Naturaleza glotona...
Que significa naturaleza glotona? Esto esta' escrito en el ultimo libro de Isabel Allende.
7 Answers
I am going to guess "gluttonous nature" ...But not nature sense of a person's or animal's nature, characteristics, etc., rather referring to nature, itself, as being gluttonous.
Perhaps Isabel Allende's book has been translated into English and you can have a look.
Thanks Janice for response, I will respond to you and others here. The title of the book is: La Isla Bajo el Mar. It has not yet been translated into English as it just came out in August of '09. I cannot find the page where it is written but it refers to Toulouse galloping on a horse amist the "naturaleza glotona." I understand this is in reference to nature, and I know the meaning of gluttonous, but not in reference to nature.
So, with these added details, does anyone here have an idea of what this could mean? I can approximate that Allende means lush nature, but not much else.
Thank you all.
Oralia
Just a quick note, Oralia. In the Spanish language, one does not capitalize each word in the title of a book as we do in English, so I believe that you must refer to Ms. Allende's book as La isla bajo el mar.
By the way, I have made it to page 154! since we last communicated in this thread. I have copied out just about every word to look up so I have around 154 sheets of paper all written on with translations!
Ah, I received that very book as a Christmas gift from my new son-in-law. I have not started reading it yet, though - not only because I have made it a point up to now only to listen to Spanish, rather than to read it (much easier the latter!!), but also because the book was in a bag that was mis-routed by the airlines coming home from the holidays. I only just picked it up at the airport here in Austin this very morning! The first thing I did was to pull out that book!!
So I suppose I must begin reading, will have a look four your naturaleza and perhaps we will meet also in threads about the book here at Span¡shD!ct.com.
In the meantime, I looked up "glotón" at the RAE site, and was surprised to find that "glotón" is also the name of a little animal...the wolverine, as I discovered when I then looked up the word in a Spanish-English dictionary.
glotón, na.
(Del lat. glutto, -?nis).
adj. Que come con exceso y con ansia. U. t. c. s.
m. Animal carnívoro ártico, del tamaño de un zorro grande.
In any case, I am thinking that Ms. Allende is speaking poetically about a nature that is always ready to gobble one up! ....albeit perhaps not with the "ansia" remarked upon in the RAE.
Here is where I read about the furry wolverine.
Actually "l," you are right (what is your name by the way?), I did find out about "a mata caballo," but failed to notice that he was actually walking. Subsequently, the gluttonous nature then makes much more sense than if he were on a horse! But, for Allende (whom I love), anything is possible.
I think your translation is good!
Oralia
I believe that you are referring to this passage
La carta que había recibido aludía a problemas de salud y supuso que se trataba de una fiebre transitoria, pero al llegar a Saint-Lazare, después de un día de marcha a mata caballo por una naturaleza glotona y hostil, se dio cuenta de que su padre se estaba muriendo.
If this is so, then I believe that Kattya and Janice (in her original comments) have probably gotten it right in that it appears to refer to the gluttonous nature of the environment that the protagonist is traversing. That is the land that he must pass through is being characterized as both ravenous and hostile.
I just wanted to point out something regarding what you said earlier:
but it refers to Toulouse galloping on a horse amist the "naturaleza glotona."
the expression "a mata caballo" does not mean "galloping on a horse." It is an expression that means "at a breakneck pace." Here is a rough translation of the entire passage:
The letter that he had received alluded to problems of health and entailed that it was a matter of a transitory fever, but upon arriving at Saint-Lazare after a day of walking at a breakneck pace through a ravenously hostile environment, he realized that his father was dying.
Hi, welcome to the forum!
"glutonous nature" -- it could mean nature, as in the natural world, or the nature of a person, more context would help.
