Contribution of Translation to Promotion of and Resistance against the Second Pahlavi’s Narrative of Modernization regarding Women

Abstract

The present study aimed at exploring the contribution of translation to promotion of and resistance against the Second Pahlavi’s narrative of modernization regarding women. Baker’s socio-narrative theory (2006) was used as the framework of the study and two English novels, The Wayward Bus, and Bleak House, were selected to be compared with their Persian translations which were published in Iran during a period of five years after the launch of the White Revolution in 1963 when the narrative of modernization was introduced officially. Results showed that selective appropriation and repositioning of participants were used to reframe the Persian translation of The Wayward Bus which was published in 1965. The same reframing strategies along with temporal framing were used to reframe the Persian translation of Bleak House which was published in 1967. Reframed narratives of both translations contributed to the promotion of the narrative of tradition while resisting the Second Pahlavi’s narrative of modernization. Social and political activities of women were downgraded, their families’ dissatisfaction with them was emphasized, and the society was portrayed not to be safe for women, who were considered, in reframed narratives, as individuals who had to be watched all the time.