Representation of Self-translators’ Freedom in their Self-translations: A Case Study of Hassan Kamshad

مطالعات زبان و ترجمه

Article 5, Volume 55, Issue 4, February 2023, Pages 121-152   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/jlts.2021.72318.1065

Authors

Mehrnoosh Fakharzadeh^* ; Neda Mahvash Mohammadi

Department of English, Sheikh Bahaee University, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

In the last two decades, self-translators’ agency and their freedom in translation have attracted many scholars’ attention in translation studies. However, how their self-freedom is represented has been under-researched. To this end, the present study intends to investigate how self-translators’ freedom is manifested in their self-translation. Employing a qualitative approach assisted by corpus linguistic techniques, the original English version of the book Modern Persian Prose Literature together with its Persian translation were selected as the corpus of the study. Close examination of the books at paratextual as well as textual levels revealed that self-translators’ freedom can be represented as five translatorial behaviours, namely, addition, deletion and shortening at textual and paratextual levels, domestication, granularity and specification, and modification. It seems that what lie behind such translatorial behavior is the ownership of the authored and translated texts by the same person and a deep appreciation of the readers and their knowledge. As the author and translator of his book, Kamshad enjoys and applies his agency and freedom to grab his readers’ attention to the content he is creating. It can be suggested that self-translators’ considerable freedom in recreating their self-translation may move the border of loyalty in translation.

Keywords

Self-translation; Self-translators; Translator’s Agency; Freedom

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