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Shanghai by Yokomitsu Riichi

お目出度く is an ironical expression there, meaning "happily in the dark", so the actual meaning is close to "stupidly".


めそめそしたけりゃするがいい = めそめそしたければするがいい

するがいい is close to すればいい in structure, but it's only used for blame, contempt or non-interference ("Do it if you/they want, but I don't take responsibility of it") to someone else than the speaker (it's said to 参木 himself in your example, of course).

Then wouls it be something more like: "Well, you can cry foolishly as much as you want" (Sanki saying it to himself)?
 
Here: 君、あそこの隅にスラッピングがあるだろう。その横で、ほら、こちらを向いた

Could スラッピング=slapping(?) be some kind of machine used in the cotton processing industry? Couldn't find anything, but that would be my guess.
 
Then wouls it be something more like: "Well, you can cry foolishly as much as you want" (Sanki saying it to himself)?
Yes, that's right.

Here: 君、あそこの隅にスラッピングがあるだろう。その横で、ほら、こちらを向いた

Could スラッピング=slapping(?) be some kind of machine used in the cotton processing industry? Couldn't find anything, but that would be my guess.
I've never heard it, either, but yes, google search results suggest that スラッピング is a machine for twisting/plying threads.
 
Hi again! How would you interpret this passage: 彼は再び芳秋蘭を捜して見た。振り廻される劉髪(りゅうはつ)の波の上で刺さった花が狂うように逆巻いていた。焔を受けて煌(きら)めく耳環の群団が、腹を返して沸き上る魚のように沸騰した。

Sanki looks for Qiulan again, ok. But is she the flower he is refering to? Is she the one dashing madly in the opposite direction of the sea of disheveled hair? And are her earrings the ones which are sparkling? What would 群団 be? Well, I'm totally lost here. :(
 
Those descriptions are for the women workers, not for 芳秋蘭. He is looking for her, but has not found yet. A few lines later, there is a sentence すると、参木の前の陥没帯の波の端から芳秋蘭の顔が浮き上った。. He has found her at this time. Thus, 群団 refers to the women workers. 花 is also a metaphor of something (fire?).
 
Those descriptions are for the women workers, not for 芳秋蘭. He is looking for her, but has not found yet. A few lines later, there is a sentence すると、参木の前の陥没帯の波の端から芳秋蘭の顔が浮き上った。. He has found her at this time. Thus, 群団 refers to the women workers. 花 is also a metaphor of something (fire?).

Thank you! That would be my guess, in the English version, the translator considered Qiulan the the "flower", but I had my doubts, there is too much imagery that needs to be interpreted and I disagree with his options on many instances.
 
Hi! Does de author mean that Qiulan's eyes inpired more love than respect from Sanki?: 彼が彼女を礼節よりも愛した原因はその秋蘭の眼であった
 
Hi, Tori!

Here: この次逢えば、冷い参木の胸を叩き得る手段を感じて、昂然として来たはずだのに

Could I translate the passage as (something in the sense of): When she met him again, she believed that it would be her moment of triumph, when she would strike the chest of the cold Sanki?
 
I think この次逢えば、冷い参木の胸を叩き得る is a chunk, thus, it's more likely "When she met him again, she would be able to strike the chest of the cold Sanki, and she believed that it would be her moment of triumph."
 
Hi Tori! I'm trying to figure out which would the function of 逆に be in the following passage: 彼は、その巨大な動物を浮き上らせた衣服の波の中から逆に野蛮な文明の建築を感じて来た, I've translated it more or less so: "From the middle of the wave of clothes which hoisted that huge animal, Sanki thought about (it reminded him of) the architecture of barbaric civilization.
 
Thank you! I had to rephrase it a bit to give that sense of oppositon, but I think that I got it.

Now, in this passage: ああ、あの女はあたしの主人に逢いに来るの。主人はあの女のいうことなら、いくらだって聞いてやるのよ. Does Oryu is saying: "I can tell you all about what my husband tell me about that woman"?
 
あの女のいうこと is the same as あの女いうこと, i.e., the subject of いう is あの女.
あの女のいうことなら、いくらだって聞いてやる is a chunk, and this is a description about 主人.
Have you ever heard an idiom 言うことを聞く, meaning "to do what one is told to" or "to obey"? That's a variation of it, and いくらだって is the same as なんでも in meaning.
なら implies that the husband obeys only that woman's words, not other people's, most likely not her wife's, i.e., the speaker's.

In conclusion, she is saying "My husband obeys whatever that woman says".
 
I find dialogues so complicated, there seems too much to guess!

「どうも奥さまは僕を馬鹿になさる癖がお有りですので、つい敷居が高くなってしまいますよ。」(Your wife has the habit of make a fool o me, so I feel award coming here.
すると、いきなり、お柳は彼に西瓜の種を投げつけて、主人の顔を覗き込んだ。(She throws watermelon seeds at him and peeked at her husband)
「あなた、聞いて、この人は、こういう人なんだからね、用心なさるといいわよ。あたしなんか、いつでもこの手でやられちゃうのよ。」(Did you hear? He is like that so, be careful. He has already got me this way). Can I translated "この手" as "this way/by this mean"?
 
(Sorry for all the mistakes in the last post, I was in a hurry and didn't check what I wrote. I didn't find a way to delete and rewrite it).
 
There is a time limit to edit your own post.

You got the gist of it correctly. (You meant "feel awkward" by "feel award", right?)
この手 indeed means "this way/by this mean", but いつでもやられちゃう is a habitual action, not completion.
 
There is a time limit to edit your own post.
Yes, I noticed it, but we could at least have the option of deleting it (adm, please, take note!)

You got the gist of it correctly. (You meant "feel awkward" by "feel award", right?)
Exactly!


この手 indeed means "this way/by this mean", but いつでもやられちゃう is a habitual action, not completion.
Then it would be "he always gets me this way" (using his words), right?
Thank you!
 
Hi, Tori could I translate: そのつまり属国で中国人が生活的に向上したって、ヨーロッパ人のようには無理をしているんじゃありませんよ as "In other words, the chinese improved their lifes in the vassal countries unlike the europeans which are forcing their way"?
 
He is saying that the Chinese improving is reasonable because of the historical background, but the Europeans' way is unreasonable.
 
Thank you, Tori! Happy New Year!

He is saying that the Chinese improving is reasonable because of the historical background, but the Europeans' way is unreasonable.

So better:
" There is nothing unreasonable in the fact that Chinese life standards have improved in these vassal countries, unlike the Europeans"
 
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Hi Tori, need you help as usual:

だって、もうこうなれば同じことだわ。あなた、おかしくなったらあたしにいってね、あたし、いつでもあなたのお相手してよ。嘘じゃないわ。あたしひとりなら、まだまだぶらぶらしてるに定(きま)っているわ。だけど、もう、ぶらぶらしたって、ソセージみたいで、ただ長くなっているだけよ。つまんないったらありゃしない.

Is Miyako comparing idly hanging around to a sausage that just gets longer? And What's the meaning of whatever comes after つまんない? Could you "dismember" its components and make it easier to understand? Thank you!
 
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