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A Textbook of Literary Translation (309 pages)

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 CHAPTER ONE

Introduction
1.0 Introduction: Definitions

This Chapter is meant to lay the theoretical grounds for the whole book and its
objectives. It provides definitions for basic terms and concepts relevant to the major
topics and issues investigated in the Chapters that follow. Among the terms and
concepts essential to the readers / students' background knowledge in this connection
are: Literature, literary language vs. non-literary language; the literariness of literature,
literary genres, literary translation vs. un-literary translation, the literary translator and
methods of literary translation. Here they are in detail.

1.1 Literature

To many, it is a waste of time to define literature, for everybody knows what literature
is. Obviously, it is prose (novels and short stories), poetry and drama. Nobody mistakes
them for something else. Well, specialists, as usual, may find the defining process of
literature as more complicated than just defining it in terms of its main genres. Various
attempts have been made to define literature by writers and men of letters
themselves.

Going as far back as to Aristotle (in his famous work, Poetics) and Plato (and his widely
known book, The Republic), the latter defined literature by making a distinction
between two modes of speech representation, diegesis, or 'pure narrative' (the
discourse of the narrator / poet) and mimesis (the directly imitated or enacted speech
of the characters themselves, as in dramatic dialogue). The former, however, took
literature to be mainly mimesis, which means that literature was mainly mimetic in its
aim to present "the illusion of a representation of the real world". In other words,
literature can be described as an illusory reflection of real life, where words replace
actions (see Wales, 1989: 300).

Not far from that is the popular definition of literature in terms of imaginative writing,
i.e., fiction which stands in contrast to fact. That is, unlike non-literary real texts,
literature is about untrue events and people. In other words, fictionality, not factuality,
is the key element of literature. Well, how about true stories? Are Superman comic
and cartoons literature?. Other definitions of literature were in terms of creativity,
subject matter, symbolism, figurativeness, transcendentalism, essence, aesthetics and
estranged and peculiar language that is deviant from ordinary language of daily use
(see Eagleton, 1983: ch. 1 and Wales, 1989: 279; Wellek, 1982: ch. 1; Williams,
1976/1983; Ghazala, 2012: ch. 1, and others).

One or two further definitions of literature were based on conventionality, that is, a
work is "recognized as a work of literature by generation after generation", as Cohen

1
claims. This definition is based neither on linguistic, semantic nor literary criteria, but
on the criterion of traditions and conventions of recognizing what is literature and
what is not. In fact, this is not a reliable criterion for it involves taste and changeability.
Generations have a change of perspective and a difference in taste. Therefore, some
generations might approve some works as literature, but other generations might not
(see Schogt, 1988: 82-83).

Other more recent, articulate and revolutionary definitions of literature include

Fowler's who views it "as discourse, and thus, as communication rather than as
object", that is, to treat it as mediating relationships between language-users of
speech, consciousness, ideology, social role and class. The literary text ceases to be an
object and becomes "an action or process" (1981: 80). These days, many
contemporary writers talk about literary discourse, rather than literary text, or
literature, to imply a sense of interaction and communication inculcated in literature
(see, for example, Brumfit and Carter, 1986; Carter and Simpson, 1989, Simpson, 2004,
and many others).

By now, we have come closer to contemporary articulation of the definition of the

concept of literature in terms of language more than anything else. Hence the next
point.

1.1.1 Literary Language vs. Non-literary Language: Polarization

There is almost a consensus nowadays on taking up the language of literature as a

major, and to some, sole criterion for defining literature and distinguishing between
what is literature and what is not.

Literary language has been assigned a special character since antiquity. It has been
considered as sublime to, and distinctive from all other types of language, written or
spoken, due to the special use of language that is deviant, or 'estranged' from
ordinary, everyday, non-literary language. It breaks the common norms of language,
including graphological, grammatical, lexical, semantic and phonological norms.

Among these special stylistic/linguistic features of literary language – especially poetry

– sound / prosodic features, imagery, rhythm, elaborate syntax, meter, rhyme,
narrative techniques, etc. These features have one thing in common, that is,
'estrangement' or 'defamiliarization' of 'automatized' ordinary language. Eagleton
writes that ordinary language was "language 'made strange'; and because of this
estrangement, the everyday world was also…made unfamiliar. In the routines of
everyday speech, our perceptions of and responses to reality become stale, blunted,
or, as the Formalists would say, 'automatized'." He continues, "literature … refreshes
these habitual responses and renders objects more 'perceptible' … The Formalists,
then, saw literary language as a set of deviations from a norm…: Literature is a 'special'
kind of language, in contrast to the 'ordinary' language we commonly use." (1983: 3-4).
Thus, the Formalists were the pioneers who examined the idea of deviance. They
equated literary language with deviation, and claimed that it is used in a particular way

2
and set off in contrast with the normal use of language. But they did not elaborate what
the norm of language use could precisely be. Different terms were used by them to
define deviation such as 'estranging of language', 'foregrounding', 'defamiliaization', and
'automatization' vs. 'de-automatization' of ordinary Language (see Carter, 1979: Intro.;
Ghazala, 1987 & 2011; Wales, 1989/2001 and Simpson, 2004). Among the obvious
shortcomings of the formalists' perspective of literary language was that they identified it
with poetry to the neglect of other types like prose and drama.

The American New Critics followed the formalists suit and viewed literary language as a
special kind of language use. Some modern stylisticians have viewed it in a way similar to
the formalists. Yet, this does not mean that they have defined literary language in terms
of deviation only. In fact, they have refuted that and argued with many other
contemporary stylisticians and critics that it is not wise to draw a line between literary
language and other types of language, and that the ordinary language has been used in
literary texts and produced no less stylistic effects than the deviant language. Deviation
to them is only one aspect of literary language. (Among those writers are Leech - the
early Leech - (1969), Widdowson (1975), Enkvist (1973). Chapman (1973) and others).

Broadly speaking, this argument is true, especially of the language of poetry. However, in
reality, it might not be quite applicable. Linguistic / stylistic deviation is required and
fairly common in all literary genres for aesthetic, rhetorical and stylo-semantic reasons,
whereas they are completely absent, or, at best, occasional in non-literary texts.

Non-literary language is a term which is always considered in conjunction, and in

contrast with literary language. Controversy has been and is still going on in academic
circles as to the validity of dividing language into these two different types.
Traditionally, there has been such division between literature (especially poetry and
fictional prose) and non- literature (other types of writing other than what is labeled as
literature). The main line of argument is that literary language is emotional, rhetorical,
rhythmical, deviant, aesthetic, expressive, symbolic, fictional and, therefore, sublime
and superior to non-literary language which is normal, expected, direct, and lacks all
other literary characteristics, and, hence, inferior to literary language.

Recently, however, and in the past few years in particular, this view has been
challenged by several writers. They claim that such polarization between literary and
non-literary language does not exist because they overlap in many texts, and we can
find literary features in non-literary texts, and non-literary features in literary texts.
(See Fish, 1980; Carter and Nash, 1983; Widdowson, 1976; Leech and Short, 1981;
Simpson, 2004 and Boase-Beier, 2006, to name some).

In fact, there is a point of truth in each of these two points of view. That is, the
traditional one is right in its distinction between literature and non-literature, simply
because it exists, whether we like it or not. Further, it has a strong linguistic and
stylistic basis. The recent one, on the other hand, is true in rejecting the superiority of
literature, for a certain social or linguistic context requires - not to say imposes - a
certain type of language. For example, nobody is expected to talk or write to a doctor

3
in verse, nor does anybody read a car leaflet or a list of instructions as to how to make
a telephone call as a short story full of symbolism, rhetoric, irony and hyperbole. In the
same way, no one can mistake a poem for a medical prescription, nor a novel for a
telephone directory.

The Formalists' argument about the 'speciality' of literary language (i.e. poetry to
them), leans heavily on the special linguistic / stylistic features (or 'devices') of literary
language, especially poetry, pointed out above. In other words, linguistic features of
the form of a text are the decisive criterion to distinguish between literary and non-
literary. On the other hand, The recent linguists and stylisticians who oppose
polarization between literary and non-literary language rely in their argument on the
recurrence of non-literary features of language in literature, and the coincidence of
literary features in non-literature.

Well, I would argue that both views fail to strike a balance between theory and
practice. I mean to say that the speciality of literary language is unquestionable, yet,
the linguistic features of the form, or the outer shape of the text are sometimes
insufficient and might be illusive. By the same token, although features of literary
language can recur in non-literary texts (like commercials, or political rhetoric), they do
not change these texts into literature; nor these features are used for the same
purpose, implication and function in literature. Here are individual as well as
juxtaposed pairs of illustrative examples in both languages, English and Arabic:

(1)

‫فأمعف إليو وانظر الصورة‬ ‫أخذت البو َؿ في القارورة‬

‫أو مف زجاج ذي صفار ونور‬
‫بحمرة مع غمظ دليؿ‬
‫عبلمة اليبوسة المحمقة‬
‫فيو عبلمة عمى السودا‬
‫غمبت عمى سواىا قي ار‬
‫فيي عبلمة عمى الح اررة‬
َ ‫إذا‬
‫ؾ مف بمور‬ ُ ‫وينبغي أف ت‬
‫فإف يؾ البوؿ بيا يميؿ‬
‫غمبة الدـ وأما الرقة‬
‫واألبيض الغميظ في المرأى‬
‫أما الصفا برقة فالصف ار‬
‫والحمرة الخالية األمارة‬

(In Shaheen, 1986. See also Ghazala 2012b: 87-88)

When you take urine in a bottle,

Look at it carefully and see the picture

It should be a crystal bottle

Or made of transparent glass.

If urine is rather reddish

And thick, this is evidence

4
Of blood in urine. But if thin, it is
A symptom of chickenpox stiffness.

But if it looks thick white,

It is a mark of black bile.

Yet, if thin yellow, it is hepatitis

That has overwhelmed everything else.

However, if color is pure red

It is a symptom of temperature.

The formal features of poetry of meter, rhyme and rhythm as well as the layout are
clear indications of a poem (or, is it a poem?). Yet, we may hardly call it a poem
regarding the topic (i.e. urine test), the context of situation (a lab / hospital daily
practice), the medium dependence (a bottle of urine), the lack of any semantic / lexical
intricacies, the absence of any emotions or feelings throughout and reading at more
than one level other than the medical test results (see below). Thus, the formal
features and shape of a text are not good enough to describe a text as literary, as also
Schogt declares, "… rhyme and rhythm do not make a literary work…" (1988: 82).

(2)

A Joke ‫طرفة‬
A gentleman dining at Crewe ‫مدينتو‬
ْ ‫شاب تغدى في‬
Found quite a large mouse in his stew; ‫بتو‬
ْ ‫وجد فأ اًر في شور‬
Said the waiter, ‘Don’t shout ‫نصيحو‬
ْ ‫الخادـ خذىا‬
ُ ‫قاؿ‬
And wave it about, ‫فضيحو‬
ْ ‫ارـ الفأر دوف‬
Or the rest will be wanting one, too!’ ‫واال اشتياه الباقي بصراحة‬
(In Nash,1985: 52. See Ghazala, 2008/2012: 300)

Although the sense of humor and irony produced by the joke, rhyme and rhythm are
prominent features of literary language, they are not good reasons to describe it as
literature, for it cannot be taken seriously. Further, our interest and reaction would die
down at the punch line of the joke; no more effects, repercussions or symbolic
implications are expected. The joke serves a means to an end, i.e., to bring a smile to
the audience.

(3)

"As long as there's a family without a home,

As long as there is a patient waiting for a hospital bed,
As long as there's a man or woman without a job
Or someone who suffers discrimination because of their colour

5
 So long will our work as a Labour government not be done.
We go forward in that spirit and that resolve.

،‫(طالما توجد أسرة واحدة مف دوف سكف‬

،‫مستشفى‬
ً ‫طالما يوجد مريض ليس لو سرير في‬
،‫عمؿ‬
ْ ‫طالما يوجد رجؿ أو امرأة مف دوف‬
‫الموف‬
ْ ‫طالما يوجد شخص يعاني مف التمييز بسبب‬
.ً‫إذاً عممنا كحكومة عمالية لـ يكتمؿ أبدا‬
).ً‫وىكذا بتمؾ الروح وذلؾ الزخـ نمضي قدما‬

This is a part of political rhetoric by Mr. James Callaghan, the leader of the British
Labour Party, during the 1987 general election campaign (in Carter and Nash, 1990:
143). The outer shape of the speech, the rhythm, syntactic parallelisms and rhetorical
repetitions are features of literary style, yet it cannot be considered as a literary text
for it cannot be read at more than one level. On the other hand, this type of style is
meant to be put in the service of the speaker's election campaign. That is the only level
of reading this text, no more no less.

That said, election campaigns and other political topics and issues can be the subject
matter of a literary text, as illustrated in the following example (see also Ghazala,
2012a on Translating the Media and Political Idiom):

On Irish Members of Parliament

Let them, when they once get in, ‫لماف‬ ْ ‫دعيـ فمو دخموا البر‬
Sell the nation for a pin; ‫ليبيعف األمةَ بأبخس األثما ْف‬
ُ
While they sit picking straws, ‫تاف‬ ْ ِ
‫الن‬ ‫فتات‬ ‫ال‬ ‫يجمعوف‬ ‫وىـ‬
Let them rave at making laws, ‫ىذياف‬
ْ ‫دعيـ يسنوا القوانيف في‬
While they never hold their tongue,‫العناف‬
ْ ‫ويطمقوا أللسنتيـ‬
Let them form a grand committee,‫المجاف‬
ْ ‫دعيـ يشكموف‬
How to plague and starve the city; ‫البمداف‬
ْ ‫ليعيثوا فساداً في‬
(Jonathan Swift, from The Legion Club. In Baker, 1980)

Obviously, the poetic nature of these lines is not questioned owing not only to the
prosodic features of rhyme, rhythm and meter, but also to the well-elaboration of
words and meanings, semantic density, symbolism, irony, and reading at more than
one level (e.g. at the levels of politics, social values, sarcasm, attitudes, corruption,
deception, hypocrisy, misery, humanity, criticism, reform, freedom of expression,
surveillance of politicians and universality of values, to name some).

6
(4)

،‫عظيـ‬
ْ ‫تنيخ أمتنا اإلسبلمية مطاياىا بيف يدي شير‬
،‫وضيؼ مبجؿ كر ْيـ‬
،‫جميـ‬
ْ ‫بالخيرات‬
.‫عميـ‬
ْ ‫وبالفضائؿ‬
،‫بضيائو‬
ْ ‫الكوف‬
َ ‫غمر‬
.‫وسنائو‬
ْ ‫القموب المعناة بحبو ببيائو‬
َ ‫وعمر‬
،‫أنيارْه‬
ُ ‫شير جرت بالطاعات‬ ٍ
.‫ىارْه‬
ُ ‫وتفتقت عف أكماـ الخير والبر أز‬
،‫واستمع المسمموف في ليؼ وشوؽ لمقاصده وأسر ِارْه‬
ِ ‫وأصاخوا في خشوع واىطاع إلى مراميو المستكنة و‬
.‫أخبارْه‬
(Al-Minbar Net. In Ghazala, 2011).

The shape of the text tells that it is a piece of poetry for reasons of rhyme , rhythm,
syntactic / stylistic elaboration of sentences (e.g. rhetorical disruption of word order
using stylistic features like foregrounding and backgrounding. e.g. ‫ بالفضػائؿ‬،‫بػالخيرات جمػيـ‬
،‫ شػير جػرت بالطاعػات أنيػاره‬،‫(عمػيـ‬, choice of literary / classical words (e.g. ‫ قمػوب‬،‫(تنػيخ مطاياىػا‬
‫ مراميو المسػتكنة‬،‫ إىطاع‬،‫ ليؼ‬،‫ تفتقت أكماـ‬،‫معناة‬, elaborate synonymy (e.g. ،‫ ليػؼ وشػوؽ‬،‫الخيػر والبػر‬
‫)خشػػوع واىطػػاع‬, parataxis (e.g. ‫ػنائو‬
ْ ‫)بحبػػو ببيائػػو وسػ‬, implicit reference (i.e. the Month of
Ramadan is left out, only referred to by a pronoun), etc. Indeed, it is a lofty literary
style, yet, it is not a literary text for it is read and interpreted at only one level, the
religious level of a Friday sermon about the Month of Ramadan.

The first English translation is a strenuous attempt to construct a target style as

directly and closely as possible:

"…Our Muslim Nation bows down their mounts in the presence of a great Month, and
a venerable, generous Guest, diffusing blessings and overspreading graces. It has
suffused the whole universe with its illumination, and filled in hearts tired of its love
with splendor and eminence. It is a Month whose rivers are running with worships, and
the perianths of its flowers of good and philanthropy have ripped open. Muslims have
harkened attentively, hankeringly and eagerly to its intents and secrets, and lent their
ears in submissiveness and humbleness to its underlying purposes and tidings. …"

The same can be said of the literary style of prayers, or supplications. Here is an
example:

(5)
Allah! I seek your refuge ‫انههى إًَ أعىذ بك‬
From the Knowledge that brings no good, ‫مف عمـ ال ينفع‬

7
And from the heart that has no fear of you, ‫وقمب ال يخشع‬
And from the prayer that cannot be answered, ‫ودعاء ال ُيسمع‬
And the self that cannot be satisfied. ‫ونفس ال تشبع‬

The sound features of rhyme and rhythm, the syntactic parallelisms and collocations
are apparently clear, but, as we all know, prayers are not literary texts.

(6a)

‫دار برسم البيع‬

‫ ُرسمت‬،‫ ُحوم ًا فوؽ أحيائيا‬،‫ فرادى وجماعات‬،‫في مطالع كانوف كانت طائرات األباتشي تجوب سماء مدينة غزة‬
.‫ تحرؽ لحـ األطفاؿ بالفوسفور األبيض حتى الصفر‬،‫ ترمي الناس بألواح مف سجيؿ‬،‫(لعنة داوود) تحت أجنحتيا‬
‫والقنابؿ العنقودية تمزؽ صحؼ األنبياء وتيدـ البيوت فوؽ رؤوس المبلييف وجرافاتيـ تقتمع الزيتوف والميموف وجذور‬
"...‫ تترؾ رؤوس المآذف صرعى مشنوقة عمى جذوعيا‬،‫ القنابؿ الطائرة تنفذ إلى كؿ ستر بذكاء‬.‫التاريخ‬
)2009 ،‫(أحمد جواد‬

A House for Sale

"At the outset of the gloomy December, the Apache planes were cruising Gaza sky
singly and collectively, roaming over its quarters, David Curse(!) being underneath their
wings. They pelt down people with hellfire black plates of clay, burning the flesh of
children with phosphorous of all colors, the white, even the yellow, and cluster bombs
tearing out the God's Holy Books of the Prophets, pulling down houses over the heads
of millions of innocent people. Their bulldozers uproot olive trees, lemon trees and the
roots of history. Flying bombs penetrate every blind brilliantly, leaving the minarets
beheaded, knocked down and strangled down over their trunks..."

(6b)
‫السبت األسود‬
‫ استيقظت غزة عمى قصؼ الطائرات لتجد أرضيا قد تغطت بدماء الشيداء وسماءىا قد‬2008/ 12/ 27 ‫"بتاريخ‬
‫تمبدت بالغيوـ السوداء لتعمف بداية الحرب الصييونية عمى قطاع غزة بيدؼ تغيير الواقع األمني واضعاؼ قدرة‬
)‫ منتديات الرباط الفمسطينية‬:‫(موقع‬ "... .‫ وافقادىا قدرتيا عمى السيطرة عمى القطاع‬،‫حماس الصاروخية‬

The Black Saturday

"On 27. 12. 2008, Gaza waked up at jet bombardments to find out the martyrs' blood
covering the ground everywhere, the sky dark with black clouds, to announce the start
of the Zionist war on Gaza Strip with the premeditated aim of changing the status quo
of security, demising the rocketing power of HAMAS, and dismantling them of control
over the Strip. …"

These two texts are about the same topic, i.e., "Gaza War" launched by the Israelis in
2008. One is obviously literary, another is not. The language of the first text is starkly

8
literary, dealing with the Zionist bombing of Gaza as a human tragedy, a universal
cause of misery, not just a news item of a specific date and details. The full details of
the barbarous vicious crimes not only against Gaza people, children, and houses, but
also massacres were committed against the holy books of God, the trees and the
minarets. The aggressors are killing everything even history. Unlike the second text,
the multidimensional density of the meanings of the language of the first text
outweighs and exceeds the time and space limits of the event itself. In other words,
the first text goes beyond vicious wars and politics to human history that is made
perpetual and can never be bolted by anyone. On the other hand, the second text is
limited in time and space and, therefore, ephemeral in effect. Above all, the first text
addresses our feelings and hearts to act and interact emotionally, internally and
perpetually, whereas the second is directed to our minds to invoke some kind of
instant reaction from us.

(7)

"Through the hollow, on the height, by the heath, by the orchard, by the park, by the
garden, over the canal, across the river, where the sheep are feeding, where the mill is
going, where the barge is floating, where the dead are lying, where the factory is
smoking, where the stream is running. …" (Charles Dickens, Dumpey and Son)

‫ حػذو‬/‫ حػذو المنتزىػات‬/ ‫ حػذو البسػاتيف‬/ ‫حذو البػراح‬

َ / ‫ عمى المرتفَع‬/ ‫عبر التجويؼ‬... )‫"(يسير القطار‬
‫ حيػث البػوارج تعػوـ‬/ ‫ حيث الطواحيف تػدور‬/ ‫ حيث األغناـ ترعى‬/ ‫ عبر األنيار‬،‫ فوؽ القنوات‬/ ‫الحدائؽ‬
.)"‫ حيث الجداوؿ تنساب‬/ ‫ حيث المصانع تنفث الدخاف‬/ ‫ حيث الموتى يرقدوف‬/

No doubt, this text is at the heart of literature due to the highly dense and elaborate
stylistic-syntactic, stylistic-phonological and stylistic-semantic literary aspects of its
language. The passage is perfectly rhythmical, based on isochronism (or equal
duration) in the sense of regular periodic beats. In this example, Dickens suggests a
kind of regularity of movement which matches the sound of a speeding train. Each
phrase is a rhythmical beat which represents phonetically a phase in the train journey,
up and down, through and across, by and over different places and landscape scenery,
with one exceptional phase of modern, material life (cf. the factory is smoking). These
phases are conceptual pauses of imagination that take the speaker as well as readers
away from the dim realities of their everyday life.

A concluding remark to these examples and the argument between the pros and cons
of 'the special language' of literature is that both views are equally defective in their
extreme positions: the absolute division between literature and non-literature of the
first, and the categorical rejection of this division of the second. A compromise is
adopted in this book. There is a clear polarity between literary and non-literary
language on two conditions: (1) it is not absolute; (2) it should not be considered in
terms of superiority and inferiority, just like the division between speech and writing.
After all, and as the discussion of the previous examples indicates, the distinction
between literary and non-literary is a distinction between literary and non-literary

9
elements in language. Therefore, the linguistic and stylistic search is for what is literary
in literary texts and what is non-literary in non-literary texts. In other words, the
search is for the elements of 'literariness' and non-literariness in texts. Hence the
following point.

1.1.2 What Makes Literature into Literature: Features of Literariness

The key question now, as also Schogt declares, is "what features make a text literary?"
(1988: 82). That is a question about what makes literature into literature, what Nash
and Carter call 'Literariness' (1983). In a paper entitled 'Language and Literariness', they
carry out a practical survey, aiming at providing a clear vision and definition for the
concept of literariness in language. It is done in the form of a comparison between
literary and non-literary texts connected by the theme of the motor car. They extend
their argument in a later work (1990: ch.2) and apply the same line of argument to four
texts, literary and non-literary, on the topic of Malaysia. They deny to language any
imminent literary status as there is no "… single property intrinsic to language which can
be called literary". Yet, they do not dismiss the recurrence of properties of literariness in
literary texts such as the plotting and elaboration of vocabulary; the imposition of a new
thesaurus entry by blending or realigning registers; making moral judgments and
discriminations; the possibility of reading at more than one level; polysemy; subtlety of
procedure such as irony, and others. Throughout, they have come out with this style-
based definition of literariness:

"Literariness in language … comes from the simultaneous operation and interrelation of

effects at different levels of language system". It is not "… a function of particular items or
processes in lexicon and syntax. It is a property of texts and contexts".

The following conclusions can be drawn from the previous account of Carter and Nash's
argument in both of their works (see ibid.):

(1) There are elements of literariness in literary texts that can be identified.
(2) The recognition of these elements is not a straightforward process, but it is
implicit in the stylistic patterning of language, the effects produced and
their interaction in texts.
(3) The language of literary texts is multi-layered and, thus, the identification
of literary properties should be sought for at its different levels, and not at
one or two levels only.
(4) Literariness is not an intrinsic property of a lexical item, a stylistic device, a
special linguistic feature, but the product of the overlap of the different
levels of the language of texts and the effects of that overlap.
(5) Finally, the so-called properties of literariness are not present in literary
texts only; other types of text can display few of them, however very
occasionally, and not with such a degree of intensity and richness as in
literary texts, and for different purposes. These properties are the point of
departure between the literary and the non-literary, and the criteria in
terms of which literary texts can be defined properly.

10
In a further development, in their later work they single out six major criteria for
literariness in language, and, hence, in literature:

(a) Medium dependence: literature is read, understood and interpreted on its

terms independently of other media like figures, tables, pictures, statistics, etc.
(b) Re-registration: no single word, stylistic / linguistic feature of language or
variety / type of language ( legal, political, religious, etc.) is barred from
admission to a literary context.
(c) Semantic Density: interaction of levels: semantic denseness resulting from
overlap of language patterning at the levels of syntax, lexis, phonology and
discourse.
(d) Polysemy: the language of literature is emphatically polysemous (multiplicity of
meaning), and cannot be imagined to be monosemuous (singleness of
meaning).
(e) Displaced Interaction: No particular type of action, restricted to a particular
place or time, is expected from readers of literature, except that of a kind of
mental accompaniment to the literary text and context of different types to
interpret the message intended. Displaced interaction allows meanings of
literature to emerge indirectly. Such literary interaction between the author,
reader and text is more deeply embedded and displaced, i.e., space-less and
timeless.
(f) Discourse Patterning: effects of styles at the level of discourse beyond the
sentence. A case in point includes the consideration of the effects of the styles
of repetition of certain patterns (words, phrases, grammatical structures, sound
features, etc.) at the level of the whole literary discourse (or text) in question,
rather than at the level of individual sentences only. Another example is the
investigation of cohesion (pronoun references and sentence connectivity) at the
level of the literary discourse as a whole.

In continuation of the development of the list, I suggest further criteria which are also
essential to the identification and definition of the notion of literariness in literature in
particular:

(g) The possibility of reading literature at more than one level: the multilayeredness
of literature: This means a literary text does not deliver a denotative message,
but a connotative message that lies beyond it. This is similar to the criterion of
polysemy above, and emphasizes yet more strongly the possibility of multiple
and multilayered reading and interpretation of literature any time anywhere in
terms of variable and different criteria of social, political, cultural and
ideological conventions and backgrounds. Or else, the text cannot be described
as really literary.
(h) Symbolism: a genuine literary work of art is symbolic, representing a real word
behind it imaginative world. It is supposed to stand for another thing in human
life, what Weinreich terms 'enhanced semanticity', or 'hypersemanticization',
i.e. independent symbolic values of a literary text (in Schogt, 1988: 66-67).

