Meaning Gaps and The Task of Translating Poetry: Notes on Lucille Clifton’s Translation of “Afrique” By David Diop

Abstract

Translation is the reproducing of the meaning of the source languageculture through the closest natural equivalent, says Eugene Nida. Beyond the reproduction of the equivalent, some other detail, and not the least, must be factored in the process of translation. This is all the truer when it comes to translating poetry. If prose may be translated without absolute regard to the form, the same does not hold for poetry. The task of translator requires that the receiving end of the process of translating take advantage of the aesthetics enjoyed in the source language. When translating so essential a poem in African literature of French expression, Lucille Clifton, an African-American poetess and translator, seemed to not having been able to escape this snare. There are some meaning gaps in her translation of David Diop’s “Afrique”. This can be seen in instances where some area-specific terms in Sub-Saharan Africa used in the original. This note on translation seeks to lay bare the lacunas and attempts to fill them up with some suggestions.