How Do Translators Handle Literary Deviations in Poetry? A Case Study: Arabic Translation of The Waste Land

Abstract

The present study sought to analyze linguistic deviations in poetry from a translational perspective, a case study: Arabic translation of The Waste Land by Nabil Ragheb, a popular Egyptian critic, writer and intellectual. The analysis of the translation of linguistic deviations reveals to what extent the translator tries to strike a balance between the aesthetic dimensions of language sought through deviations and the universal normalization process that translations go through. Gideon Toury (1995, 265) states that “normalization could be generalized based on inferences drawn from observations of large quantities of data”. The translator usually looks for alternative deviations in the target language (TL) in order to create a similar literary effect in the receiving audience, whereas, in others, they strive to replace them with the normal typical structures and meanings. The study is based on a mixed methodological approach to data analysis, i.e. quantitative and qualitative methods. The study concludes that T.S. Eliot makes use of seven out of eight linguistic deviations: lexical deviation, grammatical deviation, phonological deviation, graphological deviation, semantic deviation, deviation of register and deviation of historical period. As to the translation of such linguistic deviations, the translator opts most of the time for the normalization strategy to conform to the (TL) system and culture.