11
 (i) The involvement of human feelings, sentiments and emotions: any literary text
inevitably involves human feelings and emotive reactions, which is essential to
the readers' actions, reactions and interpretations. It is called by Anani (1997)
and Landers (2001) 'tone' (see below). This can be decisive especially for a
literary translator who is supposed to get engaged with the feelings and
sentiments instigated by the SL Text to be able to enliven its world more
emotionally than mentally. This will be an essential factor in his construction of
literary translation in the Target Language, or he / she may run the risk of failure
to do that. More elaboration on this point is forthcoming in this Chapter.

It is hoped now that Schogt's question of what makes literature into literature is now
answered, and not as he said twenty four years ago that the question "remains
unanswered" (1988: 84). In sum, the foregoing argument about literature, literary
language and literariness has led to these criteria, with the ultimate objective of putting
them to use in practice at translating literature. These criteria are in other words what
the literary translator would take as his / her prime target at constructing meaning in the
TL. (More on this and other details relative to the literary translator and literary
translation is due now).

1.2 Translation and Literary Translation

Rojo's statement that "Translators usually dream of achieving an ideal replica of the ST,
but in practice they often have to accept that not everything can be translated exactly
into different language" is good to start with (2009: 22). Indeed, translators, literary or
other, do their best to produce an identical version of the SLT in the TL, or a version in
the TL as close as possible to the original. Yet, it goes without saying that it is not
possible to do it in practice, only relatively if we mean everything. A general truth as it
sounds, the statement does not disclose the type of 'replica' involved in the definition.
That is, is it a replica of meaning (Linguistic, pragmatic, etc.)? Equivalence (semantic,
stylistic, syntactic, functional)? Sense (general neutralized meaning)? Grammar? Style?
Function? Intention? Or a combination of two or more of these?

Before attending fully to literary translation in specific details, a short purview of major
definitions of translation in general can be introduced first.

1.2.1 Defining Translation

There has been a vicious circle, as it were, in the various and different definitions of
the term 'translation'. The point of departure among them is what translation means
first, as the underlined words in the following definitions indicate:

- "The process of translation between two written languages involves the

translator changing an original written text … in the original verbal language
(the SL) into a written text … in a different verbal language (the TL)" (Munday,
2001:5, in Rojo, 2009: 25).

12
- "Often, though not by any means always, [translation] is rendering the
meaning of a text into another language in the way the author intended the
text" (Newmark, 1988: 5).
- "Translation [is] the act or process of rendering what is expressed in one
language or set of symbols by means of another language (Encyclopedia
Britannica. In Snell-Hornby, 1988: 39).
- "Translation [is] the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by
equivalent textual material in another language (TL)" (Catford, 1965: 20).
- "Translation is an expression in another language (or target language) of what
has been expressed in another (source language), preserving semantic and
stylistic equivalences" (Dubois, 1973, in Bell, 1991: 5).
- "Translation consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest
natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning
and secondly in terms of style" (Nida and Taber, 1969: 12)
- "Translation is the replacement of a representation of a text in one language
by a representation of an equivalent text in a second language" (Hartmann
and Stork: 1972, in Bell, 1991: 7).
- "A good translation [is] that in which the merit of the original work is so
completely transfused into another language…" (Tytler, in Bell: 1991: 11).
- "as a subject, translation refers to all the processes and methods used to
render and / or transfer the meaning of the source language text into the
target language…" (Ghazala, 2008 / 2012d: 1)

In one sense, all these definitions are either vague, loose or incomplete, to say
the least. Starting with the left hand list of the table, 'change' can involve the
lack of commitment to the process of translating as a whole; whereas 'render'
(used in three definitions) is neutral, making no specification of what or how.
'Replacement' (twice), on the other hand, might involve a kind of entire
change.

- change - original text

- render - meaning
- render - what is expressed
- replacement (of) - textual material
- expression - what is expressed
- reproduction (of) - equivalent meaning and style
- replacement (of) - representation
- transfuse - merit
- render / transfer - meaning

'Expression' implies a TL-oriented expression of what is translated, while

'reproduction' is SL-oriented production of what is translated. 'Transfuse' in
the sense of 'penetrate' is vague in reference, which is different from
'transfer' which implies among other things change, or transcription of SL
words into TL letters (c.f. transference).

13
 More confusing than the first list is the one on the right hand side of the
table, which includes 'what is translated'. Obviously, except those that specify
meaning and equivalent meaning of style, the rest avoids stating 'what is
translated' specifically on purpose. This is not quite helpful, for students and
readers need elaboration of 'what is translated' in clear terms. Therefore, the
definitions that state it clearly as 'meaning' are more reliable and
comprehensible than otherwise. More significantly, 'meaning' is what we
usually render at translating from one language into another, be linguistic,
denotative, functional, connotative, grammatical, lexical, semiotic, pragmatic,
implicational, cultural, neutralized, stylistic, figurative and / or non-figurative.

I believe, whatever direction we take at defining translation, the key word of

the definition is 'meaning'. Differences can occur about the type(s) of
meaning intended owing to focus, text and context. The components of
meaning are generally the components of language. Therefore, they are
expected to be one and the same origin for live languages. The following two
figures (reproduced from Ghazala, 2008 / 2012d (1 & 2) illustrate meaning
and language components and their confirmed relevance to translation in
detail:

LANGUAGE COMPONENTS

GRAMMAR VOCABULARY STYLE PHONOLOGY

1.sentences 1.synonymy 1.formality vs. 1.rhyme

2.clauses 2.polysemy informality 2.rhythm
3.word order 3.antonymy 2.fronting 3.alliteration
4.tenses 4.connotations 3.parallelism 4.consonance
5.modals 5.collocations 4.ambiguity 5.assonance
6.questions 6.idioms 5.repetition 6.metre
7.negation 7.proverbs 6.redundancy 7.foot
8.imperatives 8.metaphors 7.short/long 8.chiming
9.adjectives 9.technical terms: sentencing 9.stress
10.adverbs Arabization 8.irony 10.pitch
11.articles 10.proper names 9.punctuation 11.tone
12.sentence 11.institutional terms 10.nominalization etc.
connectors 12.culture vs. verbalization
etc. etc. etc.
(Figure 1)

Thus, the basic constituents of meaning are multifarious and overlap in translation,
and the lexical meaning of words is only one of these major constituents. Although we
do not translate grammar per se into another language, we account for its crucial role
in shaping meaning, making it either easier or more difficult to understand and, hence,

14
translate. The same can be said of other language components; they are considered
inasmuch as they influence and contribute to meaning. We are always interested in
how they combine, produce, influence, reflect and crystallize meaning. In other words,
meaning is the product of the combination of these components taken together,
alongside other possible factors pointed out above.

Therefore, it has to be restressed that, with few exceptions, we translate meaning in

the sense made clear above, that it is not the product of words only - as many might
wrongly think - but of grammar, style and sounds in many cases. Anything that is not
relevant to meaning in one way or another is usually not accounted for in translation,
except for certain texts like poetry where sound / prosodic features are sometimes
more important than meaning. Figure 2 illustrates the relationship between meaning,
language, language components and translation (it can be read both ways, top-bottom
and bottom-up):
LANGUAGE

GRAMMAR WORDS STYLE SOUNDS

TRANSLATION

(Figure 2)

In his updated cognitive-discoursal stylistic approach to the analysis and interpretation

of literature, Simpson broadens the scope of the levels of language. For the purposes
of this book, and as an extension to our discussion of meaning and its inherent links
with language, it might be useful to reproduce the list of levels and equivalent branch
of language study suggested by Simpson (2004: 5. See also Ghazala, 2011: 50):

Level of language Branch of language study

-The sound of spoken language;

the way words are pronounced. Phonology; phonetics

-The patterns or written language;

the shape of language on the page. Graphology

-The way words are constructed;

words and their constituent structures. Morphology

-The way words combine with other

words to form phrases and sentences. Syntax; grammar

-The words we use; the vocabulary Lexical analysis; lexicology

of language.

15
-The meaning of words and sentences. Semantics

-The way words and sentences are

used in everyday situations; the
meaning of language in context. Pragmatics; discourse analysis

These basic levels of language are recently developed, identified interdisciplinary units
and sources of meaning and interpretation in literary discourse. All these levels with
no exception are what we work on in any analysis, or translation of literature
inasmuch as they are relevant.

These intricacies of the concept of 'meaning' in language and, hence, in translation

lead to the heart of the book, literary translation.

1.2.2 Literary Translation

'Literary Translation' is a term used loosely to refer to the translation of literature.

Perhaps 'translating literature' or 'the translation of literature' is more accurate than
'literary translation' for the latter can be sometimes 'unliterary' in the sense that the
translation of an SL literary text may fail to be literary in the TL, as demonstrated later
in Chapters 4-6 later). That said, the term is used to be understood as a reference to
the translation of literature that is hoped to be literary in the other language.

Some classic writers, poets and men of letters including Dryden, Saint Jerome,
Humboldt Benjamin and others differing views about the possibility and the
impossibility of translation (which is by implication literary translation) (see Schulte et
al, 1992, for further details). Oddly enough, this controversy about a dichotomy of two
extremes, the possibility and impossibility of literary translation is still going on these
th th
days. Strong voices like Humboldt in the 18 and 19 Centuries and the two pioneers
th
of the Relative Theory of Language, Sapir and Whorf in the 20 Century, were heard
about the impossibility of translation, due to their acculuralation of language. To
them, language is culture-specific and an expression of culture. It is a part of culture
with which it is impregnated. In this sense, the linguistic relativity has far-reaching
implications for translation, rendering it impossible, especially literary translation
which is imbued with culture (see also ibid., Boase-Beier, 2006 and Rojo, 2009 for
further argument).

This unfortunate line of argument has continued up today with scholars like Snell-
Hornby, Bassnett-McGuire, Robinson and others who claim that language is a part of
culture, not the other way round, i.e. culture is a small part of language represented
by cultural terms and some special ways of expressing meaning in a language; the
other greater part of language is 'universal', i.e. non-cultural and common in all
languages to all peoples the world over. These 'universals' - i.e. the vast majority of
neutral words and expressions - are the integral part of language that makes
translation possible. Snell-Hornby, to cite one example, calls 'linguistic equivalence'
and illusion, a chimera. She maintains that the concept of culture represents a totality

16
of knowledge, proficiency and perception. Language is an integral part of culture,
therefore, the translator needs to be not only bilingual, but also bicultural (1988: 42).
This renders translation impossible, for biculturalness is impossible I believe. This
approach to translation is outdated now due to the unstoppable continuation of the
practice of translation and publication of great translations of great literary works by
great translators worldwide.

Not only that, the unprecedented prosperous development of, and urgent need for
translation as a discipline and practice is further confirmed evidence for yet a greater
possibility of translation, whether Snell-Hornby and Company like it or not. She herself
has minimized impossibility into difficulty of translating literary texts: "Literary texts,
especially those embedded in a culture of the distant past, tend to be less easily
translatable than those texts dealing with 'universals' of science". One still wonders
about having a literary text which is not embedded with culture, past and present.
Furthermore, this statement seems to be paradoxical with her claim of the totality of
the culturalization of language as she concedes by implication that only some literary
texts are embedded with culture, the rest are not, which is again not quite right for all
literary texts are imbued with culture. Even Venuti, who criticizes the universal views
of translation for ignoring cultural relativity, is himself admitting universalism about
the nature and, hence, translation of literature (2000: 124. See Boase-Beier, 2006: 14).

Like describing the notorious statement, 'translators are traitors' (Traduttori traditori)
as a very old joke by Raffel, it is sensible an approach to literary translation to stop
describing it as impossible, even poetic texts, as Dryden and Jakobson claim, although
the latter admits the possibility of what he calls a 'creative transposition' of literature
(see Schulte et al, 1992 and Boase-Beier 2006: 13). A more practical approach is to
declare that "the debate on the impossibility of translation seems pointless if we
adopt a more flexible approach that shuns the belief in an extreme linguistic
relativism. Another good reason to end this debate on the impossibility of translation
is the undeniable importance of translators in society" (Rojo, 2009: 21). As she rightly
says, and in an answer to those who question the possibility of translation, "why
justify an almost four-thousand-year-old practice that continues to play a central role
in modern society?". She adds, "how is translation going to be impossible if the shelves
of bookstores and libraries are full of translations" (ibid., 26) (see also above). At best,
and as Landers suggests, we may talk in terms of "the uniqueness of literary
translation" being a creative process in the first place (2001: 7-10).

Now, what is Literary Translation? Anani defines it crudely as "the translation of the
different genres of literature including poetry narrative and drama. Like other types of
non-literary translation, it involves transforming a verbal code into a different code,
but unlike them, it is concerned not only in the referential meaning of words but also
in their significance and effects" (1997: ch. 1). Landers defines literary translation in
terms of uniqueness and creativity, describing it as "the most demanding type of
translation". However he does not provide a straightforward definition for it
throughout (2001). Most writers and translation theorists have not provided
definitions for literary translation in clear terms. However, some classic writers define

17
it through the literary translator's tasks and characteristics, what is translated (i.e. the
spirit rather than the sense), the method of translation (i.e. free translation (or
Dryden's 'paraphrase'), not literal translation), or the function of the translation (that
is, to educate readers in foreign literatures and cultures, increase the expressivity of
meaning of one's own language, etc.) (see Schulte et al, 1992). Others, like Landers
and Newmark, define literary translation in terms of problems and main
characteristics of literary language. Newmark singles out five main features of literary
language that have to be rendered by the translator: (1) figurativeness and allegory;
(2) onomatopoeic nature (that sound is as important as meaning); (3) rhythm; (4) each
word counts; and (5) full of polysemous words and collocations. (1998: 102-3).

None of the previous definitions - or semi-definitions – can be satisfactory. A

comprehensive definition in clear terms is required:
I define literary translation as a special type of translation that is
concerned solely with translating literary genres and sub-genres into
literary pieces of work in the TL, accounting for all features of literariness
and creative style of the original, especially, re-registration, semantic
density, syntactic and lexical intricacies, polysemy, Displaced interaction,
multi-layeredness, symbolism / hypersemanticization, aestheticism,
figurativeness and, most importantly, tone: the involvement of human
feelings, sentiments and emotions.
Literary texts are different types. They are described as 'Literary Genres'. The major
literary genres are three: poetry, prose and drama. Each of these genres has sub-
genres distinguished within it as follows:
(a) Poetry: lyric poetry, epic poetry, ode, ballad, sonnet and children's rhyme;
(b) Prose: novel, short story (both of which are narrative fiction), popular fiction and
tale;
(c) Drama: tragedy, comedy, farce, dramatic monologue.
Literary translation covers translating all these genres and sub-genres. The first two
are attended to in this work, especially, the Short story, the Novel and Poetry, due to
their popularity in literary translation studies. However, the third genre, Drama, is not
included for many plays are more adapted than translated. However, when translated,
they are approached in a way similar to that of the literary translation of prosaic and
poetic texts. As to the crucial role of style in literary translation, it is discussed in a
separate chapter due to its special significance in literary translation. The next point in
order is related strongly to this, that is, 'the literary translator'.

1.2.3 The Literary Translator

Like any professional, the literary translator has to command certain capabilities and
qualifications. I must insist that inasmuch as we do not have an ideal, or perfect
translation, literary or other, there is no ideal or perfect translator, literary or other.
Therefore, we have to come down to earth, be realistic and lower our expectations
regarding the translator's potentials. Some of these potentials are shared by all types
of translators; others are unique to literary translators only. The following list suggests
a number of qualifications to be commanded by all types of translators in general

18
including the literary translator, followed by another list especially for the latter's
faculties and proficiencies.

(1) Due respect for the profession with a view to faithfulness and moral
commitment to translating texts from one language into another. No
deliberate additions, alterations, deletions or obliterations are exercised on
the original unless justified on solid social, religious, cultural, moral,
ideological or other grounds.
(2) Accuracy of rendering in the sense that everything in a text should be
included or taken into account in translation, but not necessarily translated
verbatim.
(3) Mastery of the two languages concerned in the translation, the SL and the TL,
regarding the basics of their grammars (word order, major sentence and
clause types, parsing, tenses, etc.), vocabularies (word combinations /
collocations, technical terms of different fields and types, ,main figures of
rhetoric, etc.), sound features (alliteration, assonance, consonance, rhyme,
rhythm, and preferably a general idea about scansion, meter and foot).
(4) Competence in tone. Landers defines tone as "the overall feeling conveyed by
an utterance, a passage, or an entire work, including both conscious and
unconscious resonance" ( 2001: 69). That is why he regards it as one of the
essential capabilities of the translator (ibid.: 8). Further, Anani assigns a whole
chapter for 'tone' in literary translation, defining it in terms of an attitude of
irony, humor, seriousness, overstatement, understatement, etc. of the SLT
author, which are prone to change from one age to another, and one
language to another (1997: ch. 5).
(5) Good knowledge of the different types of style of both languages:
grammatical, lexical and phonological features of style, in addition to the
stylistic scales of formality (i.e. frozen formal l classical, formal / standard,
informal, colloquial, slang, etc.). They can be sometimes essential to meaning
in the various types of text.
(6) Good command of the differences between the conventions of the two
languages involved, regarding the use, or non-use of formal / standard, old or
modern, or colloquial, or mixed in both languages, or either language. In the
case of English and Arabic, for example, while the conventions of English
allow for a large use and borrowing from colloquial dialects, written Arabic
conventions do not, and are still resistant to colloquialisms of all types.
Written Arabic is standard only, but it is usually Modern Arabic described as
MSA (Modern Standard Arabic), and occasionally old Arabic, or CA (Classical
Arabic). Old English, on the other hand, has disappeared from today's formal
/ standard written dialect. It might be the case that, as Landers suggests, "the
half-life of a translation … is from 30-40 years; every 30 years (or 40 or 50 …)
the translation loses half its vitality, its freshness, to communicate to the
reader in a contemporary voice" (2001: 10).
(7) Good knowledge of the SL culture, not necessarily to the same extent of the
translator's knowledge of his / her native culture, for, unlike bilingualism,
biculturalism is far-fetched.

19
(8) Good awareness of the world around us, and the knowledge shared by all
humans about the latest changes and developments with respect to science
and technology, cultures, social, political, religious, moral and ideological
values and attitudes.
(9) Due respect for the TL readership's religious, moral, social, cultural and
ideological sensitivities and values. The translator is not an insensitive
dolorous duck, but a sensitive human being who has feelings, values,
sensitivities, biases, prejudices, attitudes and points of view.
(10) Specialism in translation (a higher degree), or at least a considerable
proportion of background knowledge about translation theory (basic
principles, guidelines, SL text, writer and translator's intentions, writer and
translator's attitudes, SL and TL norms, problems and procedures / solutions)
and, more importantly, the main translation methods (literal / semantic, free
/ communicative, pragmatic, non-pragmatic, creative, non-creative /
ordinary, poetic / non-poetic, literary / ordinary, etc.): what, when and how.
(11) The translator's personal possession of the best and latest monolingual and
bilingual dictionaries and references, alongside online facilities in this regard.
One or two references never make a good translator.

In addition to these capabilities, the literary translator has yet further

faculties to be equipped with:

(1) Creativity, or inventiveness (see next Chapter for full details on creativity
in translation in general, and in literary translation in particular.
(2) Special liking of literature, what Landers calls "sense of dedication" to
literature. The literary translator should be first and foremost infatuated
with literature.
(3) Psychological aptitude to live the TL literary translation with respect not
only to events, characters and the plot, but also, and more importantly,
to every word, syntactic structure and prominent sound feature. In short,
the literary translator should have personal aptness to lend himself /
herself wholeheartedly to construct a matching literary text in the TL
through translation.
(4) Command of conventions of reading, understanding and interpreting
literature.
(5) Good knowledge of literary genres and sub-genres in both languages.
(6) Considerable competence in figures of rhetoric (metaphors / allegory,
similes, puns, metonyms, symbolism, irony, etc.) and special fixed
phrases (e.g. idioms, proverbs, adages, etc.) in both languages.
(7) Awareness of the basics of sound / prosodic features in both languages,
especially alliteration, rhyme, rhythm, meter, foot, beat, scansion and
other essentials of prosody).
(8) Flexibility and open-mindedness.
(9) Background knowledge of some famous works of literature in both
languages.

20
 (10) Working with a back-of-the-neck idea that literature is symbolic,
representing something else in human life.
(11) Humility. Why humility? A straightforward answer is put forward by
Landers: "because even our best efforts will never succeed in capturing in
all its grandeur the richness of the original" (2001: 8). Thus, I have a
strong objection to those who propagate the so-called 'inspired literary
translator', implying that 'inspiration is a precondition for translating
literature', as Khulusi and some other writers claim (see Khulusi, 2000:
18-22). This is unacceptable. There is no room to self-aggrandizement
and monopolization of talents or good translations. I personally do NOT
believe in an 'inborn talented translator', or 'inborn inspired translator',
for there is an implication of arrogance and monopoly of literary
translation by an alleged small group of self-acclaimed Godly (!) talented
elite that should be discriminately self-opinionated as peerless,
matchless, unsurpassed and the best in the field. Certainly not. I do
believe in hard work and hard workers, thus, leaving the door wide open
for any poor, 'non-Godly talented' (!) and ordinary hard worker any time
anywhere in the world, past, present and to come to become a masterly
literary translator. This is the important sense of humility in translation.
Those self-acclaimed talented and inspired translators ivory-tower
themselves as distinguished, talented and unequaled, but they are not
for sure.
(12) Perhaps most importantly, specialism, or vast knowledge of the crucial
role of style in the understanding, interpretation and, hence, translation
of literature. Indeed, and as Landers declares, in literary translation "…
how one says something can be as important, sometimes more
important, than what one says" (2001: 7). This takes us back to the first
capability of creativity which is the product of style in the first place.
Hence, Chapter Two forthcoming focuses on the importance of Style in
literary translation.

Now, we turn to the methods of translating literature. (See also Robinson 1997 / 2007;
Anani, 1997: ch. 1, Dryden, Benjamin and others, in Schulte et al, 1992; Schogt, 1988;
Ghazala, 2011 and others for more characteristics of the literary translator).

1.3 Methods of Literary Translation

The age-old two rival methods of translation, Free and Literal, still hold tight despite
the many methods of translation suggested by translation theorists, writers and
professional translators in the contemporary theory of translation. For the purposes of
this work, there is no need to review these methods, but focus will be on the major
methods of translation in circulation these days. (For a short review of a good number
of translation methods going around, see Newmark, 1988: ch. 5).

21
1.3.1 Semantic and Communicative Translation

Among the celebrated pairs of polar methods of translation are Semantic and
Communicative methods, suggested by Newmark (1981) in parallel with, and as a
modern, but more specific alternative to the traditional pair, Literal and Free methods.
He juxtaposes the two methods usefully and briefly as follows:

Communicative Translation Semantic Translation

- smoother - more complex

- simpler
- clearer
- more direct
- more conventional
- confirms to a particular register
- undertranslates
- specific
- TL text-oriented
- TL readership-oriented
- concerned more with effect on TL
Readership
-emphasizes the 'force' of the
original
- better than the original.
- involves a gain in force and clarity
- required to translate the vast
majority of texts, especially non-
literary like: journalism, inform-
ative texts, textbooks, reports,
scientific and technological texts,
non-personal correspondence,
propaganda, publicity, public
notices, standardized writing,
popular / non-imaginative /
scientific fiction.
(1981: chs. 3 &5)
- more awkward
- more detailed
- more concentrated
- pursues thought-process not the
intention of the transmitter
- overtranslates
- more specific than the original
- SL Text-oriented
- SL author-oriented
- concerned more with accuracy of
Meaning of SL text.
- emphasizes the content of the
original.
- inferior to the original
- involve a loss of meaning
- required to translate texts where
style and meaning are equally
important and require to be
translated closely as much
lexically as grammatically, such
as: literary, religious, philosophic-
al, political, scientific (?) and
technical (?) texts.

Right after this juxtaposition, Newmark makes a serious confession that "there is no
one communicative nor one semantic method of translating a text … A translation can
be more, or less semantic – more, or less, communicative – even a particular section
or sentence can be treated more communicatively or less semantically" (ibid.: 40). This
confession 'upsets the applecart' as it were, confusing the two methods completely,
for it is quite hard to imagine how the same sentence, which is at the end one idea,
can be translated half semantically, half communicatively. Are these methods based
on word-for-word translation so that some of the words of the sentence are translated

22
semantically, others are translated communicatively? This is really difficult to accept in
application.

Such objections can be understood by tracing Newmark's reconsideration of his

methods in later books and statements of his. In his more famous book, A Textbook of
Translation (1988), he relegates the two methods to a minor position, briefing them
on passing in Chapter Five on "Translation Methods". This leads to a logical conclusion
that had he been insistent on them, he would have reinstated and developed them in
this and other later books of his. Still more surprising is his abandoning of the two or
any other methods in favor of the importance of the language of the text. He says: "I
unify my dual theory of semantic and communicative translation with three
propositions …". They are based on the importance of the language of the text; (1) the
more important, the more closely translated; (2) the less important, the less closely
related; and (3) the better written a text, the more closely translated whatever its
degree of importance might be. (1994: 36-37). A further contradiction and confusion is
caused by (3) which gives precedence to the good style of writing over importance.
One is confused as to which to give priority at translating: importance, good writing, or
communicative-semantic translation? The application of any of the three will
invalidate the remaining two.

To bring the whole thing to the right track, it might be a good idea to do either of the
following:
(a) either to decide on only one of the three factors pointed out above,
and take it up as the criterion of the translation method
recommended;
(b) or to go back to the old-age dichotomy of literal and free translation
methods (and Newmark himself has done than in his book in 1988,
assigning a large space for 'Literal Translation'), the origin of
semantic (i.e. more or less 'literal') and communicative (i.e. roughly
'free') translation. This will be strongly commended to put an end to
confusion, especially with one or two modifications made on
Newmark's points of juxtaposition between his two methods.

1.3.2 Literal and Free Translation

In a previous work of mine, I have suggested a kind of assimilation between major

pairs of juxtaposed methods of translation, with the aim to bring them back to the
general and well-known original (i.e. free and literal) and simplify the argument about
translation methods especially for the students of translation and trainee translators.
Here is the list again, with the last two being added here (see Ghazala, 2008 / 2012d:
4):

1. Literal vs. free translation (Ghazala, 2008; Newmark, 1988).

2. Semantic vs. communicative translation (Newmark, ibid.).
3. Formal correspondence vs. textual equivalence (Catford, 1965).
4. Formal equivalence vs. dynamic translation (Nida, 1964; Nida & Taber, 1969).

23
 5. Non-pragmatic vs. pragmatic translation (Bell, 1991; Hatim & Mason, 1990 &
1997, Baker, 1998; Snell-Hornby, 1988; and others).
6. Non-creative vs. creative translation (Beylard-Ozeroff et al, 1998; Landers,
2001).
7. Non-idiomatic vs. idiomatic translation (Newmark, 1988).
8. Ordinary vs. literary translation (see Chapters 4-5 later)
9. Poetical vs. poetic translation (see Chapter 6 later).

Prior to suggesting a modified, more comprehensive and simplified version of a table

of translation methods matching that of Newmark above, a word is due about literal
translation and free translation.

Literal Translation, to start with, is seriously mistaken as a reference to only one

method of translation, the infamous word-for-word translation, concerned with
translating individual words more out of context than in context. Although we
translate words, "words alone do not carry meaning" (Raffel, 1994: 4). We translate
words in context, and context is of different types: referential, collocational, syntactic,
stylistic, semantic, pragmatic, situational, cultural, etc. (Newmark, 1988: 73 ).
Translators deal more with ideas than words, and, in literary translation, they deal
inter alia with cultures (Landers, 2001: 72).

