Background To Al Tayeb Salih English Language Essay

Background To Al Tayeb Salih side of meat Langu jump on establishThe current research addresses the dilemma of translating ethnic terms especi solelyy in literary forms. It start outs at shedding nigh light on the problems that interpreters, curiously between Arabic and incline, face with dealings with cultural terms and on the finiss make by these adapters to overcome these problems. The Wedding of Zein, written by the Sudanese distinguished fableist Al-Tayeb Salih and trans riped into side of meat by the known translator Denys Johnson-Davies, has been chosen as a study case to be analysed. The data collected willing be categorised agree to the procedures proposed by Vladimir Ivir (1997) and by the scale of jejunity (translators visibility) and foreignsation (translators invisibility) proposed by Lawrence Venuti (1995/1998).The current study, however, consists of quad of import members. In the first section, the oscillos be intimate of the wise, the writer, and the translator is highlighted. Moreover, the aims of the study and the methodology ar stated. The second section reviews the techniques and procedures drift forwarded by different exposition theorists, with special focus on Ivirs graze (1997). The doing of Venuti (1995/1998) is discussed in section 2. The data collected from the source school text and the yieldd text will be analysed in section three. Fin altogethery, section four contains the conclusion and the findings.1.1 Background to Al-Tayeb Salih and The Wedding of ZeinAl-Tayeb Salih (full name Al-Tayeb Mohammed Salih Ahmed) 1929-2009. He was a well-known Sudanese novelist and short-story writer. He was born in a small colonization called Karmakoul in northern Sudan and died in London. Buried in Sudan, his funeral was attended by the Sudanese pre rampnt. His father was Sufi and named his son after a known Sufism sheikh. He had spent his childhood in his small crossroads onward he travel to Khartoum to get a c ourse in Science. Later, he moved to England and attended the University of London to get a degree in the International Political Affairs.Al-Tayeb started his life history life as a headmaster for a short time before he moved to work in the Arabic section in the BBC and, later, headed the drama section in it. Then, he came back to work in the Sudanese receiving set before he moved to Qatar and worked as a supervisor in the Ministry of Information. He ended up the last ten years in his c arer life with UNESCO in Paris and Gulf Area. It is worthy mentioning present that during his work in the BBC, Al-Tayeb used to write, for more than ten years, a e real week column for a London-based Arabic magazine called al Majalla in which he explored various literary issues.Moving from one country to another(prenominal) and from one city to another spurs Al-Tayeb to highlight the conflict between the westward and Eastern cultures and the differences between the Arab knowledge domain and the Western world in his writings. In an interview (MBC 1994), Al-Tayeb mentions that he starts his literary life as a poet and that My explanationWe, the Sudaneses, love and recite poetry because we invariably need to proof our link to the Arab military personnel.Al-Tayeb, who is entitled the genius of the Arabic novel in the literary circles, belongs to the sophisticated Arabic Realistic School which includes big names like Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006) and Taha ibn Talal Hussein (1889- 1973) and many others. He wrote three novels and some short stories. His novels which gained a world-wide constitution and translated into many languages are The season of migration to the north (1966), The wedding of Zein (1969) and Bandarshah in cardinal parts (1971/1979). Some critics claim that these novels form a trilogy similar to Naguib Mahfouzs notable trilogy (1956-1957). The season of migration to the north is translated into thirty languages and chosen among th e best 100 novels in the world and in 2001 it is declared the best Arabic novel in the twentieth century by the Arab literary Academy. His novel The Wedding of Zein was made into a drama in Libya and into a film by the Kuwaiti filmmaker Khalid Siddiq who won an award in the Cannes Festival in the late 1970s. In 2005, Newsweek magazine chose Al-Tayeb among the most 43 influential characters in the Arab World and despite that he did not win Noble Prize, he was always one of the strongest candidates for it. In recognition of his contribution to the Arabic literature, a film, produced by Al- Jazeera Documentary, highlighting the different stages of Al-Tayebs life has been released in his first death day of remembrance in February 2010. In his second death anniversary, an award named Al-Tayeb Salih International stage for Creative Writing has been launched. , or The Wedding of Zein, is Al-Tayebs second successful novel in which he mixes reality with