July 13, 2009
Learning Russian through music
Vitas: My Swan (Лебедь мой) with English and Chinese translations. Here also a Chinese translation.
Opera No.2 with Russian lyrics. And English lyrics.
Vitas Russian lyrics transcribed into Roman alphabet.
For Russian alphabet, see here.
Below are the lyrics to My Swan – Лебедь мой.
Four lines, three of which are hidden in white for my Russian alphabet practice while listening:
Russian
Pronunciation
Word by word translation in original order
English translation
Лебедь мой, он был лишь мой
Lebed’ moj, on byl lish’ moj
Swan mine, he was only mine
Swan of mine, he was just mine
Он был зимой со мною, лебедь мой
On byl zimoj so mnoiu, lebed’ moj
He was winter with me, swan mine.
He was in winter with me, swan of mine
А весной он загрустил
A vesnoj on zagrustil
Spring he sad
And in spring he turned sad
Я отпустил: лети, лети там над облаками
Ia otpustil: leti, leti tam nad oblakami
I let: fly, fly there over clouds
I let him go… Fly! He is flying above the clouds…
Чужой он среди людей
Chuzhoj on sredi liudej
Stranger he among people
A stranger among human beings…
Ты любовь не трожь руками
Ty liubov’ ne trozh’ rukami
You love not trozh’ hands
Don’t touch love with your hands
И не стреляй в лебедей
I ne streliaj v lebedej
And (do) not shoot at swans
And never shoot at swans!
Лебедь мой, он был ручной
Lebed’ moj, on byl ruchnoj
Swan mine, he was tame
Swan of mine, he was tamed
Он был зимой со мною, лебедь мой
On byl zimoj so mnoiu, lebed’ moj
He was winter with me, swan mine
He was earthly with me, swan of mine
Золотой последний снег
Zolotoj poslednij sneg
Gold last snow
The last golden snow…
Лети для всех, лети, лети там над облаками
Leti dlia vsekh, leti, leti tam nad oblakami
Fly for all, fly, fly there over clouds
Fly for all of us, fly! He is flying above the clouds…
Чужой он среди людей
Chuzhoj on sredi liudej
Stranger he amond people
A stranger among human beings…
Ты любовь не трожь руками
Ty liubov’ ne trozh’ rukami
You love not trozh’ hands
Don’t touch love with your hands
И не стреляй в лебедей
I ne streliaj v lebedej
And (do) not shoot at swans
And never shoot at swans!
Время, стой, последний круг
Vremia, stoj, poslednij krug
Time, stop, last range
Stop, time! It’s the last circle…
Последний друг уходит – лебедь мой
Poslednij drug ukhodit – lebed’ moj
Last friend leaves – swan mine
My last friend is leaving, swan of mine
Всей душой тебя любя
Vsej dushoj tebia liubia
All soul you loving
Loving you with all my soul
Прошу тебя – лети, лети там над облаками
Proshu tebia – leti, leti tam nad oblakami
I (ask) you – fly, fly there over clouds
I am asking you: Fly! He is flying above the clouds…
Чужой он среди людей
Chuzhoj on sredi liudej
Stranger he among people
A stranger among human beings…
Ты любовь не трожь руками
Ty liubov’ ne trozh’ rukami
You love not trozh’ hands
Don’t touch love with your hands
И не стреляй в лебедей
I ne streliaj v lebedej
And (do) not shoot at swans
And never shoot at swans!
Лети там над облаками
Leti tam nad oblakami
Fly there above clouds
He is flying above the clouds…
Чужой он среди людей
Chuzhoj on sredi liudej
Stranger he among people
A stranger among human beings…
Ты любовь не трожь руками
Ty liubov’ ne trozh’ rukami
You love not trozh’ hands
Don’t touch love with your hands
И не стреляй в лебедей
I ne streliaj v lebedej
And (do) not shoot at swans
And never shoot at swans!
И не стреляй в лебедей
I ne streliaj v lebedej
And (do) not shoot at swans
And never shoot at swans!