Literal translation is normally taken to mean literal translation of meaning, no more no

less, without beating about the bush. Everything is translated to a measure as much as
possible: no deletions, no additions, no unnecessary exaggerations, no artificialities or
groundless digressions. Thus, literal translation is "the accurate translation of meaning
as closely, directly and completely as possible" (see also Ghazala, 2008 /2012: 9). This
is also the sense meant by Newmark in his discussion of the term. He describes himself
as 'literalist', that is, a partisan of literalness of meaning, not words. In the Preface, he
declares: "I am somewhat of a 'literalist', because I am for truth and accuracy … words
as well as sentences and texts have meaning, … you only deviate from literal
translation when there are good semantic and pragmatic reasons for doing so…"
(1988: xi & 73). Therefore, the literal translation of meaning is after sense in the first
place, as accurately as possible, be it figurative, non-figurative, denotative,
connotative, cultural, non-cultural or other. Here are examples:

(1) The wind of change has blown ‫ىبت رياح التعيير‬

(2) A strong wind is blowing North of the Country ‫تيب ريح عاصؼ عمى شمالي الببلد‬
(3) They took the wind out of his sails ‫سحبوا البساط مف تحتو؛ كشفوا زيؼ ادعاءاتو‬
(4) My hopes have gone with the wind ‫ أدراج الرياح‬/ ‫ذىبت أماني مع الريح‬
(5) He was three sheets in the wind ‫كاف مخمو اًر حتى الثمالة‬
(6) Those who sow the wind reap the whirlwind .‫مف يزرع الشوؾ ال يجني العنب‬
(7) The wind went down ‫خمدت الريح‬
(8) Her talk was all wind ‫كاف كبلميا فقاعات في اليواء‬

24
 (9) The sick man broke wind ً‫أخرج المريض ريحا‬
(10) You go against the wind! ‫إنؾ تسير عكس التيار‬

All these are literal translations of the sense of the original as accurately, closely and
completely as possible, be it metaphorical or not. None of the English statements has
lost any part of its original sense in the Arabic translation. Whether this sense is
figurative or not in both languages is next to achieving accuracy in translation.

Free Translation, on the other hand, is again misunderstood to be a method that

allows the translator to add, delete, drop, shorten, expand, adapt or change meaning
or any part of meaning. Another possibility of misunderstanding free translation is that
it is concerned with the message which is reshaped and reconstructed in the
translator's own way. In other words, freedom of translation is freedom of language
and style, not freedom of rendering the message. There is no play with the message,
but a play with wording it. In other words, the translator is free to change the style,
but not free to change the message. And here lies the big mistake, the mistake that a
difference of the style of expression does not affect the message.

A third mistaken common practice of free translation is the tendency on the part of
some translators to over-exaggerate, overemphasize, be over-expressive, classical /
frozen formal, or rhetorical with the aim to provoke greater effect and be more
impressive. This is due to their misapprehension of good translation to be as much
effective, rhetorical, expressive and impressive as possible, regardless of the types of
text, context, readership, topic, historical background and register.

To overcome any shade of misunderstanding, I would define free translation as "a

method concerned more with the message that the fine details of meaning and its
componential constituent words in context. Its focal point is the production of (a
stylistic-semantic) effect of some kind on the TL readers to impress them more
unjustifiably than justifiably by means of exaggeration, provocation, prejudice,
rhetoric, expressiveness, classical / frozen formality, understatement, overstatement,
aesthetic, pragmatic, religious, cultural, social, ideological or other factors". These are
features of style and tone before anything else.

Free translation is two types (see also Ghazala, 2008 / 2012d: ch. 1):

(a) Bound Free Translation: a little free translation that might somehow
exaggerate, undermine, etc. more than the original without going far away
from its lexical / referential meaning, with the aim of making effect or
impression of some kind: e.g.

- We feel sorry about the situation ‫ نعض أصابع الندـ لما آؿ إليو‬/ ‫نأسؼ أشد األسؼ‬
‫( الوضع‬over-exaggeration about regret) (c.f. ‫)نأسؼ لموضع‬

25
 - No one talks about resignation ‫( ال مجاؿ لمحديث بيننا عف تقديـ االستقالة‬overemphasis
of denial of the news) (cf. ‫)ال أحد يتحدث عف االستقالة‬
- Stop backbiting your friends! ‫( وال يغتب بعضكـ بعض ًا‬cf. !‫(كؼ عف اغتياب أصدقائؾ‬
ّ
(translating the statement into a verse from the Holy Koran to produce
greater effect).
- Parsimony is not advisable ‫( التقتير شر مستطير‬a collocation more rhetorical,
emphatic and effective than normal (cf. ‫)التقتير غير محمود‬
- You are quite right. ‫ ( الحؽ أبمج والباطؿ لجمج‬a proverb: rhetoric and
metaphorical) (cf. ‫ عمى حؽ‬/ ‫)أنت محؽ‬.

(b) Loose Free Translation: a greater space of freedom is exercised here by the
translator who may go beyond the referential meaning to explore the
inferential meaning, which is in other words a pragmatic meaning, allegedly
tracing the authorial intentions. Here are illustrative examples:

- With due respect, you are not telling the truth !‫ أنت تكذب‬،‫( بصراحة‬cf. ‫مع كؿ‬
)‫ جانبت الصواب‬/ ‫ أنت لـ تقؿ الحقيقة‬،‫االحتراـ‬
- )‫( الشعب السوري أمانة في أعناقنا (مندوب نظاـ األسد في األمـ المتحدة‬The Assad regime of
Syria representative to the UN said: "We will kill the Syrian People" (cf. The
Syrian People is our responsibility).
- )‫( لدى الجيش السوري قدرات (وزير خارجية نظاـ األسد‬the Assad regime of Syria foreign
minister said "The Syrian army has special potentials of humiliating the
Syrians") (cf. The Syrian army has special military potentials).
- He keeps a low profile ‫( يكاد المريب يقوؿ خذوني‬cf. ‫)يتوارى عف األنظار؛ قميؿ الظيور عمن ًا‬
- It was inexcusable of him to blurt that out ‫ما أوقحو!؛ يا لوقاحتو!؛ لسانؾ حصانؾ إف‬
‫( صنتو صانؾ‬cf. ‫ في‬/ ‫لـ يكف لو مبرر في تفم تو بالكبلـ؛ ال عذر لو في أف ييرؼ بما ال يعرؼ‬
‫)تمفظو بكبلـ ال يميؽ‬.

Although these cannot be described as common in all types of translation, we have to

admit that no one denies their recurrence in the translation of literature particular.
Both types of free translation method are widely applied due to their relevance to (a)
style, tone and rhetoric, and (b) pragmatic implications (b).

At this stage, we come closer to the translation method appropriate for translating
literature. Before that, it is high time to introduce an alternative table to that of
Newmark (see above) with a view to combining, outlining, simplifying and merging the
major methods of translation and their characteristic features juxtaposed:

Free/Communicative Translation Method Literal/Semantic Translation Method

26
- priority to message - priority to meaning
- priority to effect - priority to accuracy
- faithful to TL norms and culture - faithful to SL norms and culture
- faithful to TL readership - Faithful to SL readership
- tends to translate expressive, - insists on referential / lexical / surface
pragmatic meaning and intentions meaning
- creative - non-creative
- pragmatic - non-pragmatic
- more literary - less literary
- special concern with TL style and tone - normal concern with SL style and tone
- committed to TL translation - committed to SL text
- attempts to render the spirit -attempts to render sense

1.3.3 Creative Literary Stylistic Translation

In a previous work of his, Cognitive Stylistics and the Translator (2011), the author of
this book undertakes and develops a style-based Method of Direct Translation, put
forward by Gutt. It attempts to preserve not just what the source text said, but also
how it said. It pursues all nuances of style and stylistic choices. The translator is
concerned more with what goes in the people's mind beyond the actual words on the
page than what they referentially mean in context in literary texts. Hence, the method
is appropriate for literary translation, where faithfulness is both to content as much as
to style. Gutt suggests that direct translation focuses on recreating the relationship
between features of style as ‘communicative clues’ and the meanings to which these
clues point. This is clearly a cognitive stylistic translation practice. In this sense, direct
translation is an interpretive activity which retains what features of style might mean
at the overall context of the literary text, not only their formal shape. Therefore, Gutt
declares that direct translation is more difficult for the reader to process, yet it is
rewarding for it provides more cognitive and emotional effects (2000) (see also Boase-
Beier, 2006 and Ghazala, 2011: ch.4).

In an extension to this direct translation method in relation to literary translation in

particular, and to avoid any confusion with other direct methods of translation, a
method of creative translation is proposed here. As argued above, the secret clue to
literary language is the features of literariness that make literature into literature.

Therefore, the translation of literature is expected to attend to these features entirely

and wholeheartedly. And if any translation of literature is meant to be constructed as
a literary translation, that is, a piece of literature in the TL, it has to trace the features
of literariness in the SLT to construct them in the TLT. And since the features of
literariness are features of the style of literary language, since style is the source of
creativity in literary translation, and since style is the master key, as it were, to
understanding, interpreting and, hence, translating literature, the more appropriate
method to the translation of literature should be based on literary style which is
defined and constructed in terms of features of literariness singled out above (i.e.

27
Medium dependence, re-registration: semantic density, polysemy, displaced interaction,
discourse patterning, the possibility of reading literature at more than one level,
symbolism, and tone: the involvement of human feelings, sentiments and emotions).
Hence, the suggestion of the literary style-based method of translation, 'creative
literary stylistic translation'.

Thus, the main features that characterize creative literary stylistic translation are:

"creativity, figurativeness, lexical and syntactic elaboration

expressivity, rhetoric, impressiveness, effectiveness, aesthetics,
inventiveness, pragmaticality, tone, resonance, emotionality, human
feelings, (frozen / classical) formality, flexibility, humility and
captivation (of TL readers)."

I hasten to point out that any of the major translation methods outlined above
(especially, semantic, communicative, literal free and pragmatic) can be sometimes
creative in style, meeting some of the criteria of this method just outlined. Therefore,
they are occasionally employed and implied in the suggested method of translating
literature, creative literary stylistic translation.

1.4 Summary

This Chapter aims at introducing to the Chapters of the book to come. It provides
initial definitions and details necessary for the students and readers to be aware of
before embarking on more specific arguments and discussions concerning literary
translation more in practice than in theory.

Different definitions of literature are provided. Then the polarization between literary
language and non-literary language in terms of style is investigated to identify the
stylistic / linguistic features of these two different varieties of language. The argument
demonstrates that although such polarity is not advisable, it is a fact that we cannot
deny at tackling the translation of literature in particular. The conclusion to this point
is that on the ground, the distinction between literary and non-literary in language is
useful to literary translators for they translate literarily in terms of the features which
make literature into literature, the next point of discussion. A good number of
illustrative examples have been introduced to demonstrate the difference between
literary and non-literary texts and translations , confirming the inevitability of the
division between the literary and the non-literary for good translational reasons.

The next point has been a search for the features of literariness in literature due to
their key importance to literary translators. Many of these features have been
explored: semantic density, lexical and syntactic elaboration, medium dependence, re-
registration, polysemy, discourse patterning, the possibility of reading literature at more
than one level, symbolism, and tone: the involvement of human feelings, to name some.
The pivotal importance of these features is immeasurable to literary translators.

28
The Third major point discussed has been literary translation, starting with providing
definitions for translation in general, followed by a detailed survey of literary
translation: its possibility: pros and cons, uniqueness, special features and difficulties
and definitions. It has been argued that no clear-cut definition has been as yet
provided for it. Therefore, the following definition has been suggested: it is a special
type of translation that is specialized in translating literary genres and sub-genres into
literary pieces of work in the TL, having accounted for all features of literariness and
style of the original, especially those pointed out above.

The point followed has been the capabilities and characteristics of the literary
translator. Chief among these are honesty, mastery of the SL and TL concerned,
command of good knowledge of style in language in general, and literature in
particular, awareness of the conventions and norms of understanding and interpreting
literary language, competence in tone, humility, to mention but some. They mean to
demonstrate the tall order of becoming a literary translator.

The penultimate point raised has been methods of translation, literary and
otherwise. The major methods of translation in the field have been examined in
some detail with illustrative examples. They include semantic, communicative,
literal, free, pragmatic and other methods of translation.

The final point of the Chapter has been about a method of translation put
forward especially for translating literature: 'creative literary stylistic translation
method'. It has been claimed that this method can respond to the demanding
requirement of translating literature by singling out creativity and its source,
style, to represent the core of the literariness of literature. Hence, the next
Chapter on Style, stylistics, creativity and literary translation.

29
Exercises

1. To what extent can literary language be considered as special and

distinguished? Is this distinction due to special features of language, or to
conventions and norms which tell us that? Do you feel that this distinction
implies superiority of literature to other types of language? How?
2. Do you agree that what makes literature into literature are the features of
literariness demonstrated above? Could there be other reasons for calling a
piece of writing literature? If yes, like what?
3. Which definition of 'translation' quoted above is more convincing to you, and
Why? Do you have any comments on any of these definitions?
4. Is literary translation possible or impossible? What makes it so? Can the many
literary translations published around the world be evidence for its possibility
or impossibility? How?
5. How (dis)similar are semantic and communicative translation and literal
translation? Which pair is more popular in application, and Why?
6. What is wrong with word-for-word translation? How is different from the
literal translation of meaning?
7. Why is 'free translation method' popular among many students and
translators? Point out some restrictions on this methods, if you think there
are any.
8. Is the table combining the major methods of translation into two poles in
general terms appealing? Why?
9. How different is the newly suggested method of translation of literature,
'creative literary stylistic translation' from other methods discussed earlier in
the Chapter?

30
 CHAPTER TWO

LITERARY TRANSLATION, STYLE AND STYLISTICS:

THE CREATIVE LINK
2.0 Introduction

Having established the theoretical background for literature, literariness, literary

translation, literary translator and literary and other methods of translation, and
having demonstrated the complex overlap between style, literature and translation,
this Chapter is dedicated entirely to the strong relationship and overlap among the
three topics.

Several topics are investigated. All of them are relevant to our central topic, literary
translation. Among them are style and stylistics and their relevance to meaning in
translation; literary stylistics; recent trends in stylistics especially cognitive stylistics
and its central importance to the literary translator; stylistic features of literature;
stylistic features crucial to literary translation and their functions; style and creativity;
creativity in translation; the construction of meaning; the translator as a writer and
others.

The theoretical arguments of these points are exemplified for throughout. The
ultimate objective of the Chapter is to provide further evidence for the special role of
style in understanding and interpreting literature, which entails a parallel amount of
importance in constructing meaning in literary translation in particular. By doing so,
the students and readers will be equipped with a considerable proportion of
background knowledge about style, stylistics and their huge significance in literature
and its translation.

2.1 Style and Stylistics

This section includes two topic that are indivisible in practice. However, for
convenience of discussion, and due to special details pertaining to each topic, they are
introduced separately.

2.1.1 Defining Style: The Importance of Style in Literary Translation

In literary translation, "… how one says something can be as important, sometimes
more important, than what one says" (Landers, 2001: 7). Further confirmation is
provided by Senn who states that, in literature, "The 'message' is inseparable from its
wording …" (in Newmark, 1993: 68). It has been argued by many contemporary writers
that style is fundamentally a matter of choice made by writers from the major
language components of grammar, words and sounds in particular. It is received and
perceived by readers in the context of the text and their own socio-cultural, ideological

31
and mental (or cognitive) context. Style is the decisive constituent of the literary text’s
meaning and interpretation. The focus, especially in literary texts, has been on the
style of texts from a cognitive / mental perspective as a clue to their meaning. The
reader of a text’s style – and the translator is, after all, a reader – is expected to dwell
upon the features and effects of that style. Further, style can be viewed as a set of
choices made on purpose as a kind of commitment to a certain ideology, or point of
view. Therefore, ignoring that would render the translator’s reading and translation of
the source text superfluous. As translation is a constant search for meaning to be
expressed in the best possible way into another language, the translator’s major
concern is expected to be in style, the SL author's and translator's style in the TL. Yet,
the relationship between style and what the text means is not straightforward but
rather embedded. So the translator has to work hard to come to terms with it (see also
Garcia and Marco, 1998, in Boase-Beier, 2006 and Ghazala, 2011: ch.4).

Translation is viewed as an act of stylistic interpretation based on the consideration of

the different types of stylistic features of language and their effects and implications in
the source text from a cognitive point of view, which the translator should take into
account when he/she translates into the target text. In this sense, the styles, texts and
contexts of both SL and TL have to be in focus. Both the ST author and the TT reader
have to be borne in mind by the translator.

Thus, to say style is central in translation is to state the obvious. Whether to preserve
or change the style of the source text and to what extent is a major issue at the heart
of the translation process. Now more details are required to elaborate the definition
and identification of the concept of style as choice in the first place.

2.1.2 Literary Style as Choice

Traditional definitions of style are vague and of a general nature. People usually speak
of formal, informal, lofty, poetic, simple, expressive, plain, good, poor, bad, grand,
monist, dualist, pluralist, epic, etc. style (see Ghazala, 2000 and Wales, 1989). A more
specific definition of style in linguistic terms is, therefore, due.

Style has been seen as the dress of thought, as an ornamentation. In Dryden’s words, it
is an “elocution, or art of clothing or adorning thought” (in Hough, 1969: 3). The same
view is echoed by Riffaterre (1959), Ohmann (1962), Coleridge (in Wetherill, 1974:
133) and others. This is the ‘dualist’ view of style in Leech and Short’s terms (1981).

Further, style is seen, especially by formalists, as a deviation from language norms. It is

also claimed to be an expression and reflection of the personality of the author, hence
the adage ‘style is the man’, by particularly generative stylisticians and the
intentionalists (see also Catano, 1982). A fourth concept of style is viewed by monists
as indistinguishable from meaning, “like body and soul” in Flaubert’s words (in Leech
and Short, 1981: Chapter One). Gray (1969), Ellis (1974) and a few others do not
recognize the existence of the notion of style in the first place; they claim that style is
‘the emperor’s clothes’ - they exist because everyone wants to see them. None of

32
these definitions of style have been satisfactory for many stylisticians. (See also Carter
and Nash (1990), Leech and Short (1981), and others for objections and criticism of
these definitions).

By contrast, the concept of style as choice has become well-established these days.
(Traugott and Pratt, 1980; Wales, 1989: 436). This is due to the fact that style is a
linguistic choice in the first place. A linguistic choice is made on the basis of options
available in language. It is the total options available in the syntactic, semantic,
phonological and pragmatic systems. The first three levels of language are levels of
microstructures and specify the ranges of structural possibilities which can be chosen
or deviated from. The fourth, pragmatic system, is a macro-structural level which
specifies in part the contextual basis of the use of language for choice at the level of
text, including factors like intended audience, topic, genre, channel, degree of
formality. In this sense, expression and content “can be viewed as a matter of choice”.
The latter is fundamentally semantic/lexical, involving choice of semantic structures;
whereas the former is primarily pragmatic/contextual, involving choice of pragmatic
functions and contextual features. Choice in both components of language/grammar is
the basis for phonological, syntactic and lexical choices (see Simpson, 2004: 29, 33).

An interesting differentiation between language and style in terms of choice is made

by Traugott and Pratt. Language is the sum total of the structures available to users,
whereas style concerns the characteristic choices in a given context (1980: 29). Thus,
style consists of linguistic choices made from the repertoire of language. It is a type of
domain in the sense of the certain choices made by a particular writer, in a particular
genre, in a particular text. Style, then, may be defined in terms of the variant linguistic
choices made in the text by the individual author, which are in effect stylistic choices
made in preference to others potentially available in a language system. In theory,
every stylistic / linguistic choice is in some way functional. In a functional, totalistic or
pluralistic term, style is defined as the combination of the functions of stylistic choices
made mainly from the grammatical, lexical and phonological inventory of language.

Viewing style as an ideology that can be reflected by stylistic choices in the text, Carter
and Nash say that writers entertain particular kinds of patterns on readers realized by
an exploitation of available linguistic choices. They add that a writer’s stylistic choices
enable certain kinds of readings and suppress others (1990: 22).

Now, are the stylistic choices made consciously or unconsciously by the writer? In one
sense, although stylistic choices involve a freedom of choice, they are made from a
restricted range of potentials of language components, or levels. Therefore, authors
are responsible for their choices which they make more consciously than
unconsciously. On the other hand, our knowledge of language becomes, at advanced
stages of age, so intuitive that it is not easy to distinguish which of our choices are
conscious, and which are not, for many writers claim to write intuitively. But a stylistic
choice can be described as motivated, be it conscious or not. Motivated choice is more
likely to be the case, so that the author would be held responsible for what he/she
writes in a special social, cultural, ideological and perhaps political context and

33
environment. He/she is responsible even for his/her unconsciously made preferences,
such as grammatical structures. These structures are thought to be restrictive in the
sense that they are arbitrary, inflexible, and "about which we have no choice”, to use
Vinay and Darbelnet’s words (1995: 16).

However, when a writer goes for a certain structure, say, active, transitive verbs,
simple sentences and postmodification, it means he/she has intentionally preferred
them to their counterparts in English grammar, passive, intransitive verbs, complex
sentences and premodification. Although we cannot invent new rules and principles of
grammar (like, say, starting well-formed English sentences with verbs instead of
subjects), we have a wide range of choices inside the restricted grammatical
structures. Therefore, there is insufficient justification for writers, readers or analysts
to sideline the notion of motivated stylistic choices in texts.

In all cases, the author is usually taken to be in charge of making his/her own choices.
These choices are made by a particular author, in a particular genre, in a particular text
with a particular cultural, ideological and other backgrounds. Choices are originally
made and produced by the writer, there is no doubt about that. However, the
analyst/reader’s role in these choices lies in his/her singling out the distinctive choices
and their implied functions and effects. As argued earlier, the idea of ‘motivated
choice’ involves some kind of cognitive/mental, historical, social, cultural and/or
ideological implications triggered by the authorial stylistic choices, but inferred and
interpreted in their appropriate context by the reader/analyst. Thus, stylistic choices
are in this sense contributed to, and distributed among writers, readers/analysts and
translators though not on equal terms.

As pointed out in the course of discussion, stylistic choice involves the choice of
stylistic features and functions / effects, two constituent components of stylistic
analysis.

2.1.3 Stylistic Features

A ‘stylistic feature’ is a linguistic structure, be grammatical, lexical, phonological or

other, that is, for a good reason, taken by the reader or analyst to be significant. This
definition is based on the notion of distinctiveness as the criterion which determines
whether a feature is linguistic or stylistic. Hence, not all linguistic features are stylistic,
but every stylistic feature is originally linguistic. It is also possible to understand every
linguistic feature to be potentially stylistic.

Among the established stylistic features are:

‘deviation, foregrounding, backgrounding, formality vs. informality,

ambiguity, simplicity, complexity, nominalization vs. verbalization,
passivization vs. activization, passivity vs. activity, transitivity,
intransitivity, lexical repetition, lexical relationships (like paradox,
synonymy, etc.), specific patterning of deixis, lexis and grammatical

34
 sequence in a particular way, pomposity, figurative language (e.g. pun,
irony, metonymy, trope, etc.), and many others."

An example of linguistic feature is the use of transitive verbs in a certain text. It

becomes a stylistic feature when it is used consistently, frequently, or not used at all,
taken in juxtaposition with the use of intransitive verbs, and when questions of how
and why it is used are posed and answered by the analyst.

Following are definable criteria recommended for distinguishing stylistic features:

a. Understanding style as a matter of choice (see above) made by the writer

from the language inventory of layout, grammar, lexis and sounds in
particular.
b. Knowing a good deal of this inventory.
c. Distinguishing the rules and norms of language to determine deviation from
them.
d. Having developed language skills to enable him to be sensitive and sensitized
to language use and function.
e. Accumulating awareness of frequent and recurrent stylistic features like
formality, informality, fronting, ambiguity, parallelism, repetition,
redundancy, irony, etc. (see above).
f. Attending to the collocability (or word combination) of language for its
significance to word company.
g. Situating knowledge of language structures of various types within due social,
cultural and cognitive contexts.

These and other criteria suggested by other works on stylistics can be employed in
stylistic analyses to draw hard evidence for the implied meanings emanated from
stylistic features, i.e. ‘stylistic functions’, the point in order:

2.1.4 Stylistic Functions

‘Stylistic functions’ can be defined as a reference to all kinds of hidden or underlying

reasons, meanings, implications or effects of 'stylistic features'. It is often
interchangeable with the terms ‘stylistic effect’, ‘stylistic meaning’, ‘stylistic
implication’ and ‘stylistic value’. The five terms are understandably appropriate in
general terms. Like ‘stylistic features’, stylistic functions equally have guiding criteria
to explore:

a. A stylistic function is in a sense a reason (or reasons) behind using a stylistic

feature. It is an answer to the question: Why is such and such stylistic feature
used? What for?
b. Checking both the micro- and macro-contexts of stylistic features.
c. Relating stylistic features of the same type to their counterparts in the text.
d. Relating stylistic features of different types to one another.

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 e. Finding out about some kind of conformity of form to content (i.e. broken
grammar might reflect broken man/thing, etc.; complicated sentence
structure may reflect a complicated character, situation, etc.; a simple, easy-
going structure would imply simple, easy-going plot, temper, events, etc.; and
so on).
f. Looking for a relationship between a stylistic feature and a cultural, religious,
social, political, etc. implication, connotation or insinuation.
g. Finding out whether or not a connection of some kind can be established
between a stylistic feature and a relevant piece of universally-shared
knowledge.
h. Checking a disrupted word order in comparison to a normal word order.
i. Establishing certain kinds of lexical relationships (of synonymy, contrast, etc.)
among lexical stylistic features, which may bring about significant stylistic
functions.
j. Establishing similar relationships among other types of stylistic features of the
same kind.
k. Finding out about a link of some kind between sound features, especially
onomatopoeia and meaning.

Stylistic features and functions are the milestone of any stylistic analysis, the topic to
investigate next in the light of contemporary stylistics.

2.2 Defining Stylistics

Stylistics is the study of style. It is a discipline of linguistics which has language as its
material to work on from beginning to end. Language is its basis and corpus. Collins
English Dictionary provides an intricate definition of stylistics as “a branch of linguistics
concerned with the study of characteristic choices in use of language, especially
literary language, as regards sound, form or vocabulary, made by different individuals
or social groups in different situations of use” (2000). Stylistic analysis has a well-
defined framework, terminology and phases. Stylistics has proved to be systematic,
solid and hugely useful approach to the study of style and the understanding and
interpretation of literary texts.

It is a common practice that stylistics is usually applied to the teaching, analysis,

reading, study and interpretation of literary texts. Language is being the core of any
stylistic analysis. Having become an established field of study and analysis, stylistics is
usually linked to the study of the style of literary language, as also stated by Toolan
(1998), Widdowson, (1975), Bradford, (1997), Boase-Beier (2006); Simpson (2004),
Leech and Short (1981), Carter, (1982), Brumfit and Carter (1986), Fabb et al. (1987),
Short (1988), Toolan (1992&1998), (1998), Wright and Hope (1996 /2003), Verdonk,
1995, Verdonk and Weber (eds.) (1995), to name but a few.)

These definitions unravel the following facts about stylistics:

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 1. Stylistics is a branch of linguistics.
2. It is a language-based approach. Its concern is solely with language.
3. Its major concern is with the analysis of literary texts of all genres and classes.
4. It is a combination of linguistic / structural patterns (e.g. stylistic features) and
the implied meanings (or functions) produced by them.
5. It involves all types of stylistic choices at the different levels of language:
lexical, grammatical and phonological in particular.
6. It is an activity that can be applied to the analysis of other types of text, e.g.
varieties of English language, with the aim of specifying the characteristic
stylistic features and functions of each variety (see below).

