The Discourse of Peace in Othello A Comparative Analysis of Three Arabic Translations

Hisham Obeidat

Babel 2002 47 (3)205-227
(ReLIS:jul:oibfdn:y:2002:v:47:i:3:p:205-227)

Abstract:

This paper addresses the way the metaphor of peace in Othello, act i, iii, 197–208, has been rendered into Arabic by three published translations (Ghazi (1979), Jabra (1980), and Mutran (1922)). The Duke in the ST deploys a cluster of personifications in the hope his audience (Brabantio) could accept a peaceful solution to the dilemma of Desdemona-Othello’s marriage. By way of comparison the ST against the TT, the paper argues that a) formal translation, in the case of dynamic text, would incur upon the ST violence, serious translation loss, and foreignizing the TT, b) equivalent effect in the sense of sameness is hard to maintain in cases of dynamic text like the one under consideration. In the process of negotiating the text, the translator is assumed to create a language capable of mediating the ST textual effects. In other words the translator’s main concern, I argue, is to reinstate in the TT a relevant/approximate experience that is relevant to the ST. In doing so s/he would eliminate the tension that arises in an undesirable literal translation.

Keywords: Comparación de textos ; Arabe ; Traducción ; Inglés ; Traducción literaria
Pages: 205-227
Volume: 47
Year: 2002
Issue: 3

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