An-Najah National University Faculty of Graduate Studies ON TRANSLATING CULTURE –BOUND IN FADWA TUQAN’S A MOUNTAINOUS JOURNEY AND STRATEGIES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY IN ARABIC-ENGLISH TRANSLATION By Ahlam Mohammad Rajeh Ghannam Supervisor Dr. Sufyan Abuarrah This Thesis is Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree of Master of Applied Linguistics and Translation, Faculty of Graduate Studies, An Najah National University, Nablus-Palestine. 2024 ii ON TRANSLATING CULTURE –BOUND IN FADWA TUQAN’S A MOUNTAINOUS JOURNEY AND STRATEGIES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY IN ARABIC-ENGLISH TRANSLATION By Ahlam Mohammad Rajeh Ghannam This Thesis was Defended Successfully on 05/09/2024 and approved by Dr. Sufyan Abuarrah Supervisor Dr. Haya Abu Hussein External Examiner Dr. Mohammad Hamdan Internal Examiner iii Dedication To begin with, I thank Almighty God for everything. Then, to my beloved mother and father, whose love, sacrifice, and unwavering support are my pillars of strength, you have made me the person I am today and I will be forever grateful. To my extended family, thank you for your constant encouragement, understanding, and shared moments of joy and laughter. Your presence in my life is a precious blessing. This journey would not be possible without each of you. Thank you for being my inspiration, and my biggest supporter. iv Acknowledgement I would like to express my gratitude to the Almighty for his steadfast grace and blessings that have guided me through the trials and tribulations encountered during this study. I am extremely grateful for the strength that has been given to me throughout our journey. My deepest gratitude goes to our esteemed supervisor, Dr. Sufyan Abuarrah, whose guidance; expertise and support were instrumental in the success of the research project. Dr. Haya Abu Hussein unwavering commitment to excellence has been an inspiration to me. I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to Dr. Dr. Mohammad Hamdan, for his invaluable contributions and constant encouragement throughout the research process. Once again, I extend my sincere thanks to everyone who played a role, big or small, in making this research possible. Your contributions are highly appreciated. v Declaration I, the undersigned, declare that I submitted the thesis entitled: ON TRANSLATING CULTURE –BOUND IN FADWA TUQAN’S A MOUNTAINOUS JOURNEY AND STRATEGIES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY IN ARABIC-ENGLISH TRANSLATION Unless otherwise referenced, I declare that the work provided in this thesis is the researcher’s work and has not been submitted elsewhere for any other degree or qualification. vi List of Contents Dedication ........................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................... iv Declaration ........................................................................................................................ v List of Contents ................................................................................................................ vi Abstract ........................................................................................................................... vii Chapter One: Theoretical & Conceptual Background ................................................ 1 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................ 3 1.3 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Significance of the Study ............................................................................................ 4 1.5 Research Questions ..................................................................................................... 5 1.6 Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................... 5 1.7 Previous Studies .......................................................................................................... 9 1.7.1 Comments on Previous Studies ............................................................................. 14 Chapter Tow: Methodology ......................................................................................... 15 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 15 2.2 Research Design ....................................................................................................... 15 2.3 Research Questions ................................................................................................... 15 2.4 Data Collection ......................................................................................................... 16 2.5 Data Analysis Method .............................................................................................. 16 Chapter Three: Data Analysis ..................................................................................... 18 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 18 3.2 Translator’s Alienation in Tuqan’s Autobiography .................................................. 20 3.3 Land in Fadwa’s A Mountainous Journey and Kenny’s Correspondences .............. 30 3.4 Women’s Anonymity in Tuqan’s Autobiography .................................................... 33 3.5 Translation of Religious Female-related Terms ....................................................... 40 Chapter Four: Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations ................................. 47 4.1 Findings of the Study ................................................................................................ 47 4.2 Conclusion of the Study ............................................................................................ 49 4.3 Recommendations ..................................................................................................... 49 References ...................................................................................................................... 51 BCDEFب ................................................................................................................................ ا vii ON TRANSLATING CULTURE –BOUND IN FADWA TUQAN’S A MOUNTAINOUS JOURNEY AND STRATEGIES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY IN ARABIC-ENGLISH TRANSLATION By Ahlam Mohammad Rajeh Ghannam Supervisor Dr. Sufyan Abuarrah Abstract Fadwa Tuqan’s Autobiography 'A Mountainous Journey' has been studied for its feminine themes, consequently, it is a valuable autobiography to be translated into different languages. This study aims at investigating the problems of translating feminist culture-bound expressions, which are expression having translation sensitivity for their relation to feminism. It highlights the strategies employed to overcome the hindrances of translating them. In other word, it aims to measure the translatability of such expressions as well as and the followed strategies that were used to overcome the problems of translating culturally specific terms in Tuqan’s 'A mountainous Journey'. The researcher employed the descriptive analytical approach analyzing the clarity of the Kenny's translation of Tuqan's autobiography. After a careful reading of the autobiography, a set of these expressions is chosen, which the researcher studies and compares to their counterparts from the translated version of the autobiography by Olive Kinney published in 1990. The sample of the study comprises a set of significant feminist cultural expressions which will be analyzed by providing a description of each expression and then comparing it to its translation in Kinney’s narrative. The employed theory is the functional theory which tackles the translation based on the context and the function played by the translated expression Results showed that Kenny used domestication in her translation because of the sensitivity of the context. Also, translators should be aware of the target culture and source culture in order to translate culturally bound expressions because Kenny face challenges in rendering culture-specific expressions. Keywords: translation, autobiography, functional approach, source culture, target culture and feminist culture-bound expressions 1 Chapter One Theoretical & Conceptual Background 1.1 Introduction Autobiography has been distinguished as a literary genre due to its remarkable ability to describe, analyze, and express the dynamics of society and human reality, along with the issues and challenges they entail, reflecting them across time, place, and personal and social circumstances. Unlike other literary forms, the autobiography does not passively observe these issues or remain indifferent to the conflicts that align with its very purpose. Instead, it primarily focuses on observing all societal events and individuals' experiences, making it a true reflection of life (Spacks, 2022). Women have been an intrinsic part of social systems, proving to be a powerful force in shaping history in numerous ways being the symbol of courage, sacrifice, and resistance to fear, while remaining dedicated to their struggle and asserting their presence in all areas of literary creativity. Through expressing their issues and concerns, women have become indispensable icons in literary genres, particularly in autobiographies, as subject who are capable of making sound decisions (Martin, 2021). One of the Arab female writers is Fadwa Tuqan, a Palestinian poet and a symbolic figure in Palestinian poetry embodying feminine and national themes. Since 1967, her poetry has been predominantly focused on national issues, leading to her being hailed as the 'Mother of Palestinian Poetry' and the "Poet of Palestine" (Bedeir, 2023). In her autobiography, the poet narrates the story of her life from her birth, which she didn't know exactly, but later discovered from the inscription on the grave of a relative who died while her mother was pregnant with her. She recounts the 2 successive years of her life, portraying a narrative that encompasses her life events and describes her true emotions towards those around her (Drumsta, 2023). She emphasizes that what she revealed is 'the resilient aspect' of her life, detailing how she overcame challenges, defied circumstances, and triumphed over the harsh realities through perseverance and striving for the better, using a simple narrative style, poetic language, and sincere confessions. Throughout her journey, she raises numerous questions over her society, which she criticized for its constraints, and the obstacles she faced in her literary and educational pursuits, which ultimately led her to leave school and other personal educational endeavors. All this occurred within a male-dominated society with rigid cultural traditions, where women were seen in passive roles. It was only through the help of her brother, the renowned poet Ibrahim Tuqan, that she was saved from her misery and despair, standing on the brink of disaster (Hamdan et al., 2020). The feminist theme in Tuqan’s autobiography is of the main theme using cultural expressions especially employed in the present study. Tuqan sheds light on the hardships she faced during her life as a Palestinian Nabulsi woman (Shikaki, 2021). As any literary work telling of Palestinian life, nothing can express the feelings and events of this life better than cultural expressions emerging from the Palestinian history, merging with the Palestinian soil. Therefore, it is important to find out whether these expressions, which are also related to women’s status in Tuqan’s time, have a reasonable translation that they leave the same or almost the same effect on the target reader once they are rendered to English (Boopathi, 2020). The main argument of this study is that culture-bound expressions in general play a central role in understanding the source language text, being a part in understanding the source text culture. In this context, autobiographical, and feminist texts in particular are critical when we embark on the process of translation as they have many specifications that need to be