Stylistics is now a variety of classical and contemporary trends. They co-exist in

universities and other academic circles for different purposes and objectives. Yet,
traditional approaches have been developed into contemporary ones to compensate
for the shortcomings of the former. Two trends, one classical, another contemporary,
are singled out here to give details about for their relevance to the topic of this book,
literary translation. Before that, a briefing of other famous schools of stylistics can be
provided.

Linguistic Stylistics is also called generative stylistics, syntactic stylistics, structural /

structuralist stylistics, textualist stylistics and computational stylistics. It is defined as
“the purest form of stylistics in that its practitioners attempt to derive from the study
of style and language variation some refinement of models for the analysis of language
and thus contribute to the development of linguistic theory” (Carter, 1988, in Short
(ed.), 1988/1989: 10). It is a descriptive linguistic approach to stylistics based on
providing models and methods of stylistic analyses of texts, especially literary texts
with no special concern with their effects and functions, with one or two exceptions
(e.g. Taylor (1980), Burton’s study of drama dialogue (1980), Banfield’s investigation of
narrative discourse (1982), Jakobson (1960) and Pearce (1977). The ultimate objective
of linguistic stylistics, is to describe rather than interpret or appreciate literary texts by
way of serving linguistic theory. Therefore, it is of limited use to the literary translator,
for interpretation of literature is not among its objective. (For more details, see Taylor,
1980, Toolan and Taylor, 1982 and Bradford, 1997)

Affective Stylistics. This ambitious approach to stylistics shifts emphasis onto the
reader’s mind, psychology, activities and experience of reading literature. Later on its
proponent, Stanley Fish, reinstates interpretation of literature as its ultimate objective
by means of a social authorities he calls ‘the authority of interpretive communities’.
These are “...made up of those who share interpretive strategies not for reading … but
for writing texts, for constituting their properties and assigning their intentions”. These
strategies exist prior to the act of reading and therefore determine the shape of what
is read rather than the other way round. For example, our interpretive community
equips us with a grammar and vocabulary of interpretation to deal with the local
stylistic effects of poetry. The production of these effects is based not necessarily upon
‘empirical evidence’ from the text, but rather upon acquired habits of interpretation
which is, in Fish’s view, the reason why different readers belonging to the same

37
community have similar interpretation of the same text (p. 167). This enterprise of
interpretive communities is implies useful hints like: (1) ‘authority’ which implies a
discipline of some kind; (2) there is a source to be consulted for validity of
interpretation; (3) interpretation is reinstated as the ultimate objective of stylistics; (4)
a consensus on interpretive criteria is probable; (5) valid interpretation has a
prerequisite of being agreed upon by a reliable authority; (6) a community has criteria
to be acquired by readers: certain ways of interpreting literary texts, community’s
conventions and norms of critical discourse; (7) knowledge of grammar and vocabulary
of language; (8) any interpretive community is assumed to be informative; (9) only
informed readers are aimed at; (10) knowledge of interpretive strategies and norms
and the way to interpret accordingly is learned or acquired, but the ability to interpret
is not; (11) interpretation lies outside the text; (12) the reader’s progression is from
outside the text into it and then outside it; and finally (13) the sociological and
cognitive background of stylistic interpretation is made explicit. This final implication is
the most important of all now, for it closes in on contemporary stylistics which is
mainly sociological and cognitive, as demonstrated later (see also Fish, 1980; Bradford,
1997, Ghazala, 2011 and others for more details).

General Stylistics is a cover term to refer to the analyses of non-literary VARIETIES of

language, or registers. The purpose of general stylistics is to mark the stylistic features
which characterize different types of language, like spoken English, speaking vs.
writing, legal Language, literary vs. non-literary Language, scientific Language,
newspaper Language, religious Language, political Language, the language of
advertising, the language of TV and Radio commentary, etc. Alongside the
distinguishing features of these varieties are their functions and effects in each variety.
This practice is in a sense linguistic stylistic in terms of linguistic description of stylistic
features and the effects they are put to. (See Wales (1989: 438). Examples of this type
of stylistics include Crystal & Davy (1969), Freeborn et al. (1985), Carter & Nash (1991),
and Ghazala (1994, 1999)).

Pedagogical Stylistics, or Classroom Stylistics, is the application of stylistics, linguistic

and literary, to the teaching of language and literature. Several textbooks have been
written with an orientation towards the needs of students and learners of English
language and literature. Stylistics here is understandably a means to an end, aiming at
helping students make sense of the language of literature. It sensitises them to
language and enables them to read and write with sharper acumen. In the process,
they would discern marked linguistic/stylistic features and their implied functions on
their way to a fuller understanding, appreciation and perhaps interpretation of literary
texts through their language. Among these books are Traugott and Pratt (1980), Leech
and Short (1980), Carter (ed.) (1982), Carter and Burton (eds.) (1982), Cummings and
Simmons (1983), Brumfit and Carter (eds.) (1986), Short (ed.) (1988) and Wright and
Hope (1996, 3rd edn. 2003).

Discourse Stylistics addresses itself to description and characterization of stylistic

effects in a wider range of discourse types. It should appeal to the social character of
all discourse and direct analyses at uncovering the socio-political ideologies which

38
underlie the construction of meaning in all literary and non-literary texts. Work in this
area deals with discoursal topics like: politics, the role of tropes, ambiguity and puns in
literature, the linguistic basis of literary competence, the interactive role of the reader,
and the psychological processing by readers (Carter and Simpson, 1988; and Fowler,
1981, 1986, in Short et al: 13). The latest developments and interest in discourse
stylistics confirm the new issues in current stylistics that relate the style of language to
users/readers in their social, ideological and psychological contexts. The stylistic
features, effects, interpretation and appreciation of texts are linked in a complex but
more convincing way. Thus, language, style and literature are employed directly
interactively in human life, rather than studied for their own sake. (See Fish (1980),
Burton (1980, 1982), Fowler (1977, 1981, 1986); Carter & Simpson (eds.), (1988);
Simpson and Hall (2002), Short (ed.) (1988), Herman (1996), Thornborrow et al. (1998),
Simpson (2004), Halliday (1964, 1971, 1973 & 1985), Ghazala, 2011; Perez, 2007 and
others).

Feminist Stylistics views discourse as something which transmits social and

institutionalized prejudices and ideologies, particularly the respective roles and the
mental and behavioral characteristics of men and women in a politicized context.
Feminist stylistics is a reflection of the varieties of linguistic usage in discourse which
are themselves the products of socioeconomic and political forces and institutions.
With the emergence and ongoing practice of feminist stylistic analyses, language has
been provocatively politicized. Its linguistic/stylistic structures are interpreted in terms
of hegemony and superiority of maleness over femaleness on the one hand, and
quiescence, inferiority, submissiveness and subordination of females on the other.
Men are always represented as active and positive, and women as passive and
negative (see Burton, 1982; Bradford, 1997: 86-7; Mills, 1995; Fairclough 1989 and
1995, Carter, 1982; Simpson, 2004 and Thornborow et al., 1998: 214).

Narrative Stylistics is an approach to Narrative discourse to find more elaborate

models of description, analysis and interpretation of narrative fiction. A narrative has a
temporal progression between two clauses that describe two actions in a certain order
of sequence in such a way that a clause reversal, or a change of this sequence -
chronological or otherwise - entails a change of response to, and interpretation of,
events. A primary distinction is made between two basic components of narrative: plot
and (narrative) discourse. The plot refers to the abstract storyline of a narrative, i.e.
the sequence of chronological order of events. Narrative discourse, on the other hand,
is a reference to the manner or means by which the plot is narrated. Narrative
discourse is characterized by the use of stylistic devices like flashback, prevision and
repetition that disrupt the logical flow of chronology of the narrative’s plot. Finally, the
rationale of narrative stylistics is social, historical and cultural in the main. This is the
meeting point of narrative stylistics with discourse stylistics. On the other hand, among
the basic purposes of narrative stylistics, is language-based ‘conceptualization’ of
narrative discourse and structure. So it is ideological and conceptual in its latest
approaches and developments, where it meets with cognitive stylistics, the point in
order now. (See Labov (1972), Fowler, 1977, 1981, 1986; Bakhtin, 1986; Simpson, 2004
and Ghazala, 2011).

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Having established a general idea about major trends of stylistics in circulation today,
we may proceed now to give some details about two principal stylistic approaches that
have strong ties with literary translation practice.

2.2.1 Literary Stylistics

Literary stylistics is the study of literary style. Its concern is in the interpretation and
appreciation of literary texts. The investigation of language organization is its starting
point with the aim of pursuing intuitively significant stylistic features and their functions
and how these affect and contribute to our understanding of those texts. Its goal is to
explain the relation between language and artistic, or literary function. It relates the two
essential, complementary factors, the literary / aesthetic of the critic, and the linguistic
description of the linguist, which is done through the concern with the 'what', 'why' and
'how' of stylistic features and functions. Neither of these two constituent components of
interpretation and appreciation of literary texts can be self-sufficient to achieve that, as
we noticed with the single-leveledness of linguistic stylistics in the previous subsection,
which works on the plane of expression / form to the neglect of the plane of meaning /
content.

In simple terms, Literary Stylistics is the study of literary style from a linguistic
perspective. Its focus is on the appreciation and interpretation of literary texts through
the investigation of language organization. The stylistic functions emanated intuitively
are found to contribute to our perception and interpretation of texts. It is also termed
Functional Stylistics for its concern with language functions.

This stylistic approach to the analysis of literary texts has not been so much a reaction
to linguistic stylistics as a complementation to it. It is bi-planar in principle, concerned
with both stylistic features and their functions, but multi-planar at the functional level.
It unearths the stylistic functions and effects of language features at different levels:
grammar, lexis and sounds, and at the level of interpretation. Now the term ‘stylistics’
is in effect a reference to ‘literary stylistics’. The ultimate objective of literary stylistics
is not simply to describe the linguistic / stylistic features of literary texts for their own
sake, but in order to show their functional significance for their interpretation. Thus,
the big issues of literary stylistics, as Leech and Short state, “are not so much ‘what’ as
‘why’ and ‘how’” (1981: 13. See also Halliday, 1964 & 1978; Wales. 1989: 438; Toolan,
1998 and others).

Literary stylistics, then, has interpretation of literary texts as its ultimate objective. This
is the major difference between it and linguistic stylistics. The evidence for any literary
stylistic interpretation is text-centered. It is derived from, and confirmed by the
stylistic features and functions of the language of the text. They are analyzed and
interpreted in their micro and macro context alongside the analyst’s intuitions about
the text. Simpson declares that “The text’s functional significance as discourse acts in
turn as a gateway to its interpretation”. The whole process of interpretation is
inseparable in practice. The contextualized textual evidence is a precondition for any

40
legitimate stylistic interpretation, otherwise it would be rendered impressionistic and,
hence, of less value (2004: 2. See also Ghazala, 2011 and 2012).

2.2.1.1 Contemporary Literary Stylistics

Contemporary literary stylistics has two basic points in common with the new
developments in stylistics (see also Cognitive Stylistics below). All of these new trends
draw on the investigation of the stylistic features and their functions, implications and
the interpretation suggested by them. These are the very constituent ingredients of
literary stylistic analysis and interpretation. Further, both take the reader's background
knowledge, attitudes of different kinds and activities into account, however with a
difference in degree and point of focus. That is, the new approaches to stylistics relate
their stylistic interpretation to the social, cultural, ideological, political and / or mental
context and background of the reader of literature, whereas literary stylistic
interpretation is based more on the inside world of the context of the text than the
outside world of the reader in a wider context.

2.2.1.2 Literary Stylistic Interpretation

This subsection identifies the components of interpretation in literary stylistics, with the
aim to demonstrate the crucial relationship between it and the construction of meaning
in literary translation. We may do that through answering the following questions: What
is literary stylistic interpretation? From what does it derive? What are its boundaries?
And what are its components? Interpretation in literary stylistics is based on literary texts
that are made from language in the first place. The texts are the major source for stylistic
analyses and interpretations, all surgical operations are done on them, considered
primarily as linguistic entities. Their language is organized in some particular way, and
functions are the product of that organization. These functions are understood in certain
cultural, social, ideological and other contexts.

Literary stylistics is a language-based enterprise, not in the sense of an applied linguistic

activity, but in the sense that it counts on the stylistic organization of language. Its
starting point is the linguistic description of the stylistic structure of texts. It is a
functionalist activity, attempting to locate intuitively stylistic features and the functions
and effects created, and to analyze how they contribute to interpretation, the ultimate
objective of this approach. This interpretation is situated now within the sociocultural
and ideological context of the Target Language in translation.

Indeed, interpretation is what stylisticians do in their stylistic analyses of texts.

Interpretation is not merely a collection at the end of analysis of the conclusions
reached about a text by intuitive response and stylistic functions and effects suggested
by it. Interpretation is an activity realized inside, and by the reader in the process of
reading, which is why it is described as ‘an act of interpretation’ by famous stylisticians
like Fish (1980), Carter (1986b), Short (ed.) (1988), Durant and Fabb (1990) and most
contemporary stylisticians. The term ‘act’ involves not only activity and action on the
part of the reader, but also mental work and effort throughout the process of reading.

41
This means that interpretation is prone to change and is influenced by, as much as
influencing, the various structures of the text in an interactive and interdependent
way. The social, cultural, historical, ideological and political backgrounds are accounted
for here as the bases for any stylistic analysis and interpretation. This is the type of
approach to ‘stylistic interpretation’ practiced by contemporary stylistics of various
types in stylistic analysis (see Weber, 1992, 1996, and 2005; Semino, 2002; Semino and
Culpeper (eds.), 2002; Gavins and Steen (eds.), 2003; Hiraga, 2005; Gutt, 2005;
Freeman, 2005; Fairclough, 1992; Fowler, 1996; Fahnestock, 2005; Altridge et al. (eds.),
1987; Dancygier, 2005; Chamberlain, 2000 (all in Boase-Beier, 2006); Simpson, 2004,
and all proponents of contemporary stylistics quoted in Chapter One of this work).

2.3 Cognitive Stylistics and Literary Translation

A hugely influential, and updated development in contemporary stylistics is cognitive

stylistics (or mind stylistics). It has profoundly affected the direction of the whole
discipline in the twenty-first century. Cognitive stylistics is a new approach to the
analysis and interpretation of literary discourse. It takes up mind as the basis for any
model of stylistic analysis The orientation towards social, mental and psychological
backgrounds and surroundings of discourse takes it into a new area. This emphasis on
the cognitive dimensions in stylistic textual interpretation of literary texts in particular
reflects this latest trend, cognitive stylistics.

Cognitive stylistics does not replace other existing methods of stylistic analysis, but
shifts the focus from text-centered analyses onto cognitive / conceptual models. These
models spell out the links between the mind and the process of reading and, hence,
understanding and interpreting. Indeed, cognitive stylistics makes it possible to
integrate mental, sociological, historical and psychological aspects with pragmatic
aspects of language and style in literary discourse in particular.

Generally, ‘cognitive’ means having to do with knowledge and the mind. Recent
cognitive stylistics explores the concept of style as mind. The notion of mind as a
mediator between the world and the text has always been important for stylistics. The
term, 'mind style' is introduced by Fowler (1977: 145). (See also Simpson, 2004, Boase-
Beier, 2006; Stockwell, 2002a, 2002b and 2006 and Ghazala, 2011 for further details).

Our concern with cognitive stylistics in this work is due to its huge relevance to the
stylistic, creative construction of meaning in literary translation (see below). A prime
reason for involving cognitive stylistics in literary translation is its tendency to go deep
to the bottom of literary texts to unearth the deepest of its meanings.

2.4 A Cognitive Process of Literary Translation

A great cognitive turn has been in action in contemporary stylistics. Indeed, and as
Boase-Beier rightly argues, “There is a cognitive turn in translation studies” (2003 and
2006: 71). This updated cognitive development encompasses not only translation but
also cognitive studies of literature, among other disciplines. Among the benefits of

42
cognitive approaches to stylistic analyses of texts in translation studies are their
assistance to us to understand issues about perception of literature, universality, and
the differences between literary and non-literary texts. The issue of the differences
between literary and non-literary texts is pivotal for translation studies, especially
those differences in style (see Newmark, 1995; Nord, 1997; Gutt, 2000; and 6.10 below
for further discussions).

Hence, cognitive approaches to literature are attractive for they are promising with
respect to the provision of insight into the nature and effects of the difference, both in
translation and style, as both translation and stylistics are developing new cognitive
approaches. They view style as a reflection of mind and being closely linked to the
nature of literature in stylistic studies as much as in translation studies, the simple
reason being that style is a matter of choice in a way other aspects of language are not.

The view of style in translation has changed drastically, from a cursory mention of it in
the past, to the full attention it receives now. As stressed in earlier in this Chapter
stylistics, contemporary cognitive stylistics explores the concept of mind style in ways
which are highly significant for contemporary translation studies and, eventually,
literary translation. Following are main issues in cognitive stylistics that are relevant to
translation, especially literary translation:

(a) Meaning is more than the words on the page. Although all we have on the
page are words, a world of words, we do not understand them in isolation,
but in context and combination with each other. One way to explain how
meaning is more than words is to consider what words imply, connote,
insinuate or emanate of functions, effects, assumptions, inferences or
implicatures in the reader’s mind. How, then, do we translate these
implications, functions and implicatures, and allow for inferences and
assumptions?

(b) Reading is a cognitive process. At the same time, it is an integral part of the
translator’s task. So how do translators read? How do they arrive at an
interpretation?

(c) With all the freedom, involvement and mental state experience of reading
and reader, how do we ensure when translating that the reader of our
translation also experiences a change in mental state? And how do these
changes have something in common with those we ourselves have
experienced? If the translation fails to capture such cognitive mental state,
will the target text have less effect on a reader’s mind?

(d) What does cognitive stylistics have to say about the differences between
literary and non-literary texts? Does literary writing draw on different formal
characteristics, or does it provide a different reading experience from non-
literary writing? If so, what features guarantee it a different reading
experience? If literature demands more effort and gives greater returns, how

43
 should the translation of literature ensure that this also applies to the target
text?

(e) If reading a text for translation means inferring an author, assuming a

meaning, finding something we can act upon, can we accept that we are
merely acting as though we knew what the author meant? Can we strike a
balance between a sense of our ultimate ignorance with the need to act?
(f) Meaning is not encoded in the text, so it cannot be decoded, but constructed
in terms of the cognitive context of the reader. This context contains shared,
communal elements as much as individual elements. The question here is
how to construct meaning cognitively.
(g) The relationship between the constructed meaning and the outside world is
not measurable in terms of true and false in the light of information collected
from texts, especially literary texts, against the world.
(h) These cognitive insights into style in translation suggest that the process of
reading a source text does not necessarily involve analysing all minute details
of style and content.
(i) Cognitive stylistics looks at texts as discourses composed of acts of
communication. How can we apply this to translation as an act of cognitive
stylistic interpretation?
(j) Viewing translation as a cognitive stylistic act of interpretation, how will it be
looked at from the target reader’s viewpoint?
(k) In the light of our understanding of cognitive approaches to style as processes
of searching for the truth, how can a cognitive stylistic approach to translation
unearth the realities of the text’s meanings? (See also Boase-Beier, 2006 and
Ghazala, 2011 & 2012)

Thus, contemporary cognitive literary translation corpus might change the mind in
more than one way by introducing us to thoughts and feelings we have not
experienced before; by demonstrating to us that other people experience these
thoughts and feelings; and by allowing us to experience them for ourselves. Studies of
the style of translated texts view it as the result of choice driven by cognitive, mental
state. These translations contain not only the author’s, but also the translator’s
choices.

Adopting a cognitive view, some translation theorists have distinguished two cognitive
types of features of texts: ‘universal’ and ‘cultural’ (or 'particular'). Universal features
encompass a general knowledge of the world and many aspects of style and
literariness of language, including ambiguity and metaphor. They are taken here in the
sense that they are universal styles of all live languages, not in terms of their cultural
connotations. These universals are claimed to be easier to translate than their cultural
counterparts. However, only some of them, particularly those relating to common
knowledge and many non-literary texts, can be easier to translate, but certainly not
metaphor and ambiguity, which are ingrained with cultural connotations. (See also
Newmark, 1988: ch. 9; Baker, 1998; Snell-Hornby, 1988; Bassnett-McGuire, 1980,
Robinson, 2007; Hatim and Mason, 1997, Boase-Beier, 2006 and Ghazala, 2011).

44
Therefore, a cognitive stylistic translation suggests that readers view style as a
representation and reflection of mind. Style has long been seen as a manifestation of
mental processes, characteristics or states, which explains what is meant by the
concept of style as choice. The major difference between a traditional and modern
view of style as mind is that it used to mean the author’s mind in the past, whereas it
means now both the reader’s mind and the author’s mind, but priority is given to the
reader’s mind. Thus, the source text, especially a literary text, is approached by the
reader as expressing attitudes, feelings, emotions, ideologies and states of mind. So
does the translator. The prerequisite for that is we have to arrive at a certain
interpretation, for which there should be reasonable evidence from inside as well as
outside the source text.

This brilliant step of ‘meaning construction’ by the reader, put forward by the reader-
response theory, has its implications for translators. Being a reader in the first place,
the translator is the one who constructs the source text’s meaning, having been
required for a long time to recreate the author’s meaning. This task can be described
as the simplest, most prescriptive, and least fruitful for the translator. It no longer
denies the translator - as reader - involvement in the process of translation. Quite the
reverse, as the translator has the greatest share as much as responsibility in the
construction of the meaning of the source text into the target language.

In conclusion to this section, I would argue that a cognitive stylistic approach to

translation in general, and at translating literature, stresses the dependability and
profundity of translation process perhaps in an unprecedented way. A cognitive
process of translation is the same as the cognitive process of stylistic analysis. It is a
mental process that involves the interpretation of the text’s linguistic features of all
types in two contexts of theirs: (i) textual context, and (ii) socio-cultural, attitudinal
and perhaps ideological context. This is done with the background realization that the
literary text is a communicative act which involves characters/persons, events,
processes of different types, actions, actors, behavior, behavers, goals, phenomena,
etc.

2.5 Cognitive Stylistic Creativity in Literary Translation

Creativity is a term that is not taken here to mean ‘creation’ in the sense of ‘creating
something out of nothing’, nor to mean ‘re-creation’ in the sense of reproduction of
the source text’s implied meaning in the target language. “Translative creativity” is
intended to mean creating a new translated text that is constructed by the translator
in stylistic cognitive terms set forth above. Describing what is prescribed by rules and
what is creative in the translator’s work is that translation is continuously hovering
between governed rule of science and intuition. It is a balancing act of five changing
factors: languages, cultures, traditions, readerships, and settings; and five universal
factors that keep it steady: reality, logic, morality, aesthetics and pure language. (See
also Pym, 1998 and Newmark,1988/95 and 1998)

45
Creativity is defined as the ability to form new combinations. Further, it can be the
ability to join commonly independent and different elements. As a process, it is
described as that which gives a new product, and brings something new into existence.
It can also be viewed as a behavior which produces something unique and valuable. On
the other hand, creativity is seen by some as any sociolinguistic feature of language. It
calls for changing traditional renderings of texts of different types. Changes of style,
grammar, cultural expressions, compensations for losses and adjustments of any kind
to the original can be seen as a kind of creativity in translation. Creativity is against
translation as imitation. “Creativity in translation starts where imitation stops”. A
translation like literary translation that changes dynamically and constantly with the
changes of time, societies, cultures and connotations is a creative translation due to
the change of interpretation of literature with the change of time. It is with this
dynamic change that creativity lies. (See also Nida, 1998; Newmark, 1993; Gran, 1998
and Ghazala, 2012c).

Following is a list of some creative strategies based on the development of cognitive

linguistics during the acquisition of translation / interpretation skills by trainee
translators:

(a) comprehension and analysis of the source text (i.e. grasping the functional
components of the source discourse);
(b) (ii) abstracting and compressing the incoming discourse (i.e. the translator’s
cognitive / mental and rigorous ability to subdivide the source texts
concepts);
(c) (iii) reproduction of the discourse in the target language;
(d) (iv) didactic implications (i.e. creative reformulation techniques including
paraphrasing, semantic abstraction, shared knowledge and elaboration of
personal strategies of maintaining textual cohesion); and
(e) (v) acceleration and partial automation of the interpreting process (based
mainly on implicit, internalized memory; implicit competence and explicit
knowledge (see Gran (1998); Paradis, 1994, Feo, 1993 and Viaggio (1992b),in
Gran, ibid.).

On the other hand, the wider the choices, the more creativity is required. The dynamic
equivalence which unearths the sub-text, the hidden agenda of literary texts in
particular, is mainly target-text oriented and more creative than formal, or literal
equivalence, or meaning. (1988/95: 76). Newmark views creative translation as a
matter of a play of words and a ‘peculiar’ stylistic / linguistic combination of lexical and
grammatical choices and structures. He cites the following examples (1993: 39-40):

Non-creative Creative

‘a true passion’ ‘a downright passion’

)‫(عاطفت حقيقيت‬ )‫(عاطفت جياشت‬
‘becoming a rhetoric, even though tortured’ ‘turning into rhetoric, however
lacerated that rhetoric might be’

46
)ً ‫ حتى وإٌ كاٌ يشتتا‬،ً‫(أصبح كاليا ً يًُقا‬ )‫ يهًا كاٌ ذنك انكالو شذر يذر‬،‫(تحىل إنى كالو يًُق‬
‘a mine of hatred’ ‘a time-bomb of hatred’
)‫(يخزوٌ يٍ انكزاهيت‬ )‫(قُبهت كزاهيت يىقىتت‬
‘absolute night’ ‘night in its most absolute sense’
)ً ‫(نيم يظهى ظاليا ً دايسا‬ )‫(جىف انهيم انبهيى‬
‘the prose of the world’ ‘the humdrum world’
)‫ يبتذل‬/ ‫(عانى عادي‬ )‫ يٍ انزتابت‬/ ‫(عانى رتيب‬
'the cat lay on the rug’ ‘the cat sat on the mat’
)‫(استهقت انقطت عهى انسجادة‬ )‫(انقطت انصغيزة جهست عهى انحصيزة‬
(the last one is suggested by Jakobson, one as non-poetic / non-creative; another
poetic (i.e. creative) (1960):

The creative versions and their translations can be described as literary translations.
The major point of difference between the two groups is the choice of words
(underlined) (with the last example being an exception, deriving creativity from
rhyme). The creative choices are more impressive, expressive, formal and, thus, more
literary than their non-creative counterparts which can be described as normal,
average, less expressive, less emphatic and, hence, less literary than the creative
versions. This argument will be the springboard for a further development in practical
terms later on in Chapters 3-6, by juxtaposing literary / ordinary and poetic / poetical
versions of translation of the same text.

Newmark lists what he describes as the most obvious occasions for the need for
creativity, admitting that the list is not exhaustive, but useful (see ibid.):

(a) Cultural words that are specific to one community: objects or activities with
connotations (‘koa’ for furniture).
(b) Transcultural words with similar referents and different connotations in the
target language (e.g. staples like bread, rice, tea, sugar, drink, etc.)
(c) Concept words with different emphases in different communities (obedience,
liberation, freedom fighters, terrorism, liberalism, democracy, etc.).
(d) Peculiar syntactic structures.
(e) Cultural metaphors, idioms, proverbs, puns and neologisms.
(f) Significant phonaesthetic effects (e.g. bauble, pullulate).
(g) Words of quality with no one-to-one equivalent in the target language.
(h) Words as images and prosodic features (e.g. in poetry, stories, novels and sagas).