Opera no.2 – Опера № 2
Дом мой достроен, Но я в нем один.
Dom moj dostroen, no ya v nem odin
Хлопнула дверь за спиной
Hlopnula dver’ za spinoj
Ветер осенний стучится в окно
Veter osennij stuchitsya v okno
Плачет опять надо мной.
Plachet opyat’ nado mnoj
Ночью гроза, А на утро туман.
Noch’yu groza, a nautro tuman
Солнце остыло совсем.
Solnce ostylo sovsem.
Давние боли Идут чередой.
Davnie boli idut cheredoj
Пусть собираются все.
Pust’ sobirayutsya vse
Дом мой достроен, Но я в нем один.
Dom moj dostroen, no ya v nem odin
Хлопнула дверь за спиной.
Hlopnula dver’ za spinoj
Ветер осенний стучится в окно
Veter osennij stuchitsya v okno
Плачет опять надо мной.
Plachet opyat’ nado mnoj
Это судьба, а судьбу не могу
E`to – sud’ba, a sud’bu ne mogu
Ya ni o chem prosit’
Tol’ko ya znayu, kak posle menya
Stanut vetra golosit’
Learning Italian through music
Andrea Boccelli: Con Te Partirò (on Youtube with English and Italian lyrics)
Learning Spanish through music
Volare with translation.
Pienso que un sueno parecido no volvera mas
I think that a dream like this will never come again
Y me pintaba las manos y la cara de azul
and I painted my hands and face blue
Y me improviso el viento rapido me llevo
and all of a sudden the wind quickly took me away
Y me hizo a volar en el cielo infinito
and made me fly into the infinite sky
Volare, oh oh (Italian)
I’ll fly, oh, oh
Cantare, oh oh oh oh (Italian)
I’ll sing, oh, oh, oh, oh
Nel blu dipinto di blu (Italian)
blue, painted in blue
Felice di stare lassu (Italian)
I’m happy to be there
Y volando, volando feliz
and flying, happily flying
Yo me encuentro mas alto
and I find myself higher
Mas alto que el sol
higher than the son
Y mienstras que el mundo
while the world
Se aleja despacio de mi
slowly moves away from me
Una musica dulce
a sweet music
Se ha tocada solo para mi
has been played only for me
July 10, 2009
Learning Elvish
Just starting out with basic facts:
Old Elvish is called Quenya, colloquial “modern” Elvish is Sindarin.
Tengwar is the script with which Elvish is written.
April 12, 2009
Familiale
La mere fait du tricot
Le fils fait la guerre
Elle trouve ca tout naturel la mere
Et le pere qu’est-ce qu’il fait le pere?
Il fait des affaires
Sa femme fait du tricot
Son fils la guerre
Lui des affaires
Il trouve ca tout naturel le pere
Et le fils et le fils
Qu’est-ce qu’il trouve le fils?
Il ne trouve rien absolument rien le fils
Le fils sa mere fait du tricot son pere des affaires lui la guerre
Quand il aura fini la guerre
Il fera des affaires avec son pere
La guerre continue la mere continue elle tricote
La pere continue il fait des affaires
Le fils est tue il ne continue plus
Le pere et la mere vont au cimetiere
Ils trouvent ca naturel le pere et la mere
La vie continue la vie avec le tricot la guerre les affaires
Les affaires la guerre le tricot la guerre
Les affaires les affaires et les affaires
La vie avec le cimetiere.