considered. Successful, faithful, accurate and 3 coherent translation of these expressions, by transferring them in a way that guarantees maintaining their subtle cultural connotations, is of great importance. The issue of the existence of faithful translation and faithful translators is relative that the role of translators is the mediation between the source text and the target text. Consequently, it is impossible to be completely faithful to the source text since lexical sensitivity obliges them to domesticate or foreignize the sense of cultural expressions. This study investigates the translation of a set of feminist culture-bound expressions extracted from Tuqan’s 'A Mountainous Journey' to discuss the problems arising during the process of translating these expressions into English as well as the translation strategies Olive Kenny employs in his translation of Tuqan's autobiography. The limitations of this study include some of the culture-bound expressions used in Tuqan’s 'A Mountainous Journey', and more precisely female- centered themes such as feminine position in the society, females' rights and role in the society. Furthermore, the ST is written in Arabic while the translator is Olive Kenny. The origin of the translator is Irish, so it will probably be hard for her to capture the whole image of the TC without living or reading about her. 1.2 Statement of the Problem Translation may become harder to translate the feminist cultural bound expressions mentioned in a literary text such as an autobiography because they belong to a specific culture (Abdelaal, 2020). This cultural gap between Arabic and English leads to translation difficulties in the translation of culture-specific words in Tuqan's autobiography from Arabic into English. Therefore, this study tackles translation problems in translating culture-bound expressions mentioned in Tuqan's autobiography since the researcher has focused on the kinds of cultural expressions that relate to women’s place in the Nablusi society in Tuqan’s time. Translation strategies are employed to solve problems arising from the translation of these culturally specific expressions while translating them such as 4 domestication and foreignization. It is also thought that proper translation of the chosen expressions is a millstone?? in transferring the soul of the text as well as the protagonist’s inner voice in the autobiography. Writing in Tuqan’s time (20th century) came under severe social and familial censorship because translators have to take this into account. There are certainly political and socio-cultural factors that translators must consider when they render this narrative from Arabic to English such as the position of women in that society and how it treated them. 1.3 Purpose of the Study This study is an attempt to: 1. Investigate the difficulties which faced Kenny in her translation of Tuqan’s autobiography. 2. Find out the types of culture-bound expressions located in Tuqan’s autobiography to examine the strategies the translator has employed to provide the most suitable equivalence for each expression as women use language differently based on their understanding and ideology. 3. Provide Arab translators with practical suggestions when dealing with culturally specific words in Tuqan’s autobiography. 1.4 Significance of the Study Culture is a sensitive issue that cannot be translated easily without having sufficient knowledge in the Source Language (SL), Target Language (TL), Source Culture (SC) and Target Culture (TC) because language is the carrier of culture. Consequently, linguistic distinctions demonstrate the importance of the translator's prior knowledge about SL, TL, SC and TC in order to translate culture-bound expressions (Shadiev et al., 2019). Translators balance the flow of information leading to delivering the source culture to the target audience properly. This knowledge is necessary because translators 5 should be well-rounded in term of all the details related to the expression, they are dealing with in order to get the exact equivalence of the expressions. This study is significant because it is a window to the Palestinian history so, it is imperative to highlight the features of this period from one of the eye-witnesses who is Fadwa Tuqan in her autobiography. The depth of the significance lies in transferring her autobiography from Arabic into English by a Western translator which highlights a very important question whether she conveyed the meaning accurately to from the SC or not. 1.5 Research Questions This study answers the following questions: 1. What kind of translation problems did Kenny experience in the translation of the feminist culture-bound expressions mentioned in Tuqan’s autobiography? 2. What are the most frequently used strategies in the translation of feminist culture-bound expressions Tuqan's autobiography? 3. What are the solutions of meaning loss when transferring a culture-bound expression from SL to TL? 1.6 Conceptual Framework Translating culture-specific expressions cannot be done without having sufficient background about translation theories and strategies. In this study, two notions are very important, including equivalence and context since dealing with two different languages means dealing with two different cultures (Al-Sofi & Abouabdulqader, 2020). In this sense, translators should be aware of the context and the accurate cultural equivalence of each of the culture-bound expressions in Tuqan's autobiography (Ahmed & Mansour, 2021). Context and equivalence are important notions in this study because in order to present an exact translation of the source text, it is imperative that translators be familiar with the appropriate cultural equivalent which gives the exact sense with the least meaning loss. 6 Equivalence is the process of converting content while preserving the context and meaning of the original. Following the theory of equivalence, there are four levels of equivalence including word for word; grammatical; textual and pragmatic. In the first, the translator should consider several issues when dealing with a single word, such as number, gender, and tense (Panou, 2013). The second type refers to the many types of grammatical categories, namely number, tense, voice, gender, and person. The third one refers to the equivalence between a source text and a target text in terms of information, consistency, and cohesion. Finally, in the pragmatic equivalence; the actual meaning is expressed in the context of the language meaning and language structure when the language is used, rather than the exercise of referential meaning (Baker, 1992). More importantly, Baker (2018) highlighted the notion of non-equivalence which refers to situations where translators encounter challenges while translating between languages that have distinct cultures. They include culture-specific concepts, a source language (SL) word that is semantically complex, a target language (TL) lacking a specific term or hyponym, differences in expressive meaning and differences in frequency and/or purpose of using specific forms. They also include an SL concept that is not lexicalized in the TL, SL and TL making different distinctions in meaning, a TL that lacks a superordinate, differences in physical or interpersonal perspective, differences in form, and the use of loan words in the source text. All of these categories are types of non-equivalents, which can distort the meaning only a bicultural translator can deal with to help the target reader understand the message of the source text. In translation, the main task of the translator (Petrulion÷, 2015). However, many translators, during the process of translation, encounter culturally bound expressions. These may include religious beliefs, social habits, customs, traditions, moral values, traditional clothing, lifestyles, certain types of food, and political ideologies, among others. Therefore, to provide a suitable 7 translation for such elements, the translator should consider the context behind each expression (House, 2006). The other important notion is the context which is the world in which the meaning lies without which translators are lost and do not know how to determine the original content and intention. In this sense, there are two layers of meaning the contextual or deep meaning and the surface meaning as translators should follow the former, not the latter (Gutt, 2014). This means that each context of a text should be known, understood and considered by the translator in order to be able to render the ST into a reasonable TT. In this study, the translator tries to contextualize each cultural expression in order to be able to translate it. First, the translator decontextualizes each expression, then recontextualize it for the target audience for the sake of producing the same effect on the target audience just as the one the source text has on the source text readers. Providing the context is essential to help us understand the literary text not to mention translating the text (Sun, 2022). According to Andler (2000:281), context is infinite in some sense. As translators are not willing to commit themselves to a precise definition of context, it would be hard put to prove that context is infinite in the sense of being composed of infinitely many elements – elements of what. This is related to the current study that translating culturally-bound expressions depends heavily on the feminist context which is understood differently based on the person speaking about it. Similarly, Armellino (2008) elaborated that the meaning lying behind this kind of expressions is always connected with the specific cultural context in which the text originates. As for the relationship between language and translation, Lagopoulos & Boklund- Lagopoulou (2020) assured that it is hard for translators to translate from one language to another as this hardship becomes even more obvious when the two languages belong to two different language families, like Arabic which is a semiotic language and English which is West Germanic. 8 Some structures and peculiarities of language make it almost impossible for translators to deliver the message; one of which is the phenomenon of culture-bound items. This is the case of Arabic and English which are culturally and linguistically different (Al-Khalafat & Haider, 2022). Moreover, the complexity in this case becomes more intricate as the two languages have significant historical and spatial distinctions. The translation process in this case inevitably entails a translation loss. The connotation behind this kind of expressions is always bound to the context where the text is born or with the cultural context it aims to re-create (Venuti, 2013). When trying to choose the right equivalence of a word, the main factor playing a role in translation is the linguistic one. It is quite impossible to give a guide for translators on how to deal with the problem of non-equivalence. For this reason, many linguists, scholars and translators have written about the matter, and all of them have suggested strategies to deal with this notion. One of the most common problems of nonequivalence is culture-specific expressions (Imbault et al., 2021). Not having the right equivalence in the TC or TL leads to untranslatability which is the property of text or speech where the translator cannot find an equivalent in the target language. A text that is considered to be untranslatable is considered a lacuna or lexical gap. The term is used when describing difficult trials of achieving the so- called perfect translation (Baer, 2020). Total and ideal equivalence cannot be attained since meaning loss occurs during the process of translating culturally bound expressions. Hence, the reason behind the translator’s failure to find a suitable target language equivalent is mainly due to the many differences between the source and the target languages. He also distinguishes between linguistic and cultural untranslatability (Rosa, 2021). Linguistic untranslatability, on the one hand, springs from the differences in the source and the target languages. On the other hand, culture untranslatability takes place when a situational feature, which is functionally relevant to the source language text, is totally absent from the culture of the target 9 language (Okolie & Okoedion, 2022). It is defined as the impossibility of finding the accurate equivalent in the TL. Translating literary works from one language to another has been a rich source for understanding other cultures and traveling beyond sociopolitical borders. Therefore, this kind of writing is important for its great role in shaping our world. When literature is translated, it gives people of other cultures the opportunity to enjoy a new culture and discover new horizons, as nothing is more exciting than reading a nation's literature and having a deep insight into the minds and lives of its people. Since those who wrote literature are cultured and educated people, so this kind of translation exposes readers to texts that are written by great authors, who are the best in presenting their nations and people (Jansson et al., 2021). 