Some conclusions from the foregoing account of creativity in translation can be drawn.
In principle, creativity is a major issue in translation studies and practice, especially
literary translation. The extent of its frequency depends mainly on the type of text,
register, purposes of the translation and the demands and type of the intended
audience of the target text. In abstract, legal technical and the majority of non-literary
texts (advertising is an exception), creativity is not a big issue and is not sought for by
target readers. However, in literary texts in particular, creativity is the core of
translation. A non-creative translation of literature (described later in Chapters 3-6 as
ordinary, or poetical) is claimed to be dim and poor, and might not be recognized as a

47
good translation. However, the concept of creativity may be approached differently in
cognitive stylistic translation of literature.

In cognitive stylistic translation, meaning is conceptualized and ‘constructed’, rather

than reproduced or recreated in the translated text. In this sense, meaning is ‘created’
from the stylistic choices made in the source text with the translator’s target cultural,
social and ideological considerations of the stylistic choices to be made in the
translated text. These reflect, or more specifically, ‘create’, the stylistic functions of the
original in the target context. Thus, the whole cognitive stylistic translation is ‘creative’
in principle. The construction of the stylistic effects and implications of the source
text’s stylistic choices is a creative process from start to end: from the careful cognitive
stylistic consideration of the stylistic choices of the source text and their interpretation
by the translator on the grounds context and his / her cognitive, or mental background
of culture and other influencing factors, to the construction of that interpretation in
the target text, through target-oriented stylistic structures and effects.

Probably close to the cognitive stylistic approach to creativity in translation argued for
here are the following concepts: Dryden’s reference to style as the genius of the text
(1680, in Schulte and Biguenet, 1992), Pope’s spirit and fire of the text (in Lefeveré,
1992), Nida’s dynamic equivalence (1964 and 1998, and Nida and Taber, 1969),
Newmark’s recreation of subtext (1988/1995 and 1993) and Gran’s cognitive
interpretive process of abstracting the text’s implicit concepts (1998).

The view held in this book is that all aspects of creativity in the translation of literature,
whether particular or universal, are stylistic, based on cognitive stylistic theory of
meaning and interpretation (see above). Jakobson, the forerunner of 'Cognitive
Stylistics', argues that a creative translation of literature is possible due to the
Universality of “cognitive experience” represented in particular by certain properties
of the style and sound patterns of poetry such as rhythm, rhyme, parallelism, etc.
(1960). Added to these features of creativity in poetry are other central literary
properties like metaphor, metonymy, foregrounding, iconicity, ambiguity, creative
collocability and expressivity. These are among the universal stylistic principles and of
critical importance to the literary translator as prominent stylistic features of
creativity, as also pointed out practically in Chapters 4-6 forthcoming (see Boase-Beier,
2006 and Venuti, 1995).

We may restress the key point of this subsection that the source of creativity in literary
translation definitely style and stylistics in both the SL and TL. One essential perquisite
for a creative literary translator is, then, to take style as the springboard as much as
the source of a creative construction of the TL translation. This can be achieved more
essentially than partly by thinking of the literary translator as writer.

2.6 The Literary Translator as Writer: Creative Translational Stylistics

The translator is, in one way or another, the writer of translation, not out of nothing,
but out of an SL text. “We write what we read” is a corollary of all reader-response

48
theories. Today the reader is thought of as activating a textual process that the author
has initiated. Barthes views writing as a liberation of language in a free transpersonal
space. Within this space, the text changes its contours as it passes from writer to
reader.

There have been studies which examined the elements of the translator’s style in the
target text. The presence of the translator’s personal style in the target text is ascribed
to the translator’s preservation of the stylistic nuances of the style of the source text.
This can be illustrated by means of the translator’s explicit, frequent interventions and
interruptions of the source text, or perhaps by considering such choices as “consistent
use of some strategies” like the use of forewords, afterwords, glossaries, endnotes,
footnotes, etc. (see Chaudhuri, in St-Pierre and Kar, 2007: 87; Baker, 2000 and Boase
Beier, 2006: ch. 3).

The term 'Translational Stylistics' is used to describe those translation studies

concerned with a creative translation based on the stylistic choices made by the
translator in the translation from the Target Language. It is a special type of stylistics
that views the target text in its relation to the source text. However, stylistic
differences between, say, two translations of the same literary text in particular, are
evidence for different interpretations on the part of the two translators of the
cognitive choices of style incorporated in the text (see also Malmkjær 2004, who
suggests the term, in Boase-beier, 2006).

Few translation theorists have attended to the stylistics of the translated text. They
have pointed to an interaction between the visible presence of the translator in the
target text and the presence of the author of the source text (see Venuti, 2000). Thus,
the translation into the target text is co-authored by the translator as well as the
author of the SL text.

In this connection, there are factors that influence the translator’s stylistic choices. In
contemporary cognitive stylistics, the translator is a reader in the first place. He / she
has his/her own style, choices, likes, dislikes, social, cultural, religious, mental,
ideological, political and attitudinal background, personal experience and knowledge
and view of the world. These factors can also be exhibited by the writer of the SL text
through his/her text. When a kind of clash between, say, the translator’s cultural,
religious or ideological attitudes and those of the writer through the source text, a
great deal of influence may occur, which will be reflected in the target text. Of course,
it is not a straightforward process to assess these influences on the part of the
translator. It is not easy to determine or elaborate the influencing factors, such as the
influence of the source language, and the cultural and ideological attitudes of the
translator. This is partly true because, as we know, the text is the product of the
author’s mind and that much of its meaning is implicit, and the translator has to work
hard to extract such implied meanings. Further, although the notion of ‘mind style’ is
used in approaching translation, there is no consensus on how mind inhabits the text
(See Boase-Beier, 2003, 2003a and 2006; Baker, 2000 and others).

49
Yet, I claim that there are two factors that might be used as tester guidelines to partly
trace these influencing factors. The first is the translator’s (frequent) use of footnotes,
endnotes, or glossaries to illustrate the points (cultural, religious, ideological or even
political) that reflect his/her objection to them for some reason. Another way is, if
possible, to compare the source text with the target text to see what the translator has
left out, modified, cut short, euphemized, or paraphrased (which is done later in
Chapters 4-6). One example is the omission of taboo words used in some literary
works, which can be justified for religious, social or other reasons in the first place.

More recently, and in the light of reader-response theory, relevance theory and text
worlds theory, the translator’s approach to the processing of the source text in terms
of cognitive stylistics has led some writers on translation to view the translator as a
WRITER. According to them, the translator is the writer of the translation who is
initially responsible for the style of the translated text to which the readers of the
translation respond and from which he/she constructs meaning. Thus, the translator
has the role of a writer who stirs discovery in the reader. (Boase-Beier, 2006; Sperber
and Wilson, 1995, Werth, 1994 & 1999; Black, 2006, Gavins, 2000, 2007 & 2007 and
others).

Now, can a translator be called a writer or a creative constructor in the same way as
the source text’s writer and creator? Perhaps yes, the translator is a writer and a
creative constructor of the translation, however, not in the same way as the original
writer and creator of the source text. The translator is the writer and constructor of
the translation in two senses: first, without a translator, a target text does not exist.
Secondly, the translator is the constructor of the translated text out of the source text.
He/she is not merely reproducing, reconstructing, or recreating the author’s meaning
of the original into the target text; he/she is the constructor of the meaning of the
source text in terms of the cognitive stylistic approach outlined earlier. He/she reads
and understands the original on its and its author’s terms to interpret it, or construct it
on his/her terms of background knowledge, culture, ideology, experience,
conventions, etc.

What I may term the translation writer is a constructor of a new translated text in the
target language, which means a new addition to the corpus of the target knowledge. A
reconstructing, reproducing and recreating translator is neither a writer nor a creative
constructor; he/she is just a translator in the traditional sense of the job of translators,
as ‘copyists’ or ‘mimics’ of the meaning of the source text into the target text as closely
as possible. Well, this job is not disgraceful and is by no means easy or straightforward,
and has to be one of the options available for the translator in certain situations. Yet it
is not the kind of job that gives the translator due respect. We all know that some
names have become figures in the field of writing and translation just because they
have been good translators of famous works. They have earned as wide reputation as
that of the authors of the source texts.

The promotion of the translator of today to a translation writer should not confuse
things. The translator as a writer and creative constructor of translation is different

50
from the writer of the source text. The source text writer is the original source of the
work, whatever interpretation or meaning we might conclude from that work. Now,
the translator has a ready-made and already created text, out of which he/she would
construct a new text in the target language. He/she will do that on the basis of the
already created text in his/her own terms of cognitive knowledge, ideology, culture
and experience. So the translator is a writer and creative constructor of a translated
text in the target language that is not entirely a construction of his/her own, but a
creative work that draws heavily on somebody else’s original in the source text.
Therefore, we should not undermine the more demanding creation of the original
constructor of the source text when we deal with the target text with respect to
translating, preparing for publication, publishing, reading, interpreting, using and
enjoying it, unless the name of the writer of the original is unknown.

The Creative Translational Stylistic approach to literary translation suggested above bids
practical elaboration, which is provided in the next Chapter.

2.7 Summary

This Chapter is mainly theoretical. It focuses on two major interconnected topics, style
and creativity in relation to literary translation. It points out the exquisite status of style
in translation in general, and in literary translation in particular. The definition of style in
terms of choice in the first place is investigated solely due to its unusual importance and
relevance to literary translation. Then the major approaches to stylistics, especially
contemporary stylistics, have been outlined crisply with a view to giving a brief idea
about them and their relevance to literary translation in particular. Then the notion of
creativity in general and in literary translation in particular is tackled in detail.
Throughout it is claimed that the major source of creativity in literary translation is
literary style, i.e. the literary stylistic features of literary texts, or features of literariness.
These features are pinpointed singly in literature, being the source of creativity in literary
translation, to be discussed in detail in the Next Chapter, Chapter 3.

51
Exercises

1. Style is defined here in terms of choice, linguistic choice: semantic / lexical,

grammatical and phonological in the main: Explain and give illustrative
examples.

2. It is suggested that style is the source of creativity in translation, especially

literary translation. Do you agree? Why?

3. Stylistics is now established as a discipline in the analysis, interpretation and

appreciation of texts, literary texts in particular. How can this relate to
translation?

4. How can the review of the major approaches of contemporary stylistics,

especially cognitive stylistics be put in use in the process of constructing
meaning in literary translation?

5. How can a translator be creative through style? Give examples of creative and
non-creative style of language similar to those provided by Newmark earlier in
the Chapter (see 2.5).

6. In your opinion, is the translator a writer of the translation in the same way as
the writer of the SL Text? How?

7. What is the difference between 'reproduction' and 'construction' of meaning in

the TL translation? Which one is more creative than the other and why?

8. How do you understand the relevance of cognitive, mind-based stylistics to the

translator's construction of meaning? And how creative is the process?

52
 CHAPTER THREE

SOURCES OF CREATIVITY IN LITERARY TRANSLATION: MAJOR

STYLISTIC FEATURES OF LITERARINESS
3.0 Introduction: Literary Diction

As claimed in the previous Chapter, creativity is the hallmark of any translation of

literature, and its prerequisite to be described as 'literary' in the first place. This implies
that not every translation of literature is literary; there is a thin-line, but critical
difference between 'literary translation' and 'translation of literature'. That is, the
translation of literature is ordinary and not necessarily literary translation in the Target
Language due to its lack in literary characteristics. These characteristics are the
prerequisites of any translation of literature to be qualified to be literary.

3.1 Sources of Creativity in Literature in Arabic Language

Following are sources and stylistic features of creativity of literature that may be
suggested as major guidelines for literary translators to construct literary translation in
Arabic as a Target Language. As has also been stressed above, the fountainhead of
creativity is style, and the wellspring of literary style is features of literariness (see
Chapter One).

3.1.1 The Holy Quran

The Holy Koran is first and foremost the fundamental source of Islam for all Muslims,
followed by the Prophet's Tradition. Besides that, the style of its Godly Arabic
Language is uniquely literary in the perfect sense of the word. Every sound, word,
phrase, expression, grammatical structure and stylistic feature is in its proper place to
express the intended meaning perfectly. Therefore, theKoranic style has, as ever,
impressive impact on literature and its features of literariness. Many of these features
have become well established in the traditions and conventions of classical as well as
modern literature, regarding not only lexical, but also grammatical, phonological and
other features of style. Here are illustrative examples juxtaposed with those of normal
language:

53
‫‪Stylistic feature‬‬ ‫‪Korannic Language‬‬ ‫‪ordinary language‬‬
‫‪Foregrounding‬‬ ‫(آ) اهلل يت ػػوفى األنف ػػس ح ػػيف موتي ػػا؛‬ ‫(آ) يت ػػوفى اهلل األنف ػػس‪ / ...‬يس ػػتيزئ‬
‫اهلل يسػ ػ ػ ػ ػػتيزئ بيػ ػ ػ ػ ػػـ ويمػ ػ ػ ػ ػػدىـ فػ ػ ػ ػ ػػي‬ ‫اهلل بيـ‪...‬‬
‫طغيانيـ يعميوف‪.‬‬ ‫(ب ػػ) بنينػػا السػػماء ‪ /‬دحػػا األرض بعػػد‬
‫(بػ ػػ) والس ػػماء بنيناى ػػا؛ واألرض بع ػػد‬ ‫ذلؾ‪...‬‬
‫ذلؾ دحاىا؛‬ ‫(جػ) ‪ ...‬أقوؿ الحؽ‪.‬‬
‫الحؽ أقوؿ‬
‫(جػ) قاؿ الحؽ و َ‬
‫‪Emphatic repetition‬‬ ‫(آ) القارعػة مػػا القارعػػة ومػػا أدراؾ مػػا‬ ‫(آ) م ػػا أدراؾ م ػػا القارع ػػة ‪ /‬م ػػا أدرؾ‬
‫القارعػة؛ الحاقػة مػا الحاقػة ومػا أدراؾ‬ ‫ما الحاقة‪.‬‬
‫ما الحاقة‪.‬‬
‫(بػ ػػ) لنسػػفعف بالناصػػية ناصػػية كاذبػػة‬ ‫(بػ) لنسػفعف بناصػية كاذبػة ‪... /‬فػي‬
‫خاطئػ ػػة؛ إذ جعػ ػػؿ الػ ػػذيف كفػ ػػروا فػ ػػي‬ ‫قموبيـ حمية الجاىمية‪.‬‬
‫قموبيـ الحمية حمية الجاىمية‪.‬‬
‫(ج ػ ػ ػ ػػ) كػ ػ ػ ػػبل سػ ػ ػ ػػيعمموف ‪ .‬ثػ ػ ػ ػػـ كػ ػ ػ ػػبل‬ ‫(جػ) كبل سيعمموف‪.‬‬
‫سيعمموف‪.‬‬
‫(د) فػ ػ ػػادخمي فػ ػ ػػي عبػ ػ ػػادي وادخمػ ػ ػػي‬ ‫(د) كبل سيعمموف‪.‬‬
‫جنتي‪.‬‬
‫‪Rhetorical questions‬‬ ‫(آ) أليس اهلل بكاؼ عبده؟‬ ‫(آ) اهلل كاؼ عبده‪.‬‬
‫(بػ) أليس اهلل بأحكـ الحاكميف‬ ‫(بػ) اهلل أحكـ الحاكميف‪.‬‬
‫(جػ) أليس ذلؾ بقادر عمػى أف يحيػي‬ ‫(جػ) ذلؾ قادر عمى أف يحي‬
‫الموتى‪.‬‬ ‫الموتى‪.‬‬

‫‪Backgrounding‬‬ ‫(آ) إذا الش ػ ػػمس ك ػ ػػورت واذا النج ػ ػػوـ‬ ‫(آ) إذا كػػورت الشػػمس‪ .‬واذا لنكػػدرت‬
‫انكدرت واذا الجباؿ سيرت‪...‬‬ ‫النجوـ‪ .‬واذا سيرت الجباؿ‪.‬‬
‫(بػ) تفرحوف بيديتكـ‪.‬‬
‫(بػ) بؿ أنتـ بيديتكـ تفرحوف‪.‬‬ ‫(جػ) إني مف القاليف لعممكـ‪.‬‬
‫(جػ ػ ػ ػػ) وان ػ ػ ػػي لعممك ػ ػ ػػـ م ػ ػ ػػف الق ػ ػ ػػاليف‬
‫(الشعراء‪.)168 :‬‬ ‫(د) أفبل ينظروف كيػؼ خمقػت اإلبػؿ‪.‬‬
‫(د) أفػ ػػبل ينظػ ػػروف إلػ ػػى اإلبػ ػػؿ كيػ ػػؼ‬ ‫وكيؼ رفعػت السػماء‪ .‬وكيػؼ نصػبت‬
‫خمق ػػت‪ .‬وال ػػى الس ػػماء كي ػػؼ رفع ػػت‪.‬‬ ‫الجباؿ‪ .‬وكيؼ سطحت األرض‪.‬‬
‫وال ػػى الجب ػػاؿ كي ػػؼ نص ػػبت‪ .‬األرض‬
‫كيؼ سطحت‪.‬‬
‫‪Rhetorical figures‬‬ ‫(آ) كال ػ ػػذي يتخبط ػ ػػو الش ػ ػػيطاف م ػ ػػف‬ ‫(آ) المس ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػعور ‪ /‬الميػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػووس ‪/‬‬
‫المس‪.‬‬ ‫كالمجنوف ‪ /‬كالذي بو مس‪.‬‬

‫‪54‬‬
 ‫(بػ) وبمغت القموب الحناجر‬ ‫(بػ) اشتد الخوؼ‪.‬‬
‫(ج ػػ) مثػػؿ كممػػة طيبػػة كشػػجرة طيبػػة‬ ‫(ج ػ ػػ) الكمم ػ ػػة الطيب ػ ػػة ثابت ػ ػػة األص ػ ػػؿ‬
‫أص ػ ػػميا ثاب ػ ػػت وفرعي ػ ػػا ف ػ ػػي الس ػ ػػماء‬ ‫والفرع‪ ...‬الكممة الخبيثة ال أصػؿ ليػا‬
‫تػػؤتي أكميػػا كػػؿ حػػيف بػػإذف ربيػػا ‪...‬‬ ‫وال فرع‪.‬‬
‫ومث ػ ػػؿ كمم ػ ػػة خبيث ػ ػػة كش ػ ػػجرة خبيث ػ ػػة‬
‫اجتثػػت مػػف فػػوؽ األرض مػػا ليػػا مػػف‬
‫قرار‪.‬‬
‫‪Parallelism‬‬ ‫(آ) إذا السػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػماء انفطػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػرت‪ .‬واذا‬ ‫(آ) إذا انفطػ ػ ػػرت الس ػ ػ ػػماء‪ ،‬وانتث ػ ػ ػػرت‬
‫الكواكب انتثرت‪ .‬واذا البحار فجػرت‪.‬‬ ‫الكواك ػػب‪ ،‬وفج ػػرت البح ػػار‪ ،‬وبعث ػػرت‬
‫واذا القبور بعثرت‪.‬‬ ‫القبور‪.‬‬
‫(بػ ػ ػ ػػ) جنتاف‪...‬ذوات ػ ػ ػػا أفن ػ ػ ػػاف‪ .‬فييم ػ ػ ػػا‬ ‫(بػ ػ ػ ػػ) جنتاف‪...‬ذوات ػ ػ ػػا أفن ػ ػ ػػاف‪ .‬فييم ػ ػ ػػا‬
‫عينػػاف تجرياف‪.‬فييمػػا مػػف كػػؿ فاكيػػة‬ ‫عين ػ ػػاف تجري ػ ػػاف‪ ،‬وم ػ ػػف ك ػ ػػؿ فاكي ػ ػػة‬
‫زوجػػاف ج جنتاف‪...‬مػػدىامتاف‪ .‬فييمػػا‬ ‫زوجػ ػ ػ ػ ػػاف‪ / ...‬جنتاف‪...‬مػ ػ ػ ػ ػػدىامتاف‪.‬‬
‫عيناف نضاختاف‪ .‬فييما فاكية ونخػؿ‬ ‫فييمػ ػ ػػا عينػ ػ ػػاف نضػ ػ ػػاختاف‪ ،‬وفاكيػ ػ ػػة‬
‫ورماف‪...‬‬ ‫ونخؿ ورماف‪...‬‬
‫(ج ػػ) وس ػػيؽ الػػذيف كف ػػروا إلػػى جي ػػنـ‬ ‫(ج ػػ) وس ػػيؽ ال ػػذيف كفػػروا إل ػػى جي ػػنـ‬
‫زم ػ اًر ‪ /‬وسػػيؽ الػػذيف اتق ػوا ربيػػـ إل ػػى‬ ‫زمػ ػ ػ اًر‪ ...‬أم ػ ػػا المتق ػ ػػوف فس ػ ػػيقوا إلػ ػ ػػى‬
‫الجنة زم اًر‪.‬‬ ‫الجنة زم اًر‪.‬‬
‫‪Rhyme and Rhythm‬‬ ‫(معظـ اآليات)‬ ‫ال وجود لمقافية واإليقاع إال قميبلً‪.‬‬
‫‪Syntactic complexity‬‬ ‫(آية الكرسي)‬ ‫تقسـ اآلية الطويمة المؤلفػة مػف جممػة‬
‫واحدة إلى جمؿ أقصر‪.‬‬
‫‪Irony‬‬ ‫(آ) بشػ ػػر المنػ ػػافقيف بػ ػػأف ليػ ػػـ عػ ػػذاباً‬ ‫(آ) فميحذر المنافقوف‪...‬‬
‫أليما‪.‬‬
‫(بػ ػػ) أـ خمقػ ػوا الس ػػموات واألرض ب ػػؿ‬ ‫(ب ػػ) ال يقػػدروف عمػػى خمػػؽ السػػموات‬
‫ال يوقنوف‬ ‫واألرض‪...‬‬
‫(جػ ػ ػػ) أـ عنػ ػػدىـ خ ػ ػزائف ربػ ػػؾ أـ ىػ ػػـ‬ ‫(ج ػػ) لػػيس عنػػدىـ شػػيء مػػف خ ػزائف‬
‫المصيطروف‪.‬‬ ‫ربؾ‪ ،‬وليسوا مصيطريف‪.‬‬
‫(د) أـ ليػػـ سػػمـ يسػػتمعوف فيػػو فميػػأت‬ ‫(د) لػ ػػيس ليػ ػػـ سػ ػػمـ يسػ ػػتمعوف فيػ ػػو‪،‬‬
‫مستمعيـ بسمطاف مبيف‪.‬‬ ‫ولػ ػػيس ليػ ػػـ مسػ ػػتمع يػ ػػأتييـ بسػ ػػمطاف‬
‫مبيف‪.‬‬
‫‪Grammatical conversion‬‬ ‫(آ) والنجـ والشجر يسجداف‪.‬‬ ‫(آ) يسجد النجـ والشجر‪.‬‬
‫(ب) والسماء رفعيا ووضع الميزاف‪.‬‬ ‫(بػ) رفع السماء‪...‬‬
‫(جػ) واألرض وضعيا لؤلناـ‬

