Stephen Old (asker) Jan 15, 2019:

stilistische Bergung Thanks for all these contributions. I have spent the last two days dealing with a computer problem so have been unable to comment before. The author of my German text put the quotation marks around this phrase. Thanks for all the help with Hemingway. It is a long time since I read anything by him. I have had other concerns.

Björn Vrooman Jan 14, 2019:

@Anne Am I glad that I'm not the only one thinking this is rather odd. Considering the use of, say, sophisticated language, it is a bit offputting to see those quotation marks in there. I guess the author ran out of steam?

In any case, RE your second paragraph: I might agree with Schätze bergen, but not unlike salvaging, this is virtually the opposite of containment.

Best

Anne Schulz Jan 14, 2019:

While I am by no means a literary scholar, I have no problem understanding the meaning(s) of all these phrases - except for "stilistische Bergung". (N.B.: Were the quotation marks added by you, or by the author?) <br />Is there any possibility of an error? On the other hand, I myself cannot think of any similar words or sequence of letters which could introduce obvious sense. <br />If it is no error, and the quotation marks are from the author, I would tend to agree with Helen's second suggestion: 'Schätze' bergen, Ver-borgenes sichtbar machen, by using stylistic means or a certain style.

Stephen Old (asker) Jan 14, 2019:

Yes, this does refer to The Old Man and the Sea. Here is the full setence. (The previous sentence says "Das Werk füt sich zu einem gestalthaften "single organic whole", dessen tiefe Wirkung mit der des japanischen Dreizeilers vergleichbar ist. ) Was die hierin besonders offenkundige Verwandtschaft ausmacht, sind in erster Linie die an den imagistischen Kriterien höchster Ökonomie, Präzision und Objektivität geschulte, auf die Nähe des Schweigens zielende Sprache und der parataktische Bau der kurzen, transparent und fließend wirkenden Sätze, die, vorgetragen aus der neutralen Erzählperspektive einer dritten Person, statt der Dauer die Intensität des Geschilderten vermitteln; ferner der starke Naturbezug, der sich über die Bildlichkeit hinaus noch im atemgleichen Rhythmus von Systole und Diastole des gesamten Gedanken- und Geschehensablaufs äußert, und der außerordentliche Symbolreichtum, der den Kurzroman nicht nur zum subjektiven Spiegel eines um "stilistische Bergung" bemühten Autors macht, sondern sie zum zeitlosen Gleichnis des Erkenntnis suchenden Menschen erhebt.

Stephen Old (asker) Jan 14, 2019:

stilistische Bergung Thanks for the suggestions. I did not provide more context because my text is written in a very academic style and this sentence is half a page long. It was difficult to know how to break it down.

Björn Vrooman Jan 13, 2019:

Please don't... ...apply the meanings of "bergen" (verb) to "Bergung" (noun). It is true that bergen, the verb, can mean contain, but that is not true of the noun.

Cf Duden:
"das Bergen (1); Rettung, Sicherung"
https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Bergung

Meaning 1 (verb)
"retten, in Sicherheit bringen"
https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/bergen

"Contain" is no. 3:
"(gehoben) enthalten, in sich tragen"

However, Bergung cannot(!) be used in this sense. It's not possible and, no, it wouldn't be understood either. You do have some verb-noun differences like this in English as well.

Also, someone has yet to mention one of the most common translations for Bergung: salvage operation.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergung_(Seefahrt)
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/salvage operation

Considering that the reviewer uses "bemüht" (trying to), maybe he really is attempting something like the above: "Aldridge believed that Hemingway managed to save the novels by salvaging the characters' values and transcribing them 'into a kind of moral network that linked them together in a unified pattern of meaning'."
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ernest-m-hemingway

Best wishes

Anne Schulz Jan 13, 2019:

Can you, without violating confidentiality, give some more phrases, so that we can get some feel for the style and language use of the author of this review?

Johanna Timm, PhD Jan 13, 2019:

just a guess
If this is about the novellaThe Old Man and the Sea, “Bergung” might be a reference to/play on the challenging “Bergung” of the giant marlin.

Helen Shiner Jan 13, 2019:

Recovery Hi Stephen, I hope you're much better now. I see you all the time on Twitter ;-)

Stephen Old (asker) Jan 13, 2019:

Thanks a lot Helen. Sorry I have not been in touch for so long. I had a viral infection over the Christmas holidays.

Helen Shiner Jan 13, 2019:

Bergen can also mean 'hold' or 'contain'. You'll have to sort out from the wider context/the full sentence, whether this is about revealing or containing.

Helen Shiner Jan 13, 2019:

@ Stephen It might be worth thinking about this in terms of the iceberg theory (theory of omission). A spare style on the surface with it all going on underneath.