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Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

la sutileza laberíntica con la que desgrana

English translation:

the intricate, subtle way in which he winnows through ...; the mazelike subtlety with which he unpacks...

Added to glossary by Mónica Algazi
Apr 8, 2016 20:37
8 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Spanish term

la sutileza laberíntica con la que desgrana

Spanish to English Art/Literary Journalism Article about an artist
Context:

Me detengo en esta descripción para poner en evidencia la complejidad especulativa con la que opera [artist's name], * la sutileza laberíntica con la que desgrana * el material de archivo. Esto se hace aún más evidente al haber elegido para la instalación Arquitectura uruguaya una frase de Onetti que mentaba «el cuadrilongo de los plantíos», pues lo hizo recordando que, en la muestra de pintura abstracta realizada en 1952 en la Facultad de Arquitectura, Rothfuss había utilizado en una frase de su glosario madí la palabra cuadrilongas.

TIA!
Proposed translations (English)
4 -1 his intricate subtletly to pick and choose
3 +5 the labyrinthine subtlety with which he scours/picks over
4 mazelike subtlety with which (s)he unpacks/delves into
3 the painstaking way he sifts through the archives
Change log

Apr 11, 2016 11:24: Mónica Algazi changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/62856">Mónica Algazi's</a> old entry - "la sutileza laberíntica con la que desgrana "" to ""his intricate subtlety to winnow through""

Apr 11, 2016 11:25: Mónica Algazi changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/62856">Mónica Algazi's</a> old entry - "la sutileza laberíntica con la que desgrana "" to ""the intricate, subtle way in which he winnows through""

Discussion

Mónica Algazi (asker) Apr 9, 2016:
Exactly, Cgowar I'd like to convey the idea of something akin little pearls of mercury scattered across the artist's works, so 'thresh' is absolutely out of the question here.
Cecilia Gowar Apr 9, 2016:
What I find is that "desgranar" here has a tactile connotation that so far has not been replicated in English. But the meaning, as I understand it, is that he finds his way through the archive, makes sure not to miss anything and can, at some point, make a connection.
Cecilia Gowar Apr 9, 2016:
The point with "thresh" is that is it not a meticulous action, but an energetic one:
verb

To beat (plants) with a machine or by hand to separate the grain from the straw:
flail, thrash. See attack, strike

To hit heavily and repeatedly with violent blows:
assail, assault, baste, batter, beat, belabor, buffet, drub, hammer, pound, pummel, smash, thrash. (Informal) lambaste. (Slang) clobber. Idiom: rain blows on. See attack, strike

To swing about or strike at wildly:
flail, thrash, toss. Idiom: toss and turn. See attack, move, strike

Read more at http://thesaurus.yourdictionary.com/thresh#f5pCHlaH2B3UUq7o....
Mónica Algazi (asker) Apr 9, 2016:
Would "threshes" not work here figuratively, as it does in Spanish? (for 'desgrana')
Muriel Vasconcellos Apr 9, 2016:
@ Robert You're absolutely right. I hadn't thought of it that way.
Marcelo González Apr 9, 2016:
@Robert With regard to 'curating archives' vs 'examining them meticulously', I agree. As for 'pore over', I'd say that to the extent desgranar refers to both research AND the artistic production, 'unpack' may be the best option, as its applicable meanings would appear to cover both parts.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/unpack
Robert Carter Apr 9, 2016:
How about "pore over"?
Robert Carter Apr 9, 2016:
Personally, I'd avoid using "curate" here, even though, in the sense that Muriel is using it, it might well be the best fit in terms of what is meant by "desgranar". If he is in fact a curator, this might create confusion about what the artist is doing, i.e. actually curating the archives or instead examining them meticulously for his own work.
Marcelo González Apr 9, 2016:
@Celia re: peruse Sorry about the confusion! At least in the US, this word often implies an informal, casual or leisurely type of reading.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peruse
Mónica Algazi (asker) Apr 9, 2016:
Interesting, Muriel The artist happens to be a curator!
Marcelo González Apr 9, 2016:
Thanks, Muriel picky in a good sense, i.e., meticulous. Though I'm not so sure it would work well in this context.
Muriel Vasconcellos Apr 9, 2016:
@ Marcelo 'Curate' glorifies being picky. It means that the highest museum standards are being used to sort and winnow the material.
Marcelo González Apr 9, 2016:
@Muriel So 'curate' would have a negative connotation? Would this be consistent with the article's (seemingly favorable) tone?
Muriel Vasconcellos Apr 9, 2016:
curates I would say 'with which he curates the material in the archive'. 'Curates' is a very popular word right now, at least in the US. When someone gets too picky about details, he/she is said to be 'curating' the material.
Marcelo González Apr 8, 2016:
@Mónica That's my understanding as well. The bits and pieces (or layers) are meticulously unpacked, peeled away or unearthed to reveal what's beneath. 'Unpack' can have several applicable meanings here, from analyze to elucidate (see several defintions numbered 4 below).

