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Full text release has been delayed at the author's request until November 22, 2027

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The Translation of Arabic Fiction into English as Reflected in Translators’ Paratexts (1947- 2016)

Aldhohayan, Abdulaziz Yousuf
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1732060603061764

Abstract Details

2024, PHD, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies.
Scholars of Translation have recently started to turn their attention to literary traditions beyond Western traditions of translation, acknowledging the need for translation between the Arabic language and its cultures, and the languages and the cultures of the outside world. Arabic has a long history of translation, reaching back to the Golden Age of Arabic civilization, known in Europe as the dark ages. This study is an attempt to bring the Arabic translation tradition to the discussion around translation theory. It covers seven decades of literary translation activities from 1947 to 2016. The scope of this study encompasses the translations into English of works of Arabic literary fiction during three distinct periods: 1947–1967; 1968–1987; and 1988–2016. The first period marks the first noticeable attempts to translate modern Arabic literature; the second period witnesses the expansion of translation Arabic literature due to political unrest in the Middle East; and the third period marks a global recognition of Arabic literature with the awarding of the Nobel Prize for literature to Naguib Mahfuz in 1988. This project entailed the creation of a comprehensive bibliography of translated works of Arabic fiction published from 1947 to 2016. This bibliography provides information not only about the translation flows of Arabic novels and short stories, but also about the authors of the original works and the translators of these works, as well as the date and place of publication. This project also entailed the compilation of comprehensive corpus of all of the paratexts written by translators that accompanied the published translations of works of Arabic fiction published from 1947 to 2016. The corpus underwent extensive thematic analysis facilitated by the electronic qualitative analysis tool NVivo. The study’s quantitative findings reveal that translations increased in number over time, with nine translations published in the first period, 83 in the second period, and 454 published in the third period. The qualitative data findings in the translator’s paratexts show that Arabic translators generally focus on conveying the works in the target language with minimum disruption to the source culture as represented in those works. In other words, they view translation as a means to communicate literary and cultural subtleties. Analysis of the paratexts reveals that although the themes discussed by translators do differ across the three periods, the data indicate that translators predominantly view translation as a means to communicate literary and cultural subtleties during the period from 1947 to 2016.
Keiren Dunne (Committee Member)
314 p.
Comparative Literature; Language; Linguistics; Literature; Middle Eastern History; Middle Eastern Literature
Translation, paratext, Arabic Literature, Discourse analysis, Translators, Translation History

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Aldhohayan, A. Y. (2024). The Translation of Arabic Fiction into English as Reflected in Translators’ Paratexts (1947- 2016) [Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1732060603061764

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Aldhohayan, Abdulaziz. The Translation of Arabic Fiction into English as Reflected in Translators’ Paratexts (1947- 2016). 2024. Kent State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1732060603061764.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Aldhohayan, Abdulaziz. "The Translation of Arabic Fiction into English as Reflected in Translators’ Paratexts (1947- 2016)." Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University, 2024. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1732060603061764

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1732060603061764
© 2024, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.