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A Study of Persian-English Literary Translation Flows: Texts and Paratexts in Three Historical Contexts

Gharehgozlou, Bahareh
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4498-8412
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1532555559014889

Abstract Details

2018, PHD, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies.
This dissertation addresses the need to expand translation scholarship through the inclusion of research into different translation traditions and histories (D’hulst 2001: 5; Bandia 2006; Tymoczko 2006: 15; Baker 2009: 1); the importance of compiling bibliographies of translations in a variety of translation traditions (Pym 1998: 42; D’hulst 2010: 400); and the need for empirical studies on the functional aspects of (translation) paratexts (Genette 1997: 12–15). It provides a digital bibliography that documents what works of Persian literature were translated into English, by whom, where, and when, and explores how these translations were presented to Anglophone readers across three historical periods—1925–1941, 1942–1979, and 1980–2015—marked by important socio-political events in the contemporary history of Iran and the country’s shifting relations with the Anglophone West. Through a methodical search in the library of congress catalogued in OCLC WorldCat, a bibliographical database including 863 editions of Persian-English literary translations along with their relevant metadata—titles in Persian, authors, translators, publishers, and dates and places of publication—was compiled and, through a quantitative analysis of this bibliographical data over time, patterns of translation publication across the given periods were identified. A corpus of 223 paratexts (introductions, prefaces, translator’s notes, forewords, and afterwords) accompanying 157 Persian-English literary translations were closely read and thematically coded using the qualitative data analysis software, NVivo. The diachronic analysis of the themes by the NVivo Matrix Coding Query revealed significant changes in the paratextual content from a period to another whereby the discourse on the ongoing social and political contexts of Iran significantly increased over time while the topic of translation saw a drastic decrease. The bibliographical analysis revealed an increase in the number of Persian-English translations over time, which does not fit with the generalized trend of translations into English remaining almost the same (2–4 percent of the total book production) since 1950s. However, the paratextual analysis suggested an increasing interest in the ethnographic content about Iran, which confirms Lawrence Venuti’s argument about the promotion of readability and invisibility of translations in the Anglophone book market. In other words, according to the findings of this dissertation, an increase in the number of works translated does not necessarily correspond to a greater attention to literary works as literature or translated works as translations.
Françoise Massardier-Kenney (Advisor)
261 p.
Comparative Literature; Foreign Language; History
Translation Historiography, Translation Bibliography, Persian Literature, Translation Paratext

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Citations

  • Gharehgozlou, B. (2018). A Study of Persian-English Literary Translation Flows: Texts and Paratexts in Three Historical Contexts [Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1532555559014889

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Gharehgozlou, Bahareh. A Study of Persian-English Literary Translation Flows: Texts and Paratexts in Three Historical Contexts. 2018. Kent State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1532555559014889.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Gharehgozlou, Bahareh. "A Study of Persian-English Literary Translation Flows: Texts and Paratexts in Three Historical Contexts." Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1532555559014889

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1532555559014889
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This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.