This is my own translation of the phrase:
"Do you like this garden of yours? See to it that your children do
not destroy it."
Here you'll find a discussion of the phrase as it is presented in
"Under the Volcano," and as properly translated:
"The mescal-fuddled protagonist, Geoffrey Firmin, crudely translates a
public garden-sign?s stern interrogatory directive -
(LE GUSTA ESTE JARDIN?
(QUE ES SUTO?
(EVITE QUE SUS HIJOS LO DESTRUYAN!
- as 'You Like This Garden? Why is it yours? We evict those who
destroy!' And then reflects, 'Perhaps the sign didn?t mean quite that
- for alcohol sometimes affected the ex-Consul?s Spanish adversely (or
perhaps the sign itself, inscribed by some Aztec, was wrong) - but it
was near enough.'
In her film treatment of Under the Volcano, Lowry?s second wife,
Margerie Bonner Lowry, provided a more accurate translation: 'You Like
This Garden that is yours? See that your children [hijos] do not
destroy it.'
The verb evitar means 'avoid', not 'evict': hence, alternatively,
'prevent your children from destroying it.' In other words, far from
being warned against trespassing, the parent is encouraged to accept
responsibility for the civic maintenance of a public amenity. The sign
is not a hostile challenge but an invitation - which, however, carries
with it, as Eden should have done, an admonition: do not transgress!"
Revisiting the Sources: The "Other" Art of Allan Harding MacKay
http://www.ccca.ca/c/writing/s/stacey/stacey002t.html
My Google search strategy:
Google Web Search: "le gusta este jardin" "malcolm lowry"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22le+gusta+este+jardin%22+%22malcolm+lowry%22
I hope this is precisely what you need. If anything is unclear or
incomplete, please request clarification; I'll gladly offer further
assistance before you rate my answer.
Best regards,
pinkfreud |