‫‪55‬‬
 ‫(د) ما عندكـ ينفد وما عند اهلل باؽ‪.‬‬
‫(د) ينفد ما عندكـ وباؽ ما عند اهلل‪.‬‬
‫‪Rhetoric: collocation‬‬ ‫(آ) س ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػدر مخض ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػود‪ ...‬طم ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػح‬
‫منض ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػود‪...‬ظؿ ممػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػدود‪...‬ماء‬
‫مسػ ػ ػ ػ ػػكوب‪...‬كتاب مكنػ ػ ػ ػ ػػوف‪...‬غميظ‬
‫القمب‪...‬أسوة حسنة‪.‬‬
‫(بػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػ) يض ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػيؽ الص ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػدر‪...‬ينطمؽ‬
‫المساف‪...‬يضػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػرب مثبلً‪...‬يقػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػيـ‬
‫الصػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػبلة‪...‬يؤتي الزكاة‪...‬ي ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػأمر‬
‫بالمعروؼ‪...‬ينيي عف المنكر‪.‬‬
‫(جػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػ) اخ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػتبلؼ األلس ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػنة‪...‬عمـ‬
‫الغيب‪...‬مف ػ ػ ػ ػػاتح الغيب‪...‬أص ػ ػ ػ ػػحاب‬
‫الجنة‪...‬أصػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػحاب النار‪...‬شػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػديد‬
‫المح ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػاؿ‪...‬حؽ اليقيف‪...‬فص ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػؿ‬
‫الخطاب‬
‫(د) الم ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػاؿ والبنػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػوف‪...‬الروح‬
‫والريحاف‪ ...‬شاىد ومشيود‪.‬‬
‫‪Expressivity‬‬ ‫(آ) وقػ ػ ػػاؿ يػ ػ ػػا أسػ ػ ػػفى عمػ ػ ػػى يوسػ ػ ػػؼ‬
‫وابيضػ ػ ػػت عينػ ػ ػػاه مػ ػ ػػف الحػ ػ ػػزف فيػ ػ ػػو‬
‫كظيـ‪.‬‬
‫(ب ػػ) لػػو أف لػػي بكػػـ قػػوة أو آوي إلػػى‬
‫ركف شديد‬
‫(جػ ػػ) ق ػػاؿ ال عاص ػػـ الي ػػوـ م ػػف أم ػػر‬
‫اهلل وحػ ػػاؿ بينيمػ ػػا المػ ػػوج فكػ ػػاف مػ ػػف‬
‫المغرقيف‪.‬‬
‫(د) وما أبرئ نفسي إف الػنفس ألمػارة‬
‫بالسوء إال ما رحـ ربي‪.‬‬
‫(ىػػ) يخػػافوف يومػاً تتقمػػب فيػػو القمػػوب‬
‫واألبصار‬
‫‪Semantic density‬‬ ‫(آ) واص ػػبر وم ػػا ص ػػبرؾ إال ب ػػاهلل وال‬
‫تحػػزف عمػػييـ وال تػػؾ فػػي ضػػيؽ ممػػا‬
‫يمكروف‪.‬‬
‫‪56‬‬
‫(جػ) وضع األرض لؤلناـ‪.‬‬
‫(آ) سػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػدر ال شػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػوؾ فيػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػو‪...‬موز‬
‫مت اركػ ػػب بعضػ ػػو عمػ ػػى بعض‪...‬ظػ ػػؿ‬
‫دائػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػـ ال يزوؿ‪...‬مػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػاء جػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػار ال‬
‫ينقطع‪...‬الم ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػوح المحفوظ‪...‬قاس ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػي‬
‫القمب‪...‬قدوة حسنة‪.‬‬
‫(بػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػ) يتض ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػايؽ‪...‬يتكمـ‪...‬يعطي‬
‫مثاالً‪...‬يص ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػمي‪...‬يزكي ‪ /‬ي ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػدفع‬
‫الزكاة‪...‬ي ػ ػػأمر ب ػ ػػالخير‪...‬ينيى عػ ػ ػػف‬
‫الشر‪.‬‬
‫(جػ ػ ػ ػ ػػ) اخ ػ ػ ػ ػػتبلؼ المغات‪...‬المعرف ػ ػ ػ ػػة‬
‫بالغيػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػب‪...‬خزائف الغيب‪...‬أىػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػؿ‬
‫الجنة‪...‬شػديد الحػوؿ والقوة‪...‬الحقيقػة‬
‫المطمقة‪...‬الفصؿ في الحكـ والكبلـ‪.‬‬
‫(د) الم ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػاؿ والولد‪ ...‬ارح ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػ ػػة ورزؽ‬
‫تطي ػ ػػب ب ػ ػػو ال ػ ػػنفس‪ ...‬ش ػ ػػاىد يش ػ ػػيد‬
‫وشخص يشيد عميو‪.‬‬
‫(آ) شػ ػ ػ ػػعر باألسػ ػ ػ ػػى عمػ ػ ػ ػػى يوسػ ػ ػ ػػؼ‬
‫وعميػػت عينػػاه مػػف الحػػزف وىػػو شػػديد‬
‫الكتماف‪.‬‬
‫(بػ ػ ػػ) ل ػ ػػو أف ل ػ ػػي أنص ػ ػػا اًر أو عش ػ ػػيرة‬
‫تنصرني‪.‬‬
‫(جػ ػ ػػ) ال نج ػ ػػاة م ػ ػػف أم ػ ػػر اهلل الي ػ ػػوـ‪،‬‬
‫وفص ػ ػػؿ بينيم ػ ػػا الم ػ ػػوج فغ ػ ػػرؽ ابنػ ػ ػػو‬
‫الكافر‪.‬‬
‫(د) ال أبػ ػػرر لنفسػ ػػي‪ ،‬وأعتػ ػػرؼ بػ ػػأف‬
‫نفسي أمرتني بالسوء‪.‬‬
‫(ىػ) يخافوف يوماً‬
‫(آ) اصػػبر ولػػيس صػػبرؾ إال بػػاهلل ال‬
‫تحزف وال يضيؽ صدرؾ مف مكرىـ‪.‬‬
‫(ب) ال تظ ػ ػ ػ ػػف أف اهلل غاف ػ ػ ػ ػػؿ ع ػ ػ ػ ػػف‬
 ‫(بػػ) وال تحسػبف اهلل غػافبلً عمػا يعمػؿ‬ ‫أعم ػػاؿ الظ ػػالميف لكن ػػو ي ػػؤخرىـ إل ػػى‬
‫الظػػالموف إنمػػا يػػؤخرىـ ليػػوـ تشػػخص‬ ‫يوـ القيامة حيث يقومػوف مػف قبػورىـ‬
‫في ػ ػ ػػو األبص ػ ػ ػػار‪ .‬ميطع ػ ػ ػػيف مقنع ػ ػ ػػي‬ ‫رافع ػ ػػي رؤوس ػ ػػيـ ال يبص ػ ػػروف ش ػ ػػيئاً‬
‫رؤوس ػ ػ ػ ػػيـ ال يرت ػ ػ ػ ػػد إل ػ ػ ػ ػػييـ طػ ػ ػ ػ ػرفيـ‬ ‫وقمػػوبيـ خاليػػة لػػيس فييػػا شػػيء مػػف‬
‫وأفئدتيـ ىواء‪.‬‬ ‫شدة الخوؼ‪.‬‬
‫‪Cultural implications‬‬ ‫(آ) ضػػرب اهلل مػػثبلً عبػػداً ممموك ػاً ال‬ ‫(ى ػػذه ص ػػور وتش ػػبييات م ػػف الثقاف ػػة‬
‫يقدر عمى شيء‪.‬‬ ‫التراثية الشائعة عند العرب آنذاؾ)‬
‫(بػ ػػ) أف ػػبل ينظ ػػروف إل ػػى اإلب ػػؿ كي ػػؼ‬
‫خمقت‪.‬‬
‫(ج ػػ) مثػػؿ الػػذيف حمم ػوا التػػوراة ثػػـ لػػـ‬
‫يحمموىا كمثؿ الحمار يحمؿ أسفا اًر‪.‬‬
‫(د) فمثم ػ ػػو كمث ػ ػػؿ الكم ػ ػػب إف تحم ػ ػػؿ‬
‫عميو يميث واف تتركو يميث‪.‬‬
‫‪Syntactic elaboration‬‬ ‫(آ) ما أنت بنعمة ربؾ بمجنوف‬ ‫(آ) أنت لست مجنوناً بنعمة ربؾ‪.‬‬
‫(بػ) واف لؾ ألج اًر غير ممنوف‬ ‫(بػ) لؾ أجر غير ممنوف‪.‬‬
‫(جػ) وما ىو عمى الغيب بضنيف‬ ‫(جػ) ليس ضنيناً عمى الغيب‪.‬‬
‫(د) وما ربؾ بظبلـ لمعبيد‬ ‫(د) ال يظمـ ربؾ العباد‪.‬‬
‫(ىػ) وما أنا عميكـ بوكيؿ‬ ‫(ىػ) أنا لست وكيبلً عميكـ‪.‬‬
‫(و) وم ػ ػػا ك ػ ػػاف ل ػ ػػنفس أف تم ػ ػػوت إال‬ ‫(و) ال تمػ ػ ػ ػػوت نفػ ػ ػ ػػس إال بػ ػ ػ ػػإذف اهلل‬
‫بإذف اهلل كتاباً مؤجبلً‪.‬‬ ‫كتاباً مؤجبلً‬

‫‪Figurative elaboration‬‬ ‫(آ) اهلل ن ػػور الس ػػموات واألرض مث ػػؿ‬ ‫(آ) اهلل ن ػ ػ ػ ػػور الس ػ ػ ػ ػػموات واألرض ال‬
‫نػػوره كمشػػكاة فييػػا مصػػباح المصػػباح‬ ‫مثيؿ لنوره‪.‬‬
‫فػ ػػي زجاجػ ػػة الزجاجػ ػػة كأنيػ ػػا كوكػ ػػب‬
‫دري يوقػػد مػػف شػػجرة مباركػػة زيتون ػػة‬
‫ال ش ػ ػ ػ ػرقية وال غربيػ ػ ػ ػػة يكػ ػ ػ ػػاد زيتيػ ػ ػ ػػا‬
‫يضيء ولو لـ تمسسو نار نػور عمػى‬
‫نور‪.‬‬
‫(بػ ػػ) وال ػػذيف كف ػػروا أعم ػػاليـ كسػ ػراب‬ ‫(ب ػ ػػ) أعمػ ػػاؿ الػ ػػذيف كفػ ػػروا س ػ ػراب وال‬
‫بقيعة يحسبو الظمآف ماء‬ ‫شيء‬

‫(جػ ػ ػػ) أو كظمم ػ ػػات ف ػ ػػي بح ػ ػػر لج ػ ػػي‬ ‫(ج ػ ػ ػػ) أو كظممػ ػ ػػات ظممػ ػ ػػات شػ ػ ػػديدة‬
‫يغشػػاه مػػوج مػػف فوقػػو مػػوج مػػف فوقػػو‬ ‫بعضيا فوؽ بعض‬
‫سحاب ظممات بعضيا فوؽ بعض‬

‫‪57‬‬
 ‫(د) مث ػػؿ كمم ػػة طيبػ ػػة كش ػػجرة طيبػ ػػة‬
‫أص ػ ػػميا ثاب ػ ػػت وفرعي ػ ػػا ف ػ ػػي الس ػ ػػماء‬
‫تػػؤتي أكميػػا كػػؿ حػػيف بػػإذف ربي ػػا‪...‬‬
‫ومث ػ ػػؿ كمم ػ ػػة خبيث ػ ػػة كش ػ ػػجرة خبيث ػ ػػة‬
‫اجتثػػت مػػف فػػوؽ األرض مػػا ليػػا مػػف‬
‫قرار‪.‬‬
‫‪Multi-syntactic emphasis‬‬ ‫(آ) واف منكـ لمف ليبطئف‬ ‫(آ) منكـ مبطئوف‪.‬‬
‫(بػ) ليسجنف وليكونف مف الصاغريف‬ ‫(بػ) سيسجف ويكوف مف الصاغريف‬
‫‪Classical Arabic‬‬ ‫(آ) وما كػاف صػبلتيـ عنػد البيػت إال‬ ‫(آ) لـ تكف صبلتيـ عند البيت سػوى‬
‫مكاء وتصدية‪.‬‬ ‫صفير وتصفيؽ‪.‬‬
‫(بػػ) ومػف شػر غاسػؽ إذا وقػب‪ .‬ومػػف‬ ‫(بػػ) ومػػف شػػر ليػػؿ شػػديد الظممػػة إذا‬
‫شر النفاثات في العقد‪.‬‬ ‫تغمغػػؿ ومػػا فيػػو مػػف الشػػرور‪ .‬ومنشػػر‬
‫السػػاحرات البلتػػي يػػنفخف فيمػػا يعقػػدف‬
‫مف عقد قصد السحر‪.‬‬
‫(ج ػ ػػ) والعاديػ ػػات ضػ ػػبحاً‪ .‬والموريػ ػػات‬ ‫(جػػ) والخيػػؿ الجاريػػات فػػي سػػبيؿ اهلل‬
‫ق ػػدحاً‪ .‬ف ػػالمغيرات ص ػػبحاً‪ .‬ف ػػأثرف ب ػػو‬ ‫وصػ ػ ػ ػ ػػوتيا ظػ ػ ػ ػ ػػاىر مػ ػ ػ ػ ػػف عػ ػ ػ ػ ػػدوىا‪.‬‬
‫نقعاً‪.‬‬ ‫فالموقػ ػػدات نػ ػػا اًر بحوافرىػ ػػا مػ ػػف شػ ػػدة‬
‫عدوىا‪ .‬فالمغيرات عمى األعػداء عنػد‬
‫الصبح‪.‬‬

‫‪3.1.2 The Prophet's Tradition‬‬

‫‪Many literary phrases and expressions are borrowed from the Tradition of Prophet‬‬
‫‪Mohammad, peace be to him, into literature. Here are example juxtaposed with‬‬
‫‪ordinary language:‬‬

‫‪Stylistic feature‬‬ ‫‪Prophetic expression‬‬ ‫‪Ordinary expression‬‬

‫‪Syntactic elaboration‬‬ ‫(آ) مػ ػ ػػا المسػ ػ ػػؤوؿ عنيػ ػ ػػا (السػ ػ ػػاعة)‬ ‫(آ) لػ ػػيس المسػ ػػؤوؿ عنيػ ػػا أعمػ ػػـ مػ ػػف‬
‫بأعمـ مف السائؿ‪.‬‬ ‫السائؿ‪.‬‬
‫(بػ ػػ) ألػػـ أَُنبػػأ أنػػؾ تقػػوـ الميػػؿ وتصػػوـ‬ ‫(بػ ػػ) نُأبئ ػػت أن ػػؾ تق ػػوـ المي ػػؿ وتص ػػوـ‬

‫‪58‬‬
 ‫النيار‬ ‫النيار‪.‬‬
‫(جػ ػ ػػ) واف كن ػ ػػت ألرى الرؤي ػ ػػا أثق ػ ػػؿ‬ ‫(جػ) أرى الرؤيا أثقؿ مف الجبؿ‪.‬‬
‫عمي مف الجبؿ ‪1047‬‬
‫‪Emphatic repetition‬‬ ‫(آ) ق ػػاؿ أم ػػؾ ث ػػـ أمػ ػػؾ ث ػػـ أم ػػؾ ثػ ػػـ‬ ‫(آ) قاؿ أمؾ ثـ أبوؾ‪.:‬‬
‫أبوؾ‪.‬‬
‫(بػ) الكريـ ابف الكريـ ابػف الكػريـ ابػف‬ ‫(بػ) يوسػؼ بػف يعقػوي بػف إسػحؽ بػف‬
‫الكريـ‬ ‫إبراىيـ عمييـ السبلـ‪.‬‬
‫‪Emphasis‬‬ ‫(آ) أللػ ػ ػ ػػزمف رسػ ػ ػ ػػوؿ اهلل صػ ػ ػ ػػمى اهلل‬ ‫(آ) سػ ػ ػ ػػأالزـ رسػ ػ ػ ػػوؿ اهلل صػ ػ ػ ػػمى اهلل‬
‫عميو وسمـ‪ ،‬وألكونف معو يومي ىػذا‪.‬‬ ‫عميو وسمـ‪ ،‬وسأكوف معو اليوـ‪.‬‬
‫(‪)646‬‬
‫(ب ػ ػػ) إيي ػ ػاً يػ ػػا ابػ ػػف الخطػ ػػاب‪ ،‬والػ ػػذي‬ ‫(ب ػػ) ي ػػا عم ػػر ب ػػف الخط ػػاب ل ػػو لقي ػػؾ‬
‫نفسػػي بيػػده مػػا لقيػػؾ الشػػيطاف سػػالكاً‬ ‫الشيطاف سالكاً طريقاً لسمؾ غيره‪.‬‬
‫فجػ ػ ػ ػ ػاً ق ػ ػ ػ ػػط إال س ػ ػ ػ ػػمؾ فجػ ػ ػ ػ ػاً غي ػ ػ ػ ػػر‬
‫فجؾ‪)646(.‬‬
‫‪Adages and proverbs‬‬ ‫(آ) أض ػػحؾ اهلل سػ ػػنؾ ي ػػا رسػ ػػوؿ اهلل‬ ‫(آ) أضحكؾ اهلل يا رسوؿ اهلل‪.‬‬
‫(‪)646‬‬
‫(بػ) ال ُيمدغ المؤمف مف ٍ‬
‫جحر مػرتيف‬ ‫(ب ػػ) ال يقػػع المػػؤمف فػػي الخطػػأ نفسػػو‬
‫(البخاري ومسمـ)‬ ‫مرتيف‪.‬‬

‫‪Classical Arabic‬‬ ‫(آ) إف مػ ػ ػػف ضئض ػ ػ ػ ىػ ػ ػػذا‪ ...‬قػ ػ ػػوـ‬
‫يق ػػرؤوف القػ ػرآف ال يج ػػاوز حن ػػاجرىـ‪،‬‬
‫يمرقػػوف مػػف الػػديف مػػروؽ السػػيـ مػػف‬
‫الرِمّية‪...‬‬
‫(بػ) يموتوف موتاً ذريعاً ‪456‬‬
‫‪Brevity‬‬ ‫فكيؼ وقد ِقيؿ؟ ‪456‬‬
‫‪Rhetorical‬‬ ‫‪redundant‬‬ ‫كمك ػ ػ ػػـ راع ومس ػ ػ ػػؤوؿ ع ػ ػ ػػف رعيت ػ ػ ػػو‪،‬‬
‫‪repetition‬‬
‫فاإلم ػ ػ ػػاـ راع وىػ ػ ػ ػػو ومسػ ػ ػ ػػؤوؿ عػ ػ ػ ػػف‬
‫رعيت ػػو‪ ،‬والرجػ ػػؿ مػ ػػف أىمػ ػػو راع وىػ ػػو‬
‫مسػؤوؿ عػػف رعيتػػو‪ ،‬والمػرآة فػػي بيػػت‬
‫زوجيػ ػػا راعيػ ػػة‪ ،‬وىػ ػػي مسػ ػػؤولة عػ ػػف‬
‫رعيتيػػا‪ ،‬والخػػادـ فػػي مػػاؿ س ػػيده راع‬
‫وىػ ػػو مسػ ػػؤوؿ عػ ػػف رعيتػ ػػو‪...‬والرجؿ‬
‫(آ) يخ ػ ػ ػػرج م ػ ػ ػػف عق ػ ػ ػػب ى ػ ػ ػػذا ذري ػ ػ ػػة‬
‫يق ػ ػ ػ ػػرؤوف القػ ػ ػ ػ ػرآف بألس ػ ػ ػ ػػنتيـ فق ػ ػ ػ ػػط‪،‬‬
‫ويخرجوف مف الديف‪...‬‬
‫(بػ) يموتوف بأعداد كبيرة‪.‬‬
‫كيػػؼ تقػػوؿ مػػا عممنػػا أنيػػا أرضػػعت‬
‫وقد قالت ىي ذلؾ؟‬
‫كمك ػ ػ ػػـ راع ومس ػ ػ ػػؤوؿ ع ػ ػ ػػف رعيت ػ ػ ػػو‪،‬‬
‫اإلماـ‪ ،‬والرجؿ مػف أىمػو‪ ،‬والمػرأة فػي‬
‫بيت زوجيػا‪ ،‬والخػادـ فػي مػاؿ سػيده‪،‬‬
‫‪ ...‬والرجؿ فػي مػاؿ أبيػو‪ ،‬فكمكػـ راع‬
‫وكمكـ مسؤوؿ عف رعيتو‪.‬‬

‫‪59‬‬
 ‫ وىػػو مسػػؤوؿ عػػف‬،‫فػػي مػػاؿ أبيػػو راع‬
‫ فكمكـ راع وكمكـ مسؤوؿ عػف‬،‫رعيتو‬
956-412 .‫رعيتو‬
Disrupted word order ِ ‫لف ي‬
‫دخؿ أحداً عممُو الجنة‬ .‫ال يدخؿ أحد الجنة بعممو‬
ُ
Rhetoric al collocation ‫واف كنت ألرى الرؤيا أثقؿ عمي‬ ‫أرى الرؤيا أثقؿ عمي مف الجبؿ‬
1047 ‫مف الجبؿ‬

3.1.3 Classic Literature

Chief among the milestone sources of literature is obviously classical books of

literature, jurisprudence, non-fictional prose, biographies, history, tales, anecdotes,
drolleries, oration, rhetorical dialogue, letter writing and other theoretical literary
writings. We have learned a great deal from classics like the following: (see Shak'ah
(2009) and Ghazala's Translation, 2010):

1. )‫ (صبح األعشى‬Subhul-'Asha ("The Morn of the Dim-sighted"): Al-Qalqashandi.

2. )‫ (الوزراء والكتّاب‬Al-Wuzaraa wal-Kuttab ("Ministers and Writers"): Al-Jahshayari.
3. )‫ (البياف والتبييف‬Al-Bayan Wat-Tabyeen ("Eloquence and Exposition"): Al-Jahez.
4. )‫" (عيوف األخبار‬The Best of Tidings": Ibn Qutaibah.
5. )‫ (يتيمػة الػدىر‬Yateematud-Dahr ("The Only Gem of all Times") (a collection of
prose and poetry): Ath-Tha'alibi.
6. ِ Al-'Iqd Al-Farid ("The Unique Necklace"): Ahmad Bin Abd Rabboh
)‫(العقد الفريد‬
7. )‫ (زىػػر اآلداب‬Zahru Al-Aadaab ("The Rose of Literatures") (a collection of
masterworks of poetry and prose): Al-Husari Al-Qairawani.
8. )‫ (األمالي‬Al-Amali ("Collected Dictations"): Abu Ali Al-Qaali.
9. )‫ (نياية األرب في فنوف العػرب‬Nihayatu l-Arab fi Funooni l-Arab ("The Ultimate End on
Arab Arts"): An-Nuwairi.
10. )‫ (مس ػػالؾ األبص ػػار ف ػػي ممال ػػؾ األمص ػػار‬Masalek Al-Absar Fi Mamalek Al-Amsar
("Pathways of Sights on the Kingdoms of States"): Ahmad Bin Yahya Bin
Fadlallah Al-Omari.
11. )‫ (اإلمتػػاع والمؤانسػػة‬Al-Imtaa' Wal-Muaanasah ("Pleasing and Amusing"): Abu
Hayyan At-Tawheedi
12. )‫ (البخبلء‬Al-Bukhalaa ("Misers"): Al-Jahez.
13. )‫ (المحاسف والمساوئ‬Al-Mahasen Wal-Masawei ("Merits and Demerits"): Al-Baihaqi.
14. )‫ (طبقػات الشػعر‬Tabaqaatu sh-Shi'r ("Classes of Poetry") (extracts from poetry and
prose): Ibn Al-Mu'tazz.
15. )‫ (األغػاني‬Al-Aghani ("Songs") (a collection of prose and poetry samples for great
writers and poets): Al-Asfahani.

60
16. )‫ (تػػاريخ بغػػداد‬Tareekhu Baghdad ("The History of Baghdad"): Al-Khatib Al-
Baghdadi.
17. )‫ (معجػـ األدبػاء‬Mu'jam Al-Odabaa ("The Dictionary of Men of Letters"): Yaqoot Al-
Hamwi.
18. )‫ (وفََيات األعياف‬Wafayaatul-A'yan ("The Deaths of Dignitaries"): Ibn Khillican.
19. )‫بالوفََيػات‬
َ ‫ (الػوافي‬Al-Wafi Bil-Wafayaat ("The All-inclusive on Deaths"): Salah Ad-
Deen As-Safadi
20. )‫ (فوات الوفَيات‬Fawaat Al-Wafayaat ("The Missing Deaths"): Ibn Shaker Al-Kutubi
21. )‫ (السيرة النبوية‬As-Seerah An-Nabawiah ("The Prophet's Biography"): Ibn Hisham
22. )‫" (تاريخ الرسؿ والمموؾ‬History of Messengers and Kings": Ibn Jarir At-Tabari.
23. )‫ (مروج الذىب‬Murooj Ath-Thahab ("The Gold Meadows"): Al-Mas'audi.
24. )‫ (فتوح البمداف‬Futooh Al-Buldan ("The Conquests of Countries"): Al-Balathiri.
25. )‫ (تجارب األمـ‬Tajareb Al-Umam ("The Experiments of Nations"): Ibn Maskawaih.
26. )‫ (المنػتظـ فػي تػاريخ األمػـ‬Al-Muntazam fi Tareekh Al-Umam ("The Orderly Book of
the History of Nations"): Ibn Al-Jawzi.
27. )‫ (الكامؿ‬Al-Khamel (The Complete Book of History): Ibn Atheer.
28. )‫ (الػػذخيرة‬Ath-Thakheerah fi Mahasen Ahli l-Jazeerah ("The Treasury on the
Merits of the Andalusite Island"): Ibn Bassam.
29. )‫ (نفح الطيب‬Nafhu t-Teeb ("Fragrance of Perfume"): Al-Muqirri.
30. )‫العقياف‬
ُ ‫ (قبلئد‬Qalaed Al-'Uqyan ("Necklaces of Pure Gold"): Al-Fateh Bin Khaqan.
31. )‫ (مطمح األنفس‬Matmahu l-Anfos ("Ambition of Souls"): Al-Fateh Bin Khaqan.
32. )‫ (أعمػاؿ األعػبلـ‬A'malul-A'laam ("The Works of Figures"): Lisanu d-Deen Bin Al-
Khatib.
33. )‫(الم ْغ ِػرب فػي حمػى أىػؿ المغػرب‬
ُ Al-Mughreb fi Hila Ahli l-Maghreb ("The Exotic Tidings
on the Treasures of Maghreb"): Al-Hajjaari and Ibn Said.
34. )‫المغػ ِػرب‬ُ ‫ البيػػاف و‬Al-Bayan Al-Mughreb ("The Exotic Rhetoric"): Bin 'Ithaari Al-
Murakishi.
35. )‫ (الكتيبػة الكامنػة‬Al-Kateebah Al-Kaminah ("The Harboured Battalion"): Lisanu d-
Deen Bin Al-Khatib.
36. )‫ (الحمػػة ال أسػ َػيراء‬Al-Hillah As-Siyaraa ("The Golden Garment"): Ibn Al-Abaar Al-
Qida'ee.
37. )‫" (تمػاـ المتػوف فػي شػرح رسػالة ابػف زيػدوف‬The Book of Full Texts on the explanation of
Ibn Zaidoon's Letter: Salahud-Deen As-Safadi".
38. )‫" (شػرح العيػوف فػي شػرح رسػالة ابػف زيػدوف‬The Account of the Elite in the explanation of
Ibn Zaidoon's Letter: Ibn Nabaatah Al-Misri".
39. )‫" (جميرة رسائؿ العرب‬A Collection of the Letters of Arabs": Ahmad Zaki Safwat.
40. )‫" (جميرة خطب العرب‬A Collection of the Orations of Arabs": Ahmad Zaki Safwat.

61
Certainly, the poetry, narrative and short story of the classic men of letters and poets are all
in all literature and too obvious to exemplify for. However, not least is the non-fictional prose
literature which includes among other things tales, anecdotes, drolleries, books of wisdom,
books of proverbs and adages, letter writing, rhetoric and writers' introductions to their
books. Here are examples juxtaposed:

3.1.3.1 Example One: Letter Writing

Yahya Barmaki was imprisoned by Haroon Ar-Rasheed, the famous Abbasid Caliph, at an old
age with the rest of his sons. He felt he was innocent, and what befell of him and his sons
was a conspiracy against them to force them out of rule to be replaced by their rivals. So,
from prison he wrote a letter to Ar-Rasheed. It was a brilliant sample of the literary style of
Arabic non-fictional writing:

،‫ وأوبقتػػو عيوبػػو‬،‫ مػػف عبػػد أسػػممتو ذنوبػػو‬،‫ وخميفػػة رب العػػالميف‬،‫ وامػػاـ المسػػمميف‬،‫ وخميفػة الميػػدييف‬،‫("ألميػػر المػػؤمنيف‬
‫ وعػالج البػؤس بعػد‬،‫ فحػؿ فػي الضػيؽ بعػد السػعة‬،‫الحػداثاف‬ ِ ‫ ونػزؿ بػو‬،‫ وماؿ بػو الزمػاف‬،‫ ورفضو صديقو‬،‫وخذلو شقيقو‬
،‫ وقػػد عػػايف المػػوت‬،‫ وليمتػػو دىػػر‬،‫ سػػاعتو شػػير‬،‫ واكتحػػؿ السػػياد بعػػد اليجػػود‬،‫ وافتػػرش السػػخط بعػػد الرضػػى‬،‫الضػػعة‬
‫ ألف‬،‫ ال عمػى شػيء مػف المواىػػب‬،‫ وأسػفاً عمػى مػا فػات مػػف قربػؾ‬،‫ جزعػاً لموجػدتؾ يػا أميػػر المػؤمنيف‬،‫وشػارؼ الفػوت‬
‫ وال‬،‫ وأمػػا مػػا أصػػبت بػػو مػػف ولػػدي فبذنبػػو‬،‫ وكانػػا فػػي يػػديّ عاريػّػة والعاريػّػة مػػردودة‬،‫األىػػؿ والمػػاؿ إنمػػا كانػػا لػػؾ وبػػؾ‬
‫ وضػعؼ‬،‫ فتػذ ّكر يػا أميػر المػؤمنيف كبػر سػني‬،‫ وال أف تكػوف تجػاوزت بػو فػوؽ حػده‬،‫أخشى عميػؾ مػف الخطػأ فػي أمػره‬
‫ وانمػا أعتػذر‬،‫ ومػف مثمػؾ اإلقالػة‬،‫ فمػف مثمػي الزلػؿ‬،‫ بػالعفو عػف ذنػب إف كػاف‬،‫ وىػب لػي رضػاؾ‬،‫ وارحػـ شػيبي‬،‫قوتي‬
‫ فػػإذا رضػػيت رجػػوت إف شػػاء اهلل أف يتبػػيف لػػؾ مػػف أمػػري وبػراءة‬،‫إليػػؾ بػػإقرار مػػا يجػػب بػػو اإلقػرار حتػػى ترضػػى عنػػي‬
.)"‫ وجعؿ يومي قبؿ يومؾ‬،‫ مد اهلل لي في عمرؾ‬،‫ساحتي ما ال يتعاظمؾ بعده ذنب أف تغفره‬
)68 :2009 :‫(الشكعة‬

(To the Prince of Believers, the Caliph of the guided, the Imam of Muslims and the
Trustee Caliph of the Lord of the Worlds, from a slave subdued by his sins, ruined by his
flaws, let down by his brothers, turned down by his friends, turned away by time,
afflicted by calamities, hit by hardship after ease, suffering destitution and humility,
lying down on discontent after content, eye-lined with insomnia after slumber. His hour
is one month, his night is lifetime, on the verge of death, about to pass away, grieved for
your fury, regretting missing your company, not any worldly thing, for possessions and
household were you and yours, and were loans, and loans are returnable. What inflicted
me because of my son was his fault, and I am not afraid of any mistake by you
concerning him, or any injustice toward him. Please remember, Prince of Believers, my
old age, and my emaciated strength, and have mercy on my grayness, and grant me
your content, by pardoning my sin if and when. Slips befit one like me, and pardon befits
one like you. I apologize for you by admitting what should be admitted, so that you
content yourself with me. If you feel contented, I ask God you have a clear picture of my
case and hard evidence of my innocence so that my sin becomes so trivial in your eyes

62
and you may forgive it. I beseech God the Almighty to give you more time to live, and
make my death before yours) (Translation by Ghazala, 2010: 49)

The lofty style of this letter exhibits several literary features which are expected now
to be recurrent in a literary genre only. These features are mainly:
a. Rhythm (most phrases)
b. Syntactic parallelism ( see below).
c. Prose rhyme (every two phrases are rhymed together).
d. Rhetorical combinations (e.g. ‫مػاؿ بػو الزمػاف؛ حػؿ بػو الضػيؽ؛ كبػر سػني؛ ضػعؼ‬
‫(قوتي‬
e. Synonymy (e.g. ‫ صػػديؽ؛‬/ ‫ عيػػوب؛ شػػقيؽ‬/ ‫ مسػػمموف؛ ذنػػوب‬/ ‫ ميػػديوف‬/ ‫مؤمنػػوف‬
‫ أجمؾ‬/ ‫(بقاءؾ‬
f. Antonymy ( e.g. / ‫ زلػؿ‬،‫ ىجػود‬/ ‫ رضػى؛ سػياد‬/ ‫ ضػعة؛ سػخط‬/ ‫ سػعة؛ بػؤس‬/ ‫ضػيؽ‬
‫(إقالة‬
g. Figurative expressions (e.g. ‫ واكتحػػؿ السػػياد بعػػد‬،‫وافتػػرش السػػخط بعػػد الرضػػى‬
‫(اليجود‬
h. Syntactic elaboration (foregrounding, backgrounding and complexity)
for achieving better rhyme and rhythm )‫(ألف األىؿ والماؿ إنما كانا لؾ وبؾ‬
i. Classical Arabic (e.g. ‫ إقالة‬،‫ ىجود‬،‫ الحداثاف‬،‫ أوبؽ‬،‫ عارية‬،‫(فوت‬
j. Semantic elaboration )‫ والعارّية مردودة‬... ،‫ وشارؼ الفوت‬،‫(وقد عايف الموت‬
k. Rhetorical repetition (e.g. ‫ اإلقرار‬/ ‫ مثمؾ؛ إقرار‬/ ‫ العارية؛ مثمي‬/ ‫(عارية‬
l. Syntactic parallelism: expressions and phrases are parallel in groups
(e.g. ‫ أس ػػممتو‬/ ‫ وخميفػ ػة رب الع ػػالميف‬،‫ وام ػػاـ المس ػػمميف‬،‫ وخميف ػػة المي ػػدييف‬،‫أمي ػػر الم ػػؤمنيف‬
‫ عػػايف‬/ ‫ وليمتػػو دىػػر‬،‫ سػػاعتو شػػير‬/ ‫ ورفضػػو صػػديقو‬،‫ وخذلػػو شػػقيقو‬،‫ وأوبقتػػو عيوبػػو‬،‫ذنوبػػو‬
‫ وشارؼ الفوت‬،‫الموت‬, and most of the text)

Following is an account of the most prominent literary feature, syntactic parallelism

among phrases, which is a synthesis of four features: rhyme, rhythm, rhetoric and
collocation:

To demonstrate further the literariness of the letter, and for the purposes of more
illustration and sharper comparison, here is a simplified version of ordinary language
of it. In this version, most of the literary features suggested above are left out, as
normally the case in an ordinary text.

