The Politics of Translation: Investigating Paratexts of Persian Translations of American Literary Works in Two Historical Contexts
Abstract
The present study investigates the impact of political relationships on intercultural transfer between Iran and the United States by examining the presentation of Persian translations of American literary works published in Iran from 1953 to 2004. Focusing on the transformation of the Iran-United States relationship following Iran's 1979 Revolution, this research aims to identify any variations in the paratexts surrounding these translations. By analyzing the paratexts, the study sheds light on how periods of peace and conflict between the two nations have influenced intercultural transfer and the production of literary translations. The theoretical framework draws on Bourdieu's concept of the social formation process of cultural products, highlighting the specific social operations involved in the selection, presentation, and reception of translations. In order to examine changes in the presentation of Persian translations of American literary works over time, the paratexts accompanying 175 translations published in Iran during two historical periods (1953–1979 and 1979–2004) were thematically analyzed using the qualitative textual analysis software MAXqda 2020. These periods are significant as they manifest dramatic shifts in the politics of Iran on both national and international levels. The analysis identified six major themes within the paratextual corpus: 'Source Text Author,' 'Source Text,' 'Socio-political Concerns,' 'Translation and Publication,' 'Literature,' and 'Readership.' While these themes persisted across both periods, the diachronic analysis revealed shifts in their coverage, topics, and content. These findings contribute to the understanding of paratextual materials as politicized objects that not only shape ideological perceptions of the source culture but also reflect the social, political, and cultural discourse within the field of literary translation.
Keywords:
American literature, Iran’s 1979 Revolution, Paratext, Persian translation, PoliticsReferences
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Copyright Licensee: Iranian Journal of Translation Studies. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0 license).
