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los diluidos individuos barriantes

Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

Vislumbro a los muchachos quebrados en las muñecas

English translation:

I catch a glimpse of the boys with broken wrists

Added to glossary by Marian Vieyra
    The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2017-05-21 15:54:07 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)
May 17, 2017 16:44
7 yrs ago
Spanish term

Vislumbro a los muchachos quebrados en las muñecas

Spanish to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature Experimental Literature
OK, so back with another round of queries... From a novel called 'Por la patria' by Diamela Eltit. Full text is here: http://ww2.educarchile.cl/UserFiles/P0001/File/articles-6661... passage found on pages 206-7.

Context: A woman is being interrogated by a soldier, she lies to him intentionally to protect herself and act innocent, he gets drunk and then (not so obvious, but suspected) she and other women are raped.
Full sentence: "Vislumbro a los muchachos quebrados en las muñecas, las niñas burladas chillando. Sí, empiezo a escuchar quejidos tantos, tan desgarrados como el miserable barrial chileno. Tajeados." (206)

I've been advised that this could be a reference to gays.

My attempt so far have been:
"I make out the limp-wristed guys, the girls that had got out of it screaming. Yes, I begin to hear the many moans. Just as torn up as the miserable Chilean mudpit that some call home"

Any ideas?
Proposed translations (English)
3 I catch a glimpse of the boys with broken wrists
Change log

May 21, 2017 15:56: Marian Vieyra Created KOG entry

Discussion

sw691 (asker) May 18, 2017:
Very good advice. Thank you all!
Cecilia Gowar May 18, 2017:
I do not believe that isolated word has any particular meaning other than the stated "tricked" (including having been seduced by deceit) or "mocked". But if you are going to consult experts you'd better ask them about the whole of this book. I managed to download it yesterday (the link is not working today) and had the quickest of glimpses through it. It is complex, cryptic and difficult to read. I learned the author usually deals with marginal, harassed characters and family and identity issues. In this case she might also deal with transgenders and incest. She also uses slang and has a peculiar narrative style, which needs time and concentration to be understood as well as a first hand knowledge of this particular setting.
sw691 (asker) May 18, 2017:
Hmmmm Very interesting what you say about 'burladas', I think I'm going to ask some literature professors out here in Chile to see if it has a cultural meaning. With regard to 'desgarrar', I think that the same meaning that you've written could also be conveyed by 'torn up' e.g. a man could be 'torn up' after his girlfriend dumped him
Robert Carter May 18, 2017:
Looking at this again, don't you think "niñas burladas" might be another "euphemism" like the "muchachos quebrados en las muñecas", i.e., a pejorative (or insensitive?) way of referring to transwomen? Perhaps it would be worthwhile posting another question about that.
Robert Carter May 17, 2017:
@sw691 As to your interpretation of "burladas" as "having escaped", it is syntactically impossible because it actually means the opposite. If someone is "burlado", it means they have been "tricked" or "deceived". You may have seen the expression "autoridades burladas", where the sense is that someone has tricked or evaded the reach of the authorities. It is as if you were to use "evaded" as a synonym of "evading", when in fact they are antonyms.

To my mind, "desgarrar" here has this meaning:
desgarrar
3. tr. Dicho de una cosa: Causar gran pena o despertar mucha compasión. Aquel suceso le desgarró el corazón.
http://dle.rae.es/?id=D0wiz5a
sw691 (asker) May 17, 2017:
So with regards to context, The soldiers have not been mistreated, but there are repeated attempts by the author to emasculate them, to tak away their honor as manly soldiers. With regards to "burladas", I thought of 'burlar' as in 'to evade', so thought that it might be talking about the women that got out of (esquivaron) the rape that were screaming. With regards to 'desgarrados', I have always understood 'desgarrar' as to 'tear open/rip apart', so 'torn up' to me sounded like a good situation since it also provided an emotional level to the translation
Robert Carter May 17, 2017:
Agree with Cecilia about "niñas burladas". "Desgarrados" doesn't mean "torn up" either.
Cecilia Gowar May 17, 2017:
More context is needed to understand what the author means by that... maybe just that their wrists have been broken. But I do not understand why you translate "niñas burladas" as "girls that got away". That is not what it means.

Proposed translations

45 mins
Selected

I catch a glimpse of the boys with broken wrists

A sugestion. Are these soldiers who have been mistreated? More context needed.

Also, re 'burladas' Wordref does cite 'evade/cheat/slip past as a further meaning.
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