Chapter 16
Cultural satirical features in translation
The Pessoptimist as a case study
Satire is closely related to its context, so translated satire may lack “satirical flavor”. This article investigates whether Arabic cultural features remain in Habiby’s The Pessoptimist, a translation of a major work in the modern Arabic literary canon written by a noted Palestinian writer and politician. Due to its theme, the Israeli-Arab conflict, and its unique satirical style, this novel has been translated into Hebrew and English. Analysing the English translation, I seek to identify culture-bound satirical features in the source text, investigate the translation strategies used to render them, and to emphasize the role of the translator in preserving the satirical flavour. I draw upon a modified version of Simpson’s (2003) model of satire, Translation Studies, and literary studies.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Satire: Towards a better understanding
- 2.1Satire as a universal practice
- 2.2Satire as a discursive practice
- 2.3Satire as a social practice
- 3.
The Pessoptimist as a Key Cultural Text
- 4.Methodology
- 5.Discourse world
- 6.Satirical method
- 6.1Metonymic satirical method
- 6.2Metaphoric satirical method
- 7.Satirical uptake
- 8.Results
- 9.Conclusion
-
Notes
-
References
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Cited by
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