在哀悼 or 在现场?

[Lu]

I hope someone can help because I don't see it anymore.

 

Context (a bit complicated, I hope I can explain it clearly enough): in 1967 in Jinan, a man committed a crime and then killed himself by hanging. His wife found him. She later on went mad. Now it's 1993, a different (but connected) man has died in a semi-suicidical car accident in Beijing. His young daughter is in Beijing, staying in the same house as a mad old woman, wife of the previous man. They find each other, the old woman relives finding her husband. The two cry in each other's arms.

 

Then the sentence (from a book I'm translating):

我在哀悼刚死去的爸爸的现场，也在哀悼更久远的、一九六七年那场死亡的现场。

 

I don't see anymore if 在 here is 正在的在 or 在火车站的在.

我在哀悼 / 刚死去的爸爸的现场 I am mourning the scene of my father who just died, or

我在 / 哀悼刚死去的爸爸 / 的现场 I am at the place where I am mourning my father who just died,

or even something about how she is in the location of her father's death and also the other man's death,

or something else? The second seems more sensible, but the first or the third are also possible (and would be good) in this context.

 

Thanks in advance for any insights.

[roddy]

Does read a bit odd to me. I'd swop 现场 for 同时 and have "While mourning..." You could keep the sense of place perhaps, with "As I stood there mourning..." 

[889]

To me, 哀悼 is something you do somewhere towards someone's memory. Even though it's customary to do it at the scene, you're not 哀悼'ing the scene itself.

 

And yes, that's not consistent with the last part of the sentence.

[Luxi]

20 minutes ago, Lu said:

if 在 here is 正在的在

 

I'd go with this one. Not a ceremony, just private personal grieving. Not necessarily on the site, could be just in thought, couldn't it? 

[Lu]

12 minutes ago, roddy said:

I'd swop 现场 for 同时 and have "While mourning..."

Sorry, I should have specified (I have now): this is from a book I'm translating. The Chinese is already there, I need to understand it and then make Dutch of it. So swapping words won't work.

 

@889 Makes sense. So you also read it as 在现场? Though I'm starting to wonder if the two 在哀悼现场 in the sentence in fact have two different meanings.

@Luxi Thanks!

[889]

Maybe it's not meant to be taken too literally.

 

Or maybe 现场 here has a broader meaning than a physical location.

 

[Jim]

I'm in a place where I'm mourning a father who's just died, and a place where I'm mourning a death that happened much longer ago, back in 1967.

[Kenny同志]

Quote

我在哀悼刚死去的爸爸的现场，也在哀悼更久远的、一九六七年那场死亡的现场。

 

Quote

I don't see anymore if 在 here is 正在的在 or 在火车站的在.

在 means doing sth here. 
 

I could not help recalling with sadness ... 

[Lu]

So now the experts disagree... Thanks everyone, I've wrought a translation for now inspired by what Jim made of it, leaving it a bit open to interpretation in Dutch too. I'll also go and ask the author. This is clearly just difficult.

[Kenny同志]

There seems to be a bit of ambiguity. Yes, to be on the safe side, I think it would be a good idea to check with the author.