Posted by Sterling on 15/1/2011, 15:18:01, in reply to "Re: The Idiot"
98.71.105.238
Steven, I don't disagree with these expressions as literary shortcuts, but it seems strange to me that you don't know what "screwed up eyes" are or have never seen anyone pale. Occasionally, I see people either pale or flush as a response. I have certainly felt blood rush to my face or drain from it. As to "screwed up eyes," this is defined online as to "scrunch up eyes when viewing" and is related to squint. Not all that odd to me (he said with a shrug).
--Previous Message--
: I've been reading The Idiot , am just into Part 2 and
: enjoying it very much. I assume that at least
: Guillermo will be reading it as well, since he was the
: one who nominated it.
:
: I'm reading the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation. They
: appear to have taken pains to make it a very literal
: translation even when the result is phrases that sound
: unnatural in English (e.g. a character referring to
: his father as "my parent" rather than
: "my father.")
:
: I don't recall any ironic glances, but I'll watch for
: them. To me this sounds similar to phrases such as
: "he paled at the thought," "he shrugged
: in reply," or "she screwed up her
: eyes." I've never seen anyone pale, I've rarely
: seen anyone shrug, and I have no idea what screwed up
: eyes would look like, but it sounds terribly painful.
: I wouldn't know how to describe an "ironic
: glance" either. These expressions are a
: conveniently brief way to represent a combination of
: subtle verbal clues, facial expressions, gestures and
: body language. Or in some cases maybe nothing is
: visible, but the author is just using these shortcuts
: to tell us how the character feels.
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