‫ وحػؿ بػو‬،‫ وحمػت بػو المصػائب‬،‫ وغدر بػو الزمػاف‬،‫"إلى أمير المؤمنيف مف عبد كثرت زنوبو وخذلو أقرب الناس إليو‬
‫ فأصػػبحت السػػاعة عنػػده‬.‫ واألرؽ بعػػد حػػبلوة النػػوـ‬،‫ والس ػخط بعػػد الرضػػا‬،‫ والبػػؤس بعػػد الرخػػاء‬،‫الضػػيؽ بعػػد السػػعة‬
‫ ومػا فعمػو ولػدي كػاف‬،‫ ال عمػى مػاؿ أو ولػد‬،‫ وأسػفاً عمػى مفػارقتكـ‬،‫ حزناً عمى إغضابكـ‬،‫ وأوشؾ عمى اليبلؾ‬،ً‫شي ار‬
‫ وأطمػػع فػػي‬،‫ فتػػذكر يػػا أميػػر المػػؤمنيف أنػػي مسػػف وضػػعيؼ وشػػيبة‬.‫ وال أخشػػى عميػػو مػػف معاقبتػػؾ لػػو بالعػػدؿ‬،‫ذنبػػو‬

63
 ‫عفوؾ عف ذنب أقر بو حتى ترضى عنػي‪ ،‬ورجػائي عنػدىا أف تغفػر لػي ذنبػي‪ ،‬أطػاؿ اهلل بقػاءؾ‪ ،‬وجعػؿ أجمػي قبػؿ‬
‫أجمؾ‪".‬‬

‫‪3.1.3.2 Example Two: Rhetorical Dialogue‬‬

‫("ذىبت جمعة وىند بنتا الخس إلى سوؽ عكاظ في الجاىمية فاجتمعتا عنػد القم أمػس الكنػاني‪ ،‬فقػاؿ ليمػا‪ :‬إنػي سػائمكما‬
‫ألعمـ أيكما أبسط لساناً وأظير بياناَ وأحسف لمصفة إتقاناً‪ ،‬قالتػا‪ :‬سػمنا عمػا بػدا لػؾ‪ ،‬فسػتجد عنػدنا عقػوالً ذكيػة‪ ،‬وألسػنة‬
‫قوية‪ ،‬وصفة جمية‪ ،‬فأخذ يوجو إلى الواحدة منيما السؤاؿ فتجيب عنو بػأبم لسػاف وأعمػؽ بيػاف وال تكػاد تنتيػي األخػت‬
‫مػف إجابتيػا حتػػى تمػتقط األخػت الثانيػػة حبػؿ الحػػديث وتضػيؼ إلػى كػػبلـ أختيػا جديػػداَاً‪ .‬سػأليما عمػا يمػػدح ويػذـ مػػف‬
‫اإلبػػؿ والخي ػػؿ والس ػػحاب والنسػػاء والرج ػػاؿ وغي ػػر ذل ػػؾ‪ ،‬وىمػػا تجيب ػػاف إجاب ػػة المػ ػرأة البميغػػة العارف ػػة الحكيم ػػة المثقّف ػػة‪،‬‬
‫فمنستمع إلى رأي األختيف في النساء والرجاؿ‪:‬‬

‫قاؿ القممس كمتاكما محسنة‪ ،‬فأي النساء أحب إليؾ يا جمعة؟ قالػت‪ :‬أُح ا‬
‫ػب الغريػرة العػذراء الرعبوبػة العيطػاء الممكػورة‬
‫المفّاء ذات الجمػاؿ والبيػاء والسػتر والحيػاء‪ ،‬البضػة الرخصػة كأنيػا فضػة بيضػاء‪ .‬قػاؿ‪ :‬كيػؼ تسػمعيف يػا ىنػد؟ قالػت‪:‬‬
‫ػب إلػػيّ منيػػا‪ .‬قػػاؿ فقػػولي‪ .‬قالػػت أحػػب كػػؿ مشػػبعة الخمخػػاؿ‬
‫وصػػفت جاريػػة ىػػي حاجػػة الفتػػى ونييػػة الرضػػا وغيرىػػا أحػ ّ‬
‫ذات شكؿ ودالؿ وظرؼ وبياء وجماؿ‪ .‬قاؿ القممس كمتاكما محسنة فأي النسػاء أبغػض إليػؾ يػا جمعػة؟ قالػت أبغػض‬
‫كػػؿ سػػمفع بذيػّػة‪ ،‬جاىمػػة غبيػػة‪ ،‬حريصػػة دنيػػة‪ ،‬غيػػر كريمػػة وال س ػرية‪ ،‬وال سػػتيرة وال حييػػة‪ ،‬قػػاؿ كيػػؼ تسػػمعيف يػػا ىنػػد‬
‫قالت وصفت امرأة صاحبيا خميؽ أف ال تصمح لو حاؿ‪ ،‬وال ينعـ لو باؿ‪ ،‬وال يثمر لو ماؿ‪ ،‬وغيرىػا أبغػض إلػي منيػا‪.‬‬
‫قاؿ فقولي‪ .‬قالت‪ :‬أبغض المتجرفة الشوىاء‪ ،‬المنفوخػة الكبػداء‪ ،‬العػنفص الوقصػاء‪ ،‬الحمشػة الػزالء‪ ،‬التػي إف ولػدت لػـ‬
‫تنجب واف زجرت لـ تعتتب واف تركت طفقت تصخب قاؿ القممس كمتاكما محسنة فػأي الرجػاؿ أحػب إليػؾ يػا جمعػة؟‬
‫قالت‪ :‬أحب الحر النجيب‪ ،‬السيؿ القريب‪ ،‬السمح الحسيب‪ ،‬الفطف األريػب‪ ،‬المصػقع الخطيػب‪ ،‬الشػجاع المييػب‪ .‬قػاؿ‬
‫القممػس‪ :‬كيػػؼ تسػػمعيف يػػا ىنػػد؟ وصػفت رجػبلً سػػيداً جػواداً يػػنيض إلػػى الخيػر صػػاعداً‪ ،‬ويسػػرؾ غائبػاً وشػػاىداً‪ ،‬وغيػره‬

‫أح ػػب إل ػػيّ من ػػو‪ .‬ق ػػاؿ فق ػػولي‪ .‬قال ػػت‪ :‬أح ػػب الرح ػػب ال ػػذراع‪ ،‬الطوي ػػؿ الب ػػاع‪ ،‬الس ػػخي النف ػػاع المني ػػع ال ػػدفاع‪ ،‬وال ػػدىميّ‬
‫المطاع‪ ،‬البطؿ الشجاع‪ ،‬الذي يحػؿ باليفػاع‪ ،‬وييػيف فػي الحمػد المتػاع‪ .‬قػاؿ كمتاكمػا محسػنة فػأي الرجػاؿ أبغػض إليػؾ‬
‫يػػا جمعػػة؟ قالػػت‪ :‬أبغػػض الساَآلػػة المئػػيـ‪ ،‬البغػػيض ال ػزنيـ‪ ،‬األشػػوه الػػدميـ‪ ،‬الظػػاىر العصػػوـ‪ ،‬الضػػعيؼ الحيػػزوـ‪ .‬قػػاؿ‬
‫كيؼ تسمعيف يا ىند‪ ،‬قالت ذكرت رجبلً خطره صغير‪ ،‬وخطبو يسير وعيبو كثير‪ ،‬وأنت ببغضو جػدير‪ ،‬وغيػره أبغػض‬
‫إلي منو‪ .‬قاؿ فقولي‪ .‬قالت‪ :‬أبغػض الضػعيؼ النخػاع القصػير البػاع األحمػؽ المضػياع الػذي ال يكػرـ‪ ،‬وال يطػاع‪ .‬قػاؿ‬
‫القممس‪ :‬كمتاكما محسنة‪( )".‬الشكعة‪)201-200 :2009 ،‬‬

‫‪(Jumu'ah and Hind, two daughters of Al-Khass, went to 'Okaz Market in the Pre-Islamic‬‬
‫‪Jahiliah and met at Al-Qalammas Al-Kinani. He said to them: I am asking you to‬‬
‫‪distinguish which one of you is simpler, more eloquent and more elaborate in epithets".‬‬
‫‪They said: "Ask whatever you like, you will find us of intelligent minds, strong tongues‬‬
‫‪and ostensible epithet". He started to pose questions to the first of them to answer it in‬‬
‫‪the best possible rhetorical language and profound eloquence. No sooner she finished‬‬
‫‪than the second picked up the end of her sister's talk to add new details. He kept asking‬‬
‫‪them about the favored and the disfavored of camels, horses, goats, clouds, women,‬‬

‫‪64‬‬
men, and so on; and they provided the answers of eloquent, knowledgeable, wise, and
educated women. Suffice it for us to cite this lengthy example of the two sisters'
opinions about women and men:
Al-Qalammas said: "Both of you have done well. Which of the women is more
favourable to you?" She replied: "I like the one who is unblemished, inexperienced,
virgin, soft-skinned, white, pretty, crane-necked, round-legged, fleshy-thighed,
gorgeous, splendid, veiled, bashful, tender-skinned, plump, and as smooth as velvet".
He asked his sister: "How do you find that, Hind?" She said: "She described a maid who
satisfies and gratifies lads, but my liking is for a different woman". He said: " Describe
her, then". She resumed: "I like the one who is fully ankletted, well-shaped, coddled,
lighthearted, splendid and gorgeous". Al-Qalammas said: "Both of you have done well.
Now which of the women is the most obnoxious to you Jumu'ah?", he asked. She
answered: "I detest the one who is obscene and ill-mannered, ignorant and sinful,
spendthrift and mean, neither generous nor magnanimous, and neither veiled nor
bashful.". He said: "How do you find this, Hind?" She said: " She described a woman
who is hopeless, ever restless, and bankrupt, but more obnoxious to me than her is one
who is disfigured, skinned, confused, paunchy, protruding varicose-veiled, sick,
maliciously unabashed, short-necked, thin-legged, light-hipped who if she gives birth
she does not look like she has born a child; if she rebukes she does not eat her words,
and if she leaves, she emits incessant deafening yelling". Al-Qalammas said: "Both of
you have done well.
He asked again, "Now which of the men do you like most, Jumu'ah?" She said: "I like
the man who is free, intelligent, easy, simple, good-hearted, highbred, witty, sagacious,
resourceful, eloquently orotund, rhetorical, courageous and imposing". Al-Qalammas
said: "What about that, Hind?" She answered: "She described a man who is a master,
generous, unprecedentedly philanthropic, pleasing to you whether present or absent.
Yet I like more the man who is openhanded, freehanded, generous, hugely useful,
invincible in defence, noble, obeyed, a brave hero, superior, and a generous giver for
praise". He said: "Well-said both of you".
He proceeds, "Now which of the men is the most abominable to you, Jumu'ah?" She
replied: "I abhor the man who is persistently inquisitive, sordid, abominable, of ignoble
descent, unshaped, superficial, gluttonous and thin-breasted." Al-Qammas said to
Hind: "What do you say of that?" Hind said: "She gave an account of a man who is not
so dangerous, not seriously ominous, quite flawed, and worthy of ignominy. Yet, I
despise a man of another ilk who is skinned, emaciated, miserly, foolish, prodigal,
dishonored and disobeyed". Al-Qalammas commented: "Both of you have done very
well"). (See Ghazala, 2010: 114-115)

This descriptive rhetorical dialogue is another good example of a genuine literary piece
of writing. Most of the literary features are pointed out in relation to the art of letter
writing (see above). Yet, further features can be explored here:
(a) Asyndetic coordinate binomials: (e.g. ‫الغريرة العذراء الرعبوبة العيطاء الممكورة المفّاء؛‬
َ
...‫ الحمشة الزالء؛ الفطف (األريب‬،‫ العنفص الوقصاء‬،‫ حريصة دنية‬،‫ جاىمة غبية‬،‫بذية‬
ّ ‫سمفع‬
(b) Synonymic coordinate binomials: (e.g. ،‫(الجماؿ والبياء؛ الستر والحياء‬

65
 (c) 'Neither…nor' binomials: (e.g. ‫ وال ستيرة وال حيية؛ ال يكرـ وال (يطاع‬،‫(غير كريمة وال سرية‬
(d) Crisp topic and comment binomials: (e.g. ‫ وخطبو يسير وعيبو كثير‬،‫(خطره صغير‬
(e) Parallel conditional verbalizations (e.g. ‫واف زجػرت لػـ تعتتػب واف‬...‫إف ولػدت لػـ تنجػب‬
‫(تركت طفقت تصخب‬
etc.

3.1.3.3 Example Three: Introduction to a Biography Book:

In his introduction to the book, the author's opinion ranged between the kindness of
venerable men, humbleness of scholars, pride of the arrogant and audacity of the
conceited. In fact he was more audacious in his humbleness than conceit, but in the style
of the man of wisdom and intelligence, begging pardon for lapses, and forgiveness for
mistakes in such a delightful, witty style of language:

‫ػاظر فيػو أالً يعتمػد‬

َ ‫ فأسػأ ُؿ الن‬،‫اعتمدت عف الغاية وتقصيري عف االنتياء إلى النياية‬
ُ ‫ فيما‬،‫("وأنا قد اعترفت بقصوري‬
ً‫ فمػف طمػب عيبػا‬،‫ وليتأممو بعػيف اإلنصػاؼ ال االنحػراؼ‬،‫ وعيباً أظيره‬،‫ وال يقصد قصد مف إذا رأى حسناً ستَره‬،‫العنت‬
‫ فرحـ اهلل ام أًر قيػر ىػواه وأطػاع اإلنصػاؼ ونػواه وعػ َذرنا فػي خطػأ إف‬،‫الرضا فقد‬
‫ ومف افتقد زلؿ أخيو بعيف أ‬،‫َوجَد وجد‬
‫ والنسػػياف فػػي اإلنسػػاف غيػػر‬،‫ فػػالمرء غيػػر معصػػوـ‬،‫ فالكمػػا ُؿ محػػاؿ لغيػػر ذي الجػػبلؿ‬،‫ وزلػػؿ إف صَػػدَ َر عنػّػا‬،‫كػػاف منػّػا‬
،‫ فإنا وا ْف أخطأنػا فػي مواضػع يسػيرة‬،‫ فقد عمـ أف كؿ مجتيد مُصيب‬،‫ واف عجز عف االعتذار عنّا والتصويب‬،‫معدوـ‬
‫ فمػا عممنػا فػيمف تقػدمنا وأمنػا مػف األئمػة القػدماء إالّ وقػد نظػـ فػي سػمؾ أىػؿ الزلػؿ وأخػذ‬،‫فقد أصبنا فػي مػواطف كثيػرة‬
‫ وتنميػؽ‬،‫ػرؼ جُ أػؿ زماننػا فػي نَيْمَ ِػة الػدنيا وطمػب المَعػاش‬
ِ ‫ فكيػؼ بنػا مػع قصػورنا وص‬،‫عميو شيء مػف الخطػؿ وىُػـ ىُػـ‬
ُ ُ َ
)".‫ وبقاء ماء الوجو لدى العرض‬،‫ الذي مرادنا مف صيانة العُرض‬،‫الرياش‬
)468 :2009 ،‫(الشكعة‬

"I admit my imperfection in achieving my ultimate end. So I ask the reader to avoid
impotency, take up the practice of faultfinding, concealing the merit and disclosing the
demerit, and consider it in fairness, not in obliqueness. If man traces a flaw, he will find it
for sure; and if he overlooks his brother's lapse, he will miss it for certain. May God have
mercy for a man who beats his prejudice and commits himself to justice, to find an
excuse for our mistakes and lapses, for perfection is God's only. Man is not infallible, and
forgetfulness is an epithet of his. But if he is unable to excuse us, or be considerate, he
should know that every hard worker is right. If we commit mistakes in one or two places,
we have got it right in many places. Those we know of our ancient Imams committed
mistakes and lapses and were found at fault somewhere somehow, and they were who
they were. So, how about us then, being imperfect and defective at a time of gluttony for
the World, earning lavish living and decorating worldly luxuries? Our purport is to defend
ourselves and save our face." (Ghazala: 2010: 261)

In an introduction to any book, we expect ordinary language to be used. However,

Yaqoot Al-Hamwi (or Ar-Roomi), the widely reputed historian and biographer, has
introduced to his famous work, A Dictionary of Men of Letters, using a special language
of literary style. Among the features of literariness of this style are the following:

66
 ‫اعتمدت عف الغاية وتقصيري عف ‪(a) Syntactic elaboration (e.g.‬‬ ‫ُ‬ ‫وأنا قد اعترفت بقصوري‪ ،‬فيما‬
‫(االنتياء إلى النياية؛ وال يقصد قصد مف إذا رأى حسن ًا ستَره؛ أطاع اإلنصاؼ ونواه‬
‫(رأى حسناً ستَره‪ ،‬وعيباً أظيره؛ وجد‪...‬فقد؛ ىواه‪...‬نواه؛ قصورنا‪...‬زماننا‪(b) Prose rhyme (e.g.‬‬
‫قصور‪...‬تقصير؛ انتياء‪...‬نياية؛ يقصد قصد؛ َجد وجد؛ افتقد‪...‬فقد؛ ‪(c) Cognates (e.g.‬‬
‫رض‪...‬عرض‬
‫َ‬ ‫(تصويب‪...‬مصيب‪...‬أصاب؛ نسياف‪...‬إنساف؛ أـ ‪...‬أئمة؛ ىـ ىـ؛ معاش‪...‬رياش؛ ُع‬
‫(كماؿ‪ /‬غير معصوـ؛ زلؿ‪/‬خطؿ ‪(d) Synonyms (e.g.‬‬
‫حسناً ستَره ‪ /‬عيباً أظيره؛ قير ىواه ‪ /‬أطاع اإلنصاؼ؛ مواضع ‪(e) Antonymic collocations (e.g.‬‬
‫(يسيرة ‪ /‬مواطف كثيرة؛ إنصاؼ ‪ /‬انحراؼ‬
‫(زلؿ(‪)2‬؛ قصور (‪)2‬؛ عيب(‪)2‬؛ ‪(f) Rhetorical repetitions (e.g.‬‬
‫خطؿ؛ رياش ‪(g) Classical vocabulary (e.g.‬‬

‫‪Certainly, today's introductions to books can be expected to be written in ordinary‬‬

‫‪language. Hence the following contemporary version of the original text above:‬‬

‫ػاظر في ػػو أال يتص ػػيد األخط ػػاء فيخف ػػي المحاس ػػف ويُظي ػػر‬
‫"أعت ػػرؼ بقص ػػوري ف ػػي بم ػػوغي الغاي ػػة النيائي ػػة‪ .‬فأس ػػأ ُؿ الن ػ َ‬
‫العيػػوب‪ .‬ولػػيكف منصػػفاً فػػي النظػػر فيػػو‪ ،‬وال يتبػػع اليػػوى‪ .‬وليعػ َذرنا فػػي الخطػػأ إف صػػدر منػّػا‪ ،‬فالكمػػا ُؿ هلل‪ .‬فػػالمرء غيػػر‬
‫ػإف أخطأنػا فػي مواضػع يسػيرة‪ ،‬فقػد أصػبنا‬
‫معصوـ‪ ،‬فالنسياف مف طبع اإلنساف‪.‬واف لـ يعػذرنا‪ ،‬فمكػؿ مجتيػد نصػيب‪ .‬ف ْ‬
‫في مواطف كثيرة‪ .‬فحسب عممنا‪ ،‬لـ ينج أحد مػف عممائنػا القػدامى مػف الزلػؿ‪ ،‬ولػـ يػنقص ذلػؾ شػيئاً مػف قػدرىـ‪ .‬فكيػؼ‬
‫بنا نحف المقصريف الذيف شغمتيـ الدنيا وطمب المَعاش‪ ،‬لنصوص ماء الوجو‪".‬‬

‫‪3.1.3.4 Example Four: Attributes of the Generous‬‬

‫("يقاؿ‪ :‬فبلف رفيؽ الجود ودخيمو‪ ،‬وزميؿ الكرـ ونزيمػو‪ ،‬وغػرة الػدىر وتحجيمػو‪ ،‬مواىبػو األنػواء‪ ،‬وصػدره الػدىناء‪ ،‬عونػو‬
‫موقوؼ عمى المييؼ‪ ،‬وغوثو مبذوؿ لمضعيؼ‪ ،‬يطفو جوده عمى موجوده‪ ،‬وىمتو عمى قدرتو‪ ،‬ينػابيع الجػود تتفجػر مػف‬
‫ػت‬
‫ػت قبػؿ وجػوده‪ ،‬أو ماجػداً فػي أخبلقػو م ْ‬ ‫أناممو‪ ،‬وربيػع السػماح يضػحؾ عػف فواضػمو‪ ،‬إف طمبػت كريمػاً فػي جػوده‪ ،‬م ْ‬
‫ولـ تبلقو‪ ،‬باسؿ تعود اإلقداـ‪ ،‬حيث تزؿ األقداـ‪ ،‬وشجاع يرى اإلحجاـ عا ارً ال تمحوه األياـ‪ ،‬لػو خُمُػؽ لػو مػازج البحػر‬
‫لنفى مموحتو وصفّى كدورتو‪ ،‬خُمُؽ كنسػيـ األسػحار عمػى صػفحات األنيػار‪ ،‬وأطيػب مػف زمػف الػورد فػي األيػاـ‪ ،‬وأبيػج‬
‫مػػف نػػور البػػدر فػػي الظػػبلـ‪ ،‬خُمػػؽ يجمػػع األى ػواء المتفرقػػة عمػػى محبتػػو‪ ،‬ويؤلػػؼ اآلراء المشػػتتة فػػي مودتػػو‪ ،‬ىػػو ممػػح‬
‫األرض إذا فسػػدت‪ ،‬وعمػػارة الػػدنيا إذا خرجػػت‪ .‬يح ػ ّؿ دقػػائؽ اإلشػػكاؿ‪ ،‬ويزيػػؿ جبلئػػؿ األشػػكاؿ‪ .‬البيػػاف أصػػغر صػػفاتو‪،‬‬
‫والببلغة عنواف خطرتو‪ ،‬كأنما أوحى التوفيؽ إلى صدره‪ ،‬وحبس الصواب بيف طبعو وفكػره‪ ،‬فيػو يعبػث بػالكبلـ وبقولػو‬
‫بػػأليف زمػػاـ‪ ،‬حتػػى ك ػأف األلفػػاظ تتحاسػػد فػػي التسػػابؽ إلػػى خ ػواطره‪ ،‬والمعػػاني تتغػػاير فػػي االمتثػػاؿ ألوام ػره‪ ،‬يػػوجز فػػبل‬
‫يخؿ‪ ،‬ويطنب فبل يمؿ‪ ،‬كبلمو يشتد مرة حتػى تقػوؿ‪ :‬الصػخر أو أيػبس‪ ،‬ويمػيف تػارة حتػى تقػوؿ‪ :‬المػاء أو أسػمس‪ .‬فيػو‬
‫إذا أنشػػأ َوشَػػى‪ ،‬واذا عبػػر حبّػػر‪ ،‬واذا أوجػػز أعجػػز‪ ،‬تاىػػت بػػو األيػػاـ‪ ،‬وباى ػت فػػي يمينػػو األقػػبلـ‪( )". ...‬األبشيييٌ ً‪،‬‬
‫‪)309 :2009‬‬

‫‪67‬‬
"A generous man is the associate, comrade and guest of generosity, the dawn and leap
of time. He is a downpour of openhandedness and large-heartedness. He is a relief to
the needy and the weak. His hospitability exceeds his means and his resolution exceeds
his potential. The springs of generosity are coming out of his fingers, and the spring of
his tolerance overwhelms his other virtues. He is as bounteous as nature and peerless in
generosity and morals. He is as brave as a lion when others dare not take the risk.
Retreat to him is a disgrace. His manners are graceful as lord, gentle as morn breeze,
soothing as the breath of spring and bright as the stars in a pitch black midnight. His
manners are loved by all, and bring different opinions cordially together. He is the salt
of earth if people spoil it, and the establishment of the world if people bring it down. He
resolves the tiniest of snags, and removes the greatest of problems. Eloquence is the
pettiest of his attributes, and rhetoric is his intuitive practice, as though he is naturally
inspired with right-mindedness. He is the wittiest at playing with words as though they
race to his mind in rivalry, and meaning are jealous to be wrapped around his little
finger. He is as sharp and to the point as required and as long as necessary. When
tough, his words are as firm as rock mountains, and when lenient, his words sound as
flowing as running water. When he writes, he writes creatively, when he expresses
something, he speaks volumes and when concise, he is inimitable. He is a source of
pride to history and to all men of letters."

