普段触れない英語に触れよう！ 難しい絵画の解説文を読んでみた 後編
前回の記事の続きで、先日僕が訪れたフィリピンの美術館の作品の英文解説を読んでみるという記事です。こちらが前回のエントリー。
ではさっそく、作品紹介に入りたいと思います。今回の英文は手ごわいですよ！
作品名：U-turn(1987) 作者： Antonio Leano
Representing the acme of his Somnabulist Series of paintings in the late 1980`s that served as a startup to his diverse career as an artist,Antonio Leano`s U-Turn is a powerful hauting picture of an apocalyptic mood. But it is also a re-telling , so to speak of the horrors described by Juan Luna`s Spoliarium (1896),set in the tone and setting of a modern street. While Luna`s Spoliarium described the aftermath of a gladiatorial battle where the bodies of the dead contestants are dragged in the bowels of the Colloseum,Leano`s work portrays the defeat of the spirit, of humanity,at the hands of the heartless mechanizations of the modern world. In other paintings of the same series, Leano elaborates that the destruction of the gentler,peaceful and kinder side of humanity is lost in gladiatorial battles of the corporate and industrialized world. By being pitted in the arenas of the heartless urban cities (growing at an alarming rate in the 1990s), the soul of man is lost and what is left are dreamers that do not wake up, lost in the mad illusion of success that is obscure as it is complex. Leano is critical in his portrayal of success as a goal in place of fulfillment: the two are not the same. In U-Turn, the defeated mass of peole do not return to life, and their offspring are as alien as the world they now plod through.
Representing the acme of his Somnabulist Series
-acme 全盛期
-Somnabulist 夢遊病者 (Googleで検索するとSomnambulistで補正される)
an apocalyptic mood
-apocalyptic 将来の不幸を予言する 黙示録の 世界の終末の(すごい単語だな...)
he aftermath of a gladiatorial battle
-aftermath 余波 直後の時期
-gladiatorial 剣闘士の
their offspring are as alien as the world they now plod through
-plod とぼとぼと歩く
作品名：Himala(Miracle) (2005) 作者： Juanito Torres
Towards the late 70's and the 90's the Philippines became known for a number of its "faith healers" and visionaries in
an unprecedented rise of vernacular Spiritualism. The phenomena attracted the attention of even international
media and clientele (such as Andy Kaufman) to flock to the country. Anthropologists have noted this to be a symptom of a return of indigenous spirituality, bursting forth from centuries of colonial religious repression where the role of a medium possessed by divine personages used to be the centrepiece of folk pre-Christian religion. But it was the presence of so many "spiritual surgeons" as well performing miraculous cures for every known affliction in bloody but painless operations that has alerted many to suspicions of a well-hatched hoax. Quite a number were indeed exposed to be shady. This large canvas by Juanito Torres depicts a queue of invalids prostrating themselves before a woman in trance, a medium to the divine. The woman/medium holds her hands in the manner of the Virgin Mary, and may even be channelling her spirit, as it is known to be the case in such holy possessions. While seemingly a prosaic picture of an unusual event, Torres is careful also to point out the baroque theatricality of the scene. The setting of the healing is a large, ostentatious old mansion, full of religious artefacts and statuary to the point of excess. A man in a Moriones mask and centurion costume seems to take charge of security and the cordon sanitaire but his costume betrays the inauthenticity of the whole affair. Finally wandering dogs in the area serve as sleuths, and they alone provoke us to consider the farce that is happening before our eyes.
an unprecedented rise of vernacular Spiritualism
-colonial 植民の、入植者の(植民地化するほうかされる方か混乱してしまった...)
-vernacular その国の 土地特有の
clientele to flock to the country
-clientele 患者たち 顧客たち
-flock 群がる 集まる （Weblioによると英検2級以上合格の単語。抜けてた...）
Anthropologists have noted this
-Anthropologists 人類学者
colonial religious repression
-repression 抑制 抑圧本能
divine personages used to be the centrepiece
-personage 偉い人
-centrepiece 置物
a well-hatched hoax
-hoax 捏造 でっちあげ
invalids prostrating themselves
-invalids 病弱な（「無効な」の意味しか知らなかった...）
-prostrating 屈服した ひれ伏した(prostrate)
a prosaic picture
-prosaic 殺風景な
ostentatious old mansion
-ostentatious これ見よがしの
full of religious artefacts
-artefacts 人工産物
centurion costume
-centurion （古代ローマの百人隊の）隊長
cordon sanitaire
-cordon sanitaire 防疫線*日本語でも聞いたこと無いことばだったので、以下に百科事典の検索結果を貼っておきます
the area serve as sleuths
-sleuths 探偵 刑事
provoke us to consider the farce
-provoke 扇動させる
-farce 茶番劇
4作品の解説文を読んで
普段の仕事でフィリピン人と英語を使ってやり取りをしていますが、双方ともに非ネイティブであることもあり、相手にとって理解し易い文体でしか会話をしていません。そういった環境で生活を続けていると自分だいぶ英語使えるようになってきたんじゃないの？とたまにうぬぼれたりするのですが、こういった普段なかなか触れないタイプの英語の文章を読むと僕の英語力なんてほんとまだまだだなぁと打ちのめされます。打ちのめされながらも最後に紹介したHimalaの解説文みたいに、見たことのない単語がたくさん入っている英文に出会うと、「まだ知らない単語がこんなにもたくさん!!」とテンションが上がったりするんですけどね。笑 まぁcordon sanitaireに関しては日本語の意味すらよく分からなかったので、絶対に覚える必要はないのでしょうが...
またこんな感じで、普段なかなか触れないけれども生活していく中で出会った英文や、表現などの紹介の記事も作っていければなーと。
それでは今回はこのあたりでー。