myth to form what is called Magic Realism. The novel is plainly some a young villager called Zein. He is odd in fashion and behaviour. Sometimes he is nave or Darwish and sometimes you find him chasing the girls of the village from one place to another. What is funny that Zein has made a reputation for himself as the man who falls in love over and over with girls who instantly marry other men to the point where mothers seek him out in hopes that he will draw the eye of suitors to their daughters. One aspect of Zeins unfamiliarity is that . . ( 71986)as is well known, children meet life with screams. With Zein, however, it is recounted- and the authorities for this are his mother and the women who attended his birth- that no sooner did he come into this world than he burst out laughing. And so it was throughout his life. (Salih, Al-Tayeb 1969 33).The two main characters of the novel, beside Zein, are Al-Haneen, the Sufi Sheikh, who has a proficient relationship with Zein and represents the mythic side of the novel and Nima, Zeins beautiful rich cousin, who is the exactly girl that Zein respects and cannot spiel her and she represents the realistic aspect of the novel. The main event of the novel is the marriage of Zein and Nima which blow out of the water all people in the village because it is unusual for ugliness and penury (Zein) to unite with beauty and richness (Nima). The events of the novel take place in a week from the sp drill of the marriage news to the wedding companionship which ends up the novel.A Western critic comments on The Wedding of Zein . 1 2. . . ( 1981 201-202)My translationWhat attracted me in Al-Tayeb Salihs way of writing is his side to the villagers. He sees them in a funny way and invites contributors to laugh at them or, at least, smile. However, behind this attitude is a olfactory perceptioning of sympathy. Despite that we find these characters f unny, but all of them hold the line their dignity. I find a refreshing whiff in this. later reading many American and English novels, readers whitethorn ask about the reason of writing about some inane characters in these novels.1.2 A word on the translator of The Wedding of ZeinDenys Johnson-Davies (1922- ), a renowned English translator of the Arabic literature, was born in Vancouver, Canada. He had spent his first years in Sudan, Egypt, Uganda, and Kenya, before he was sent to England at age 12. In 1930s, he attended Cambridge University and studied oriental languages. He started his career life with the BBC between 1941 and 1945. In the same year, he moved to Egypt to work in the British Council in Cairo as a translator and then started a journey of more than sixty years with the Arabic literature. In Cairo, he met the pioneers of the modern Arabic literature and made friendships with some many of them. In an interview, Denys states that when I arrived to Egypt in 1945, I was the only translator into English at that time I was dictator in my compass at that time and I enjoyed this. (AUC 2011).He to a fault expresses his attitude towards translation as a profession Translation is real hard work. Its also not appreciated. If you get your name anywhere on the book at all, youre very lucky. I wouldve preferred to have been a writer.(ibid.). In 2006, he publish his memoirs under the title A life between the lines of Arabic literature. In 2007, he was awarded the Sheikh Zayed Book Award as the Culture spirit of the Year.Referred to as the leading Arabic-English translator of our time by Edward Said, there is no translator in the West who conveyed the Arabic literature to the occidental reader than Denys did. His translations are not limited to one literary genre he translated short stories, novels, plays, and poems or as he states that when I enjoy reading something, I decide to translate it (ibid.). He is also interested in Islamic studies and is co-transl ator of three volumes of Prophetic Hadith. Al-Tayeb Salih, however, has a special place for Denys who translated Al-Tayebs all three novels. When asked about his favorite writer to translate, Denys unhesitatingly answered Al-Tayeb Salih I feel that his work is very unreserved, very direct, and that theres nothing pretentious at all about it I enjoy Al-Tayeb Salih works more than any other Arabic writers I am a great fan of AL-Tayeb Salih. (ibid.).1.3 Literary TranslationLiterary text, as an expressive text type by Reiss (1977/1989), has a set of typical features. Jones (2009152) summarises a wide range of viewpoints about the features attributed to literary textsThey have a written base-form, though they may also be spoken they enjoy canonicity (highsocial prestige) they fulfil an affective/ artistic rather than transactional or informationalfunction, aiming to provoke emotions and/or entertain rather than cast or inform they have no real-world truth- foster i.e. they are judged as fictional, whether fact-based or not theyfeature