Language Classes, 12/06

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

Dream is in his robes today, and a dream catcher in the Ojibwe style hangs from a corner of the blackboard.

All Classes: Instead of a final exam, I would like each of you to complete an end-of-term project. You will be expected to write a 200-word paper on any aspect of the languages we have studied or the cultures that gave rise to them. For example, you might discuss the differences between Cat in domestic and free-roaming animals, or French cuisine, or whatever interests you. Present your paper and at least one relevant visual aid in class on December 15 or 20. Pick a presentation date and topic before class on Thursday. This counts for 25 percent of your grade, so I would advise you to put thought into your topic and the project.

Students who took more than one class with me this term may hand in a single final project, as long as it integrates things learned in all classes; for example, if you took Languages of Europe and Languages of Asia, you might do a paper on the way French and Asian influences have mingled in Vietnam. The grade for it will count for each class.

If you do not understand the assignment, come see me in my office. I am also handing out fresh copies of the syllabus to remind you what we have covered in-class.

Cat: While I am not unmindful of the concerns raised by Mr. Samuelle, my decision about transformations stands. I am sure that you will be able to make it through five classes in human form.

Today, I would like to talk about the role of cats in folklore and superstition. There are hundreds of feline folktales and superstitions - cats predict the weather, sense domestic disharmony, steal a baby's breath, steal a dead person's soul, bring either good or bad luck and carry away a sick person's germs. Cats' eyes tell the time or the tides. Cats are witch's familiars, enchanted princesses, beloved by priests and prophets or envoys of the devil since they were sneezed forth by lions on the Ark and not created by God. [Dream continues his lecture.]

Languages of Europe: We have only a few class meetings left. It would be a shame to waste them all on verbs. I am handing out a volume of modern French poetry; pick one poem you like and translate it to the best of your abilities. English-language versions of the poems are at the back of the book for you to check your work.

I myself am quite fond of "Sortant de Saint-Pierre de Rome, j’écris," by Michel Deguy.

Comments

Cat, 12/06

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

Sign in here.

Languages of Europe, 12/06

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

Sign in and do classwork here.

Office Hours & Language Lab, 12/06

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

Work in the lab or talk to Dream here. If you have questions on the final project, now would be a good time to share them.

Re: Cat, 12/06

[m-samuelle.livejournal.com]

*Signs in and listens to the stories.*

[http://users.livejournal.com/_wespryce/]

((OOC: The cat meeting notice says "All felines welcome"; visitors are probably not welcome. ))

[game-of-you.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Okay -- I removed the offer for extra credit.]

[http://users.livejournal.com/_wespryce/]

[[Thanks. Sorry to be cranky, but it's hard to plot world domination if the dominatees are listening in.]]

Re: Cat, 12/06

[the4thsister.livejournal.com]

Paige sighs in a listens carefully, wondering if her and Sawyer's Lancelot would make a good familar for her, she's doubtful.

Re: Languages of Europe, 12/06

[marieann-d.livejournal.com]

Rogue signs in and starts flipping through the book. She chooses "Greater Intimacy with the stars" by Michel Deguy. Her translation is decent, but by no means perfect, and certainly not poetry.

Re: Cat, 12/06

[swerval_zero]

*Zero signs in and listens to the lecture, taking notes and wondering what she should do for her final project.*

Re: Languages of Europe, 12/06

[absolutesnark]

Piper chooses "Edge" by Michel Deguy and translates it well.

Re: Languages of Europe, 12/06

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker flips through the pages, and then finds Jude Stefan's "Out of Despair for Love". The first line grabs her.

Par désespoir de l'amour qui n'est pas échu

Out of despair for love that has not matured

Par désespoir de la mort qui déjà m'a prévu

Out of despair for death that has already planned me

Par désespoir du sexe qui nous fut à charge

Out of despair for sex that weighed us down

Par désespoir de l'homme qui n'est que misère

Out of despair for man who is only misery


... She writes "a man," checks herself, then erases it; the French is not specific, even if her subconscious is.


Par désespoir du temps qui n'est que poussière

Out of despair for time that is only dust

Par désespoir de l'art qui n'a pas visité

Out of despair for art that did not visit

Par désespoir de l'âme que l'on n'a pas trouvée

Out of despair for the soul that was not found.


...Studying that line, Parker shakes her head.



Par désespoir de soi qui ne sut que honte

Out of despair for the self that knew only shame.

Par désespoir du suicide qui n'est qu'alibi

Out of despair for suicide that is only an alibi


...Parker's pencil breaks, and she stares at that stanza for a long time, her face cold, then goes on translating.

Par désespoir du monde illusion

Out of despair of the world an illusion

Par désespoir où s'enfouir?

Out of despair where to bury oneself?

Dans l'étude par oubli

In study out of forgetfulness

dans le stupre par malchance mais

in debauchery by misfortune but

dans la mer pour s'y laver

in the sea to wash


At the bottom of the translation, Parker writes: Despair is a choice. I choose the ocean and its tides and moving on. - Parker

Re: Languages of Europe, 12/06

[lisacuddy.livejournal.com]

Lisa chooses...

Le Guignon

Pour soulever un poids si lourd,
Sisyphe, il faudrait ton courage!
Bien qu'on ait du coeur à l'ouvrage,
L'Art est long et le Temps est court.

Loin des sépultures célèbres,
Vers un cimetière isolé,
Mon coeur, comme un tambour voilé,
Va battant des marches funèbres.

— Maint joyau dort enseveli
Dans les ténèbres et l'oubli,
Bien loin des pioches et des sondes;

Mainte fleur épanche à regret
Son parfum doux comme un secret
Dans les solitudes profondes.

She then steals George Dillon's translation as it is her favorite translates the poem...

Ill-Starred

A man would needs be brave and strong
As Sisyphus, for such a task!
It is not greater zeal I ask —
But life is brief, and art is long.

To a forsaken mound of clay
Where no admirers ever come,
My heart, like an invisible drum,
Goes beating a dead march all day.

Many a jewel of untold worth
Lies slumbering at the core of earth,
In darkness and oblivion drowned;

Many a flower has bloomed and spent
The secret of its passionate scent
Upon the wilderness profound.

Re: Languages of Europe, 12/06

[actingltcrumpet.livejournal.com]

Archie is drawn to the poem entitled "Intimité plus grande avec les astres," and decides to translate that.

Intimité plus grande avec les astres

Greater intimacy with the stars

Et dans la nuit sondée plus profond

And in the deeper -- sounded (?) night

Dans la nuit rapprochée la terre

In the night re-approached the earth come closer to earth

Débouche sur le soleil cette étoile agrandie

Into the sun that enlarged star emerges

Au cœur de la nuit le jour

At the heart of night the day

Nuit de la nuit connaît

Night of the (by the?) night knows

Une étoile plus brillante

A more brilliant star

***

He frowns.

It's workmanlike, certainly, but lacks the right feel and cadence for poetry.