janice

agree

writeaway

13 hrs

-> Thank you, writeaway

agree

Helen Hammond

1 day 2 hrs

-> Thank you, Helen

32 mins confidence:

gravedigging

Explanation:
Perhaps hinting at grave-robbing - to disect his corpus of work?

kashew
France
Local time: 21:27
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 8

Grading comment

42 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +6

witchhunt

Explanation:
Here's another 1 for you.

The only problem is that it is going to be hard to combine it with "politically incorrect". However, I do like the allusion to Arthur Miller's crucible and the witches in the Scottish play.

Terry Richards
France
Local time: 21:27
Native speaker of:

English

40 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): -1

la chasse aux cadavres politiquement incorrects the witch hunt for un-PC skeletons in his cupboard

Explanation:
"un-PC skeletons in his cupboard" ... like being apologetic of slavery or ... whatever was considered as normal centuries ago and is not today.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 50 mins (2013-10-01 17:14:38 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

"chasse aux cadavres" = searching for the "dead bodies" i.e. proofs of his crimes (his un-PC though-crimes)

Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:27
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Serbian,

French
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

neutral

Helen Shiner: You don't need 'witchhunt' and skeletons./And the skeletons aren't "un-PC", it is the search/hunt that is./I am perfectly aware of the grammar. What we are looking for is idiomatic EN and to make rational sense of the ST.

1 hr

-> maybe overdone, agree on that; but it's the skeletons (=defending the wrong ideas) that are supposed to be un-PC) // ST: la chasse aux cadavres politiquement incorrects NOT la chasse aux cadavres politiquement incorrecte

neutral

Nikki Scott-Despaigne: I think it best to use one or the other of these expressions, not both.

2 hrs

-> you can always tone down "witch-hunt" to just "hunt" or plain "search" ....

disagree

Yvonne Gallagher: Wendy got this one right. We don't use both expressions together nor do we say "un-PC"//context nothing to do with 1984

2 hrs

-> "un-PC" is a deliberate clin-d'oeil to "1984"// this "chasse aux cadavres politiquement incorrects" looks very much like an attempt to turn Shakespeare into a "un-person" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Newspeak_words#Unperson

disagree

writeaway: this really doesn't sound idiomatic at all. un-PC isn't English in any case

12 hrs

-> I coined it (ref to "1984"), and there's no risk of ambiguity/misunderstanding.

agree

Greg Irving (X): I would read the phrase as "In spite of the politically incorrect 1970's witchhunt.."

16 hrs

-> Thanks!

38 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +6

dig up dirt on

Explanation:
See http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/dig up dirt

I think the idea is that critics tried (unsuccessfully) to discredit Shakespeare in the 1970s by showing that he and his works are not politically correct.

I also think "digging up dirt" is evocative of the original text (even if, in English, the dirt isn't necessarily in a graveyard....).

But "politically incorrect skeletons in William Shakespeare's closet" seems good, too!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2013-10-01 17:37:19 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Regarding the "witch hunt" options, I wonder whether there isn't a difference of nuance between "chasse aux cadavres" used here and "chasse aux sorcières," which I believe is the most literal translation of "which hunt."

"Witch hunt" and "dig up dirt on" do seem quite close in meaning, though,

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day14 hrs (2013-10-03 06:58:37 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

One thing about the skeletons in the closet option: usually I think that such skeletons are purposefully hidden by those who have them. See gallagy2's link in the reference section below: a skeleton in a the closet is "A secret source of shame, potentially ruinous if exposed, which a person or family makes efforts to conceal" (from http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/skeleton-in-the-closet.ht... ).

Now, I'm really not sure that the sentence in question here has to do with something Shakespeare himself was trying to hide because of its embarrassing character. I think the embarrassing or shameful aspect part of the point of view of the 1970s critics.

In other words, I think the sentence means that the 1970s critics were looking for ways in which Shakespeare's work contains examples of different kinds of discrimination that had not been acknowledged by other critics or by Shakespeare himself (presumably because all of them worked from within the biases of dominant culture).

Shakespeare perhaps should have been ashamed of politically incorrect aspects of his work (if the critics found evidence of this), but one of the main ideas of the "politically correct" critique is those those who express such points of view do so with impunity and without feeling any shame themselves.

In any case, that's one reservation on the suitability of the "skeletons" idiom here.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day14 hrs (2013-10-03 07:18:37 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Sorry for the typo in my comment above. The second sentence in the second paragraph should conclude as follows:
"...the embarrassing or shameful aspect is part of the point of view of the 1970s critics."

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day18 hrs (2013-10-03 10:54:45 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

In fact, there are all sorts of errors up there. I really should not write anything while the first cup of coffee is brewing!

Example sentence(s):

Depite the many efforts to dig up politically incorrect dirt on William Shakespeare in the 1970s, the Bard has come out of it quite well in the end....

John Holland
France
Local time: 21:27
Works in field
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Yolanda Broad

1 hr

-> Thanks, Yolanda

agree

Sheri P

2 hrs

-> Thanks, Sheri

agree

Yvonne Gallagher: I think this could work too

2 hrs

-> Thanks, gallagy2

agree

Daryo: your sample sentence works fine, although "the many efforts to …" is not so punchy as "hunt" or "witch hunt"// persistent efforts? continued and determined efforts?

19 hrs

-> Thanks, Daryo. About the punchy element, I guess I'd says that it's hard to know just how much is needed without knowing what kind of document this is.

agree

Lara Barnett: I actually think this phrase has enough "punch" required.

1 day 14 hrs

-> Thanks, Lara

agree

Sandra Petch: For all the reasons John gives in his answer

1 day 20 hrs

-> Thanks, Sandra

Reference comments

3 hrs peer agreement (net): +1

Reference: skeleton in the closet/cupboard

Reference information:
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/skeleton-in-the-closet.ht...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 23 hrs (2013-10-02 16:11:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Personally I don't believe "witch hunt" fits here at all with someone long dead. How is Shakespeare to be punished or harassed exactly?

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/witch hunt

: a searching out for persecution of persons accused of witchcraft
2
: the searching out and deliberate harassment of those (as political opponents) with unpopular views

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/witch--hunt

noun
a campaign directed against a person or group holding views considered unorthodox or a threat to society:
he claimed he was the victim of a media witch-hunt

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 23 hrs (2013-10-02 16:17:21 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I don't believe "witch hunt" fits well at all here since the "victim" , Shakespeare, is long since dead so how is he to be harassed or persecuted or punished?

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/witch hunt
a searching out for persecution of persons accused of witchcraft
2
: the searching out and deliberate harassment of those (as political opponents) with unpopular views

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/witch--hunt
noun
a campaign directed against a person or group holding views considered unorthodox or a threat to society:

he claimed he was the victim of a media witch-hunt

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 23 hrs (2013-10-02 16:18:21 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

somehow or other this posted twice. Apologies!

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 40

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chasse aux cadavres

English translation: gravedigging

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