à la vie - here

English translation: for Life

22:53 Apr 19, 2021

French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting / Artist's philosophy

French term or phrase: à la vie - here

In a quotation from an artist about his approach to painting. No context to the quotation, but this is the whole short paragraph: "« Ce qui explique que, comme en Normandie, à Venise, à New- York, à Abidjan, ces lieux gorgés d'humidité, je peux à Saint- Rémy, sur ce motif apparemment immuable : " Les oliviers devant St Paul " continuer ma chasse à la lumière, aux nuages en mouvement aux reflets mouvants... à la vie. Et pour moi, chaque toile est une nouvelle aventure »" What is the sense of "à la vie" here? For life (ie for the whole of my life)? Thanks for any help.

Nicky Over KudoZ activity Questions: 375 (1 open) (32 closed without grading) Answers: 58 United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22

English translation:for Life

Explanation:
For me, it is the literal meaning which I would write with a capital ''L'' if there is no objection.
'' Ce qui explique...Je peux.....continuer ma chasse à la lumière, aux nuages en mouvement aux reflets mouvants... à la vie.'' His pursuit is light and light connotes life. Light changes according to times of the day and of the night and of particularly humid venues such as Normandie, Venise, New- York, Abidjan. These changes of light impact colours to appear in different shades and hues. Such is life, too.

Selected response from:

Saeed Najmi
Morocco
Local time: 08:22

Grading comment

Thanks for your help.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +10

life itself

Helen Shiner

4 +5

for Life

Saeed Najmi

3 +2

for experience

Conor McAuley

to depict a reflection/depict reflections of life

Barbara Cochran, MFA

Discussion entries: 7

Answers

58 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +5

for Life

Saeed Najmi
Morocco
Local time: 08:22
Native speaker of:

Arabic,

French
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Thanks for your help.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Carol Gullidge: Although no need to capitalise, IMO!

7 hrs

-> Thank you

agree

Nikki Scott-Despaigne: Works too in context. I like Suzie Withers suggestion of "for life itself". Without the capital, as Carol points out. ;-) I thought it was a typo but now see it is a deliberate choice. I consider that there is nothing to justify it here.

10 hrs

-> Thanks. The capital L is for emphasis as the text shows a progression that culminates with the term "life".

agree

Mpoma: disagree with your choice of the capital L: this works in English pretty much as it does in French.

16 hrs

-> Thanks.

agree

philgoddard: This is fine, minus the capital L, but I think Helen's version is an improvement.

1 day 18 hrs

-> Thanks philgoddard. It is an infringement to the rules but it is meant to have the same emphatic effect as Helen's suggestion.

agree

Lucy Teasdale

2 days 14 hrs

-> Thanks Lucy

1 hr confidence:

to depict a reflection/depict reflections of life

Explanation:
My interpretation.

Barbara Cochran, MFA
United States
Local time: 03:22
Native speaker of:

English

11 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +10

life itself

Explanation:
Portraying the olive trees are a means for the artist to capture light ... and life itself.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 hrs (2021-04-20 10:14:53 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

See my discussion entry. I have added ‘itself’ because the way à la vie sits at the end of the sentence suggests the culmination intended.

Helen Shiner
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 348

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Suzie Withers

7 mins

-> Thank you, Suzie

agree

SafeTex

1 hr

-> Thanks, SafeTex

agree

writeaway

1 hr

-> Thanks, writeaway

agree

Yvonne Gallagher: of course

1 hr

-> Thanks, Yvonne ;-)

agree

Victoria Britten

3 hrs

-> Thanks, Victoria

agree

Sandra & Kenneth Grossman

3 hrs

-> Thank you, Sandra & Kenneth

agree

Cyril Tollari

3 hrs

-> Thank you, Cyril

agree

Heather Langdale

5 hrs

-> Thank you, Heather

neutral

Mpoma: The French doesn't see any need to put "elle-même", so this strikes me as reading too much into the French, disambiguating when the numinous, ambivalent feel should be preserved.

5 hrs

-> That’s up to Nicky to decide - she can see the whole sentence, but to my eyes the sentence builds to that culmination.

agree

philgoddard

1 day 7 hrs

-> Thanks, Phil

agree

Saeed Najmi: Your answer and mine are similar, we just rendered the idea of "the real life" differently.

1 day 10 hrs

-> Thanks, Saeed Najmi - it’ll doubtless depend on how the rest of the sentence is translated. My answer is a follow-up to my discussion entry. There were no other answers then.

12 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

for experience

Explanation:
"chasse à [...] à la vie" The "à la" construction is repeated, and applies to "la vie" as well.

Emphasised, I think, by "une nouvelle aventure".

chasse > my quest?

You could go literal, but I think that would be an unpoetic option in the context.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 mins (2021-04-19 23:07:55 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Experience in a broad sense, obviously.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 hrs (2021-04-20 11:47:36 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

"I went out there
In search of ***experience***
To taste and to touch
And to feel as much as a man can
Before he repents"

- The Wanderer, Johnny Cash

Conor McAuley
France
Local time: 09:22
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

mrrafe: For experience, I think. "For life" could mean "for survival," which isn't the intention.

30 mins

-> Thanks mrrafe!

agree

Nikki Scott-Despaigne: I like "experience". Cf. Phil, in context "for life" wld work. It's a statement of the person's approach. Others terms come to mind such as the inevitable "découverte", "ouverture", etc. Other syn. wld work, dep. on o/all style of the translation.

10 hrs

-> Thanks Nikki!

neutral

Helen Shiner: How does this relate to les oliviers? / It’s not about symbolism, but what, in painting this motif, he is seeking to capture.

11 hrs

-> I don't see the olive trees as the important element in the sentence, there's no symbolism. / I see what you mean now. We have two slightly different interpretations -- I am suggesting an artistic AND a personal quest, I think that is implied.

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