"the moral occult" how to traslate this term into Russian?

[David Powelstock]

Dear Sasha (and list),

If we are in fact discussing the 'domain' (rather than occult practice ['okkultizm']; and rather than a single instance ['tainstvo,' 'zagadka'] or a collection of instances ['tainstva,' 'zagadki'], I would suggest 'tainstvennoe' (adjective as noun). (I'm not sure whether 'nravstvennoe' or 'moral'noe' would be better.) It's awkward, but fairly precise. If I were translating more freely, I would be tempted to create a term based around ‘tsennosti,’ e.g., ‘tainstvenno-moral’nye tsennosti,’ which would at least respond less clunkily to the rigors of Russian syntax. 

I’ll be interested to see what others come up with. This is a rather typical nominal coinage in academic English, and of a kind that as a rule translates better into German than Russian.

dp

-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list [mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU] On Behalf Of Alexander Prokhorov
Sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2006 6:38 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: [SEELANGS] "the moral occult" how to traslate this term into Russian?

Dear SEELANGERS,

In his monograph _The Melodramatic Imagination: Balzac, Henry James, Melodrama, and the Mode of Excess_, Peter Brooks coins the term "the moral occult" to describe "the domain of operative spiritual values which is both indicated within and masked by the surface reality" (5).
Could you please help me with finding an adequate translation for this notion?  Here are two suggestions I've received from my colleagues:
"nravstvennye zagadki"
"moral'noe tainstvo"

Sasha

Alexander Prokhorov, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Russian
Film Studies Faculty
College of William and Mary

---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2006 17:28:35 -0400
>From: Erik McDonald <ewbrynolfson at STUDENTS.WISC.EDU>  
>Subject: [SEELANGS] podkidnoy durak  
>To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
>
>There is a card game played in the US that is somewhat similar to 
>"podkidnoi durak," though it isn't the same.  Its unliterary name - I know 
>it as "Asshole" - and its social status as a drinking game rather than a 
>children's game might make it unsuitable for the Grossman translation.  The 
>rules can be found at http://www.pagat.com/climbing/asshole.html, which 
>gives some less offensive names for it as well.  That site puts it in a 
>different classification than Durak (the same site's Durak rules, as 
>Anthony Qualin wrote, can be found at 
>http://www.pagat.com/beating/durak.html), but at least it isn't a 
>trick-taking game.  As in Durak, the last person with cards left loses and 
>becomes the name of the game.
>
>Erik McDonald
>
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