Sep 14, 2021 14:54
2 yrs ago
43 viewers *
French term
par éblouissements successifs
French to English
Art/Literary
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
From An Art History Book
Contexte :
L’incendie se localisait aisément dans le jardin intérieur du musée du Jeu de Paume, où crépitait dans les flammes une pyramide hérissée de cadres et de châssis. On pouvait y apercevoir, par éblouissements successifs, des images qui disparaissaient ensuite dans le feu.
Merci Beaucoup,
Barbara
L’incendie se localisait aisément dans le jardin intérieur du musée du Jeu de Paume, où crépitait dans les flammes une pyramide hérissée de cadres et de châssis. On pouvait y apercevoir, par éblouissements successifs, des images qui disparaissaient ensuite dans le feu.
Merci Beaucoup,
Barbara
Proposed translations
(English)
Proposed translations
+6
8 hrs
Selected
with each burst of flames
On pouvait y apercevoir, par éblouissements successifs, des images qui disparaissaient ensuite dans le feu.
In it (this pyramid) you could glimpse, with each burst of flames, paintings that were disappearing/vanishing in the fire
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 hrs (2021-09-14 23:40:59 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
"par éblouissements successifs" is simply about the varying intensity of the illumination caused by flames, it says nothing about what exactly (/ which part of this pyramid) was burning - paintings, frames or whatever else was in it.
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Mpoma
: Yes, that's another (convincing) interpretation of the par phrase, the third.
7 hrs
|
Thanks!
|
|
agree |
Emmanuella
8 hrs
|
Merci!
|
|
agree |
AllegroTrans
: Yes, "par" well dealt with
12 hrs
|
Thanks!
|
|
agree |
chris collister
14 hrs
|
Thanks!
|
|
agree |
Michele Fauble
17 hrs
|
Thanks!
|
|
agree |
Eliza Hall
1 day 18 hrs
|
Thanks!
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+3
18 mins
by succesive flare-ups
something like this perhaps?
My reference says
"Flare-up: Any sudden acceleration of fire spread or intensification of a fire. Unlike a blow-up, a flare-up lasts a relatively short time and does not radically change control plans."
My reference says
"Flare-up: Any sudden acceleration of fire spread or intensification of a fire. Unlike a blow-up, a flare-up lasts a relatively short time and does not radically change control plans."
Peer comment(s):
agree |
AllegroTrans
20 mins
|
Thanks AllegroTrans
|
|
agree |
Libby Cohen
: Yes, "flare-ups" is a more technically correct rendering of the term than "flashes."
52 mins
|
Thanks Libby
|
|
agree |
Bashiqa
: Looks good to me.
2 hrs
|
Thanks Bashiqa
|
|
disagree |
Mpoma
: Sorry, it would have to be "*des* éblouissements" - see my discussion entry - I'm pretty convinced that it's the images which are the éblouissements (as suggested by Chris).
2 hrs
|
I've seen your idea and find it interesting.
|
|
agree |
Michele Fauble
: I think this also accommodates the interpretation suggested by Chris in the discussion.
3 hrs
|
That would be good as it would cover all bases
|
|
neutral |
Andrew Bramhall
: Unfortunately ambiguous;// I got drunk in the pub one night and had successive flare-ups with the bar staff;
5 hrs
|
neutral |
ph-b (X)
: Yes to "flare-ups", but what happened to éblouissements? What about "dazzling flare-ups"?/Flare-ups are not necessarily dazzling.
2 days 23 hrs
|
Obviously, in my answer, "éblouissements" = "flare up". Have you ever seen a flare up that was not dazzling???
|
-2
39 mins
in a succession of bursts of dazzling colour
I believe these are oil paintings being destroyed ... and the text suggests, slightly implausibly, that we see an image of the painting en surbrillance before it is consumed by the flames.
I think therefore that éblouir in this particular context conveys an idea of colour being involved.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2021-09-14 16:21:10 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
To those who don't really understand my point: the word "par" is critical here.
In my reading this is not an instrumental "par", but an explanatory "par", i.e. not "we saw images *lit up by* successive dazzlings" but "we saw images *in a succession* of dazzlings".
I think therefore that éblouir in this particular context conveys an idea of colour being involved.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2021-09-14 16:21:10 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
To those who don't really understand my point: the word "par" is critical here.
In my reading this is not an instrumental "par", but an explanatory "par", i.e. not "we saw images *lit up by* successive dazzlings" but "we saw images *in a succession* of dazzlings".
Peer comment(s):
disagree |
Emmanuella
: La lumière de la flamme éblouit. I did understand. No dazzling colour . The dazzling of the flame instead.
