Translation as Renarration: The Case of the Persian Translation of The Cambridge History of Islam

Abstract

Drawing on narrative theory and the notion of framing through paratextual devices, the present study focused on a Persian translation of The Cambridge History of Islam and examined one of its most heavily annotated sections to see how the events elaborated in the original had been renarrated through the paratexts provided by the translator. The section in question was analyzed to see what controversial events had been narrated. Then the notes and footnotes in the translation were examined to see how the events had been renarrated. The purpose was to see what new patterns of causal emplotment had been constructed. The results seemed to be showing that The Cambridge History of Islam had meant to construct a negative and reductionist narrative of Islam and alsohad tried to background or present negatively the events and characters related to the Shia Islam. However, the translator seemed to have provided the reader with an interpretive context in which the negative narratives of Islam had been undermined and the elements of the Shia Islam had been foregrounded.