Introduction

General Background

“The original is unfaithful to the translation” is Borges’ statement which shows the conceptual
framework about translation in twentieth century. Before that, translation was considered as either
beautiful or faithful. Jacques Derrida subverts the notion of looking for meaning in a text so that
being faithful to the original text in translation becomes a joke. Derrida talks about the
interrelationships between source text and target text in a way that neither source text nor target text
has superiority over one another. Deconstruction holds the idea that a text has many contradictory
meanings, the writer is like one of infinite numbers of readers and translator creates his/her own
meaning. Therefore, translation is not a second handed work any longer. It adds meaning to the
original and helps continue living.
Translation is seen as an artistic creativity that stands as a concrete form for an already written
text that can be compared with the action on the stage (Snell-Hornby, 2006, p. 22). The text passes
through the filters of the translator as an agent in the society just like when the reality passes
through the lens of the artist.
Pierre Bourdieu focuses on the role of art in “the making of social relationships” ( Hanquinet &
Savage, 2016, p. 21). Theodor Adorno believes that “an artistic work is a social microcosm, that
society is most intensely active where it is most remote from the society” (Adorno, 2002, foreword).
Thus, the role of art in shaping social conditions cannot be denied.
A successful writing, in Adorno’s term, is not merely a conveyer of messages but a conveyer of
social content. He also suggests that a successful work of aft expresses something more than its
apparent message (Cunningham & Mapp, 2006, pp.1-2). In this regard, it has something to do with
Jacque Derrida’s deconstruction whose the only rule is let the other speak (Tahmasebian, 2008).
Derrida puts emphasis on the hidden layers of meaning. His quote that translation is more than one
language indicates his emphasis on pluralism in writing or translating. Adorno sees that high art is
achieved through non-identity so that it becomes unpredictable and is not trapped in culture
industry.
Bijan Elahi, a Persian translator-poet, has a number of notes on translation. He wrote them as an
introduction to his own translations. They were not published as a separate book until his death.
Mohsen Taher-Nokandeh, a translator from Italian language and a friend of Elahi, published them
in a series of books called This Issue. Elahi’s ideas about translation contains all these
aforementioned that will be talked about in details in this work. The point here is Elahi’s
consciousness about his visibility in his artistic work; his ability as a creator and his limitations as a
translator.

Statement of Problem

The mass production of translation leads to the less quality of translation which in turns leads to
the low taste of people and consequently they demand for the same sort of cultural products and
pay for them. This vicious circle empties concepts such as art, artists, etc. making audiences
passively uniform and the same. Most translated texts in Iran, even if they claim to be faithful, are
nothing more than a list of vocabulary with their definition (Elahi, 1984) because the translator is
like a passive receiver of the message the original sends. The existence of messy usage of language
in many translations and retranslations shows absence of consciousness about past, present, and
future history. The consciousness achieved only through the connection with the other (Farhadpur,
2010). It illustrates the need for an artistic work, such as a translation, that makes a dialectical
relationship with the other as well as with Iranian classic texts which could be the other for a
Persian modern reader.

Research Question

Based on explanations above, this research addresses the question below:

What does the translator do to achieve plurality in text and overcome the culture industry?

Significance of the Study

The significance of This study lies in showing the effect a translation may have on society’s
awareness.

Definition of Key Terms

Culture industry
A set of standardizations in giving and taking cultural products. It results in passivity of the
audience making them delusional of buying a valuable art work but they are only consumers of
goods and just their number matters for the producer. The realization of culture industry is the
repetition of form and content that impedes any creativity creating a huge deal of conformity
(Makaryk, 2000).

Pluralism
Translation is a kind of paradox in Derrida’s word. There is a necessity for translation and at the
same time translation is impossible. Pluralism refers to the impossibility of translation because of
the plurality of languages and discourses.(Makaryk, 2000). Deconstruction simply means allow the
other to speak (McQuillan, 2001, p. 6). Therefore, plurality in translation implies that the voice of
the other gets heard.

Logocentrism
It refers to the desire for center that guaranties the meaning and is the basic element in western
philosophy till Kant. Logos in Greek means word, in philosophy denotes reason and in christian
tradition means the word of god. Thus, it gives priority to speech over writing. The metaphysics of
presence leads to transcendental signified which is a self sufficient meaning (Baldick, 1991).
The primary aim of deconstruction is to critique logocentrism; deconstructing the center and
displacing the privileged position. Deconstruction makes a switching between binaries, de-centering
the logical principles regarded as rules in western philosophy that center around logos as reason.
(Enos, 2010).

Binary opposition

Binary opposition is a fundamental characteristic in structuralism from Jakobson’s phonology to

Levi-Straus’ anthropology. This is a differentiation between two incompatible terms and is based on
either absent or present of one of the term (Baldick, 1991). For deconstruction the binary opposition
means an imposed hierarchy which one is supplement to the other and centering around it.
Deconstruction subverts this hierarchy through aporia and indeterminacy (Cuddon, 1994).

Alienation

Generally speaking, it is creating a kind of detachment in audience and the performer not to be
a passive receiver of the reality. In translation it is achieved in Venuti’s view through foreignizing
the translation.