Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Pada ata lane - A Message Lost in Translation

The answer to all of this, I believe, is on pg. 293 of the novel. I had to finish it to figure out what was trying to be said here, and I'm still not even sure if any of these are right, but I'm glad I had not finished the novel until just yesterday, because I'm sure that the "Goldsworth lane" mentioned on 293 would have flown right by (also, Sexson was so adamant that we pay close attention to the details on this page.... the button being shot off, etc.). Also, on page 45 it talks about how Hazel liked to twist words: pot top, spider redips, powder was red wop. I think there are literally hundreds of interpretations of the following lines. I have a few stabs at the meaning of the ghostly words below. Feel free to make what you will with them, or fix where I went wrong:


pada ata lane pad not ogo old wart alan ther tale feur far rant lant tal told

pada at a lane pad not to go old wart alan ther tale for atalanta told

pada, to a lane pad not to gold wart, atalanta for atalanta hold

padre, to a lane step not to goldwart, alas there tale for far atalanta hold

father, to a lane step not to Goldwort, alas there your tale so far atalanta hold

translated to:

father, do not go to Goldworths lane, alas there the tale so far the atalanta will hold

or

pada ata lane pad not ogo old wart alan ther tale feur far rant lant tal told

pader, atalanta ped not to go oldwart all after tale fire for atalanta told

father, atalanta foot (ped is foot, as in pedestrian or pedal) not to goldsworth all after your tale fire for atalanta told

father, atalanta walk not to goldsworth all after your tale of fire for the atalanta told

father, walk not to the atalanta at goldsworth all after your tale of fire for the atalanta told me

transcribed:

father should not walk to the atalanta at Goldworth's lane at all after his tale of fire, for the atalanta told me

or

(this one I did right after class on Tuesday, before I finished the final pages of the novel, I don't believe it to be as accurate as the others, but the meaning behind it is eerily close to something that may be related to multiple characters in the novel.... but trying to pull words that sounded like the words on the page (like Sexson's favorite Ladle Rat Rotten Hut) lead me to this interpretation)


pada ata lane pad not ogo old wart alan ther tale feur far rant lant tal told

peda ta lean ped not go old wirt al anther til far farran lant tel told

pita to lean pud not go old with all answer til far foreign lantern told

pita to lean but not go old with all answer til far foreign lantern told

pida to lean but not go old with all answers till far foreign land turn told

pita to learn but not go old with all answers till far foreign land turns told

pity to learn but not go old with all answers till a far foreign land turns cold


translated:

pity to learn but not get old with all answers till a far foreign land turns cold


As you can see, I can't help but pull father out of pada (in the first two), cause it just sounds like the Spanish word for father (padre), but also Latin and many other languages use p at the beginning of their words for father. Also, the mention of an atalanta can not be overlooked, as well as Goldsworth's lane. Everything else I believe can be left to ones own imagination and interpretations. Please let me know of anything else I might have missed here. ;)

1 comment:

  1. Wow! You've obviously done a GREAT deal of work on this and it shows. I think all the interpretations of those words are valid. The last one struck me in particular though. Shade wants to learn the why of life, the why of Hazel's death, to divine the mysteries of a questionable afterlife. We talked about how Hazel may have killed herself to learn about the afterlife. to die..."with all answers". Also I think the second part is valid as well. Zembla turned cold for its king. Kinbote turned cold for Shade. I really enjoyed thinking about all the possibilities. Nice work!

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