(Jacques Prevert)
April 11, 2009
Pour toi mon amour
Je suis alle’ au marche’ aux oiseaux
Et j’ai achete’ des oiseaux
Pour toi
mon amour
Je suis alle’ au marche’ aux fleurs
Et j’ai achete’ des fleurs
Pour toi
mon amour
Je suis alle’ au marche’ ‘a la ferraille
Et j’ai achete’ des chaines
De lourdes chaines
Pour toi
mon amour
Et puis je suis alle’ au marche’ aux esclaves
Et je t’ai cherche’e
Mais je ne t’ai pas trouve’e
mon amour
(Jacques Prevert)
August 12, 2008
Recent reads
Japanese language
Tanizaki Junichirou
In ei rai san
Chijin no ai
Yukiguni
Natsume Souseki
Kokoro
Kawabata Yasunari
Yama no oto
Sakaguchi Ango
Darakuron
Akutagawa Ryuunosuke
Rashoumon
Torokko
To Shishun
Hana
etc. short stories
Yu Miri
Kazoku Cinema (Family Cinema)
Oooka Shouhei
Nobi (Field Fires)
Murakami Haruki
Norway no mori (Norwegian Wood)
Dance Dance Dance
Hitsuji wo meguru bouken (Sheep Adventure)
Sekai no owari to hardboiled wonderland (The End of the World and the Hardboiled Wonderland)
1973 nen no natsu no pinball (Pinball of Summer 1973)
Kaze no uta wo kike (Listen to the Wind’s Song)
Ooe Kensaburou
Hiroshima nooto (Hiroshima Notes)
Shisha no ogori
Dazai Osamu
Shayou
Ningen Shikkaku
German language
Max Frisch
Homo Faber
Stiller
Hermann Hesse
Siddharta
Das Glasperlenspiel (The Glass Bead Game)
Steppenwolf
French language
Albert Camus
L’etranger
Russian literature (translated)
Dostoyevsky
Crime and Punishment
English language
John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men
J.D.Salinger
Catcher in the Rye
Shakespeare
Macbeth
Norman Mailer
The Naked and the Dead
Executioner’s Song
April 4, 2008
August 18, 2006
L’existentialisme est un humanisme
Nous entendons par existentialisme une doctrine qui rend la vie humaine possible et qui, par ailleurs, déclare que toute vérité et toute action impliquent un milieu et une subjectivité humaine. Le reproche essentiel qu’on nous fait, on le sait, c’est de mettre l’accent sur le mauvais côté de la vie humaine.
Jean-Paul Sartre
August 8, 2006
Boris Vian, citations aléatoires (random citations)
Le plus clair de mon temps, je le passe à l’obscurcir. (I spend my clearest time blurring it away.)
J’ai le fâcheux travers de ne me satisfaire que de l’ultime. Aussi comprendrez-vous que je sois toujours mécontent. (I have the annoying characteristic of being satisfied only by the ultimate. You must understand how discontended I always am.)
Personellement dans mes classements, j’ai toujours un tiroir étiqueté “choses inclassables ailleurs”. Tiroir qui est extrêmement commode. Il y a beaucoup de choses dedans et c’est souvent parmi les choses les plus amusantes, justement parce que ce sont les choses exceptionnelles et, comme tout bon pataphysicien, ce qui m’intrésse c’est l’exception, le cas général pouvant être considéré comme une exception non exceptionnelle et par conséquent sans aucun intérêt. (In my categorization of things, I always have one drawer labeled “other inclassifiable things”. That drawer is very convenient. There are many things in that drawer, and they are often some of the most amusing things, exactly because they are exceptional things, and like any good pataphysician, what interests me is the exception, the general case being and unexceptional exception and therefore without any interest.)
Il est beaucoup moins indécent de coucher ensemble que de se regarder dans les yeux. (It is much less indecent to sleep together that to look each other in the eyes.)
Pour qu’il y ait passion, c’est-à-dire réaction explosive, il faut que l’union soit brutale, que l’un des corps soit très avide de ce dont il est privé et que l’autre possède en très grande quantité. (For there to be passion, that is to say explosive reaction, the union has to be brutal, that one of the bodies is very keen on that which is private and the other possesses is great quantities.)
Chez une femme, la beauté est signe de modestie. (In a woman, beauty is a sign of modesty.)
Pourquoi les chanteuses jolies sont-elles toujours mariées au saxo-ténor de l’orchestre? Et est-ce pour ca que tout le monde joue du saxo-ténor? (Why are the pretty singers always married with the sax-tenor of the orchestra? And is this the reason why everyone plays the sax-tenor?)
