Editorial

Volume 10, Issue I: Ellipsis

Editorial Staff 2021/22

Editor-in-Chief Cian Dunne

Deputy Editor & Layout Oisín Thomas Morrin

Cover Art crocksart & Daniela Williams

Faculty Advisor Dr Peter Arnds

Assistant Editors Lily Brodie Hayes Andrea Bergantino Felix Vanden Borre Anastasia Fedosova Rebecca Deasy-Miller Emer O’Hanlon

Art Editor Daniela Williams

... the three dots invite me to write; they invite you to (hopefully) read. There– one undeniably apposite use of the ellipsis.

With the theme of ‘ellipsis’, we encouraged you to showcase writers who obviate ‘the ghastliness of these dots,’ as Umberto Eco characterised them. Writers who instead display an ample dual understanding of the possibilities and limitations of the ellipsis, and use it accordingly adroitly– whether that be to convey silence, uncertainty, waiting, anticipation, longing, dreaming, the passage of time… or some such other intangible expression.

The word ellipsis comes to us from the 16th century, via Latin from the Greek elleipsis, from elleipein ‘leave out’. At the same time, we invited you to showcase ellipsis as a literary device, in the sense of omissions, gaps, pauses, and elisions, in and from the final text. On a more immersive level, these omissions, presently absent without the use of the punctuation point, invite us into the text we are reading– asking silent questions of us, and providing a space for us to connect the invisible dots in search of an answer.

Yet even then, despite our search, the definitive answers may evade us. Mark O’Connell, though he may, in his writings, explore the transgressive possibilities of transhumanism, come the end he still finds comfort in the beauty inherent and available in the finite nature of existence– that which makes ‘life so intensely beautiful and terrifying and strange.’ And, though he may warn us of an apocalypse already begun, he still advocates for the ‘courage of ambivalence’ as we come to terms with it. Perhaps, then, there is a need, at times, to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. To be at home in the gaps between the lines– in the ambiguities, equivocacies, and opacities that constitute a large part of our experience as we navigate through our lives.

When we sit down to translate a literary text, we are forced to contend with a similar degree of elusiveness. According to Cervantes, translating from one language into another is ‘like looking at tapestries from the wrong side.’ In an attempt to transpose a text into another language, the translator negotiates the obscurities and idiosyncrasies of the language it is rendered in, as well as the culture from which it springs. The translator then reformulates and elucidates these abstractions

of the original language and culture for the readers in the target language. Done well, the ultimate result is twofold: retaining their original essence whilst transporting them into a new linguistic and cultural context.

On one level then, translation is for a large part to do with the communication of that which is spoken, or written. However, how do we choose to translate that which is left unspoken, or unwritten? Indian writer Vivek Shanbhag goes as far as to say that ‘the essence of translation lies in taking what is unsaid in a work from one language to another […] to recreate the unspoken in another language, one needs to understand what went into making the original; then one must dismantle it and rebuild it in the other language.’ This sounds like no easy task, and this was indeed the challenge faced by, as well as the privilege afforded to, the translators whose work you shall encounter in the following pages.

Where does this difficulty of interpretation leave us, as translators, and indeed, as readers? For Michael Leiris, ‘translating means having the honesty to stick to an allusive imperfection.’ Though there may be an element of truth to such a statement, there comes a point where the translator must make an authoritative choice: to take a literal or interpretative approach, or whether to create a translation that is at pains ‘faithful’ to the original or at liberty to take liberties in the service of transforming it anew. Similarly, in our own lives, we must at some point arrive at the point at which we make a choice, whether that be big or small– whether that be for justice, for love, for happiness, for pride, or for life itself.

In the pages that follow, our translators make such a variety of choices. The texts they have chosen to translate at once deal with the ethereal and the substantive, the superfluous and the essential–in the material and immaterial make-up of life itself. In their careful arrangement, you’ll come across interpretations of, amongst others: Joyce, Rimbaud, Prévert, Hughes, Sappho, Dickinson, Montale, Pascoli, Cavafy, Kafka, Cummings, Williams, Boland, Blok, and… Beckett? Well, you can put the last one down as a maybe. There is a story in these pages, and… May it take you from the innocence of youth, to the dawning of love, to the loneliness of despair, to the failure of words, to the joys of nature, to the sunset beckoning us at close of day, and to the next journey beyond– with the final destination as yet unknown.

