ABSTRACT
This essay focuses on the darkening and obscuring powers and qualities of translation without, however, taking the metaphorical quality of ‘the dark side’ for granted. Asking what we are actually translating when we translate darkness into language, the investigation starts out by distinguishing different forms of darkness, and pays particular attention to the absence of light, to concealment, and to opacity. In the first part, the investigation focuses on darkness as an embodied experience, focusing on the fear and the cognitive insights that these embodiments can trigger. In the subsequent part, both physical and cultural aspects of ‘the dialectic of light and darkness’ are discussed, as well as its positive evaluation of darkness as a contrasting and dimming quality. Then, the investigation moves on to darkness and opacity as forms of concealment, and to a discussion of the challenges they pose to (translation as perfect) understanding, but also to ‘geopoetics’ that unknowingly translate already ‘translated natures’. Finally, this paper argues that darkness, obscurity, and opacity are valuable resources for the ‘slow translation’ of ecologies into thought, language, and literature, and are thus as important as the reduction of light pollution for survival in sustainable diversity.
