Sonia Norouzi jafarloo; Mohammadhossain Nikdarasl; Abdolvahed Zarifi; Elham Khalili Jahromi
Abstract
IntroductionTranslation of literary text is a challenging task. In literary translation, selecting the appropriate equivalent of words depends on the translator's understanding ...
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IntroductionTranslation of literary text is a challenging task. In literary translation, selecting the appropriate equivalent of words depends on the translator's understanding of the source language and culture. If the source text is a mix of language and culture, translation becomes more challenging. Translation of a poem is the most complicated type of literary translation because of its difficulty in understanding. The form and meaning in the poem are interconnected, and the language of the poem is implied. These cause multiple and sometimes incorrect interpretations of the poem. The more aesthetic aspects of the language in the poem, the greater the possibility of misinterpretation and translation errors. In Persian mystical poetry, the problem is much more complicated. The existence of a rich network of words, interpretations, and terms in Persian mystical text makes it difficult to understand and translate text. In this article, two recent English translations of Attar’s Conference of Birds (Manteq ol-Teyr) were selected: Sholeh Wolpé’s and Dick Davis's translations. Davis's translation is based on the edition by Sadegh Gouharin and Wolpé's is based on the edition by Mohammad-Reza Sha’fi Kadkani. The faithfulness of the translators to the original text and their accurate understanding of it have been evaluated and analyzed in the story of "Sheikh San’an".
