When Loyalties are Tested: The Myth of a Faithful Translator
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Date
2019-09-23
Authors
Nemrah, Rowan
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
جامعة النجاح الوطنية
Abstract
When literal renderings are favored in the field of translation, sometimes in the rendering of literature, it betrays the original flavor of the ST. When one renders literally, s/he neglects the manifold of symbolism. This research is steered towards perceiving the concept of faithful translation from a perspective of Relevance Theory and intertextuality. This is so that a translator would keep in mind that there are other approaches by which s/he is able to maintain a level of faithfulness aside from the literal rendering of the words. To be faithful, as a matter of fact, depends on the theoretical perspective within which it is perceived. This study, therefore, aspires to construct a relative perspective from which one may perceive the concept of faithfulness. It is, accordingly, a comparative study which compares economic, political, biblical and idiomatic references from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960) to their Arabic translation by Al-Asadi. The first two categories are analyzed in the light of Relevance Theory (RT). The latter categories, however, are analyzed in the light of Intertextuality. Through the analysis, consequently, this study reaches the conclusion that in the light of RT and intertextuality, faithfulness is in fact a matter of a degree