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poetische Auseinandersetzung

English translation: poetic handling [of history]

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:poetische Auseinandersetzung
English translation:poetic handling [of history]
Entered by: Helen Shiner

07:34 Mar 9, 2009
German to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature
German term or phrase: poetische Auseinandersetzung
Seine poetischen Auseinandersetzung mit der Geschichte is schwer zu erschließen.

I'm a bit stumped by how best to deal with Auseinandersetzung here. I'm thinking along the lines of "poetic approach to (dealing with) history" or "poetic debate with history".
David Williams
Germany
Local time: 13:40
poetic dealing with [history]
Explanation:
To be honest, I don't think poet's have an approach as such to history - that sounds too methodological to me, i.e. what you might say of a philosopher or a social scientist, so I would prefer this formulation.



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2009-03-09 12:24:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

In their longer, later poems all these poets temper their early Modernist stance by opening the visualized, spatialized lyric moment into sequences in which time dictates the form and the theme. Canto 30 stipulated the Modernist dread of time: "Time is the evil. Evil." Even long poems dealing with history like The Cantos and The Waste Land had to be mosaics of embedded ideograms. But as the cantos proliferated, they could not be held in a single simultaneity of apprehension and revealed themselves instead as a life-poem which delineated its protagonist's convicted course through history and his own time and in which music increasingly alternated with painting as the analogue for poetic form. Eliot wrote the essay on "The Music of Poetry" as he was finishing Four Quartets to underscore the musicality of its verse forms and the fuguelike counterpoint of his meditation on time and history.
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/gelpi.html

The fairy tale is a poetic recording of the facts of life, an interpretation by the imagination of its hard conditions, an effort to reconcile the spirit which loves freedom and goodness and beauty with its harsh, bare and disappointing conditions. It is, in its earliest form, a spontaneous and instinctive endeavor to shape the facts of the world to meet the needs of the imagination, the cravings of the heart. It involves a free, poetic dealing with realities in accordance with the law of mental growth; it is the naïve activity of the young imagination of the race, untrammelled by the necessity of rigid adherence to the fact.
http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/FairyTales/00000011.htm

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2009-03-09 12:28:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

You could also say: his poetic handling of history

:“We are quite content with the results of the competition, the prize winners, and especially the winning design by schneider + schumacher,” said Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Schweickart, the head of administration for the Städel Museum, “and are pleased that the Städel’s extension offers a forward-looking model that sets an example both for the respectful handling of history and for the collection’s strong contemporary relevance. We will proceed rapidly with the expansion and are currently expecting construction to begin in late 2008 or early 2009 and to be completed by the end of 2010.”
http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=23706&i...

http://books.google.com/books?id=Hg8BAR4lX-kC&pg=PA113&lpg=P...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 days (2009-03-16 10:16:42 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Thanks for the points, David - agree the second of my suggestions was better.
Selected response from:

Helen Shiner
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:40
Grading comment
Thanks, although I went with your later answer: his poetic handling of history
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3poetic approach to history
Yasutomo Kanazawa
4 +1poetic dealing with [history]
Helen Shiner
4his poetic way of coming to terms with history
agnesvukovich
3poetic involvement
Alex Khanin
3rewrite
Rebecca Garber
3poetic treatment
CMJK
3 -1poetic deconstruction [of history]
Anja Wulf (X)


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
poetic approach to history


Explanation:
I would choose the former without the dealing with part, since I would translate the whole sentence as follows:

His/Her poetic approach to history is hard to clarify.

Yasutomo Kanazawa
Japan
Local time: 20:40
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Paul Kachur
35 mins
  -> Thank you, Paul
agree  mill2: or perhaps "understand". more context would be very helpful
2 hrs
  -> Thank you, Mill
neutral  Helen Shiner: Now that we have more context, this sounds more like a social scientist than a poet.
4 hrs
agree  hoare-spitall: I would agree with approach but would prefer poetical
1 day 16 hrs
  -> Thank you
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
poetic involvement


Explanation:
with the history...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2009-03-09 09:18:31 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

should be "with history..."