1.7 Previous Studies In a world full of varied languages, cultures, customs, and social behaviors, translation acts as a bridge, successfully easing international communication by transferring the meaning of a text from the source language to its equivalent in the target language. It is the process of transmitting the subtle meaning of the original language through a proper equivalency in the translated text (Li et al., 2020). Feminist translation theory views translation as a creative activity, serving feminist agendas. Translators revise and rewrite source texts according to feminist truths, aiming to make women visible in language and society. Initially unknown in China, feminist translation studies emerged in Canada in the 1980s. Although research in China has not been as robust, the trajectory of feminist translation studies is similar (Von Flotow, 2016). Throughout Western history, women were confined to domestic spheres and public life was reserved for men. In medieval Europe, women were denied the right to own property, study, or participate in public life. The defense of women became a literary subgenre by the 16th century, with feminists painting women as superficial and immoral. The feminist voices of the Renaissance never coalesced into a coherent 10 philosophy or movement, only with the Enlightenment when women demanded reformist rhetoric about liberty, equality, and natural rights. The first wave of feminism focused on institutional and governmental change, aiming to integrate women more into the power structure and give them equal access to positions men had traditionally dominated. The second wave of feminism emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, led by Generation Xers who, while benefiting from legal rights and protections, also critiqued the positions and unfinished work of second-wave feminism (Delmar, 2018) Many scholars tackled the issue of translation in litary works that Dohal (2024) tackles the translation of the story 'The Strike' in which Al-Fuzai depicts a conflict between a wife and her husband's mother. Every newlywed couple faces this challenge since a bridegroom prefers to stay with her parents and is socially encouraged to do so in many Arab communities. As a result, the issue is cultural; translation may assist in depicting foreign cultures. In 'The Strike', this societal issue is addressed while critiquing the social context in which a new wife is situated. An atmosphere that allows everyone in the family to exercise their rights while living peacefully and prosperously should be developed; unfortunately, this is not the case in this short story. Basically, understanding these differences was critical for good translation since it enabled a true depiction of the original text while preserving cultural authenticity by evaluating language structures, idiomatic phrases, narrative styles, and cultural allusions. This study shed light on the obstacles that translators encounter, and provides insights into effective translation processes. It ends with recommendations for further research and potential uses of the study's results in the field of translation (Taxirovna, 2023). Mahmud (2022) agreed Taxirovna (2023) demonstrating that Indonesia is a country of several ethnicities, each with its own distinct traits, including food. Some foods have grown so popular that people of all ethnicities recognize them, even if they 11 have never had them before. Literary works, such as novels, can provide insight on the eating of a certain ethnic group in Indonesia. Novels often reflect on human existence, including topics such as food preferences and preparation methods. The three novels, though having distinct locales, shared a common theme of discussing food. The study topics focus on the frequency of comparable meals in three novels, their expression in each novel, and their translation into English. This study used a qualitative approach to characterize the most popular foods in Indonesian novels based on their prevalence in three novels. It also uses translation studies to analyze the data and identify the translation processes utilized. Similarly, Jiang (2022) assured that the focus has shifted from textual analysis to larger cultural studies. Translation has been viewed as a type of mediation, rather than a straightforward textual copying process. Gender is central to feminist and cultural studies, and it is unavoidable that gender, translation, and feminism will intersect. Feminist translation theory which is the theory based on the feminine thoughts and expressions aimed to identify and analyze the reasons of women's marginalization in society and translation, as well as to raise women's visibility in both. Since feminist translation first appeared in China about thirty years ago, Chinese scholars' research perspectives on feminist translation have evolved from theoretical to translation practice in the Chinese context. It compared the feminist 19th century novel Villette by British author Charlotte Brontë to two Chinese translations, one by female translator Xie Sutai and the other by male translator Wu Juntao, to examine how gender influences translation. The findings showed that the gender of the translator has an impact on practice, particularly when translating female features and feminist awareness from the source texts. This work aims to increase the scholarly interest in feminist translation. In fact, , Moe et al. (2021) investigated the interactions of three major players in the process of publishing a literary translation into a low dissemination language: the translator, the editor, and the language reviser (the latter being peculiar to the 12 Slovene scenario). It aimed to determine who has the most authority in the decision- making process of producing a literary translation, particularly when dispute emerges. Questionnaires, interviews, and public statement analysis were used to collect information from the three groups. The questions concerned the selection of the translator and language reviser, the translation process, the revision process, and dispute resolution. They delegate decision-making authority to translators, while language revisers play a more submissive, advisory role. As for translation techniques, Kardiansyah & Salam (2020) studied the translator's technique for translating "Jatisaba," an Indonesian-English literary work, focusing on Christopher Allen Woodrich, an English native speaker with cultural capital on Indonesian literature. It aims to understand how a translator can enhance overseas readers' understanding of Indonesian authors and their cultural identity. Similarly, Shirinova et al. (2020) discussed the importance of cognitive dissonance theory in translating concepts like 'picture of the world' and 'national picture of the world' . The term 'picture of the world' was first coined by physicist G. Gertz and later defined and expanded by I. Kant and M. Plank. It is found that during the independence period, literary works were primarily translated using Russian transliteration, omitting or blending national-cultural terms with target language. It is found that the translator's background knowledge of the source language's history, geography, culture, traditions, and daily life is considered while translating from Uzbek to French or French to Uzbek. Still, Kalda & Uusküla (2019) indicated that metaphors can become a translation challenge, as transferring them from one language and culture to another may be hindered by linguistic and cultural differences. They explored how colour metaphors are transferred from English into Estonian. To investigate how metaphors are translated, a cognitive empirical investigation was carried out with 21 colour metaphors. The experiment had two independent groups of participants. The first 13 group participated in a context-based translation job, the second in a context-free one. The investigation suggests that colour metaphors are culturally distinctive. It found that context is critical for understanding and translating color metaphors. Participants apply a variety of translation tactics for fresh and creative metaphors, such as "yellowbellied person." Differences in translation choices were noticeable between translators and non-translators. Translators tended to focus on target cultures, whereas non-translators focused on source cultures. As for the untranslatability of some expressions, Mehrez (2018) focused on francophone North African literature as an example of postcolonial writings that situate us at the 'threshold of the untranslatable,' where the reading experience could only be a constant translation. As a result, while adopting the language of the ex- colonizer, postcolonial bilingual authors needed to move beyond a passive kind of contestation in which the postcolonial work remained a prisoner of Western literary models and norms, constrained by the dominant form and language. Despite intense arguments over nationalism and national literatures, these postcolonial multilingual writers opted to speak up rather than remain silent. Daghoughi & Hashemian (2016) indicated that because languages differ, so do meanings and concepts. Languages differ significantly in literature and Culture- Specific Items (CSIs), making it difficult to transmit meanings and concepts between them. Scholars have offered many solutions to address the challenges of translation due to linguistic differences. Functional equivalence was the most commonly employed method, whereas modulation and paraphrasing were less frequently used. The findings had instructional significance for both translation students and literary translators. 14 1.7.1 Comments on Previous Studies It is noted that the previously mentioned studies tackled different topics ranging from culture and the role of the translator to the methods of translating culture- specific terms. However, none of them tackled Fadwa Tuqan's autobiography's translation of the chosen expressions giving this study its significance that it is the only study investigating their translation – as far as the researcher knows. 15 Chapter Tow Methodology 2.1 Introduction Translating literary texts is a complex process because translators should consider more than the written words. In other words, they should consider the context, culture and other pragmatic issues in their meaning transfer since language is the vessel that holds culture (Tursunovich, 2022). This study aims to investigate the strategies employed by Kenny in his translation of Tuqan's autobiography: 'A Mountainous Journey'. 