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Some suggestions. Blue-green algae is pretty toxic to animals. It appears suddenly at a certain time of year, and although pretty in some lights, it is a bit threatening. Anyway, this is how I read it, in as far as one can without comprehending the repeated veiled hints at threats in this book.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2017-07-24 11:39:30 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
That should be 'takes on'.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2 hrs (2017-07-24 12:45:50 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
I have retained the word 'violence', because, having answered several of your questions, and thus seen several passages from this book, it strikes me that the author likes dissonance. By this I mean, sudden use of striking words that jar with the rest of the rather poetic text.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2 hrs (2017-07-24 12:46:31 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Dissonance is a literary device, indeed it is used in many other contexts, too, used to jolt the reader, possibly shock them. It was very prevalent in the arts in Germany at this time, in literature, music, and the visual arts. Using a description of the landscape to suggest threat or violence of a political nature had been done many times from Charles Dickens's Tale of Two Cities to Anna Seghers. Maybe that's what Huchel's doing here; it's 1932 and there were signs of encroaching violence everywhere in Germany by then. He went on to fight for the Nazi regime though. Maybe he just wanted to find a way of describing the threat that blue-green algae suddenly forming on a body of water represents.
I could've been just as harsh in my criticism of your explanation, but I chose not to be; I didn't even post a comment.
There's absolutely no basis for suggesting any link between algae toxicity and Huchel's poems. You won't find any source to back this up and I can't believe any German would even understand that. Furthermore, if you had read the links I provided, you would have seen that this is not about any war experience or "encroaching violence." One of his poems (and that's even in response to the years under Hitler) includes algae too:
"Ich hob die Reuse aus dem Spalt, es flimmerten kristallne Räume, es schwamm der Algen grüner Wald, ich fischte Gold und flößte Träume."
Check the link in my post which describes the toxic effect of blue-green algae. It suddenly appears in lakes at a certain time of year. That is what the author is referring to as suggesting gentle violence.
Point taken. I agree that 'gentle power' does not carry enough weight, especially since (spoiler alert!) the 'sanfte Gewalt' likely refers to the 5th Element. 'Violence' implies ill Will, which Huchel's land does not possess. An 'underlying' or 'primal' power is probably being referenced. I was thinking about the 'soft hum of the earth', but this newly recognized power obviously encompasses more than the land.
@herbalchemist I did say we can argue about the position of "gently." The point is that this doesn't mean what most here may think it means. I added the other poem to illustrate that point. Here's "sanft" (only quoting the meaning that refers to "sanfte Gewalt"): "mit einer gewissen Zurückhaltung und weniger direkt geäußert, in Erscheinung tretend" http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/sanft
The roots are every bit as destructive in the example above as anything else. They are not "gentle." They're just better at hiding their true "power."
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/grammar/transitive-and-int... A transitive solution is needed here, since that is what is used by the author. So reveals, reminds, etc. do not work. The Land is actively assuming, acquiring, taking on or whatever. Now leaving it to the OP to make her choice. I've said my piece, here and in my own answer.
Since it is probably a deep meditative state that the narrator is in, any sort of pondering/remembering would not be appropriate. I would keep it simple: "the land reveals its gentle power".
It is natural to assume that the extracted "dann nimmt das Land eine sanfte Gewalt an" springs from a man vs. nature, tame vs. wild or good vs. evil duality. However, in context and as Björn has clearly pointed out, the land does not take on the other extreme; it wasn't an extreme to begin with. When considering the Primal Elements referred to by Björn, all of the strange word pairings are actually 'adjacent'. 'Huchel’s poetry has been characterized as post-Romantic nature poetry. Michael Hamburger writes that Huchel’s early verse contained an “earthiness and a wealth of observed, lived particulars” as well as “mythical and occult overtones.”' https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/peter-huchel Some 'occult stuff' follows (nothing very deep): Each of the Primal Elements corresponds to a cardinal direction: N/Earth, E/Air, S/Fire & W/Water. Thus, 'blue fire' = SW = between Fire and Water, and so on. The journey is counterclockwise: Boden, Wellen von Farn, blauen Feuer, brandigen Luft, überknisterten Grund (sound has Air correspondence). For more on correspondences: https://thenewpagan.wordpress.com/elements-correspondences/
I don't get how the meaning of this sentence has been turned on its head by suggesting some threat or such. It's the opposite, which should have been clear by the part in bold in the last sentence: "Noch steht man in der brandigen Luft von Harz und Borke, auf einem moosarmen, nur von Kiennadeln überknisterten Grund, doch man blickt hinab und fühlt, wie schön dort unten, im Zauber der Zauche, Wald, Schilf und Wasser beieinander liegen."
