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Spanish to English: Tan oscura - So Dark General field: Art/Literary Detailed field: Poetry & Literature
Source text - Spanish “Tan oscura” de Agustín Cadena es una novela que efectivamente quema; una obra llena de obscuro deseo, autodestructivo, como un gato negro que encaja las uñas en un cuello largo, hermoso y blanquecino. Esta novela explora esta condición de amor como muerte, como adicción erótica, como mutilación, como fracaso insalvable. Los tres personajes son Gregorio Montero, pintor conocido y maestro de artes plásticas; Julia, modelo de la escuela de artes plásticas, esposa de Gregorio, diez años más joven que él, y; Bodo, el novio guapo de Julia, dos años más joven que ella. La obra gira en función a la dinámica de sus tres personajes principales, y es esta dinámica entre los tres, es este triángulo el personaje principal, y no Julia como protagonista y mucho menos como heroína. De hecho, Julia deja de ser un personaje en muchos sentidos para convertirse en un objeto, en un interlocutor, en un pretexto donde Gregorio trata de explicar su propio deseo, su propio sentido de auto-destrucción, su propio sentir de tortura ante la vida y su sensibilidad como artista. De la misma manera, Julia funciona no como una persona, sino como un símbolo de deseo, tanto para Bodo como para Gregorio; símbolo que ambos no logran descifrar.
“Tan oscura” es en sí una novela de contradicciones, de claroscuros, de desbordante ternura y de insufrible violencia, de insufrible ternura y de desbordante agresividad. Sin embargo, aquí no encontraremos las contradicciones coherentes de Pablo Neruda en “Cien poemas de amor”, aquí sólo encontraremos contradicciones sin sentido de seres trastornados que se alimentan de una tortura insana hasta el punto de la glotonería y de la lujuria más soez.
Gregorio no sólo es el artista, el maestro y el esposo de Julia, también es el arquitecto de este triángulo, quien egoístamente se entrega a su obra como un argonauta náufrago y perdido desde un principio. Julia y Bodo, los más jóvenes, son restos del naufragio que las olas traen y llevan en la orilla del mar.
I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew up and developed and became the most beautiful of jewels. (Ezekiel 16:7, NIV)
La traducción al español es la siguiente, aunque me sigue gustando más la versión en inglés:
Te hice crecer como una planta del campo. Te desarrollaste, llegaste a ser grande y te hiciste mujer. Tus pechos se hicieron firmes, y el vello te brotó. Pero estabas completamente desnuda. (Ezequiel 16:7)
¿Quién no desea la joya más hermosa, o bien la mujer más hermosa y completamente desnuda? Por supuesto e innegablemente Julia se tendrá que convertir en el objeto del deseo, quien Gregorio y Bodo, ambos y de manera distinta, terminan por arruinarla en su búsqueda incansable por descifrar su propia existencia. Julia ya no es una persona, ni siquiera una mujer hermosa, más bien se convierte en una poderosa atracción erótica, en la última droga, en el máximo objeto de atracción; como en “El Señor de los Anillos” de J.B. Tolkein, Gregorio y Bodo no pueden más que como el mismísimo Sméagol verla hipnotizados, consumidos, mientras susurran: “My precious, My precious”.
La lectura de “Tan oscura” nos lleva nuevamente a sumergirnos en esta dinámica de contradicción. El texto es sencillo y fácil de seguir, no así el contenido. Las palabras fluyen como una brisa, existe una cadencia armoniosa y llena de belleza, en cambio, el contenido se torna denso, torpe, no fluye, se atora como un atragantamiento y de la belleza de las palabras y de la composición no quedan más que el horror de este mundo oscuro.
