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Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

grammar confusion

English translation:

Satzkonstruktion

    The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2015-02-17 11:54:09 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)
Feb 13, 2015 17:19
9 yrs ago
German term

grammar confusion

German to English Art/Literary Philosophy Theater performance
Abgesang......zu schlagen
I understand this to be a swansong or a farewell. I'm having trouble with the sentence, as I feel a verb is missing.
So far, I have tried:
The heart of the performance is the farewell/swansong which with performance narratives blasts a hole in reality.
But why ZU schlagen? What am I missing here??

Die Performance verbindet die Frage der Schuldenökonomie mit Lazzaratos Auseinandersetzung mit Marcel Duchamp. Aus beiden schallt der Ruf: Hört auf zu Arbeiten! Lass es sein! Ihr müsst nichts tun! Im Zentrum der Performance steht der Abgesang, mittels performativer Erzählungen ein Loch in die Realität zu schlagen. Die neoliberal-Zugerichtetheit des Subjekts kann nur zerschlagen werden, indem wir uns der in den Körper eingeschriebenen Schuldfrage verweigern.
Proposed translations (English)
4 +6 Satzkonstruktion
2 see sentence below
References
zu

Discussion

Ramey Rieger (X) (asker) Feb 13, 2015:
Hi Horst Abgesang? Yes it could be the finale, I suppose. that would also be safer than swansong. Thank you!
Horst Huber (X) Feb 13, 2015:
I'd caution that "swan song" may not be intended, more likely it is a concluding "blast", or coda?
Ramey Rieger (X) (asker) Feb 13, 2015:
with which...blasts there is no intention here, it definitely happens. I could turn it around, too. The heart of the performance is the swansong blasting holes in reality with performance narratives.
Hans-Jochen Trost Feb 13, 2015:
@Ramey Your translation as well as Silke's give the end result but I think neither captures the aspect of intention that the "zu" brings in: the swansong is meant/made to blast a hole, not just happens to do it. Actually, given as much or as little as you have quoted the writer of that text would still be at liberty to conclude that the swansong does in fact fail to accomplish its purpose. The two proposed translations suggest success and would make drawing the opposite conclusion at least awkward to argue if not impossible.
Ramey Rieger (X) (asker) Feb 13, 2015:
Hello Hans-Jochen doesn't .....with which the performance narratives blast a hole in reality.. cover it?
Hans-Jochen Trost Feb 13, 2015:
Add: "mit dem Zweck" or "mit der Zielsetzung" right after "Abgesang" to make the use of "zu" more obvious. It isn't the cleanest way to leave such a connection out but I think it is tolerable grammatically. Looking at it the other way around, that implicit addition is what the "zu" is meant to suggest.

Proposed translations

+6
7 mins
Selected

Satzkonstruktion

"Ein Loch in die Realität zu schlagen" = die Realität nicht so stehen lassen, ihr ein Stück entreißen.
Im Abgesang wird durch die performativen Erzählungen ein Loch in die Realität geschlagen.
Note from asker:
Thank you Silke!
Peer comment(s):
agree Erik Freitag
12 mins
agree Helen Shiner : I think I read it as its purpose or existence being to do that.
16 mins
agree Donald Jacobson
37 mins
agree Horst Huber (X)
1 hr
agree franglish : with Helen
1 hr
agree Edwin Miles
5 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "MANY, MANY THANKS! My final translation leaves no doubt about what the finale does. I cannot say that I fully understand the construction of the sentence, it's new to me, so I'm looking forward to learning! 'The heart of the performance is the farewell b"
1 day 2 hrs

see sentence below

At the heart of the performance can be found the endeavor to transfigure reality by way of representative narratives.
(i.e. turning reality into a distant abstraction).
Abgesang is the 'tenor' of the whole thought complex, with endeavor getting the idea across.

I think that's the meaning, if not a literal translation. Sounds a bit more elegiac than 'poking holes'.
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

3 mins
Reference:

zu

The sentence is well-formed. You can read as as being elliptical for:

"Im Zentrum der Performance steht der Abgesang, [der darin besteht,] mittels performativer Erzählungen ein Loch in die Realität zu schlagen."

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 Min. (2015-02-13 17:23:23 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

"read it as being"
Note from asker:
AHA! Then my translation is not so very wide of the mark. You're a champ, Erik, thank you!
Peer comments on this reference comment:
agree Helen Shiner : or der mittels .... schlägt./Or rather its purpose is to do that.
4 mins
Yes, that's a lot better.
agree Hans-Jochen Trost
49 mins
agree Edwin Miles
5 hrs
agree Peter Keegan
2 days 1 hr
Something went wrong...
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