2.2 Research Design This study employed the descriptive analytical approach focusing on the translation of feminists' expressions in the translated version of Tuqan's autobiography: 'A Mountainous Journey' because it is imperative to clarify and highlight the instances of feminists' expressions in Tuqan's autobiography knowing the hardships she went through. The research questions are directly related to the methods since the analysis look for the quality of the translation based on a highly sensitive set of expressions related to feminism. 2.3 Research Questions This study aimed to answer the following questions: 1. What kind of translation problems did Kenny experience in the translation of the feminist culture-bound expressions mentioned in Tuqan’s autobiography? 2. What are the most frequently used strategies in the translation of feminist culture-bound expressions Tuqan's autobiography? 3. What are the solutions of meaning loss when transferring a culture-bound expression from SL to TL? 16 2.4 Data Collection The main problem of the study lies in dealing with the feminist-specific cultural expressions mentioned in Kenny's translation of Tuqan's autobiography. Data were collected by analyzing Kenny's translation and depicting the techniques and challenges facing Kenny while translating the autobiography. The researcher selected a set of feminist expressions, statements and terms Tuqan used in her autobiography 'A Mountainous Journey'. They were discussed in detail in light of feminist translation theory. They were chosen as they show difficulties which translators face when they translate Arabic literary texts into English, especially the culture-bound expressions, and more precisely the culture-bound expressions that target female audience. Kenny's expressions have been studied based on their thematic and linguistic accuracy because analyzing translated texts requires comparing the translated text with the original one in order to notice if there is a meaning loss in the target text context especially if expressions are highlight sensitive culturally. 2.5 Data Analysis Method The researcher compared between these expressions and their counterparts in Kenny’s translation of the same autobiography after classifying them into four main categories: the translator invisibility and rise of female tone in translating feminine autobiographies, land in Tuqan’s eyes and the unity between female images and land, feminine anonymity and the construction of feminine identity and religious feminine- associated redundant terms and their correspondences in Kenny’s work. Then, the researcher reported her findings about translation strategies and procedures used. There is no doubt that literary works have special characteristics that distinguish them from other types of texts. Based on this, translators of this genre in general, and autobiographies in particular, must have a deep knowledge of these 17 characteristics, such as the text style uniqueness, employment of figures of speech, symbols, idiomatic language, special tone, etc. After reading Tuqan’s autobiography, the researcher selected a number of expressions, statements and terms which she elaborated that they would pose difficulties when translated from Arabic into English as they include tone, mode and context that seem to be blended together with them. It is difficult for the target text readers to understand them unless the translator is skillful enough to use the most suitable strategy during the translation process. The researcher read Kenny's autobiography translation, identified translation issues, and compared expressions and strategies to solve translation problems. 18 Chapter Three Data Analysis 3.1 Introduction This chapter is devoted to the analysis of a number of feminist expressions in Tuqan’s autobiography and their translation into English by Kenny. The selected cultural and feminist references analyzed in this chapter were carefully chosen for the central role they play in presenting an encyclopedic view of the translation of feminine autobiographical expressions, taking into consideration that these expressions reflect the lives of 20th-century women as portrayed in Tuqan’s autobiography. She reflects women’s status, social morals, personalities of her era. The researcher aims to analyze Kenny's absence in her translated text to highlight the author's voice and how she handles female-bound expressions and their hidden connotations. It is hypothesized that there would be meaning loss in case of failure in translating these expressions correctly since it is impossible to judge a translation for being good or bad without considering the context. An example of an expression and its equivalence in the target culture is given, then through analysis, the researcher gives a brief explanation of the context and tries to find out if the translated text has the same effect on the recipient as the source text has. A deep analysis is done for each expression in terms of its effect and its embedded connotation. In the meanwhile, facing equivalency absence was the first step towards an accurately translated text; deconstructionists like Derrida would question the possibility of ever determining the source text's message in the first place, and then translating it. Derrida in his perception of the meaning as a deferred and deconstructed meaning based on a specific background information agrees with the translation of the feminists' expressions mentioned in this study. In doing so, they have argued that meaning is a phenomenon beyond the understanding or control of the translator. 19 This viewpoint has important implications for the translation process – it frees the translator from seeking perfection, and supplies translator with ways to understand translation more holistically. In other words, it helps to see the resulting text in the author’s eyes himself/herself, leaving the translator’s point of view away out of the work (Critchley & Mooney, 2015). Kenny did no translate a normal text; she dealt with an autobiography which is very critical as she was not just dealing with terms and lexical expressions, but she was also working on the level of the author’s context, culture and the tone and using the author’s eyes to see things around. The author herself was a woman, thus necessitating extra attention particularly when dealing with feminine issues during the process of translation. Tuqan, like other women of her time, employed irony, and understatement in particular, to authenticate themselves in autobiographies revealing self- consciousness in contrast to men’s autobiographies in which they idealize their lives or cast them into heroic molds to show their universal significance. The feminist tone in Tuqan’s autobiography imposes extra restrictions on translation unlike men’s autobiographies which emphasize the autobiographer’s individualism. In contrast, women’s autobiographies often present relational identities that exist interdependently with others. It is noticed in the analysis of religious themes, social suppression, prejudice and social discrimination among other issues are all entangled under the umbrella of feminism although she is a female poet, male characters standing in the center of the work are found. It is argued that translating feminist texts transcends linguistic abilities and skills to the ability of understanding, extracting and analyzing the feminist phrases, ideas and concepts in the original text. Transferring the original into another language requires prior knowledge of feminist ideology, trends and different characteristics and objectives. Therefore, it is essentially not a linguistic translation. Hence, the translator’s realization of this feature in translating literary and autobiographical 20 pieces in particular works for his/ her benefit and ultimately the benefit of the text (Allam, 2018). Some basic concepts of feminist ideology are combined with the text including the feminine sound, feminist issues and resistance. Therefore, some translational strategies, such as trust, translator alienation, and the absence of the translator’s voice, are needed in the translation of Tuqan’s autobiography. 3.2 Translator’s Alienation in Tuqan’s Autobiography Although the translator of a feminist text is expected to take a position supporting feminist ideology and raising women’s voice, even if the text s/he is translating disagrees and opposes feminine issues, as ironically presented in Tuqan’s autobiography, this has not always been the case in Kenny’s translation. The translator as a mediator is supposed not to take asides in his/her translation, but in feminist translation, they comply to the context of the target text and culture. Tuqan opens her autobiography by trying to reveal her date of birth. In fact, her mother associates it with a melancholic incident which is the death of her cousin. Yet, she doesn’t precisely know the exact date of Fadwa’s birth; all she knows is that it was in the ʿkūb season. The word ʿkūb, which is translated into 'Globe thristle' in Kenny’s translation, is transliterated as ʿkūb. The title of the autobiography 'A Mountainous Journey' implies experiencing a hard journey. To begin with, the word 'mountainous' sums up all the hardships experienced by the author reflecting ʿkūb, which is a mountainous plant as well. The two words are linked in a clever way since she links everything related to her birth with hardships. It’s not only difficult for farmers to find this plant in mountains, but also women find it very hard to clean as it is full of thorns. Symbolically speaking, this corresponds to the author’s life which is compared to a thorny existence that continues to trap Tuqan into its thistles. In fact, the word is 21 parallel in its connotations to the hard life the author had. This term 'ʿkūb' is very culturally rooted, and it is important to choose a good translation strategy to deliver the associated information to the target reader in order to feel the importance of the choice made by Tuqan. It is rooted in the Palestinian culture to the extent it has an important cultural value in the hearts of the Palestinians symbolizing authenticity. In other words, the plants of Palestine express its identity and history due to their connection to popular heritage, such as sage, thyme, and olives. The fertile soil of the country has distinguished these plants from their counterparts around the world. However, as usual, it is not easy for Palestinians to cultivate them under the burden of the occupier, who imposes punitive measures on anyone who plants or harvests them. The feminine identity in Palestine is like the 'ʿkūb', it is rooted in the heart of the Palestinian culture as demonstrated in Kenny's translation. Fadwa's birth date was unknown to her mother, who was cleaning 'ʿkūb' as she didn't want to remember it, possibly because it wasn't important. Again, the writer highlights the theme of searching for her identity as a female. She herself chooses her date of birth. It’s the date when ʿkūb ripens. Hence, it’s the date of the mother’s cousin death. Though harmful the diaries are, they guide Fadwa to determine her date of birth which is a principle in the identity construction. All the memories associated with Fadwa’s birth and childhood were melancholic in the mother’s eyes. When Fadwa was born, the mother’s cousin died in the war. It’s not just that relationship between birth and death. It’s a relationship between the death of a male and the birth of a female. However, Kenny was very neutral in rendering the term into English. The translator’s voice was very much dominant and the term ʿkūb has been domesticated in the English text dropping out all the connotations Fadwa tried to convey. This constructs a fundamental part in women’s experience and status in Fadwa’s era. 22 Another way of dating which has also been coldly rendered is the connection between time and years with big events happening, such as the 'big snow', 'the earthquake', 'ʿkūb season’…etc. Here, years are referred to as names which stand for big events. The most important of these is the year of the death of Kamel, who is the cousin of Fadwa’s mother. When he died, the mother was about to deliver Fadwa. Therefore, years