Translation - English "So Dark" by Agustín Cadena is a novel that burns; a work full of dark desire, self-destruction, like a black cat who inserts its claws in a beautiful, long, silky-white neck. This novel explores the condition of love as death, as erotic addiction, as mutilation, as unavoidable failure. The three characters are Gregorio Montero, a well-known painter and professor at a plastic arts school; Julia, a model at this plastic arts school, Gregorio’s wife who is ten years younger than him; and Bodo, Julia’s handsome boyfriend who is two years younger than her. The novel works around the dynamic of these three characters, and it is this dynamic among them; it is this triangle the true main character, and not Julia as a main character, much less as a heroine. In fact, Julia stops being a character in many ways in order to become an object, an interlocutor: the person who Gregorio talks to; an excuse for Gregorio to try to explain to himself his own desire, his own sense of self-destruction, his own feeling of torture facing life, and his sensitivity as an artist. In the same way, Julia works not as a character, but as a symbol of desire, for both, Gregorio and Bodo; symbol that both fail to decipher.
"So Dark" is in itself a novel of contradictions, of chiaroscuro, of overwhelming tenderness and unbearable violence, of insufferable tenderness and unmeasured aggressiveness. However, we won’t find here the coherent contradictions by Pablo Neruda in “One Hundred Poems of Love”. Here we will only find nonsensical contradictions by disturbed beings that nourished on insane torture to the point of gluttony and the most obscene lust.
Gregorio is not only the artist, the professor, and Julia’s husband, but the architect of this triangle, who selfishly surrenders to his work like a shipwrecked and lost Argonaut since the beginning. Julia and Bodo, the youngsters, are the remains of this shipwreck which the tide brings back and fro to the beach.
``I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew up and developed and became the most beautiful of jewels. (Ezekiel 16:7, NIV)``
Yet, there’s another version which I would like to include:
``I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew up and developed into a woman. Your breasts became firm, and your pubic hair grew, but you were totally nude. (Ezekiel 16:7)``
Who doesn’t desire the most beautiful jewel, or the most beautiful woman, especially nude? Of course and without doubt, undeniably, Julia had to become the object of desire, whom both but in different ways, Gregorio and Bodo, end up ruining in their inexhaustible quest to decipher their own existence. Julia then is not a person, not even a beautiful woman, but a powerful erotic addiction, the ultimate drug, the object of maximum attraction. Like in “The Lord of the Rings” by J.B. Tolkein, Gregorio and Bodo aren’t able but to see her under a trance, hypnotized, consumed, just like Sméagol, while whispering: “My precious, My precious!”
The reading of "So Dark" takes us again into the immersion of the dynamic of contradiction. The text is simple and easy to follow, not the content. The words flow like a breeze, there is a harmonious cadence full of beauty which doesn’t reflect in the content, which is rather dense, clumsy, without flow, which gets stuck like a choking, and out of the beauty of the words and its composition there’s nothing left but the horror of this dark world.
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Years of experience: 32. Registered at ProZ.com: Feb 2014. Became a member: Feb 2014.
I am a Professional Translator. Native on both, Spanish and English. I am also a proofreader, editor and interpreter based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Born and raised in Mexico, I learned to read and write in English before Spanish. Growing up in a Spanish-speaking country taught me not only the language but the culture. In my mid twenties I moved to Toronto for a six-month-work contract. After my contract was up I was ready to go back to sunny Mexico, but the translation company I was working with as an In-House Translator was so impressed with my job that they offered me a promotion and a one-year-contract. It has been 20 years living in Canada. I have grown as a person, as a translator, I have also become a Canadian Citizen and a Freelancer Collaborator. I am 100% bilingual and bicultural. I am now supporting clients all over the world, mostly in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Luxemburg, Lisbon, Paris, London, Milan, Rome, Florence, Munich, Dublin and all over the States: Miami, New York, Denver, California, Chicago, Charleston, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Tennessee, etc. As well as Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Colombia, Guatemala, Peru, and yes, you guessed it right: Canada.
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EDUCATION
Master of Arts Degree in Comparative Literature (UNAM) 1998 Diploma in Translation of Immigration and Citizenship Canada (Ryerson University) 2014 Master Degree in Linguistics (Glendon College - York University) 2015Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Literature (UNAM) 1996
Bachelor Degree in Translation and Interpretation (ISIT) 1994
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