words, images, etc., with ambiguous and/or indeterminable meanings they arecharacterized by poetic language use (where language form is important in its own right, aswith word-play or rhyme) and heteroglossia (i.e. they contain more than one voice) and they may draw on minoritized styles styles outside the dominant standard, for example slang or archaism.Depending on the above features of literary works, literary translation is unique in some aspectsFirst, literary texts, as opposed to non-literary texts, are characterized by rhetorical and aesthetic value, which is the essence expected to be captured and maintained in a literary translation. Literary works are created artistically by increase the difficulty and length of perception, which leads to defamiliarization (Shklovsky, 1917, quoted in Pilkington, 2000 18). Once the defamiliarization is comprehended by the translators or readers, a unique sensation is created. To reproduce the rhetorical and aesthetic value is one of the main tasks for literary translators.Second, literary translators choices of wording are exceedingly dependent on the target language (TL) and culture. Literary texts are solidly rooted in the source language (SL) and culture, yet due to linguistic or cultural differences, literal translations might fail to gain acceptability. How to cope with the linguistic and cultural differences is a crucial question for literary translators.Third, a consideration of the target auditory modalitys is another important issue in literary translation. Literary translation always has a readership which is likely to be kinda different from the one the writer originally had in mind. A good translation of any text from any period will, most often, only be good in the context of a particular audience at a particular time and place. A good English translation of Salihs The Wedding of Zein, for example, for people in England in 1960 might not be a good tr anslation for people in Australia in 2010.Finally, literary translation is a complicated act, and to this effect, there is no explicit correct translation yet there is an appropriate translation according to trusted criteria. Stylistic advancementes to translation studies supply a theoretical perspective, which name the style as the essence of literary translations.1.4 Aims of the studyThe ultimate aim of the current research is to investigate the extent to which Denys Johnson-Davies is successful in dealing with cultural terms in his translation of The Wedding of Zein. This boilers suit last can be achieved through a set of research questions1. What are the different techniques utilised by the translator to convey Arabic cultural terms into his English translation?2. Does the translator domesticate or foreignise his translation?3. Does the translators overall strategy to domesticate or foreignise his translation affect his decision to use some certain techniques rather than oth ers in conveying cultural items?1.5 Methodology An Integrated ApproachIn this research, two get downes will be combined to form the theoretical frame of my dissertation. These two approaches will work together in an attempt to answer the research questions. The first approach is Ivirs (1987) seven procedures to translate cultural items. Although many researchers have proposed different procedures and techniques to translate cultural references, Ivirs procedures have been chosen for their comprehensiveness, clearness, and directness. The other part of this integrated approach is Venutis (1995/1998) work on domestication (translators visibility) and foreignsation (translators invisibility).Ivirs procedures to translate cultural items form the start out layer of this integrated approach. They represent the tools used by the translator to contemplate his overall strategy towards the text being translated. The overall strategy is the upper berth layer which is represented by Venutis domestication or foreignsation. In other words, any translator who is dealing with cultural terms has to make two interrelated decisions. Firstly, he needs to decide whether, depending on some certain considerations such as the reader, the place, and the time, he will domesticate or foreignise his translated text. This is a text-level decision. Secondly, and accordingly, he has to decide which specific procedure to choose to deal with all(prenominal) single cultural term in the text. This is a cultural term-level decision.In order to realise the mechanism of this approach, let us consider this simple example. If a translator into English decides to adopt domestication as his overall strategy (text-level decision) to translate a text from Arabic, he may convey, for example, into English by defining it (cultural term-level decision) as Maghrib Prayer, the fourth daily prayer for Muslims prayed just after the sunset. On the contrary, if he adopts foreignsation as a text-level strate gy, he barely translates as Maghrib Prayer.