Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
grandes machines célibataires
English translation:
great / large bachelor machines
Added to glossary by
Charles Davis
Oct 13, 2017 11:01
6 yrs ago
French term
grandes machines célibataires
French to English
Art/Literary
Architecture
From the description of an architectural project.
Au sein du territoire de l’Est francilien, la cité Descartes compose un environnement urbain à la fois bucolique et suburbain, peuplé aujourd’hui de grandes machines célibataires.
Les espaces publics, souvent surdimensionnés peinent de ce fait à acquérir une réelle vitalité, faute d’une matière urbaine suffisamment qualifiante.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Au sein du territoire de l’Est francilien, la cité Descartes compose un environnement urbain à la fois bucolique et suburbain, peuplé aujourd’hui de grandes machines célibataires.
Les espaces publics, souvent surdimensionnés peinent de ce fait à acquérir une réelle vitalité, faute d’une matière urbaine suffisamment qualifiante.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Proposed translations
(English)
References
| les machines célibataires |
katsy
|
Change log
Oct 13, 2017 23:51: Helen Shiner changed "Field" from "Other" to "Art/Literary"
Oct 18, 2017 10:39: Charles Davis Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
41 mins
Selected
great bachelor machines
As Katsy has helpfully pointed out, this is Deleuze/Guattari-speak. In the published translation of their L'Anti-Oedipe the term "celibate machines", and a number of people who discuss them on this subject use that translation:
https://books.google.es/books?id=WvvQfxvGfpYC&pg=PA19&lpg=PA...
However, although they typically give the term their own slant, they didn't invent it; they got it from Michel Carrouges, who in turn was referring back to Marcel Duchamp's Le Grand Verre, also titled La mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires, même (1915-23).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bride_Stripped_Bare_by_Her...
Duchamp referred to it as "La Machine Célibataire", and to elements included in its as "machines célibataires". Carrouge pointed out a similarity to the punitive apparatus in Kafka's story "In the Penal Colony".
http://christianhubert.com/writings/bachelor_machine.html
https://conservationmachines.wordpress.com/2012/05/11/michel...
So I think the term "bachelor machine" should be used, because there's an ongoing thread here. And plenty of people discussing Deleuze & Guattari's take on the idea in English use the term "bachelor machine".
I take "grandes" to mean "great" rather than "large" here, though I'm not completely sure about that; I may be wrong. Whether the writer is referring to Duchamp or to D&G or a combination, I couldn't say, but I must be one or both; the use of the term can't be a coincidence.
https://books.google.es/books?id=WvvQfxvGfpYC&pg=PA19&lpg=PA...
However, although they typically give the term their own slant, they didn't invent it; they got it from Michel Carrouges, who in turn was referring back to Marcel Duchamp's Le Grand Verre, also titled La mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires, même (1915-23).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bride_Stripped_Bare_by_Her...
Duchamp referred to it as "La Machine Célibataire", and to elements included in its as "machines célibataires". Carrouge pointed out a similarity to the punitive apparatus in Kafka's story "In the Penal Colony".
http://christianhubert.com/writings/bachelor_machine.html
https://conservationmachines.wordpress.com/2012/05/11/michel...
So I think the term "bachelor machine" should be used, because there's an ongoing thread here. And plenty of people discussing Deleuze & Guattari's take on the idea in English use the term "bachelor machine".
I take "grandes" to mean "great" rather than "large" here, though I'm not completely sure about that; I may be wrong. Whether the writer is referring to Duchamp or to D&G or a combination, I couldn't say, but I must be one or both; the use of the term can't be a coincidence.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Yes, the term may be obscure in French, but that's no reason to make it any less so in the English translation, in my view. The term 'bachelor machine', whatever we may think of it, does appear to be the 'correct' translation. Many thanks to everyone who answered and/or commented."
+2
41 mins
Helen Shiner
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
Specializes in field
United Kingdom
Arts/Academic translator - Art historian
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, French to English
Related KudoZ points
:
110
large bachelor (or celibate) machines
This comes originally from Marcel Duchamp's sculpture, The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors Even: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/duchamp-the-bride-stripp...
Deleuze and Guattari make reference to it in their book, Anti-Oedipus, see here:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GJ8kDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA156&lp...
This document explains: The relationship between Man and machine is long and complex—ranging from mechanic dolls
in the late 18th century to androids and cyborgs in contemporary science fiction. This course
examines the role of machines and automatons in relation to the modernist crisis of
representation and the fantasy of artificial procreation. We will particularly focus on the
fantasy of the so-called machine célibataire as a model for a self-contingent form of authorship.