Alex Khanin
Germany
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
his poetic way of coming to terms with history


Explanation:
his poetic way of coming to terms with history is difficult to fathom/comprehend

agnesvukovich
Austria
Local time: 13:40
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

6 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
rewrite


Explanation:
The interactions with history appearing in his poetry can be difficult to interpret/extrapolate/deduce
of
His poetic methods, by which he came to terms with history, can be...

This is Paul Celan, who did deal with history, although often with very indirect or cryptic references.

Rebecca Garber
Local time: 07:40
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Helen Shiner: I'm not sure I see the benefit in these more convoluted suggestions, but it might depend on the context.
1 day 1 hr
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18 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -1
poetic deconstruction [of history]


Explanation:
Check out the definition of deconstruction in wikipedia -- you know the context better than anyone else. If the definition fits, wear it. I think this conveys the argumentative/conflict aspect of Auseinandersetzung effectively.


    Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstruction
Anja Wulf (X)
Local time: 07:40
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 2

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Helen Shiner: Sorry, no, deconstruction is a very particular theoretical tendency which does not fit here and would not be translated in this way.
13 hrs
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1 day 8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
poetic treatment


Explanation:
This is simply an alternative phrase that I think is substantially quite close to earlier suggestions but perhaps suits the poet's (clearly very detailed) engagement with history.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day8 hrs (2009-03-10 16:09:06 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Should of course be "treatment of history"

CMJK
Ireland
Local time: 12:40
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
poetic dealing with [history]


Explanation:
To be honest, I don't think poet's have an approach as such to history - that sounds too methodological to me, i.e. what you might say of a philosopher or a social scientist, so I would prefer this formulation.



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2009-03-09 12:24:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

In their longer, later poems all these poets temper their early Modernist stance by opening the visualized, spatialized lyric moment into sequences in which time dictates the form and the theme. Canto 30 stipulated the Modernist dread of time: "Time is the evil. Evil." Even long poems dealing with history like The Cantos and The Waste Land had to be mosaics of embedded ideograms. But as the cantos proliferated, they could not be held in a single simultaneity of apprehension and revealed themselves instead as a life-poem which delineated its protagonist's convicted course through history and his own time and in which music increasingly alternated with painting as the analogue for poetic form. Eliot wrote the essay on "The Music of Poetry" as he was finishing Four Quartets to underscore the musicality of its verse forms and the fuguelike counterpoint of his meditation on time and history.
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/gelpi.html

The fairy tale is a poetic recording of the facts of life, an interpretation by the imagination of its hard conditions, an effort to reconcile the spirit which loves freedom and goodness and beauty with its harsh, bare and disappointing conditions. It is, in its earliest form, a spontaneous and instinctive endeavor to shape the facts of the world to meet the needs of the imagination, the cravings of the heart. It involves a free, poetic dealing with realities in accordance with the law of mental growth; it is the naïve activity of the young imagination of the race, untrammelled by the necessity of rigid adherence to the fact.
http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/FairyTales/00000011.htm

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2009-03-09 12:28:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

You could also say: his poetic handling of history

:“We are quite content with the results of the competition, the prize winners, and especially the winning design by schneider + schumacher,” said Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Schweickart, the head of administration for the Städel Museum, “and are pleased that the Städel’s extension offers a forward-looking model that sets an example both for the respectful handling of history and for the collection’s strong contemporary relevance. We will proceed rapidly with the expansion and are currently expecting construction to begin in late 2008 or early 2009 and to be completed by the end of 2010.”
http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=23706&i...

http://books.google.com/books?id=Hg8BAR4lX-kC&pg=PA113&lpg=P...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 days (2009-03-16 10:16:42 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Thanks for the points, David - agree the second of my suggestions was better.

Helen Shiner
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:40
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 139
Grading comment
Thanks, although I went with your later answer: his poetic handling of history

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  hazmatgerman (X): or perhaps "this poet's approach to history"?
1 day 3 hrs
  -> Thanks, hazmatgerman - see my comments to Yasutomo
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