Les femmes compliquent la vie des hommes pour obliger ceux-ci à la simplifier et entretenir en eux la flamme créatrice. (Women complicate the lives of men in order to have them simplify it, and to maintain in themselves the creative flame.)
Quant à être galant… si on admet l’égalité de l’homme et de la femme, la politesse suffit et l’on n’a pas de raison de traiter une femme plus politement qu’un homme. (As of being gentlemanly… if we admit to equality of man and woman, politeness is enough and we have no reason to treat a woman more politely than a man.)
Ce qui compte, ce n’est pas le bonheur de tout le monde, c’est le bonheur de chacun. (What counts is not the happiness of everyone, it is be happiness of each one.)
On se rappelle beucoup mieux les bons moments; alors, à quoi servent les mauvais? (One recalls much better the good moments; so what are the bad ones for?)
On passe sa vie à romancer les motifs et à simplifier les faits. (One passes one’s life romanticizing the motives and simplifying the facts.)
July 31, 2006
Cantonese
Cantonese particles and key vocab: o既 ke33 (genitive), o地 tei22 (as in 我o地), o刺 la33 (an exclamation), o系 hai35 (is located), 系 hai22 (is, to be), o个 ko35 (as in o个度)
Some useful (?) basic sayings:
上课soeng foo, 多的讲doo dit keng,韩语hoonyuu,部分boufen，集中zapzhong,学习hogsap,最近zoeigam,复习fok zap,已经yii geng,资料tzii liu，语言yu_yam,必须bit soei,太懒了 taai laan le,生日saang yatt,后生 hausaang,一暂 yad zan (过一会),录音log yam,(别送了 m sai soong la),多得doo dak,我返左工,泰医生，药yoek,屋企okkhei,laau,maaai yeeee, 10 fan zhong etc etc…
tau sîn, ngaam ngaam, ngaam sîn (a while ago)
zôi gan (recently)
fât yamm (pronunciation)
sôn hou (signal, as in, your mobile phone signal is bad)
okkhei (home)
sap fan zhung (10 minutes)
laau (angry)
gam maan (tonight)
gen ju (and then)
maâi yê (buy stuff)
ha_ng gâai (walk on the street)
lo_k gâai (go out on the street)
li yât zî (this time)
i go buy stuff =我要去買D野
i will start talking to myself in cantonese = 我會開始同自己講廣東話
my company wants me to take photos in Asia = 我既公司希望我係亞洲影D相
they will put the photos in our presentation material and perhaps some brochures = 佢地會擺d相 公開資料度,,或者會擺 d小冊子度
i want to open an account in a bank = 我想係銀行開go戶口
我地 we, ngo dei
乜ye what, mat ye
o黎 come, lai
聖誕節 Christmas, seng daan jit
你唔好逼我出絕招！ Don’t force me to use my ultimate attack on you! lei m’hou ? ngo choet ? ?
睇下先。 let’s see first, tai ha si’n
我唔啱你（对）适合 。 ngo m ngaam lei ? ?
有冇大啲嘅size? do you have a bigger size, yao mou daai di ge size?
唔该，你知唔知边度有按摩嘅地方？ excuse me, do you know where to find a massage place? m goi, lei ji m ji bin dou yao an mo ge dei fong?
做咩呀佢？what is he doing? zuo me a khoei?
教我有用嘅廣東话。 teach me some useful cantonese. gaau ngo yao yong ge gong dong waa.
你今晚想去邊？ 想做啲咩呀？ where do you want to fo tonight? what do you want to do? lei gam man soeng hoei bin? soeng zuo di me a?
我諗／想去睇戏。 我想去睇戏呀。唔，我諗下先啦 i think/want to watch a movie. i want to go to see a movie. no, i will think about it first. ngo lam/soeng hoei tai hei. ngo soeng hoei tai hei a. m, wo lam ha siin la.
我依家去睇戏 i am going to see a movie now. ngo yi ga hoei tai hei.
