Translating the glow: networks of underlying signifiers in “Nevsky Prospect” and aspects of translation

Abstract

This paper analyzes two networks of underlying signifiers (Berman 1999) around the notions of light and the ethereal in the novella “Невский проспект” (“Nevsky Prospect”), by Nikolai Gogol (1835), and their relationship with devil’s deception. The construction of these networks of signifiers is studied from the point of view of conceptual meaning and associative meaning (Leech 1974), two classic notions in lexical semantics, and the sense effects that they produce in the text. Next, is offered an analysis of how these networks are reflected in the Spanish translation made by Juan López-Morillas. It is concluded that these networks of underlying signifiers, crucial insofar as they reinforce the link between the prostitute, deceit and the unreality of Nevsky Prospect, are reflected in a very partial way, partly because in the translation the conceptual meaning tends to be privileged over the associative meaning, and the equivalent effect (Nida 1964) over the letter of the text (Berman 1999). Thus, a contribution to translation studies from the perspective of lexical semantics is made.