Thank you to my predecessor, Martina, for giving me the opportunity to build upon her amazing achievements of last year’s most challenging of years, and for assembling for me the most wonderful team of editors for this year, each of whom are reliable and astute in equal measure. My immense gratitude also to crocksart for allowing us to use his quintessentially elliptical illustration as our cover art, and to Daniela for applying the circular finishing touch. To my superb Deputy Editor and friend, Oisín, thank you for laying out the following pages with such painstaking professionalism and precision, and for everything else which remains unseen beyond these pages. And, given that we have arrived at the tenth– thank you to all the faithful followers of JoLT since its foundation in 2013 by the remarkable Claudio Sansone, with the support of the ever-supportive Dr. Peter Arnds. Finally, my thanks to the contributors to this first issue of this tenth volume, for your quality and creativity, and to you, the reader, for (hopefully) reading on.

…in these words. Yet, keep in mind that the story begins, ends, starts, stops again in the margins, in the spaces, in the gaps and in the blanks. In the inbetween, the story is told, in the pauses, the story is to be found. In the spaces, the … is told, the … is to be found.

Cian Dunne

Imleabhar 10, Eagrán I: Focalbhá

... Tugann na trí phonc cuireadh dom scríobh; tugann siad cuireadh duit léamh. Sin– úsáid sciliúil amháin den chomhartha focalbhá.

Leis an téama ‘focalbhá’, chuireamar fáilte romhaibh scríbhneoirí a thaispeáínt a sheachain ‘the ghastliness of these dots,’ mar a dúirt Umberto Eco faoi. Scríbhneoirí nach bhfuil tuiscint mhaith ar na féidearthachtaí agus na lochtanna a bhaineann leis an gcomhartha focalbhá amháin, ach a úsáideann í go healaíonta de réir sin– chun tost, éiginnteacht, fanacht, oirchill, dúil, brionglóideach, imeacht aimsire… nó mothú dobhraite eile a chur in iúl.

Tagann an focal ellipsis dúinn ón séú haois déag, tríd an Laidin agus a fhréamh ag teacht ón elleipsis (an Ghréigise), ón focal elleipein ‘fág amach.’ Ag an am céanna, thug muid cuireadh díobh focalbhá a léiriú mar ciúta liteartha, sa chiall easnaimh, bearnaí agus stadanna sa téacs deiridh. Ar leibhéal níos tumtha, tugann na heasnaimh seo, i láthair tríd a neamhláithreacht, cuireadh dúinn teacht isteach sa téacs a bhfuil á léamh againn– ag cuir ceisteanna tostacha orainn, agus ag tabhairt spáis dúinn chun na poncanna dofheicthe a nascadh le chéile ar thóir freagra.

Ach mar sin féin, in ainneoin ár gcuardaigh, d’fhéadfadh na freagraí éalú uainn. B’fhéidir gur cheart dúinn a bheith compordach agus muid míchompordach fiú - chun a bheith ar do shuaimhneas sna bearnaí idir na línte– san deibhrí agus san chastacht atá mar chuid mhór dár n-éispéireas agus chun ár mbealach a dhéanamh tríd an saol.

Nuair a shuímid síos chun aistriuchán a dhéanamh ar téacs liteartha, tá iallach orainn déileáil leis an tseachtanacht sin freisin. Ar leibhéal amháin, baineann an t-aistriuchán den chuid is mó le cumarsáid scríofa, nó labhartha. Cén roghanna a dhéanfaimid agus muid ag aistriú focal neamhscríofa, nó neamhspléach, áfach? Is léir nach tasc éasca é seo, agus is é seo an dúshlán a bhí le sárú ag na haistritheoirí, agus an phribhléid a thugtar do na haistritheoirí san eagrán seo.

Beag ban ar an éiginnteacht seo, tagann pointe nuair a bhíonn ar an aistritheoir cinneadh údarásach a dhéanamh. Ar an mbealach céanna, inár saol féin, sa deireadh is gá dúinn cinneadh a dhéanamh nuair atá rogha againn – rogha mór nó beag agus é ar son an chóir, an ghrá, an aiteas, an bhróid, nó an tsaoil féin.

Sna leathanaigh seo a leanas, déanann ár n-aistritheoirí cinntí den sórt sin. Pléann na téacsanna atá roghnaithe acu an domhan neamhshaolta agus ábharthach, rudaí fánacha agus bunriachtanacha– ag déileáil le comhdhéanamh ábhartha is neamhábhartha na beatha féin. Tá scéal sna leathanaigh seo, agus… Tógfaidh sé thú ó shoineantacht na hóige, go breacadh an lae, ó huaigneas an éadóchais, go teip na bhfocal, go lúcháir an nádúir, go luí na gréine ag druidim linn ag deireadh an lae, agus go dtí an chéad turas eile thall- an ceann scríbe deiridh anaithnid go fóill.