and events were the key to mark other incidents representing a Palestinian cultural norm. Still, these are examined in association with feminine issues such as the year that marks the death of Kamel and the birth of Fadwa, and this raises the following question: which of the two events is more important for the mother? As a result, time is vital for the author since it is the framework which marks other ‘‘marginal’’ events like the birth of the protagonist in ʿkūb season. Other than historic importance, the years are also socially and economically suggestive. The 'big snow', which implies poverty and need. The female author’s emotions and relationships with the surroundings and family members are also cold. Earthquakes are another implication of damage representing inevitable ends, disability and the ultimate loss. In other words, it’s the peak of revolution followed by radical change highlighting its death followed by new birth and new startups. The native language reader knows these details well, and interprets the text naturally as s/he is familiar with this type of timing. Still, this is no longer true when it comes to the target language text reader. The translation used, though lexically correct, still loses the cultural acquaintance needed to understand the text well without leaving out any of the chain cycles. Another prominent quotation in which the translator's voice is clearly heard is the interpretation of ' ك اهللا كفاك انشغاال بالدمى فقـد كبـرت خمس ' (Tuqan, 1990, p. 24). This is a harsh curse from the mother at her daughter Fadwa as it is unusual for a mother to utter such a curse in the face of her little daughter even though not explicitly stated. Actually, it is a paradoxical link between the mother and the curse in one line. The 23 translator omits the curse though it is very central and important to mention in order to help the TT reader understand the circumstances and kind of term that Fadwa got used to during her childhood. The translated text positively impacts the source text, portraying the mother as teaching Fadwa, but loses the aggressive relationship between Fadwa and her mother, as well as the hateful tone in the native language. Translation theories often allow violations of feminine texts and works, promoting domination and control by men over women. The relationship between translator and language is gender-based, and translators must not abuse the source language. Instead, they must be loyal to the source text, maintaining its effects and aesthetics. The mother tongue should be protected from distortion, and interpretation should be the center of power, controlling the relationship between the original text and the translated text. Translator’s invisibility is a skillful act. Kenny appears again in translating Tuqan’s statement ' ظللـت احـس بانكمـاش ونفـور', (Tuqan, 1990, p. 9). which is the opening statement of the autobiography. The author underestimates herself, and at no point does she brag of her achievements, however great they are. Even though the statement carries greater implications, one can say that the entire work is summarized in such a simple statement. From this, there have been many thin threads connecting the beginning with the middle and the end keeping the main concluding thread as one. Tuqan, the daughter, has undergone a terrible childhood starting from the moment she has been an embryo in her mother’s womb and later in her strict traditional society. The key term of ' انكمـاش ' (becoming smaller) misses lots of its implications when literally translated into 'shrunk’. It’s though more than “shrunk” holding the idea of feminine futility and nothingness that is redundant in Tuqan’s autobiography which is also the idea of feminine gradual vanishing, alienation and absence. 24 Supporting this assumption, Tuqan states: (Tuqan, 1990, p. 21) 'شعر انني ال شيء وليس لي مكان في ذاكرتهاا' The psychological factor and the feeling of dissatisfaction inside Tuqan as a woman had a strong impact on her future and plans. Throughout her literary life, she felt shrinking and avoided answering the questions that were directed to her about her life, and the factors that guided and affected it. Yet, Tuqan, the Nabulsi girl, knew the reason for that shrinkage and inner conflict justifying it by her lack of content with her life and absence of happiness. So, her soul remained eager for better achievement and broader prospects. Kenney translates it as' I would tell myself I’m nothing I have no place in her memory'. In this translation, she neglected her voice in narrating things using his own tongue, mind and culture in saying things. In addition, this can be compared with the source statement and the transferred one. The word ' اشـعر' (I feel) itself enriches the whole situation with feminine suppression that Tuqan is mutely feeling. Kenny, in this context, as a translator of feminist text must have resorted to special translation strategies, such as translating the latent meaning behind the words, moving away from the literal translation and adding sometimes to ensure access into the meaning through the margins. Those simple changes that occur at the level of the text to raise and show the feminist voice as an issue of the feminization of language are all a way of legitimacy that leads to the production of a correct and acceptable translation. She domesticated the sense of the source text to the target text. Another instance of the disappearing cultural and feminine associated meanings is seen through the following statement: (Tuqan, 1990, p. 25) 'عاقبتني امي بدعك شفتي ولساني بزر من الفلفل الحار' 25 This is rendered as 'Mother even punished me one day by rubbing red pepper seeds on my lips'. In this example, Kenny’s translation is not persuasive, and lacks lots of hints that are clearly read through the above statement and particularly through the word ' دعـك' which holds a kind of aggressiveness. The source language reader for example can see the mother who is expected to be the core of security and hope appears in Tuqan’s present work as a part in a struggling relationship. In that, the Nabulsi poet says: 'I began having dreams in which I would see myself face to face with mother even after her death she would be silent while I filled with feelings of suppressed defeat'. The struggle starts very early before the poet’s birth. The mother tried heavily, though in vain, to abort Fadwa. Victim- victim conflict, as the mother also is a victim of a strict society, is the dominant aspect that marks the daughter’s relationship with her mother. All mother images in Tuqan’s work are constructed on that traumatic relationship with the daughter. The translator, however, was unlucky in capturing the precise meaning of the statement which is overburdened with feminine marginalization and abuse. The hidden feminine meaning of suppression is an essential case to stand on. She has rather rendered the statement showing the mother disciplining her daughter for the sake of being much moral and obedient. The domesticating strategy Kenny depended on was absolutely unfair for both the author’s message and the text itself as a cultural piece. Apart from stiffing Fadwa’s voice, Kenny’s deviation from an objective view in the process of translation removed the differences between the two texts and accordingly the two cultures, knowing that these differences were developed to achieve goals and results that would serve the interest of the two parties, i.e. the source text and the translated text. A mirror translation for the autobiography requires an accurate knowledge of the history, activity, and development of the feminist cases in Fadwa’s day and being familiar with feminist terminologies and concepts that may sometimes be difficult to 26 transfer to different languages due to the special meanings and connotations they carry within the framework of feminist theory. Kenny translated the expression ' بـزر' as 'rubbing indicating the severity of the treatment and punishment of females if they misbehave. This is apparent in the used language which indicated intensity and severity. Another example of non-objective translation is transferring Fadwa’s statement: (Tuqan, 1990, p. 30) 'رشقني باستمرار بنظرات عدائية قاسيهت' Kenny has rendered the above statement as 'she always looked at me with cruel enmity'. Although the translated copy contains expressions of cruelty, the resulting statement does not convey the same malice the original text holds. The word )gives me glimpse)' ترشـقني ', for instance, is a blending of a number of comprehensive connotations, and the translator should have been very careful when delivering it to the other language. He should have maintained the feeling of resistance, from one side, and discontent from the other side. The word ' ترشقني ' itself is associated with stones, and stones are associated with the 1987 intifada or uprising and struggle for freedom as the word carries patriotic and religious meanings. They are linked together in one statement which is not strange because they have the same referent. Tuqan's autobiography's structure is shaped by associations, but literal translations of cultural terms are not effective. Arab readers can interpret the Nabulsi girl's wicked view and her cousin's psychology. Furthermore, Fadwa has golden earrings, decent clothes, and more importantly she has loving and caring parents. All of these components that put the cousin in the model corner are seen in the object slot. Fadwa, who has been always struggling to reach in the model angle, is classified to be in the subject point. There is a mimicry spirit that runs in Fadwa’s innate nature to be similar to her cousin. It is 27 psychological depicting the author identically by drawing Rene Girard’s mimicry triangle. Fadwa’s model, however, ends up with death. As for the first time the cousin’s death means nothing to Fadwa since its mimicry thus accompanied with silent revenge. Silence also speaks in Tuqan’s autobiography, and must be accurately rendered as well. Fadwa mentions her cousin's white neck and factory doll, highlighting racial prejudice. Tuqan, from a wealthy background, shares deprivation and suffering, not having a factory doll or gold earrings. Tuqan's clothes are clumsily made, not suitable for her. The doll is also suggestive since it is associated somehow with the social classes as the doll from the factory is only bought by rich people for their pampered children. Tuqan tries here to express the marginalization she had suffered from throughout her childhood using some cultural words and phrases. She was not a pampered child. Moreover, the doll she had was not prepared by her mother. It was prepared by the childless aunt. She finds in Fadwa a fertile land to practice her motherhood on. Fadwa mutually finds in the aunt the love and sympathy of the dead through her living mother and father revealing the idea of absence versus presence is apparent in this context. Her father, who does not talk to her, refers to her as the 'Girl' as he never says her name. Her mother seems to be harsh to her except at times when she feels sick. Hence, it is definitely heart-rending when Tuqan says that she feels happy when she is often attacked by malaria as only then would her mother show her warmth towards her. The doll, which is a symbol of innocence of childhood, was not a factory doll. The features of dignity in Tuqan’s character appear very early in her childhood. Despite her strong desire to have a factory doll, she never asks for one. The situation, among many others stressing Tuqan’s dignity, is compared with another one when she is an adult and her brother invites her for a dinner party made upon 28 her honor, but Fadwa refuses to attend. The secret is that she didn’t have a decent dress for the party. Still, her brother died without knowing this secret. Factory dolls, while similar to other language readers, can be distinguished by source language readers. Tuqan's struggle can be viewed through three dimensions: conservative society, male dominance, hypocritic religious icons, and female color- dependent discrimination. This fact is recognized through the poet’s tone of dignity when talking about men and their colorful clothes, so, it can be seen from her description of the scene of men welcoming that she said: .Tuqan, 1990, p) 'قمقم فضي صغير...