unpack
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/unpack
Robert Carter Apr 8, 2016:
Ok, thanks, Mónica. So, something like "picks over", perhaps?
Mónica Algazi (asker) Apr 8, 2016:
Robert Within this context, I understand 'desgranar' as taking bits and pieces from his archive, as though they were crumbs, and applying them to his various works of art.
Robert Carter Apr 8, 2016:
Hello Mónica, what exactly is giving you trouble here, is it "sutileza laberíntica" or "desgrana"? I think you can translate the former literally as "labyrinthine subtlety" without any issues. How do you understand "desgranar" in this context, I'm not really sure what the artist is doing with the material, so perhaps further context would be possible?

Proposed translations

-1
1 hr
Selected

his intricate subtletly to pick and choose

At first I thought "peruse/comb through" but I believe "pick and choose" fits the context better.
Note from asker:
Thanks, Cecilia!
Peer comment(s):
disagree philgoddard : This doesn't sound like native English, especially the "to".
2 days 8 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "En realidad, opté por una combinación de la sintaxis de cgowar y el verbo sugerido por Charles (winnow through). ¡Gracias a todos!"
+5
1 hr

the labyrinthine subtlety with which he scours/picks over

...the archive material.
Note from asker:
Thanks, Robert!
Peer comment(s):
agree philgoddard
28 mins
Thanks, Phil.
agree Muriel Vasconcellos
2 hrs
Thanks, Muriel. Curate is a great word to use, though I wonder if it might be misconstrued in the context of archives.
agree Jonathan Norris
2 hrs
Thank, Jonathan.
agree Charles Davis : Personally I quite fancy "winnows through the archive material", a word Muriel used in the discussion, though not as a suggestion. It's almost the same metaphor and used quite often in English for this process. Ormiston's "sifts through" is good too.
1 day 5 hrs
agree neilmac : Swipe me! "labyrinthine subtlety"... reminds me of an old Hancock sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPDrupEfBEA
1 day 13 hrs
Something went wrong...
1 hr

mazelike subtlety with which (s)he unpacks/delves into

...the archival material

Literary Criticism
Shelley and the Romantic Imagination
https://books.google.com/books?id=pPRsuc31bjIC&pg=PA82&lpg=P...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2016-04-08 22:03:21 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

"In a notebook fragment about a writer named Lionel, or Shelly himself, an imaginary critic complains of the difficulty of extracting any central meaning from Lionel's mad, mazelike subtlety" (cited above).

In this context, desgrana might be rendered rather nicely as 'unpacks,' a term commonly used in scholarly writing.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/unpack

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2016-04-08 22:30:43 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Unpack ● a couple of possibly relevant meanings (from different sources at thefreedictionary link above)
4. To decipher; analyse: to unpack a metaphor
4. To explain (a question, issue, etc) by analysing its component parts.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2016-04-09 00:05:48 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Or perhaps, "...unravels/pulls apart/peels back/unearths the layers of archival material"

Any one of these may be a good choice to convey some of the associative load of a term such as 'desgranar' and its allusion to individual parts (o granos) as being in need of analyses or examination.

En cuanto a lo de 'sutileza laberíntica', la referencia en torno a la obra de Shelley sugiere que 'mazelike subtlety' puede ser una muy buena opción en este contexto.

Espero que le sirva, Mónica, y saludos :-)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs (2016-04-09 01:46:25 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Of course, my suggestion could also be written with a hyphen, i.e. maze-like; additionally, 'laberinth-like' could also be an option.

mazelike/maze-like/laberinth-like subtlety with which...
Note from asker:
Thanks, Marcelo!
Something went wrong...
23 hrs

the painstaking way he sifts through the archives

My stab at it, in light of the discussion.
Note from asker:
Thanks, Ormiston.
Something went wrong...
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