Domestication: The Problem of Barks’ Translating Rumi into American English

Abstract

This paper examines the problem of domisticated translation of Molana by Coleman Barks into American English. In the first place, the paper raises the question why Molana has been the bestseller in America and not in other countries like Iran; it is then argued that domistication is the most fundamental problem of Barks in translating Molana into American English which is due to his insufficient familiarity with Persian language and culture. To prove this, the paper closely compares and contrasts two translations of one of Molana's sonnets by Nicholson and Barks and arrives at the conclusion that under the American hegemony and superiority, Barks has offered a very shattered, vague and secularized image of Molana, which befits the nostalgia of American readers and appeals to their taste: the American Rumi and not the Iranian Molana.