Distorted Translation Patterns in Resistance Literature: Analyzing the English Translation of Kanafani's Short Story "The Land of Sad Oranges" by Nejmeh Khalil-Habib

Abstract

While there is a notable presence of scholars dedicated to the domain of literary translation between Arabic and English, the specific field that focuses on resistance literature has been relatively neglected. This study aims to examine the deforming tendencies in the translation of resistance literature, focusing on the English translation of Ghassan Kanafani's short story "The Land of Sad Oranges" by Nejmeh Khalil-Habib. The study addresses the following questions: (i) What are the deforming tendencies in translating "The Land of Sad Oranges" from Arabic into English? And (ii) Which translation strategies are employed in the deforming tendencies in this translation? The study's methodology follows a systematic approach that mainly relies on Berman's (2000) translation model of deforming tendencies. The analysis sheds light on the challenges and the consequences of such deformations. The findings reveal that the translator employed deforming tendencies, including rationalization, quantitative reduction, destruction of linguistic patterns, expansion, and qualitative reduction. Among these tendencies, rationalization constitutes the largest proportion (24%), whereas signification represents the smallest percentage (3%). Additionally, the study shows that the strategies employed include addition, omission, paraphrase, and lexicalization. Considering the subject matter of resistance literature aimed at depicting human suffering, any omissions, additions, or alterations made in the target text for the purpose of enhancing the original language are deemed inappropriate. Further research is encouraged to explore applying Berman's model or other relevant models to different genres of resistance literature, such as poetry, novels, and plays.

Highlights:

1- The study applies Antoine Berman’s (1985/2000) model of deforming tendencies to the English translation of Ghassan Kanafani’s short story The Land of Sad Oranges, demonstrating the effectiveness of Berman’s framework in examining ideological and literary distortions in resistance literature.

2- The researchers identified nine deforming tendencies in the translation, totaling 318 instances of distortion. Rationalization emerged as the most frequent tendency, followed by quantitative impoverishment and the destruction of linguistic patterning.

3- The paper demonstrates that translation strategies such as omission, paraphrasing, addition, and lexicalization can reshape the ideological and emotional dimensions of resistance literature, at times weakening the political and cultural force of the source text.

4- The study stresses the importance of preserving idiomatic expressions, stylistic features, and linguistic structures, arguing that excessive clarification and paraphrasing may diminish cultural specificity and alter the author’s intended message.

5- The paper contributes to the relatively limited body of research on the translation of Arabic resistance literature and recommends extending similar analytical approaches to other literary genres, including novels, poetry, and drama.