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Foreignizing the domestic

Two cases from Persian translations

ORCID logo | University of Maragheh
ORCID logo | Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan

Characterizing Venuti’s foreignizing and domesticating strategies as historically dependent, this article attempts to shed some new light on how such translations – especially the foreignizing ones – emerge in any language. After discussing the roots of Venuti’s thinking in the American context and redefining foreignization as a strategy that draws on domestic, yet marginalized, elements, we delve into the theory and practice of two Persian translators, Ahmad Shamlu and Mir Shamseddin Adib-Soltani. Although their translation practices are ostensibly domesticating, they possess underlying foreignizing qualities. The implications and intellectual origins of their practices are discussed in the Iranian context, giving rise to a theoretical perspective that allows for foreignizing in non-Anglophone cultures.

Keywords: translation, foreignization, domestication, historicity, Ahmad Shamlu, Mir Shamseddin Adib-Soltani
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.A brief history of foreignizing/domesticating translation
    • 2.1New Criticism vs. New Historicism
    • 2.2Translating from the perspective of New Historicism and Cultural Materialism
    • 2.3Venuti’s foreignizing/domesticating translation through cultural theory
    • 2.4Foreignization/domestication: Misconceptions resolved?
  • 3.Foreignizing in Iran
  • 4.Adib-Soltani
  • 5.Ahmad Shamlu
  • 6.Nativization of theory
    • 6.1Can and should Iranian translations foreignize?
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 27 June 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/forum.23008.kha
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