ل وراح يرش ماء الزهر المقطر على شباب الموكب من خال' 40) The contrast in the type of tone when talking about men and women here is sharply stressed more than any other situation in the autobiography. Those men are the guards of the country and are welcomed with fragrant water being spread upon them as a gesture of respect and value. The author’s tone of feminine underestimation radically changes when she talks about men, and turns to be another one full of pride, confidence and happiness as she reflects her society which celebrates the world of men. The author presents a picture to the world of traditional men, a picture she has kept in mind since her childhood. These are the father, brother, paternal uncle and uncle of the first degree as she was not able to meet stranger men. The male members of the family are rarely present inside the house because household management and raising children are matters assigned to women. Men are often seen outside the home, where they carry out their work and social duties. As a young girl, Tuqan looked at men as the representatives of society in public life. They have high and broad privileges that exceed what women have (Nazar et al., 2022). 29 There is a loss of expressive meanings associated with the Palestinian culture and gender -based word (men)' رجال ' . When translated literally into men, it drops out its effect on the recipient. The Arabic term ' رجـال ' (men) suggests much more than the English” men”. The first for example is the family holder who has full responsibility for meeting family needs and requirements. He is also the one to abide by social duties and economic conditions. More importantly, the Arabic 'رجل' (man) is also the fighter, the land guard and the martyr. All these meanings are simultaneously summarized in one term: Arabic (man) ' رجـل'. Yet, the English reader of the term 'men' takes it as it is and not more than the masculine power. Pertaining to Tuqan’s color themes, it can be seen the first color theme appears in her narration of her childhood experiences and her babysitter Samra who is the only one to love and take care of her. Samra has also named one of her daughters Fadwa as a gesture of love for Fadwa. Samra’s name is also expressive. Tuqan unconsciously constructs a positive and loving image for the dark- skinned females. On the other hand, a wicked image is depicted of those white- skinned females. The scale is not absolutely used for males. Again, Girard’s psychological model may be a good justification for Tuqan’s feeling of hatred of the white females. Fadwa talks about her suffering from the labels put on her by others as (tan) ‘ سـمرة’ and ‘ خضـرا’ (green) as a malaria sick little girl. Kenny’s translated it as 'shallow face' and 'green skin' which are also suggestive in English as well. The translator has rendered the terms along with their expressive connotations. Kenny in this context has been lucky in capturing the implied meanings of theses color terms. In that, it can be seen that his interpretation reaches into the recipient’s mind smoothly. She in a clever way translates culture rather than language which is a prominent example of the domestication of the text which has successfully served the feminine issue through winning the sympathy of the other language readers with the autobiography heroine. 30 Kenny focused on context in translation of the text, then looked at the characteristics of the text itself (genre, for example), and finally took into account matters of contrastive linguistics: the specific properties of the two languages concerned. Among other feminine associated rendered terms, statements and situations Tuqan’s dominant feminine theme: the image of land presented through a handful of metaphors. 3.3 Land in Fadwa’s A Mountainous Journey and Kenny’s Correspondences The image of the woman as a land is not only recurrent in Tuqan’s autobiography but also throughout her other literary works. A case in point is a common metaphor, 'This land, my sister, is a woman' which is taken from her famous poem, which was published in 1969, 'Hamza' . The land and the Palestinian people are fighting for is as strong as a woman. The bloodshed, suffering, and devastation endured by the land and its people all represent the strength that a woman has endured through childbearing or raising the next generation of freedom fighters. Tuqan echoes the theme of women as land in several contexts. The first image is the mother as land. Tuqan compares the mother with land. She says: (Tuqan, 1990, p. 35) 'تعطي ابي غلتها من بنين وبنات بانتظام....استمرت هذه االرض السخيه ' The metaphor here is Palestinian culture bound and feminine associated. It is very normal in the Palestinian culture to refer to the woman as land. Mother is the land and vice versa. In other words, women can produce and be productive in the society as the land gave her father everything he needs. However, the feminism appears again in Tuqan’s metaphor. The mother is the land which gives its produce ultimately to the head of the family who is inevitably the father. In that, mothers don’t have the courage to say no; they have to be obedient and supporters, and give their produce regularly. They don’t even have control over their bodies. Tuqan was courageous enough to describe her as not more than something binds to the hero of the family, and she is a shadow for him or even a part of his own identity. 31 Without the masculine existence, mothers, represented through Tuqan’s own mother, lose their value. The writer also emphasizes the theme of division of labor in the family. The dutiful mothers are subordinates. They can’t say no their men ‘. In other words, Tuqan stressed that the only freedom they have is to say yes. 'Yes' is the word they have been taught to chant in a parrot-like manner since birth. (p40)The father is the dominant figure who heads his family and the boss. He can say anything he wants and behaves in the way he finds suitable. Moreover, he is the only one who draws the family guidelines and borders. Tuqan’s sarcastic tone is crystal clear in every single word of the above metaphor. Mothers are always compared to land, but surely Tuqan’s mother is a land of another type. Land always has the implications of security, mercifulness, production and hope. However, this is not according to land when it comes to Tuqan’s mother. Her statements are capable of devastating the picture of mother many. In Tuqan’s land, mother’s image is collapsing along with all its positive connotations and feelings we have gained previously. In other words, the metaphor conjures up in minds all the martyrs who died for the sake of their home land as women present their children to their husbands regularly. Martyrs are presented as people who sacrifice their lives to liberate their occupied lands. Readers They also naturally sympathise with her cause as a suppressed female in a conservative society. Still, this is no longer the case when rendered into English as a normal aesthetic metaphor. Kenny transfers it as 'This fertile soil just like the soil of Palestine continued to present father regularly with sons and daughters'. ( gained money at the end of the day)’الغلة' for example is something precious that people get exhausted to have. Still, it is ultimately given to the father without efforts. It can be concluded that it is not just that linguistic translation which is required. It’s rather the cultural, pragmatic and contextual interpretation that is needed for a faithful result. 32 The other land Tuqan depicts in her autobiography is the womb of her mother. We hear her bitter authentic tone in saying; ' ا في رحمها تشبث الشـجر هذا الرقم السابع ظل متشبث Tuqan, who was number seven in her family, is just .(Tuqan, 1990, p. 12) ’بـاألرض like a tree that is very strong and stubborn. It will never be uprooted. It has in her heart the innate soul of resistance since she was an embryo. The author again refers to herself as a number, which is underestimating, in an attempt to show loss of identity as a female. Tuqan’s relationship with her mother is a relationship of struggle. The unsuccessful abortion attempts, the mother has tried, give evidence that Tuqan was a part of the complex structure of the portrait she drew. She says: 'I emerged from the darkness of the womb into a world unprepared to accept me. My mother had tried to get rid of me during the first months of her pregnancy. Despite repeated attempts, she failed. Mother had ten pregnancies: she gave birth to five boys and five girls. She did not try to abort herself until my turn came'. (Tuqan, 1990, pp. 12-13) This confession directly shifts the reader’s attention from the heroine of autobiography, Tuqan, to her mother whose failed abortion implies her frustration to have control over her body. Tuqan’s gloomy view then continued and increased day by day until reaching the point of nothingness. The metaphor goes parallel to other metaphors and implications in the autobiography that undervalue women and shed light on the conflict of their identity construction. The mother womb is paradoxically depicted in the above statement. It’s no longer a symbol of production and life. It tried heavily to throw the little innocent baby out and kill her. Nevertheless, Tuqan stayed alive due to her own resistance rooted in her genes and not anything else. Kenney’s literal translation of this metaphor was not successful and was not able to convey all the feelings and resistance the statement carries. The term متشـبثا itself 33 holds a mixture of feelings and meanings that no other language could completely convey. The third land is فكانت صحراء ال شجرة فيها وال ينبـوع مـاء ' الشيخه' (Tuqan, 1990, p. 65). The 'shīkha' here is like the desert that has no water or trees. The author says that this person has no privileges. She has no use except for being the police who submit reports full of lies to the house lords. The sheikha is as dry as desert; she is deprived of life and emotions. She has no water and no trees as well. And over all, she is barren not giving birth to any. Again, Tuqan returns to the land. However, it’s a land of another kind. The word holds a lot of negative connotative meanings behind. The metaphor is overburdened with hectic expressive meanings. The translated copy of the latter statement is stated as 'The shaykha was a treeless desert with no springs of water; she was like a cruel goddess who has set herself upon an invisible throne'. The metaphorical desert in English culture symbolizes drought, scarcity, loss of hope, and loss of emotions. In Arab culture, it represents female suppression, abuse, and anonymity, similar to Nablusi women's life in the twentieth century. 