The idea of the bachelor machine reflects the status of the modern subject in a deserted world,
replaces procreation with a continuous and repetitive artificial creation and understands art as a
substitution of life.
http://german.rutgers.edu/docman-lister/fall-2010-syllabi/15...
Deleuze and Guattari make reference to it in their book, Anti-Oedipus, see here:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GJ8kDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA156&lp...
This document explains: The relationship between Man and machine is long and complex—ranging from mechanic dolls
in the late 18th century to androids and cyborgs in contemporary science fiction. This course
examines the role of machines and automatons in relation to the modernist crisis of
representation and the fantasy of artificial procreation. We will particularly focus on the
fantasy of the so-called machine célibataire as a model for a self-contingent form of authorship.
The idea of the bachelor machine reflects the status of the modern subject in a deserted world,
replaces procreation with a continuous and repetitive artificial creation and understands art as a
substitution of life.
http://german.rutgers.edu/docman-lister/fall-2010-syllabi/15...
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
writeaway
34 mins
|
|
Thanks, writeaway
|
|
| agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
: prefer "great" but your last ref gives simplest definition (for those of us whose eyes glaze over at this "nonsense", to quote Christopher), and also uses the French in italics
1 hr
|
|
Thanks, Gallagy. I do prefer large, since great is ambiguous here.
|
+1
35 mins
great virgin machines/contraptions/structures
"Machines" seems to reference Le Corbusier's "machines for living". Looking at the Cité Décartes (http://sisso.fr/vv/ENPC/enpcdata/) it does appear to mean the buildings, though it may also include sculptural elements separate from the buildings.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 52 mins (2017-10-13 11:53:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Just noticed Katsy's reference comment and it is indeed a reference to Deleuse and Guattari, which means it must be "virgin machines", not "contraptions ...". Also, The Virgin Machine (Die Jungfrauenmaschine) dir. by Monika Treut (1988).
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 52 mins (2017-10-13 11:53:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Just noticed Katsy's reference comment and it is indeed a reference to Deleuse and Guattari, which means it must be "virgin machines", not "contraptions ...". Also, The Virgin Machine (Die Jungfrauenmaschine) dir. by Monika Treut (1988).
+1
1 hr
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Native in English
Psychologist, Court-certified legal
Native in: English 
Works in: French to English
Related KudoZ points
:
7
great bachelor-making machines
In spite of the references already provided, I wonder if (thus 2 on the confidence level) this is actually meant slight differently, perhaps that it generates celibacy : people are not that likely to meet.
Sort of a long shot, as considering that the source text is by an architect, the cahnces are it is being used differently.
For a plan of the site:
http://www.univ-paris-est.fr/fr/plan-d-acces/document-1372.h...
For an aerial shot of the site:
http://www.esiee.fr/fr/espace-etudiants/campus-descartes
Sort of a long shot, as considering that the source text is by an architect, the cahnces are it is being used differently.
For a plan of the site:
http://www.univ-paris-est.fr/fr/plan-d-acces/document-1372.h...
For an aerial shot of the site:
http://www.esiee.fr/fr/espace-etudiants/campus-descartes
Reference comments
7 mins
Reference:
les machines célibataires
http://1libertaire.free.fr/SLatouche19.html
And one quote from this article
Les Machines Célibataires , définies par Deleuze et Guattari comme "surfaces d'enregistrement, corps sans organes (...) l'essentiel est l'établissement d'une surface enchantée d'inscription ou d'enregistrement qui s'attribue toutes les forces productives et les organes de production, et qui agit comme quasi-cause en leur communiquant le mouvement apparent", sont organisées en arborescences multiples.
I am not sure that I understand :-)
And one quote from this article
Les Machines Célibataires , définies par Deleuze et Guattari comme "surfaces d'enregistrement, corps sans organes (...) l'essentiel est l'établissement d'une surface enchantée d'inscription ou d'enregistrement qui s'attribue toutes les forces productives et les organes de production, et qui agit comme quasi-cause en leur communiquant le mouvement apparent", sont organisées en arborescences multiples.
I am not sure that I understand :-)
Peer comments on this reference comment:
| agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
: yep, my eyes glaze over at this stuff!
2 hrs
|
|
😉
|
Something went wrong...