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Question for Fontane lovers: | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4829 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 1 of 5 13 December 2013 at 1:07pm | IP Logged |
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In Fontane's Effi Briest, just before Effi meets Innstetten at her parents' house,
there is a passage that reads: "Aber ehe sie diese finden konnte, hörte sie schon des Vaters Stimme von dem angrenzenden, noch im Fronthause gelegenen Hinterzimmer her, It's the "von dem angrenzenden, noch im Fronthause gelegenen Hinterzimmer her," that interests me. It seems to me that Fontane here is making a little joke about the back-room being in the front of the house. However neither the Rorrison/Chambers translation of 1995, not the William A. Cooper one from Project Gutenberg pays attention to this. The former just refers to the adjoining room which was at the rear of the main house, and the latter just to an adjoining room. I believe that "Hinterzimmer" could juat be interpreted as "guestroom", rather than literally a "back room", but nevertheless, I feel this must be word-play going on. What do others think? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5848 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 5 13 December 2013 at 10:51pm | IP Logged |
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Monty, my father is a German literature hobbyist. I will copy your post and send it per e-mail to him. He is very familiar with Fontane's books. Let's wait for his reply!
Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 14 December 2013 at 1:06am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4845 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 3 of 5 13 December 2013 at 11:42pm | IP Logged |
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I don't really think this is word-play. It would be a very low pun compared to Fontane's general standard.
A "Hinterzimmer" is simply a room that is located behind a "Vorderzimmer". In this case, it's accidentally located in the "Fronthaus", which is the front part of a manor. A play on words doesn't make any sense in the context of the chapter and, as I said, would be very poorly executed. Fontane is a master of the German language and I can hardly imagine him making such a corny joke. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4829 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 4 of 5 14 December 2013 at 1:21am | IP Logged |
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Thank you Fasulye and Josquin.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5848 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 5 14 December 2013 at 1:32am | IP Logged |
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I also read Fontane's Effi Briest (I think it was in 1998) but this is definitely a question for somebody who is passionate about Fontane's books, so Josquin and my father are adequate people to give an answer here.
I got an answer from my father: He doesn't take part "in such linguistic discussions about a translation problem". He seems to be more interested in the plot of the story and the historical background of the book. Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 14 December 2013 at 10:52am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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