The Reception of F. Scott Fitzgerald Translation of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in England

مطالعات زبان و ترجمه

Article 3, Volume 52, Issue 3, October 2019, Pages 53-73   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/lts.v52i3.81492

Author

Mostafa Hosseini^*

Department of English Literature, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran

Abstract

The present paper formulates the theoretical tenets of literary receptions through the prism of S. S. Prawers’s, the brilliant American comparatist, ideas. It also uses Gérard Genette’s ideas on paratexts. Then it applies these theoretical tenets to the literary reception of Edward FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in England and America during the nineteen and twentieth centuries. Reception-studies plays a major role in comparative literary studies. According to Prawer, these kinds of studies must be done by expert comparatists. The literary reception of an author does not happen in a vacuum. It is full of ups and downs, and is under the influence of literary, social and even political discourses. To do so, the comparatist must do the followings: first, he/she must collect all the materials and interpret them, and began by examining of the chronology of translations. Second, he/she must pay close attention to the literary tastes and literary discourses of the target country. Third, the comparatist should note to the other media like radio, cinema, TV, and so on which play a role in the diffusion of a work. Fourth, the function of factors like the quality of translation, book reviews, introductions by literati, literary circles and institutions, publishers, literary parallels and parodies, pirated editions and editions must be examined by the comparatist. It must be noted that, these elements does not work to all works.

Keywords

Reception Studies; S. S. Prawer; Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam; Comparative Literature

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