Issue Five

Issue Five: Untranslatable & A Letter from the Editor

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Dearest readers,

When our editorial triumvirate first set out preparing our theme for this issue, we tossed around a number of different words that might encapsulate the mood we were trying to go for. We wanted something melancholic, bittersweet, and intangible. We almost settled on the Russian word “Toska,” but realized that Vladimir Nabokov had already described it better than we ever could.

“No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness.”

There were other strong contenders: the Portuguese “Saudade,” the German “Weltschmertz,” and the Spanish “Duende.” We eventually alighted on the more mutable “untranslatable,” which gave us the opportunity to branch out from mere sadness. After all, Spring is just beginning to bring itself out of its’ self-imposed exile.

We have thirteen marvelous contributors in this issue, each tackling the struggle of words on the tongue that are too scared to slip off. (Of course, our March 13th publication date was exceedingly well planned.) Caleb Lovelace creates a deconstruction of the body that dwells in “a constant state of un/control.” Zoe Guttenplan writes that, “translation is never an a=a equation, but more of an a=α=א etc. etc.”

There is something wondrous in the intransigent. We hope that you enjoy this issue and thank you for your continued support in helping to make this issue possible

-The Editors
 

Call for Submissions - Issue Five: Untranslatable

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Dearest readers,

Have you ever had a moment where you've found yourself trying to voice something so essential but found yourself stumbling? The collapse of words and feelings between one person to another. It is winter again, but sometimes it feels as if it is always winter. 

Welcome to 2018 and to the theme of our fifth issue: Untranslatable. 

What is untranslatable? 

Words that linger on your tongue that are too scared to slip off / Art that claws itself up from the earth to claim existence / The things that have made you call yourself more earthquake than person /Half-formed love songs / Something screeching and raw/Something blooming with infinite tenderness. 

Submissions of art, poetry, and prose are open until February 20th. Check out our submissions page for more guidelines on what we are looking for. We can't wait to read your work!

We are also excited to announce that from this year forward, Bombus is now a quarterly journal and we will be publishing issues in March, June, September, and December!

Wishing you warmth and light in the New Year,

-The Editors