pseudo marchette

English translation: pseudo-literary outpourings

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Italian term or phrase:pseudo marchette
English translation:pseudo-literary outpourings
Entered by: Lara Barnett

13:39 Dec 17, 2017
Italian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings / Character-based fiction
Italian term or phrase: pseudo marchette
Rude rejection letter from publishing house.

Abbia pietà dei suoi amici, dei suoi figli (se ne ha), e getti via la chiave. Queste pseudo marchette, falsamente poetiche e noiose fino all’esaurimento, non fanno bene a nessuno. Non servono a nessuno.

Letter is rudely rejecting manuscript.
Lara Barnett
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:01
pseudo-literary outpourings
Explanation:
Lisa Jane's reference is very useful, but I don't think "favours" conveys a clear meaning. Her definition says "lavoro non impegnativo", ie churned out at high speed and without much effort, so I think "outpourings" works well.

I'm not sure "falsely poetic" is quite right for the next bit. Maybe "spuriously".
Selected response from:

philgoddard
United States
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +1pseudo-literary outpourings
philgoddard
4pseudo-literary favours
Lisa Jane


  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
pseudo-literary favours


Explanation:
Quite difficult to translate this one, marchette has several meanings including the act(and payment for) soliciting.

marchétta s. f. [dim. di marca1]. – 1. Piccola marca; in partic., la marca assicurativa, cioè il bollo che veniva applicato sui libretti di lavoro (sistema oggi sostituito dal versamento dei contributi mediante bollettini di conto corrente); per estens., lavoro non impegnativo fatto per compiacere qualcuno o per ottenere un minimo guadagno.

Here I think it is used figuratively to mean these poor quality writings, of little literary value, that the writer has submitted to try and win the publisher over.
By calling them marchette he is saying the writer is selling himself, perhaps for very little money, and has no real talent.
It's not easy to put this idea into a couple of words but you could liken it to a sexual favour rendered in order to obtain recognition. I think the source is playing with these two meanings of marchette.



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Note added at 1 hr (2017-12-17 14:41:57 GMT)
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http://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/marchetta/

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Note added at 1 hr (2017-12-17 15:21:55 GMT)
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Maybe pseudo-literary writings or works then but you lose some of the sarcasm

Lisa Jane
Italy
Local time: 03:01
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in ItalianItalian
PRO pts in category: 27
Notes to answerer
Asker: I see what you mean, but it refers to the works, "which are falsely poetic...etc". How can say "...favours, falsely poetic and...."

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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
pseudo-literary outpourings


Explanation:
Lisa Jane's reference is very useful, but I don't think "favours" conveys a clear meaning. Her definition says "lavoro non impegnativo", ie churned out at high speed and without much effort, so I think "outpourings" works well.

I'm not sure "falsely poetic" is quite right for the next bit. Maybe "spuriously".

philgoddard
United States
Meets criteria
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 16
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Daniela Zambrini
1 hr
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