戏院。 movie theatre. hei yun.
仲（zhom？）有咩？ what else? zhom yau me?
你有D咩啊？你想要D咩啊？ what do you have? what do you want? lei yau di me a? lei soeng yiu di me a?
仲（zhom？）有啲咩？ what else do you have? zhom yao di me?
baa lau都咁嘅了 (I am always like this) 我不溜都系甘噶啦 ngo baat lau dou hai gam ? la
我成日都係咁 我不嬲都係咁 ??
成日用嘅 usually/always used. seeng yat yong ge.
搵／揾。 search. wan.
呢度嘅电视广告好多 tv here has so many commercials. ni dou ge diin sii gong gou? hou do
揾机会讲廣東话。 look for opportunities to speak Cantonese. wan gei wui gong gong dong wa.
学讲白话。 learn to speak Cantonese. hok gong bak wa.
你话呢 ？ what do you say? lei wa le?
see daan le。是但啦 whatever you say.
乜都无所谓，是但啦 whatever goes, whatever you say. mat dou ？？？ see daan le
你鍾意啦。你讲算。 whatever you like. what you say goes. lei zong yi la. lei gong suyn.
我觉得。 i think/feel. ngo gok dak.
我可以每日都用廣東話唸嘢 i think (to myself) in Cantonese every day. ngo ho yi mui yat dou yong gong dong wa lam ye.
對唔住，我要寫D嘢先 sorry, i have to write something (now). doei m ju, ngo yiu seh di ye siin.
我希望 到一月底 就識講一D廣東話，一D有用o既，平時成日都要講o既廣東話 i hope by the end of January to be able to speak some Cantonese, some useful Cantonese, Cantonese that is spoken daily. ngo hei mang dou yat yut dei(?) jau sik gong yat di gong dong wa, yat di yau yong ge, peng si seeng yat dou yiu gong ge gong dong wa.
電視都無嘢睇，仲有幾個鐘頭先到紐約機場，好悶呀 there is nothing to watch on tv, there are still several hours to go before we land in New York, so boring. diin sii dou mou ye tai, zhom yau gei go zong tou seen dou Niu Yoek gei choeng, hou mun a.
July 28, 2006
Jacques Prévert, French poems
La Belle Saison
A jeun perdue glacée
Toute seule sans un sou
Une fille de seize ans
Immobile debout
Place de la Concorde
A midi le Quinze Août.
Le Jardin
Des milliers et des milliers d’années
Ne sauraient suffire
Pour dire
Le petite seconde d’éternité
Où tu m’as embrassé
Où je t’ai embrassée
Un matin dans la lumière de l’hiver
Au parc Montsouris à Paris
A Paris
Sur la terre
La terre qui est un astre.
July 27, 2006
近日要開始用廣東話写0野 Starting to write in Cantonese today
就系一個學語言嘅辦法。 It’s just a method of learning language.
問題系我電腦冇繁體字或者廣東話字嘅輸入法! The problem is my computer does not have a traditional character nor Cantonese character input system!
今晚我讀左3本書:一本系老子道德经,另外系法國詩集同法國小說。 Tonight I browsed 3 books: one on Laozi Dao De Jing, one French poetry collection, and a French novel.
跟住呢，我就開始系0尼度收集一下廣東話嘅歌词啦。Will also start to collect some Cantonese song lyrics here.
我试一下翻译成英文。 I try to make an English translation *will improve it later.
歌曲:金银岛 Gold and Silver Island
歌手:容祖儿 Joey Yung
带备结他 半夜借去了魔女的扫把
Carrying a guitar, borrowing a witch’s broom at midnight
跟飞天猪放假 逃难禁锢去吧
On holiday with the Flying Pig of Heaven, go ahead and (??)
吃啖雪芭 与大鸟斗快飞 飞出老家
Eating… (??)
巡逻风之谷一次 秘密配制钥匙
Go once round the Valley of Wind, have a key secretly made (?)