3.4 Women’s Anonymity in Tuqan’s Autobiography Treating females as anonymous is a prevalent theme in Tuqan’s journey. It appears in every situation the protagonist narrates, starting from the loss of her exact birthday and coming across the relationship with her neglecting parents, brothers and the society as a whole. The girl-father relationship is based on abuse: 'He used to refer to me in the formal absent tense even if I was in the room ' (Kenny, 1990, p. 16). The father does not talk to his daughter directly. On the other hand, he uses the mother as a mediator to pass orders to the little daughter: 'Tell the daughter to do this and that.' (Kenny, 1990, p. 18) Kenny’s translation of the word ' البنـت' (the girl) as daughter is risky. The Arabic word carries the connotation of underestimation. The father does not even mention 34 the name which is very abusing and adds a touch of anonymity to the relationship. Nevertheless, Kenny uses the term 'daughter' instead, which is more convenient and hinders the negative connotations associated with the Arabic word. In the absence of parents' role, Tuqan attempts to create her own mother and father figures. At home, her paternal uncle was the caring father. She remembers him playing with her and filling her soul with affection. She also compares him to her natural father in terms of importance. At school, Tuqan found in her teacher, Zahwa al-Ahmad, the motherly warmth and care she lacked at home. When Zahwa fell sick, Tuqan felt lonely and sad. Mentioning Zahwa has its significance in the work. The word ' السـت' (the lady) is used in the Palestinian culture to show respect. It holds the impression that the addressee is a school teacher who is an educated and respectful person in society. Tuqan describes her teacher Zahwa positively in a colorful language that is full of love. As it can be concluded from the almost soft and sensual description of the teacher, Zahwa embodies the style of a completely different new woman. Once again, the outside world appears, this time, embodied through the teacher as a truly desired aspiration. To describe the form of women's life in Tuqan Palace, the Nabulsi poet refers to women as harem, and this word has a special symbolism that has always been associated with many characteristics, most notably 'closure'. As for Tuqan, this word or state carries gloomy connotations such as submission, oppression, and loss of identity. The amount of freedom that women were able to possess at that stage was very limited. Women were separated from public life. We see Tuqan later on combining the two terms: “Harem” and “deprivation "She states in describing the family house; .'البيت أثري كبير من بيوت نابلس القديمة التي تذكرك بقصور الحريم والحرمان' 35 The term has two dimensions. The first is its association with marginalization, alienation and separation from others. The second dimension is its association with the word 'حرمان' at the lexical and grammatical level, as the two terms have the same root. This makes it troublesome to be accurately rendered into any other language. Therefore, it has been translated as 'Harem' in an attempt by the translator to maintain the source language melody of the term’s letters. Harems, traditionally reserved for women in Muslim countries, are part of a house set apart for family members. They have existed in pre-Islamic Middle Eastern civilizations, serving as secure private quarters for women who played various roles in public life. Muhammad sponsored the idea of harems, which were spread throughout Islam. The Islamic harem typically removed women from public life. In her description of the house where she was brought up, she says: كنت توقاً مستمراً إلى االنطالق خارج مناخ الزمان والمكان ، والزمان هو زمان القهر والكبت والـذوبان ' .'والمكان هو سجن الدار في الالشيئية Women are treated as prisoners in their own houses. The house is like a big prison. Tuqan’s house was the house of the family, and the house was like a palace full of high-class corridors and beautiful galleries that the visitor would be lost if he/ she was not guided by any of the family members. Still, the luxurious palace is seen in Tuqan’s eyes as an awful prison for women. The house is associated in the readers' mind with the pessimistic and dark context Tuqan experienced. It’s a place of alienation from the outer world, the inner world and even form herself and her body. In this, the Nabulsi poet has been successful in conveying the same gloomy sight she says to the reader who sympathizes with her and hates the house as well. And though rendered as 'house', 'الدار' Tuqan has used is neither ' المنـزل' nor ' البيـت' (the house)' So, it means a lot for Tuqan. She speaks in her autobiography in the tone 36 of other Nabulsis. The house in her opinion is a place where Harem are kept. It’s a big prison where she along with other women of aristocratic families have lived. Hence, the suppressive and culturally rooted implications of ' الـدار' have disappeared from the translated text. It is true that the translator uses literal translation as the most faithful strategy for delivering the ST expression, but this is not enough. An explanation should be put in the footnote to talk about the reasons behind choosing this specific term and calling it as a prison. Though forced for social protocols to stay at home, she doesn’t spare a chance to reject it with all its customs, protocols and boundaries drawn for her by male members in her 'male' house. It’s as she later describes the house with high walls that isolate the harem from the outer world. Then she says that it’s the place where she was buried alive as we see through the term ' مـوؤودة’which also has religious implications. Tuqan continues to associate the house with her oppressed childhood. It’s not surprising thus to see Tuqan separating herself from the family house once she becomes older and mature enough and gets some freedom, as she builds another smaller one for her own in another side of the city. The Nabulsi poet’s voice of rejection and her melancholic tone, which are clear in her selective choices of terms, have also disappeared in Kenny’s translation. Kenny has no guilt in translating ' المـوؤودة ' (the buried) as buried. The translation was also edited by Salma Khadra Al Jayyousi, a well-known authority on translation of Palestinian literature. The real obstacle emerges from the culturally specific characteristics that differentiate the Arabic language from other languages. Another obstacle in rendering terms of Tuqan’s masterpiece is her voice which accompanies every single narrated word and cannot be detached out. In her childhood, the family succeeded in forcing its daughter on being physically isolated as a Harem prisoner, but the daughter's spirit and thirst to grow was much more powerful to get her mentally out of the box, out of the house and out of the 37 entire firm society and weary customs. She always possessed a strong desire to escape spatial and temporal limitations and get out of being merged in the futility and suppression. She is more than a mere national Palestinian symbol, particularly in citing her three-fold rebellion against her conservative upbringing, repressive society, and traditional genre in Arabic poetry and autobiography. At a time when only men wrote and read poetry, Tuqan was not just a female poet but a woman who dared to challenge her patriarchal and male-dominated society; and at a time when the art of autobiography (or 'confessions,' as translated in Arabic) was non-existent, Tuqan was unique not only in telling the world about herself and her family, but also in doing so as a woman. She wrote and spoke frankly and transparently about her own life experiences. Her readers lived with her and felt every subtle detail of her life; they heard her voice, sympathized with her and carried her cause. The late Palestinian poet Sameeh Al-Qasem held a comparison between Fadwa, the story of a woman's life, who exceeds boundaries, and brings the roles of male and female into question, and Taha As previously seen, even in her silence, Tuqan speaks aloud. The reader hears her silence well. This means that it is not just language that constructs a work but also tone, mode and context. All of these components, which are hard to be rendered in an accurate manner, makes it impossible to come up with the other coin face of the source text. Another situation that highlights Tuqan’s silence appears in the context of The material-cultural word kunafeh is transliterated .(the tray of Kunafeh) 'سدر الكنافة' though it is a Palestinian culture-bound expression. Kunafeh is very specific to the Palestinian culture with its two dimensions: the urban and the rural one. Sidr al kunafeh is related to the urbanites and the peasants. The white cheese in the kunafe is made by the peasants who travel to the city to sell their cheese produce and buy it again after being mixed in kunafeh. 38 Here, we see Tuqan again wiping up classic boundaries between people in her society. Another kind of rebellion is being announced in the backstage. Despite all of its sweetness, Sidr al-kunafeh is seen undesirably in Tuqan’s eyes. It reminds her again of male dominance and superiority. In that, she stays silent and feels helpless to defend herself. She tells her brother that what has drawn her attention is not the kunafeh itself like other children, but the bees surrounding the dish when the brother shouts at her as her behavior of standing in front of Al-Sadr is rude. The author’s criticism of the wicked aristocratic customs speaks volumes. The bees surrounding the kunafeh dish are expressive as well. Bees are always seen as a symbol of freedom, generosity, and hope. They are also self-reliable and hard workers in order to secure their food, and build their place of living. More importantly, they can defend themselves, unlike Tuqan. In a way or another, the translator, unfortunately, failed in delivering the purely expressive meanings of kunafeh and the bees and the inner silent voice of the heroine we as natives hear. Perhaps, there is a need for an extra appendix illustrating the term and its position in the Palestinian and Nabulsi minds is crucial. Therefore, it is better if an intervention is made along with an accurate linguistic and cultural translation. And though it will be almost impossible to get one hundred percent optimal translated piece, still a mixture of the aforementioned efforts would make it closer to the original. In short, translating an autobiography is not a simple task. Tuqan continues her criticism of the suppressive society she lives in. She complains about ' فوالذي الـذي يضـعنا فيـه االهـل لقالب الا ' which the Nabusi close-knit community Kenny translates it as ‘’the iron mold the family cast us in’’ (Kenny, 1990, p. 20). In her autobiography, Tuqan tries to reflect the miserable conditions of her childhood and youth. Being a girl makes things more difficult for her. Like her community girls, she has to adjust herself in the ‘iron mold’’ as she describes in the autobiography. This frame is not a real one. It is metaphorical, referring to the way people deal with women in the family. 39 The protagonist is fighting to articulate herself in a traumatic family frame, though all attempts are useless. The frame is very stiff and hard with no elastic space to move in. Tuqan may tend to present the idea of dis-identification of being merged in the local community or in its frame without crossing its red boundaries. She herself does not choose to be inside the borders of the hard frame. But her family chooses this for her and forces her to cope with it. Tuqan laments that in many situations she has been disappearing, with no identity. She raises a number of questions. These questions include the question of identity, identity construction and the legitimacy of person to determine a female’s identity. After all, we see her constructing an alternative identity that is neither purely individualistic nor totally collective, an identity that merges the shared and the unique and invites a whole new understanding of the female gender (Othman & Ahlam , 2017). Investigating the type of identity Tuqan is depicting, we find that it’s a combination of two paradoxical parts. It’s the shared identity being anonymously mixed in the larger community, without anything distinguishing the person from others. However, it’s the unique identity that is developing throughout the events of the autobiography and revolting in the end (Sarhan, 2011). Examining Kenny’s selection of expressions here, we see him identifying herself with the female heroine and uses her feminine tone. And though in all the aforementioned and illustrated evidences the translator has been hardly successful in rendering the effect to the recipient, we see her here excel in conveying Tuqan's emotions by choosing the optimal word 'cast' which is even much more effective and expressive than the memoirist’s term (put) 'يضــعنا’. Kenny’s term here suggests the meanings of negligence and abandoning. That gives a sense of satisfaction in the reader’s mind and in particular in females who are zealous for their own cause. Delving into Kenny’s translation, especially in the latter context, There is a shift to another technique in rendering the autobiography into English. She uses domestication of the text; she makes the reader feel that s/he is reading the original text and never feels that s/he is reading a translated text. The domestication approach 40 of translation has been criticized by some reviewers since it obscures the view of the other's culture. Apart from the feminist terms, there are also religious redundant terms that are of a strong relationship with the feminine terms. These also have been troublesome in being transferred into English for a number of reasons. 