Here's the sequence: sparse vegetation (how exciting! ugh) -> ferns everywhere (maybe surprise, surprise?) -> lake / colorful environment (impressive!)
Have you been asked to make the translation as obscure as the original and as literal as possible, or is there some degree of flexibility to make it accessible to the English reader?
Pge 2 ZAUBER DER ZAUCHE "Wo der karge, von Roggen, Kartoffeln und Lupinen bestandene Boden seinen schlafenden Ackerweg ganz in der krautigen Brach versanden läßt, wächst nichts als wilder Hand und dürrfe Kiefernheide; watet man aber durch Wellen von Farn die Föhrenhügel hinauf und sieht plötzlich, im blauen Feuer des Mittags, einen von Algen verschleierten See unter sich - dann nimmt das Land eine sanfte Gewalt an. Noch steht man in der brandigen Luft von Harz und Borke, auf einem moosarmen, nur von Kiennadeln überknisterten Grund, doch man blickt hinab und fühlt, wie schön dort unten, im Zauber der Zauche, Wald, Schilf und Wasser beieinander liegen." Peter Huchel No, I have no idea what he means.
Ramey Rieger (X)
Germany
AND
10:03 Jul 24, 2017
check the koduz glossary, there are MANY entries for 'annehmen.'
Here’s another poem, this time about the “sanfte Gewalt” of a tree: “was selbst die Kriege nicht geschafft, das vollbringt die Birke mit sanfter Gewalt und macht auch vor Menschenwerk nicht halt.“
We can argue about the position of "gently" in the sentence above, but in my humble opinion, you cannot translate this literally, and I think you should be aware of the period in which the poem was written. This is the 1930s. It’s neo-romanticism (at least, in Germany):
"Artists such as John Piper and Graham Sutherland turned to a traditional means of representation in the wake of the unprecedented damage and loss of life. Like the first Romantics, they drew upon a wide range of literary sources, whilst nature was considered to be an elemental force capable of inspiring sublime emotional reaction." http://www.pallant.org.uk/docs/phg_keith_vaughan__teaching_n...
You’d think about Dylan Thomas, Robert Louis Stevenson and others (even if their works had been published earlier). It's "naturmagisch"--supernatural, magical, enchanted, or even awe-inspiring--not a violent episode (“Zauber”):
"What was produced, intentionally or otherwise was a veneration of the romantic past and the cultivation of a supernatural, idealistic or even prophetic sense of the British landscape together with a yearning for beauty and innocence, that in all conveyed an arcadian existence." http://www.artbiogs.co.uk/2/movements/neo-romanticism
Additionally, Huchel drew on his childhood memories for the rest of his life [which is where "reminds you of" comes in]: "Das lyrische Werk Huchels ist wie kein anderes mit der Landschaft und den Bewohnern der Mark Brandenburg verbunden. Das trifft nicht nur für die naturmagischen Gedichte seines Frühwerks zu [...]" http://www.peter-huchel-haus.de/Peter Huchel
Be aware, though, that this was written before WWII. AFAIK, Huchel did become “gloomier” later in life because of his works being used by the Nazis for their own purposes and his time spent in the German Democratic Republic.
You also need to take the next sentence into account. It describes the beauty of that landscape. Nature may be a "harsh mistress," as one translator of Huchel's works calls it, but I'd take this statement with a grain of salt in this context.
More tags: raw/relentless/subtle/sublime/unyielding
Björn Vrooman Local time: 10:09 Native speaker of: German PRO pts in category: 4