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l’objet d’une mise en jeu
version synthèse intégrée

Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

une poignante course à l’abîme

English translation:

A heart-rending/poignant plummet into the abyss

Added to glossary by David Vaughn
Jul 19, 2010 23:50
13 yrs ago
French term

une poignante course à l’abîme

French to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature musique
"Pathétique [the title] renvoie au répertoire romantique et aux musiques à programme. Et cette musique est en effet, à sa façon, une poignante course à l’abîme."
Proposed translations (English)
4 +1 A heart-rending plummet into the abyss
4 +2 a poignant race towards ruin
4 +1 a poignant rush toward the abyss
3 a poignant /distressing road to the abyss
3 a poignant ride into the abyss

Discussion

Melissa McMahon Jul 20, 2010:
Also off-topic My 1st thought here was actually the current Australian election campaign, described by an eminent commentator as "a race to the bottom".
Evans (X) Jul 20, 2010:
off topic I'm glad I'm not the only one with huge chunks of that play still fully formed in my head. I played Grusha in a production of this we did at school, the speech where she calls the judge "a drunken onion" and "the cracked Isaiah on the church window" come to mind.
Alison Sabedoria (X) Jul 20, 2010:
Evokes memories of... ...drama classes at school, and a line from Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle: The plunging wain drags the sweating beasts with it into the abyss. (That at least sank in!)

Proposed translations

+1
8 hrs
Selected

A heart-rending plummet into the abyss

Poignant is a shade more pensive in English, and dynamic in Fr.
Peer comment(s):
agree Chris Hall
1 hr
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks to all. I used "poignant plummet into the abyss", with its alliteration. "
21 mins

a poignant /distressing road to the abyss

I would say ....

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Note added at 34 mins (2010-07-20 00:25:04 GMT)
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maybe "painful"
Something went wrong...
+2
40 mins

a poignant race towards ruin

***
Peer comment(s):
agree Imanol : course à l'abîme = aller à sa ruine ; courir à sa perte ; aller s'abîmer
11 hrs
merci ;-)
agree Karen Vincent-Jones (X) : Yes, it has a nice alliterative sound to it.
15 hrs
thanks
Something went wrong...
1 hr

a poignant ride into the abyss

"course à l'abîme" seems to be commonly rendered on the internet as "ride to the abyss" - I think "ride" captures nicely the journey of listening to a musical piece and I think "into" is better than "to"...

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+1
6 hrs

a poignant rush toward the abyss

I find "race" and "ride" a bit unromantic, for lack of a better word. Also, the alliteration of the original sentence is preserved with "rush...abyss" (echoing "course...abyss"), which counts for something when the language aims to describe music.
Peer comment(s):
agree Alison Sabedoria (X) : All feasible, but I prefer this version.
1 hr
Something went wrong...
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