Paradoxical self-translations: Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill's remarkable admission

This essay explores how one of Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill's self-translated autobiographical merfolk poems "A Remarkable Admission/Admhail Shuaithinseach" draws on Ireland's influential pseudohistoryLebor Gabala erenn/The Book of the Taking of Irelandto recover the archaic essence from Land-Under-Wave. After considering the practice of self-translation as a re-creation that produces "a second original," and after interpreting the role of her Uncle Thomas as a revenant merman, the essay performs a close reading of the dual language poem, comparing her "crib," or English version, to the works of her translators Art Hughes and Paul Muldoon. Ultimately, the essay argues that having Ni Dhomhnaill's English self-translation alongside her Irish poem provides a "double vision" reading that breaks down binaries of identity.