‘Di-xεrretən and the lioness’: text and landscape of a ∣Xam narrative

Abstract

Focusing on the ∣Xam narrative ‘Di-xεrretən and the lioness’, its recording history and possible connection with Springbokoog and its rock engravings, this article proposes a method for editing the ∣Xam kukummi (tales, accounts) collected by W. Bleek and L.C. Lloyd in the 19^th century, making the case for the need to go beyond the received text of narratives and edit the English translations found in the manuscripts not only by modernising Lloyd's English, as other editors have done, but also by making informed changes on the text based on the ∣Xam original, which can be accessed by means of D.F. Bleek's Bushman dictionary (1956) and her grammatical sketches of the ∣Xam language. Using as a theoretical basis the work of Dell Hymes on the presence of ‘measured verse’ in Chinookan narratives, this article also proposes to lay out the texts in short lines.

Keywords:

• Bleek–Lloyd Collection
• editing
• ethnopoetics
• landscape
• rock engravings
• Springbokoog
• translation

Additional information

Notes on contributors

José Manuel de Prada-Samper

José de Prada-Samper is a postdoctoral researcher in English Studies at the University of KwaZulu- Natal, Pietermaritzburg. [email protected]