3.5 Translation of Religious Female-related Terms Tuqan enriches her autobiography with many religious terms and metaphors. These are not just religious but also very much related to the feminine issues. Tuqan’s work religious references to the Holy Qur’an are both spontaneous and automatic. The author resorted to them in most of her works to express contemporary connotations and attribute to her personal and national suffering to them. This employment contributed to the success of her works, at the content level, and made her work more convincing and influential. The first religious reference appears when she describes how her father was upset with his wife, as she was trying to abort her daughter, Fadwa. The father thinks that .The verse is from the Holy Qur’an.(Tuqan, 1990, p. 50) 'المال والبنون زينة الحياة الـدنيا ' It’s also suggestive and reflects Tuqan’s outrage upon the suppressing father. Memories of childhood and youth that refer to the girl's attachment to her father seem brief. And when these memories are spoken, they are expressed with a sense of frustration and abandonment. The first memory that the narrator recounts is when her father stopped talking to her mother, for the first time in their life, for a few days. The reader may think that the father was sympathizing with the child. This is a wrong conclusion. The father was hoping to get the fifth baby boy before being shocked he would have Fadwa. For him money and boys were the most joyful things in life. The author’s quote of a Qur’anic verse is very much selective (Abdelmotagally, 2015). Kenny translates it as ' Wealth and sons were life status 41 symbols'. The context of this verse in the Holy Qur’an is important as it parallels the context of the autobiography. The Holy Qur’an addressed some arrogant aggressive infidels who were conceited with their wealth and sons as a continued power for them. In comparison, the author uses the metaphor to describe her father who is not less arrogant and possessed with the idea of gaining power. To be more accurate, native readers also need to be deeply cultivated. They should have a good background and knowledge of the Holy Qur’an verses Fadwa is referring to. Otherwise, the reader would face a difficulty in understanding the emotions and feelings Fadwa is trying to express through her religiously coded words. All of this intensifies the responsibility upon the translator who needs to be much careful in rendering these Quranic expressions into English. He also needs to give more illustration about the contextualization of this intertextuality in a separate part or in the margins. In addition to the religious verse that asserts gender discrimination, Tuqan touches on ’ الفطـام’ (the end of the period of breast feeding to the baby) borrowing the word from Holy Qur’an and the Islamic history in general. The Nabulsi girl’s relationship with her mother was not better than her relationship with her father. Therefore, her attachment with her mother was also hectic. In the Arab- Islamic culture there has been an emphasis on the weaning period in the child’s life. The ) فتـرة الفطـام( (breast-feeding end period) is defined by the Holy Qur’an of two years. This is cultural and religious custom in the Arab countries. The connotations of this word can never be felt by the target reader. The translator should provide an explanation in order to help readers feel the same effect the ST readers feel when reading this term. With reference to its feminist shadow, the earlier weaning for Fadwa is seen as a punishment of another kind for the little baby compared with her male siblings. 42 It is also a feminist right violation though it’s been practiced on a girl of a very young age. Weaning goes beyond the action itself. It’s to cut off the relationship between the mother and her baby who is expected to be self-dependent to some extent, at least at the level of gaining food nutrients. However, Fadwa’s relationship with her mother is cut very early within her first week of birth. Fadwa, the one- week-old baby has been weaned by depriving her of mother’s breast milk. The process also is a deprivation of the most principal right for a baby that no one has the freedom to take it out. Fadwa’s mother refuses to play her role as a mother for Fadwa only. The protagonist again goes beyond the physical structure of words to the psychological and contextual parts, and this makes it troublesome for the translator to convey the sense within a single term as done in the source text. Tuqan continues to use religious terms and expressions throughout her autobiography. We see the sheikha appears almost in every scene of the autobiography. This is not strange as the sheikha is also one of the sarcastic religious icons in Fadwa’s work. It serves as the police of the family and the protocol keeper of the aristocratic families. She is responsible for reporting women’s disobedience to the family’s patriarch. The Nabulsi memoirist describes one the shikha's reports ' في تلك التقارير الكثير من السـم كان The word poison here is metaphorical, and means that .(Tuqan, 1990, p. 64) ’المدسوس the shikha's reports are not true and full of lies. This sheikha who sends reports to the family’s patriarch is the same one who teaches the author norms and customs of the strict community, and the same one who teaches her how to be religiously committed. The sheikha, a strict guardian of family traditions, observes young women and suspects sexual intent. She warns of the devil and prevents family daughters from forming friendships with relatives, classmates, or neighbors, as Tuqan illustrates in her autobiography. Hell is another threat from the sheikha who has appointed herself as a religion guard and protocol keeper. She says to Fadwa; 43 ,Tuqan) '!ستدخلين جهنم انت وامك التي خاطت لك هذه المالبس المشـينة ...شمري عن فخذيك اكثر ' 1990, p. 133) Clothes for the author are also suggestive. She has been always impressed with men’s clothes and their details and colors, while feeling disgusted . 58) (Kenny, 1990, p.when looking at her own clothes which 'will drive her to hell' Again, the target reader will by no means get the same effect the source reader has when reading the source text. What annoys the Nabulsi girl much more is the shikha's deprivation of mercy, as well as her orders and prohibitions. Many connotations conveyed in the native text will be lost. Though these implications are hiding behind the apparent letters, they stand as part and parcel of the whole context of the author’s autobiography. . The sheikha, for example, uses her healing powers to help children get well. Fadwa says: .'بأيديهن اباريق الماء لتتلو الشيخه ايات القران على رؤوس األطفال ' .'ولتنفث انفاسها الطاهرة داخل االبريق كيما تحل في الماء البركة الشافية ' The tone of sarcasm in the word ‘pure’ and ‘healing’ is clear. We notice that Fadwa hates the sheikha and does not believe in anything she says. For Fadwa, she is the icon which represents the rigid and hypocritical commitment to religion. In this respect, the translator should have noticed that the words in this context are not used seriously. The sheikha and her actions in Tuqan’s autobiography have a special narrative, and she has a space for description and diagnosis which goes beyond the mention of the father and mother. This is because it was included among the elements that worked to create a psychological construction, with a dual structure embodied in being submissive on the one hand, and rebellious on the other. Though there has been a blood relationship with the sheikha, the Nabulsi girl only knew of her cruelty and dark side, just like her hidden authority through which she used to run the house 44 behind a mystical religious guise that she used to contradict her behaviors and practices. In the same domain, Fadwa describes her abhorrence of the ignorant females who mimic what the sheikha does without thinking, and considers them as another enemy for her. She says: .(Tuqan, 1990, p. 68)' ....كانت تؤمها النسوة الساذجات ' Even though she is a female herself, the Nabulsi girl’s first enemy are women of another kind. Fadwa expresses her hatred of those hypocritical women who see commitment to the sheikha as sacred as religious principles. The word تؤمها carries a lot of implications since it’s associated with pilgrims and Al-Ka'ba. Kenny translates it as 'she was the pious one to whom the simple-minded women took themselves.' The translated quotation expresses a positive feeling in the mind of the recipient when talking about the 'pious' sheikha and the 'simple- minded women'. The positive image Kenny has drawn in his corresponding copy contradicts Fadwa’s original awful image of both the sheikha and the women surrounding her. The sheikha herself is a victim of the patriarchal society of which she, just now, appoints herself a representative of. And when she becomes old, one detaches himself from looking at her as a future wife, and finally shows respect for her because of her age. These associations, delivered smoothly and naturally to the source language reader, are not delivered to the target reader through the translated text. This stresses the importance of cultural translation rather than literal. A good translator is one who translates culture not language. is another religious term that Tuqan (the foam that comes out of the mouth) 'الزبـد ' uses in her work. The term itself is full of meanings and ideas of nothingness and futility that characterize the females’ life reflected in the author’s own life. It derives its importance not just from being a religious term, but it also transfers local 45 community problems and female circumstances. Tuqan thus develops a feeling of nonentity. This feeling of nothingness, however devastating it is, is transformed by Tuqan into a positive drive to unleash the self freely. As a person who is full of poison, the زبـد (the foam that comes out of the mouth) comes out of the sheikha's mouth. While it’s seen as one of the most suggestive words that is by no means being translated successfully into the other language, this term suggests a wide notion of futility women were living in. It’s nothing and with no use. And in some cases, it’s a symbol of death and ultimate end. The term in Arabic suggests content emptiness that floats above the useful things and even apparently defeats them. Fadwa’s image is of a female religious icon who is Sheikha, accompanied with emptiness and futile implications derived from the term ' All construct a situation of a mixture of awful images. The translator renders it .' زبد into ‘’foam’’ which is so neutral and a meaning- dry, losing all of its religious implications that we have talked about so far (Al-Nowaihi, 2001). Al Hijab is another religious and feminine theme that is worth mentioning. In her autobiography, Tuqan says ' كان اهم مظاهره رفع الحجاب عـن وجـه المـرأه 'when talking about the new era of women’s freedom. In a strict conservative community, the act of getting rid of veil is a big violation, and a core event in the history of the city (Nablus). The hijab is an Islamic symbol which