不想够钟归家 不想再听废话
Don’t want to go home in time, don’t want to listen to any more nonsense
公主可会赏识我吗 不想上锁 我要疯癫疯一下
But will the prince recognize me? I don’t want to be locked up, I want (??)
人人逃走 这是最轰动大潮流 全体快踏上金银岛
People are running, in a tumultous torrent, stepping on the Gold Silver Island (?)
全城寻宝 你投痒 天都可以偷 不需要怕丑
The whole city is searching for the treasure. You give up to the urge. Even the heaven can be stolen. No need to be coy
人人逃走 要尽快赶及大潮流 何必坐定去等电话
People are running, trying to quickly join the torrent; what’s the use of sitting waiting for the phone to ring?
全城寻宝 我共你今晚起势偷 抢不到不放手
The whole city is searching for the treasure. (??)
到达了吗 要共你说说JY式笑话
Have you arrived? I want to joke with you (??)
狮子邀请你去齐齐跳跳舞吧
The Lion invites you to dance
要你狂嗌哗 你抱住你藏宝箱锁了吗
(??)
谁人想打开一试 马上送上钥匙
If someone wants to open it, send the key immediately.
火鬼放出烟花 攻击我的扫把
The devil of fire blasts fireworks to attack my broom.
身体都已布满沙 仙女散花 有你欢呼都不怕
(??)
人人逃走 这是最轰动大潮流 全体快踏上金银岛
People are running, in a tumultous torrent, stepping on the Gold Silver Island (?)
全城寻宝 你投痒 想偷请你偷 不需要怕丑
The whole city is searching for the treasure. You give up to the urge. Even the heaven can be stolen. No need to be coy
人人逃走 要尽快赶及大潮流 全身进入我金银岛
People are running, trying to quickly join the torrent; wholly entering my Island of Gold and Silver.
平时场面太闷 我打开这缺口 通宵也不放手
(??)
March 18, 2006
Kafka quotes translated more
Found this: www.kafka.org for “publishing online all Kafka texts in German, according to the manuscripts.” Pretty cool, considering that K. wanted all his papers burnt unread. Talk about copyright there :D
Maurice Blanchot has written some interesting stuff on Kafka. I believe it was in the book L’Entretien infini. Working on that one now…
Some favorite K. quotes…
Es ist hier die Redensart, vielleicht kennst du sie: “Amtliche Entscheidungen sind scheu wie junge Mädchen”. “Das ist eine gute Beobachtung”, sagte K., er nahm es noch ernster als Olga, “eine gute Beobachtung, die Entscheidungen mögen noch andere Eigenschaften mit Mädchen gemeinsam haben.” – “Vielleicht”, sagte Olga. “Ich weiß freilich nicht, wie du es meinst. Vielleicht meinst du es gar lobend.” (Das Schloss)
We have a saying which suits this situation, maybe you know it: “Administrative decisions are shy like young maidens”. “That’s a good observation”, said K. who took it even more seriously than Olga, “a good observation, and the decisions may well have even more qualities in common with young maidens.” “Maybe”, said Olga. “Although I am not sure how you mean it. Maybe you mean it even as a compliment.” (The Castle)
Es ist als hätte der behördliche Apparat die Spannung, die jahrelange Aufreizung durch die gleiche vielleicht an sich geringfügige Angelegenheit nicht mehr ertragen und aus sich selbst heraus ohne Mithilfe der Beamten die Entscheidung getroffen. (Das Schloss)
It was as if the small question, quite unimportant in itself, had totally worn out the patience of the administrative organization over the years, and the organization had reached a decision all by itself without any participation by the officials. (The Castle)
On shame and guilt:
Und was taten wir unterdessen? Das Schlimmste was wir hätten tun können, etwas wofür wir gerechter hätten verachtet werden dürfen, als wofür es wirklich geschah – wir verrieten Amalia, wir rissen uns los von ihrem schweigenden Befehl, wir konnten nicht mehr so weiter leben, ganz ohne Hoffnung konnten wir nicht leben und wir begannen, jeder auf seine Art, das Schloß zu bitten oder zu bestürmen, es möge uns verzeihn. Wir wußten zwar, daß wir nicht imstande waren etwas gutzumachen, wir wußten auch, daß die einzige hoffnungsvolle Verbindung, die wir mit dem Schlosse hatten, die Sortinis, des unserem Vater geneigten Beamten, eben durch die Ereignisse uns unzugänglich geworden war, trotzdem machten wir uns an die Arbeit.