23 mins
|
Er, yes. You don't seem to understand my point. "On pouvait y apercevoir, par éblouissements successifs, *des images*": we are specifically told the images are what we are seeing. Images, not flames.
|
|
disagree |
Andrew Bramhall
: Might work with garden flower bed descriptions, but not here;
1 hr
|
er, because ... ? a reasoned "disagree" would be preferable.
|
|
neutral |
Daryo
: it's a very plausible addition, but even for this kind of texts it might be too much poetic licence. // here "éblouissement" is simply a short burst of strong ("blinding") light from flames.
7 hrs
|
"neutral" is right. "Poetic licence": you're spot on, particularly regarding my use of "colour". But I stick with my view that par is making an identification between the images and the éblouissements.
|
|
neutral |
ph-b (X)
: "dazzling" is certainly the nearest thing to éblouissements and should be part of the translation, but not sure about "colour". "Dazzling flare-ups"?
2 days 23 hrs
|
neutral |
AllegroTrans
: OK for 'dazzling' and 'succession of bursts' but 'colour' is dubitable
2 days 23 hrs
|
-3
2 hrs
by successive glimmers
The fire was east to locate in the inner garden of the Jeu de Paume museum, where a pyramid bristling with frames and stretchers was crackling in the flames. One could see images illuminated in the darkness by successive glimmers, glimpses which were then consumed in the fire.
Peer comment(s):
disagree |
Mpoma
: éblouissement can NEVER be "glimmer". Incidentally, we don't know whether this is in fact a night-time scene.
12 mins
|
disagree |
AllegroTrans
: these are much more like sudden flashes as each painting bursts into flames: 'glimmer' just doesn't do it
41 mins
|
disagree |
SafeTex
: You said that my suggestion is ambigous whereas your's is just plain (semantically) wrong. "Glimmer" just doesn't cut it for "éblouissements".
4 hrs
|
neutral |
Daryo
: for comparison, someone screaming like a demented street preacher is hardly "whispering"?
6 hrs
|
+1
27 mins
by successive flashes of fire
https://sante.journaldesfemmes.fr › 2...
· Translate this page
4 May 2020 — un éclair devant les yeux,; un éblouissement sans source de lumière, ... ou des points lumineux, qui persistent après fermeture des yeux.
Symptômes · Migraine
Sensation d'eblouissement permanent - Journal des Femmes
https://sante-medecine.journaldesfemmes.fr › ...
· Translate this page
5 Nov 2011 — A voir également: Sensation d'eblouissement permanent; éblouissement persistant - Meilleures réponses; Sensation d'éblouissement dans les yeux ...
Cicely: Or, the Rose of Raby. An Historic Novel, in Four ...
https://books.google.co.uk › books
Agnes Musgrave · 1795 · Historical fiction
I arose , and looking out of the door bea . held from the black cloud , which now overspread the whole sky , successive flashes of fire emitted , the ...
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs (2021-09-14 20:35:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Succesive fiery flashes
· Translate this page
4 May 2020 — un éclair devant les yeux,; un éblouissement sans source de lumière, ... ou des points lumineux, qui persistent après fermeture des yeux.
Symptômes · Migraine
Sensation d'eblouissement permanent - Journal des Femmes
https://sante-medecine.journaldesfemmes.fr › ...
· Translate this page
5 Nov 2011 — A voir également: Sensation d'eblouissement permanent; éblouissement persistant - Meilleures réponses; Sensation d'éblouissement dans les yeux ...
Cicely: Or, the Rose of Raby. An Historic Novel, in Four ...
https://books.google.co.uk › books
Agnes Musgrave · 1795 · Historical fiction
I arose , and looking out of the door bea . held from the black cloud , which now overspread the whole sky , successive flashes of fire emitted , the ...
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs (2021-09-14 20:35:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Succesive fiery flashes
Discussion
J'avais uniquement suggéré s'il était possible de rendre l'idée avec la préposition 'through' , ce qui est plausible, mais Daryo a vu juste.
Or just think of the expression par moments: this doesn't mean "by moments", it means "at moments" (more colloquially "occasionally").
Par has got a hidden life in this respect, particularly in a literary context. Daryo's suggestion also uses it non-instrumentally.
You say it means "as" here but I would have thought "comme" would = "as". Maybe a French native speaker can confirm things one way or another.
Conversely I only suggested (and continue to) that you "may not have understood".
Touchy much?
Lending weight to this interpretation (because at first it seems either is possible) is the absence of the partitive "des": if "par" meant "by" we should expect the writer to have written "par des éblouissements successifs". French is less flexible than English with these grammatical niceties of course.
Think about it for a nanosecond and you'll see I'm right. So I'm with Chris on this one.
Further corroboration perhaps: if these are successive bursts of light illuminating the paintings they must be instantaneous: a flash and then gone. But we are are told that the images then disappear in the fire: what's actually lighting them up at this point? NB in this connection it would be useful to know if this is a night-time scene or not. I tend to picture it that way: flames, images etc. would be less likely to be éblouissantes during the day.
If it is the images which are the éblouissements this makes for a more plausible literary image.