The Void Against Transparency: Translating the Abyss into Umbundu

Iracema Dulley

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Chapter 7 The Void Against Transparency: Translating the Abyss into Umbundu

In: The Abyss as a Concept for Cultural Theory

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Iracema Dulley

Iracema Dulley
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 132–151

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004691674_008

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Abstract

This essay explores the history of translations of the abyss into Umbundu, the vernacular spoken in Central Angola. Proposing kalunga as a more metaphorical translation and ekungu as a more literal one, it interrogates the border between the literal and the metaphorical as well as the distinction between objects and signifiers as it explores opacity as constitutive of translation. Based on a critical reading of colonial sources and contemporary dialogues with Umbundu speakers, it explores how, in Umbundu, the abyssal is associated with colonisation, death, ancestry, infinity, the unknown, circularity, seduction, deep crevices, and the sea.

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The Abyss as a Concept for Cultural Theory

A Comparative Exploration

Series: Textxet: Studies in Comparative Literature, Volume: 106

Cover The Abyss as a Concept for Cultural Theory

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004691674

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 19 Dec 2023

Subjects
- Languages and Linguistics
  - General
- Literature and Cultural Studies

Front Matter

Part 1 Ancient Cultures

Part 2 Pacific, African and Asian Cultures

Part 3 European Cultures

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Chapter 7 The Void Against Transparency: Translating the Abyss into Umbundu

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The Abyss as a Concept for Cultural Theory

A Comparative Exploration

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