And what did we do in this situation? Wir did the worst thing we could have done, and it would have been more justified to despise us for this rather what we actually were despised for – we abandoned Amalia, we tore ourselves away from her silent command, we could no longer live that way – without hope – and we all started to beg in our various ways for the Castle to forgive us. But we knew that we could not achieve anything, and we knew also that our only promising contact with the Castle, the officials Sortini who were positively inclined towards our father, were now unreachable due to what had happened. But we still made the effort.
Der Vater begann, es begannen die sinnlosen Bittwege zum Vorsteher, zu den Sekretären, den Advokaten, den Schreibern, meistens wurde er nicht empfangen und wenn er durch List oder Zufall doch empfangen wurde, – wie jubelten wir bei solcher Nachricht und rieben uns die Hände – wurde er äußerst schnell abgewiesen und nie wieder empfangen. Es war auch allzu leicht ihm zu antworten, das Schloß hat es immer so leicht. Was wollte er denn? Was war ihm geschehn? Wofür wollte er eine Verzeihung? Wann und von wem war denn im Schloß auch nur ein Finger gegen ihn gerührt worden? …er beklage sich ja nicht wegen der Verarmung, alles, was er hier verloren habe, wolle er leicht wieder einholen, das alles sei nebensächlich, wenn ihm nur verziehen würde.
Father started the futile begging rounds with representatives, secretaries, lawyers, scribes; for the most part they did not receive him, and when he sometimes got an audience by chance or negligence – how we celebrated such news and rubbed our hands – he was promptly dismissed and never received again. It was also easy to answer him, the Castle has it always easy. What did he want? What had happened to him? What did he want forgiveness of? When and by whom from the Castle had he been harmed in any way? …he was not complaining about the poverty, all that he had lost he could easily gain again and that was beside the point; all he wanted was to be forgiven.
Aber was solle ihm denn verziehen werden? antwortete man ihm, eine Anzeige sei bisher nicht eingelaufen, wenigstens stehe sie noch nicht in den Protokollen, zumindest nicht in den der advokatorischen Öffentlichkeit zugänglichen Protokollen, infolgedessen sei auch, soweit es sich feststellen lasse, weder etwas gegen ihn unternommen worden, noch sei etwas im Zuge. Könne er vielleicht eine amtliche Verfügung nennen, die gegen ihn erlassen worden sei? Das konnte der Vater nicht. Oder habe ein Eingriff eines amtlichen Organes stattgefunden? Davon wußte der Vater nicht. Nun also wenn er nichts wisse und wenn nichts geschehen sei, was wolle er denn? Was könne ihm verziehen werden? (Das Schloss)
But what could be forgiven to him? it was said to him. No official notice had been given, or at least such a notice had not been recorded in the official protocols, at least not in the protocols accessible by the lawyers, and therefore it could be concluded that no examination or trial against him had been conducted nor was in process. Could he perhaps name some official action that had been taken against him? No, father could not. Or had some office taken measures concerning him? Father did not know of any. Well, if he knew of none and nothing had happened, what did he want? What could be forgiven to him?
Now having finished “Das Schloss”, I had an idea that a lot of the book’s themes could be connected to chapter 22. Lots of stuff happens there that sort of tie up loose ends in the narrative and give the reader a climax that then tapers off towards the end of the book. At least this was my experience. It would be interesting to start reading the whole thing at chapter 22 then just proceed to the previous chapters one by one… Thus unraveling the book from the wrong end. One more question remains of course: what did Gerstäcker’s mother say?