In a dialogue like this, literariness is hardly expected now. Yet, classical dialogues are as
rhetorical and literary as any piece of literary writing. The following literary features
can be extracted from the text:

(a) Parallel synonymous expressions (e.g. ‫ وغػرة‬،‫ وزميػؿ الكػرـ ونزيمػو‬،‫رفيػؽ الجػود ودخيمػو‬
،‫ وغوثػ ػػو مبػ ػػذوؿ لمضػ ػػعيؼ؛ البيػ ػػاف أصػ ػػغر صػ ػػفاتو‬،‫الػ ػػدىر وتحجيمػ ػػو؛ عونػ ػػو موقػ ػػوؼ عمػ ػػى المييػ ػػؼ‬
‫(والببلغة عنواف خطرتو‬
(b) Syndetic symmetry: (e.g. ‫ واذا أوجز أعجز‬،‫حبر‬ ّ ‫ واذا عبر‬،‫(إذا أنشأ َو َشى‬
(c) Parallel rhetorical conditionals (e.g. ً‫ أو (ماجدا‬،‫مت قبؿ وجوده‬
ْ ،‫إف طمبت كريماً في جوده‬
‫مت ولـ تبلقو‬
ْ ‫في أخبلقو‬
(d) Rhetorical, emphatic backgrounding of verb phrase (e.g. ‫ينػابيع الجػود تتفجػر مػف‬
‫ وربيع السماح يضحؾ عف فواضمو‬،‫(أناممو‬
(e) Alliterative pairs of prose rhyme: (most of the text)
(f) 'as…as' collocational similes: ‫ (وأطيػب مػف زمػف‬،‫خمؽ كنسيـ األسحار عمى صفحات األنيػار‬
‫ وأبيج مف نور البدر في الظبلـ؛ أيبس مف الصخر؛ أسمس مف الماء‬،‫(الورد في األياـ‬
(g) Proverbial expressions (e.g. ‫ وعمارة الدنيا إذا خرجت‬،‫(ممح األرض إذا فسدت‬
(h) Poetic language: parallelism, rhyme and rhythm (e.g. ‫يحػ ّؿ دقػائؽ اإلشػكاؿ يزيػؿ‬
‫ (واذا أوجز أعجز؛‬،‫حبر‬
ّ ‫ واذا عبر‬،‫جبلئؿ (األشكاؿ؛ إذا أنشأ َو َشى‬

68
 ‫يعبػػث بػػالكبلـ وبقولػػو بػػأليف زمػػاـ؛ األلفػػاظ تتحاسػػد فػػي التسػػابؽ إلػػى خػواطره‪(i) Hyperboles (e.g. ،‬‬
‫والمعاني تتغػاير فػي االمتثػاؿ ألوامػره؛ يشػتد مػرة حتػى تقػوؿ‪ :‬الصػخر أو أيػبس‪ ،‬ويمػيف تػارة حتػى تقػوؿ‪:‬‬
‫(الماء أو أسمس؛ تاىت بو األياـ وباىت في يمينو األقبلـ‬
‫(إقداـ ‪ /‬أقداـ ‪(j) Chiming (e.g.‬‬
‫عػػوف ‪ /‬غػػوث؛ لييػػؼ ‪ /‬ضػػعيؼ؛ باسػػؿ ‪ /‬شػػجاع؛ محبػػة ‪ /‬مػػودة؛ أىػواء متفرقػػة ( ‪(k) Close synonyms‬‬
‫(آراء مشتتة‬
‫)نور البدر ‪ /‬الظبلـ ‪(l) Antonyms (e.g.‬‬
‫تزؿ األقداـ؛ خمؽ لو مازج البحر؛ ممح األرض؛ األلفاظ تتحاسد؛ المعاني تتغاير ‪(m) Metaphors (e.g.‬‬

‫‪Normally, such a non-literary text is written down in less literary, or non-literary‬‬

‫‪language, which might be only partly rhetorical. Here is a contemporary alternative‬‬
‫‪version of the text:‬‬

‫("يقاؿ‪ :‬فبلف جواد كريـ‪ ،‬يغيػث المميػوؼ ويعػيف الضػعيؼ‪ .‬جػوده فػاؽ طاقتػو‪ ،‬وىمتػو فاقػت قدرتػو‪ .‬عنػده منػابع الجػود‬
‫والتسػػامح‪ ،‬لػػيس لػػو نػػد فػػي جػػوده وحسػػف خمػػؽ‪ .‬أسػػد فػػي اإلقػػداـ‪ ،‬وال يعػػرؼ الت ارجػػع أبػػداً‪ .‬دماثػػة خمقػػو تػػذىب مموحػػة‬
‫البحار‪ ،‬خمؽ كالنسيـ العميؿ‪ ،‬والورد الجميؿ‪ ،‬والبدر في ليمة ظمماء‪ .‬خمؽ يستوعب اخػتبلؼ األىػواء واآلراء‪ .‬ىػو ممػح‬
‫األرض‪ ،‬ويح ػػؿ ك ػػؿ المعضػ ػبلت‪ .‬فص ػػيح المس ػػاف‪ ،‬والببلغ ػػة منيج ػػو‪ ،‬والصػ ػواب طبع ػػو‪ .‬تم ػػيف ل ػػو الكمم ػػات‪ ،‬وتتس ػػابؽ‬
‫المعني عمػى خػاطره‪ .‬يػوجز فػي الكػبلـ مػف دوف إنقػاص فػي المعنػى‪ ،‬ويطيػؿ مػف دوف ممػؿ‪ .‬إذا اشػتد فػي الكػبلـ كػاف‬
‫أيػػبس مػػف الصػػخر‪ .‬واذا الف كػػاف أسػػمس مػػف المػػاء‪ .‬إذا أنشػػأ شػػيئاً أبػػدع وفاضػػت معانيػػو‪ .‬واذا أوج ػز كػػاف إعجازي ػاً‪.‬‬
‫سجؿ اسمو التاريخ‪ ،‬وساؿ حبر األدباء عنو‪)".‬‬

‫‪3.1.3.5 Example Five: Classical Jurisprudence Books: Attributes of the Prophet‬‬

‫)‪(Peace be to him‬‬

‫صفات النبي صمى اهلل عميو وسمم‬

‫(كما وصفتو وصفاً فريداً أـ َم ْعَبد وىو في طريقو مياج اًر إلى المدينة المنورة (مف زاد المعاد‪ ،‬البف الجوزية))‬

‫الخمْؽ‪...‬لـ تعبو ثُجمة‪...‬ولـ تُْزر بو صُعْمة‪...‬وسيـ قسيـ‪...‬في‬

‫"ظاىره الوضاءة‪...‬أبمج الوجو‪...‬حَسف َ‬
‫أكحؿ‪...‬أزاج أقرف‪...‬شديد سواد‬
‫َ‬ ‫عينيو‪.‬دَعَج‪...‬وفي أشفاره َوطَؼ‪...‬وفي صوتو صَحَؿ‪...‬وفي عنقو سَطَع‪...‬أحور‬
‫الشعر‪...‬إذا صمت عبله الوقار‪...‬واف تكمـ عبله البياء‪...‬أجمؿ الناس وأبياىـ مف بعيد‪...‬وأحسنو وأحبله مف‬
‫رف‪...‬ربْعة‪...‬ال تقحمو عيف مف‬ ‫ُ‬ ‫ات نظـ يتحد‬
‫صؿ‪...‬ال نَ ْزر وال ى ْذر‪...‬كأف منطقو خرز ُ‬‫قريب‪...‬حمو المنطؽ فَ ْ‬
‫تشنؤه مف طُوؿ‪...‬غصف بيف غصنيف‪...‬فيو أنضر الثبلثة منظ ارً‪...‬وأحسنيـ قد ارً‪...‬لو رفقاء يحفّوف‬ ‫ُ‬ ‫ِقصر‪...‬وال‬
‫بو‪...‬إذا قاؿ استمعوا لقولو‪...‬واذا أمر تبادروا إلى أمره‪...‬محفود محشود‪...‬ال عابس وال مُفِْند‪".‬‬

‫‪-‬ظاىره الوضاءة ‪(He (the Prophet) is beaming in appearance,‬‬

‫‪-‬أبمج الوجو ‪of bright face‬‬

‫‪69‬‬
 charmingly good looking. ‫الخْمؽ‬
َ ‫ َحسف‬-
He is neither too fat, ‫لـ تعبو ثُجمة‬-
nor too thin. ‫ص ْعمة‬
ُ ‫ولـ تُْزر بو‬-
He has graceful countenance. ‫وسيـ قسيـ‬-
His eyes are jet-black and large; ‫في عينيو َد َعج‬-
his eyelid ridges are hairy and dangling. ‫طؼ‬ َ ‫وفي أشفاره َو‬-
H e has a husky voice, ‫ص َحؿ‬َ ‫وفي صوتو‬-
and a stretching neck. ‫طع‬
َ ‫وفي عنقو َس‬-
(His eyes are jet-black and intensely white, with dark eyebrows. ‫أحور أكحؿ‬-
He has long legs, striding pace and meeting eyebrows, ‫ َأزاج أقرف‬-
with jet-black hair. ‫شديد سواد الشعر‬-
(If he remains quiet, grace overwhelms him; ‫إذا صمت عبله الوقار‬-
when he speaks, splendor overtakes him. ‫ واف تكمـ عبله البياء‬-
He is the most good-looking of all men from a distance, ‫أجمؿ الناس وأبياىـ مف بعيد‬-
and the most handsome from a short distance ‫وأحسنو وأحبله مف قريب‬-
He is sweet-sounding and decisive in speech. ‫صؿ‬ْ َ‫ ف‬،‫حمو المنطؽ‬-
He is neither economical nor talkative. ‫ال َن ْزر وال ى ْذر‬-
His words are like pearls flowing down from his mouth. ‫ات نظـ يتحدرف‬ُ ‫كأف منطقو خرز‬-
He is neither tall nor short. ‫ ُرْبعة‬-
He is not underestimated for shortness; ،‫ال تقحمو عيف مف ِقصر‬-
nor is he disapproved for tallness. ‫تشنؤه مف طُوؿ‬
ُ ‫وال‬-
He is a bough between two boughs, ،‫غصف بيف غصنيف‬-
but he is the most vigorous of the three men, ‫فيو أنضر الثبلثة منظ ًار‬-
and the most dignified of them. ‫وأحسنيـ قد ًار‬-
He is surrounded by companions ‫لو رفقاء يحفّوف بو‬-
who lend their ears to what he says, ،‫إذا قاؿ استمعوا لقولو‬-
and attend instantly to his orders. ‫ تبادروا إلى أمره‬،‫واذا أمر‬-
He is attended to enthusiastically and heartily by his people. ‫محفود محشود‬-
He is not a frowner nor a liar. ‫ال عابس وال ُم ْفنِد‬-

This supposedly normal descriptive text is rich with literary features. Here they are:

(a) Rhetorical conciseness and accuracy of description: (the whole text)

(b) Classical / old Arabic (e.g. ‫)ثجمة؛ صعمة؛ صحؿ؛ وطؼ؛ سطع؛ أزج؛ أقرف‬

70
 (c) Prose rhyme (e.g. ‫ص ْعمة‬
ُ ‫ولـ تُْزر بو‬...‫)لـ تعبو ثُجمة‬
(d) Alliterative pairs (e.g. ‫)وسيـ قسيـ؛ ال نزر وال ىذر؛ محفود محشود‬
(e) Emphatic backgrounding (e.g. ‫طع‬ َ ‫وفي عنقو َس‬...‫ص َحؿ‬
َ ‫وفي صوتو‬...‫طؼ‬
َ ‫)وفي أشفاره َو‬
(f) Rhythmical pairs (e.g. ‫أزاج أقرف‬...‫أكحؿ‬
َ ‫)أحور‬
(g) Syndetic conditionals (e.g. ‫واف تكمػػـ عػػبله البيػػاء؛ إذا قػػاؿ اسػػتمعوا‬...‫إذا صػػمت عػػبله الوقػػار‬
‫واذا أمر تبادروا إلى أمره‬...‫)لقولو‬
(h) Contrastive pairs (e.g. ‫ مف طوؿ‬/ ‫ مف قريب؛ مف قصر‬/ ‫(مف بعيد‬
(i) Rhythmical trilateral nouns (e.g. ...‫سطع‬...‫وطؼ‬...‫(صحؿ‬
(j) Poetic similes (e.g. ‫ات نظـ يتحدرف‬
ُ ‫)كأف منطقو خرز‬
(k) Metaphors (e.g. ‫)غصف بيف غصنيف‬
(l) Synonymic antonyms (e.g....‫تشنؤه‬
ُ ‫وال‬...‫(ال تقحمو‬
(m) Rhythmical synonymic superlatives (e.g. ‫)أجمؿ؛ أبيى؛ أحمى؛ أنضر؛ أحسف‬

3.2 Features of Literary Rhetoric

Rhetorical language is one milestone of literariness. It has conventionally been linked

to literary language in particular. And when used in non-literary texts, it is described as
one of their literary features. Due to their central importance in literary language,
some major and recurrent literary features are investigated shortly below:

3.2.1 Collocations

One basic cornerstone of rhetoric is how words combine regularly and habitually
together. Word combination, or collocation, describes words that are usually found
next to other words, or are 'co-located' with one another, that is, they are found in the
same places. Words keep company with one another in certain grammatical and lexical
combinations. These combinations are described as 'collocations'. They are defined by
Firth (1968) as "actual words in habitual company", and more precisely as
"combinations of two or more words used in one of regular, non-idiomatic meanings...
and restricted in their commutability" (1979: 71. In Emery, 1988). Thus, a collocation is
a term used to describe a group of words that co-occur (one next to another)
repeatedly. It is the way words combine, or which word goes with which word in a
language in natural, predictable combinations. For example, in English we normally say
'strong wind' but 'heavy rain'. However, it would not be normal to say *'heavy wind' or
*'strong rain'. This habitual co-occurrence of words has been normalized to become a
part of language lexicon that we usually take to be intuitively learned by language
users (see Firth, 1968; Emery; 1988; Crystal, 1980; Ghazala; 1993, 2007 and 2011 and
Brashi, 2005).

To push the argument of the rhetorical nature of collocation a step further, following
are two lists of examples of collocations juxtaposed with ordinary language: The Arabic
list first, followed by the English list:

71
 ‫لغة عادية‬ ‫متالزمات‬
ً‫ضعٌف جدا‬ ‫أوهن من بٌت العنكبوت‬- .1
‫ٌنتقد أحدهم‬ ‫ٌُعرض بأحدهم‬- .2
‫موثوق‬ ‫مأمون الجانب‬- .3
‫فاجر‬ ‫سلٌط اللسان‬ .4
‫فً حٌرة‬ ‫فً حٌص بٌص‬ .5
ً‫غضب غضبا ً شدٌدا‬ ‫جُن جنونه‬ .6
‫باختصار‬ ‫صفوة القول‬ .7
‫صوت الباب‬ ‫صرٌر الباب‬ .8
‫هزٌمة كبٌرة‬ ‫هزٌمة نكراء‬ .9
ً‫ٌخاف خوفا ً شدٌدا‬ ‫ترتعد فرائصه‬ .10
‫غنم شاردة‬ ‫غنم قاصٌة‬ .11
‫عاداه‬ ‫ناصبه العداء‬ .12
)‫أن ى (األمر‬ ‫أسدل الستار‬ .13
‫ٌعمل‬ ‫ٌزاول م نة‬ .14
‫ضربة قلم‬ ‫جرة قلم‬ .15

Ordinary Language Collocations

1. very dark -pitch black

2. during that -in the meantime
3. an honest man -a man of honor
4. a high salary -a fat salary
5. very sweet -as sweet as honey
6. due to -in the light of
7. very rich -to roll in money
8. the latest achievements -state of the art
9. to be so precise -to spill the beans
10. to die -one foot in the grave
11. migration of scientists -brain drain
12. to work -to ply a vocation
13. in good health -alive and kicking
14. to have strength -to gather momentum
15. important person -a big shot

Collocations as such can be grammar-based, or lexical combinations. Grammatical

collocations, to start with, can broadly speaking be understood in one way to include
all possible combinations of words as grammatical categories in certain normal
sequences in the sentences of language (see Benson et al: 1986) (s=Subject, v=Verb,
o=Object, prep.=preposition, inf.=infinitive and c=Complement).

 s.v.o.-to-o. (or) s.v.o.o. (he sent a parcel to her/ he sent her a parcel/ he sent
it her)
 s.v.o.-to-o. (they described the house to him)
 s.v.o. for o (or) s.v.o.o. (she bought her child trousers/she bought trousers for
him)

72
  s.v. prep.o. (or) s.v.o.prep.o. (we came by bus; to interpret/act/serve/treat (o)
as (o.))
 s.v. to inf. (she decided to quit)
 s.v. inf. (they must work)
 s.v.v-ing (we enjoy watching football matches; the car needs washing)
 s.v.o-to-inf. (he challenged me to fight)
 s.v.o.v-ing ( I heard them cry)
 s.v. possessive v-ing (they saw him playing tennis/ excuse my waking you
early)
 s.v. (o.) that-clause (she denied that she had insulted us)
 s.v.o. to be c (they consider him to be an experienced teacher)
 s.v.o.c. (they found him interesting; she dyed her hair black)
 s.v.o.o. (the student asked the teacher a question; God may forgive us our
sins)
 s.v. (o) a (she carried herself with dignity; he fared well)
 s. (it) v.o.-to-inf. (or) s. (it) v.o. that-clause (they asked how to do it; he wants
what I want; we could not decide whether or not to leave)
 s.v.c. (adjective or noun) (it surprised me to learn of your departure)
 s.v.c. (adjective) (the flower smells nice; the food tastes bad).

Lexical collocations, on the other hand, are arguably classified by Benson et al (ibid.) in
terms of the grammatical classes of words: 'nouns, adjectives and adverbs' (namely,
'verb-noun'; 'noun-verb'; 'noun-noun'; 'adjective-noun', 'adverb-adjective', and 'verb-
adverb'). However, Carter describes them as lexico-grammatical collocations, whereas
lexical collocations centre mainly around on lexical ranges, patterns, associations,
restrictions and sets (or fields) (1987). On the other hand, and due to their
classification according to their grammatical classes, Ghazala has categorized them as
grammatical combinations (2007). Yet, Oxford Collocations Dictionary has used the
neutralized term 'word collocations' to describe such classification, which can be
th
described as lexico-grammatical (2002, 4 edn. 2003). Therefore, I adopt it here (the
major types):

 adjective + noun (bright light)

 quantifier + noun (a beam of light)
 verb + noun (cast light)
 noun + verb (light gleams)
 noun + noun (a light source)
 preposition + noun (by the light of the moon)
 noun + preposition (the light from the window)
 verb + verb (be free to choose)
 verb + adverb (choose carefully)
 verb + preposition (choose between two things)
 verb +adjective (declare (sth.) safe)
 adverb + adjective (perfectly safe)
 adjective + prepositions (safe from attack)

73
Ghazala suggests further eight types (2007):

 count noun collocations (a flock of birds)

 non-count noun collocations (a word of advice)
 adjective + adjective (alive and kicking)
 noun + of + noun (a word of honor)
 noun + and + noun ( vice and virtue)
 names of sounds collocations (snakes hiss)
 adverb + adverb (secretly and publicly)
 idiomatic collocations
a. as … as similes (as pretty as a picture)
b. idioms ( to bite the dust)
c. phrasal verbs (to come up with)
d. metaphors (including puns, word play and metonyms)
e. proverbs and proverbial sayings (e.g. a stitch in time saves nine; bread and
butter)

Lexical collocations are reclassified interestingly by Carter in terms of collocational

restrictions as follows (1987: 63):
(a) Unrestricted collocation: which describes the capacity of a particular word to
be open to keep company with a wide range of words. Examples are core
adjectives, nouns and verbs in particular.

(b) Semi-restricted collocation: which embraces lexical patterns in which the

number of words which can be substituted in different syntactic slots is more
determined (e.g. harbor doubt, grudges, uncertainty, suspicion).

(c) Familiar collocation: combinations between words which keep regular

company with each other. They overlap with types of fixed expression such as
stock phrases and metaphoric usage (e.g. vicious circle; innocent bystander;
unmitigated disaster; lukewarm reception; pregnant with possibilities; amicable
divorce).

(d) Restricted collocation: partnerships of generally more fixed and closed (e.g.
dead drunk; stark naked; pitch black; consider seriously; soft water; lean meat;
accept defeat; cash and carry; ups and downs; assault and battery; swings and
roundabouts; wonderments and bewilderments).

In literary texts, however, there is an inclination toward using creative, or unexpected

collocations more than expected and familiar ones. In a poem entitled "Fern Hill",
Dylan Thomas uses unexpected, creative collocations on a large scale. Here are
examples juxtaposed in English first, then translated contrastive in pairs unexpectedly,
then normally (adopted partly from Ghazala, 2011: Ch. 5):

- once below a time → once upon a time

74
- as happy as the grass was green → as happy as the day is long/ as happy as a
lark/ as a child/ as a king/ as a clam/ as Larry/ as a lord/ as a sandboy
- the tunes from the chimneys →the smoke/soot from the chimneys
- fire as green as grass → as hasty as fire/ as hot as fire/ as vigorous as fire
- under the simple stars → real/ brilliant/high/real/ luminous stars
- the owls were bearing the farm away →
- all the sun long; all the moon long → under the sun; in the moonlight
- the horses flash into the dark → the stars/beams/torches/candles flash into the
dark

Here are the translations of these examples into Arabic in a similar fashion (i.e.
creative / literary collocations, followed by their ordinary counterparts):

- once below a time → once upon a time

)‫ في يوـ مف ألياـ‬/ ‫في زماف غير ىذا الزماف ← كاف ياما كاف‬/‫(كاف ياما ما كاف‬
- as happy as the grass was green →as happy as the day is long/as happy as a lark/as a
child/as a king/as a clam/as Larry/as a lord/as a sandboy
)‫ في غاية السعادة‬/ ‫ أسعد مف عروسيف‬/ ‫(أسعد مف العشب األخضر ← أسعد مف عصفور‬
- the tunes from the chimneys →the smoke/soot from the chimneys
)‫السخاـ مف المداخف‬/‫(األلحاف مف المداخف ← الدخاف‬
- fire as green as grass → as hasty as fire/as hot as fire/as vigorous as fire
)‫أحر مف الجمر(مف نار الغضى‬/‫ أسرع مف النار في اليشيـ‬/ ‫(نار خضراء كالعشب ← أحر مف نار‬
- under the simple stars → real/ brilliant/high/luminous stars
‫ مضيئة‬/‫عالية‬/‫متؤللئة‬/‫(تحت النجوـ الساذجة ← نجوـ حقيقية‬
- the owls were bearing the farm away →the owls were flying over the farm
)‫تحمؽ فوؽ المزرعة‬/‫(كانت األبواـ تحمؿ المزرعة إلى البعيد ← كانت األبواـ تطير‬
- all the sun long; all the moon long → under the sun; in the moonlight
)‫(عمى مدى الشمس؛ عمى مدى القمر ← تحت الشمس؛ تحت ضوء القمر‬
- blessed among the stables → blessed among holy places/people/angels
)‫بيف المبلئكة‬/‫بيف البشر‬/‫ناعـ بالسعادة بيف الزرائب ← متبرؾ في أماكف مقدسة‬/‫(متبرؾ‬
- the horses flash into the dark → the stars/beams/torches/candles flash into the dark
‫المشاعؿ‬/‫األنوار‬/‫ تنطمؽ الخيوؿ مبرقة في الظبلـ ← تبرؽ (تومض) النجوـ‬/ ‫(تبرؽ الخيوؿ في الظبلـ‬
)‫الشموع في الظبلـ‬/‫الكيربائية‬

These unexpected, or, more precisely, new, creative and literary collocations may
reflect the psychological and mental state of the speaker-poet, who lives far away
from his factual world in a world of fancies and fantasies. This world is one of queer
happiness, grading from the innocent days of childhood and youth under the ‘apple
boughs’ about the ‘lilting house’ with an unusual feeling of joy, at a starry night above
the dingle. There the speaker-poet honored and crowned himself prince of apple
towns among wagons once ‘below’ a time, a time that is mysteriously beyond time.
He then had the trees and leaves trail with daisies and barley, down the rivers in light.

75
There the sun was shining all the time; everything was lovely, playing and watery, not
the least the hay fields which were as high as the lilting house. The stars were simple,
the owls were happy and busy bearing the farm away, and the chimneys were playing
tunes, rather than emitting smoke and soot. Not only that, the fire was no longer hot,
but green like grass. The moon was always rising. The poet felt blessed among the
stables, not chapels, and heard the nightjars flying with the ricks, and the horses were
flashing into the dark.

Thus, whatever classification we may adopt for collocations, all of their types are well-
established in literary language in particular as a part and parcel of literary rhetoric
and diction. Moreover, they achieve a maximum degree of accuracy of expression and
meaning. More importantly, collocations represent a rhetorical and aesthetic force of
literariness, which is made yet sharper by the introduction or original creative
collocations like those investigated above in relation to Dylan Thomas' poem.

Considered from a different angle, some collocations can be metaphors. Accordingly,

a good number of these collocations are metaphors that can be described as novel, or
original, e.g. ‘honored among wagons’; ‘prince of apple towns’; ‘once below a time’;
‘tunes from the chimneys’; ‘fire green as grass’; ‘simple stars’; ‘the owls bearing the
farm away’; ‘horses flash into the dark’, etc. (see Thornborrow and Wareing, 1998).
Such metaphors are the focus of the following point about an updated cognitive
stylistic investigation of metaphor.

3.2.2 Metaphor

If collocations are the milestone of rhetoric in literary language, metaphor is its heart.
Literary language is intertwined with metaphorical language. In Arabic rhetoric books,
the metaphor is viewed as a kind of simile. Al-Jurjani, for example, defines metaphor
as follows: ‫ وتسيتفتى‬،‫ وتدركه العقول‬،‫ والقٌاس ٌجري فٌما تعٌه القلوب‬،‫ ونمط من القٌاس‬،‫"ضرب من التشبٌه‬
".‫اان‬.‫ أل األسيماا وا‬،‫( فٌيه األف يام واألاهيان‬the metaphor is a kind of simile, which is a kind of
analogy, and analogy is perceived by heart, realized by brains and understood by
minds, not by ears) (1983). Also, Al-Maidani defines it as ‫"وهً من قبٌل المجاز فً األسيتعمال‬
".‫ وأصيل ا تشيبٌه حُياف منيه المشيبه وأداة التشيبٌه ووجيه الشيبه‬،‫( اللغيوي‬it is an allegorical use of words,
whose origin is a simile whose components, the object, the particle and the sense)
(1996: 229). Similarly in his book, Poetics, Aristotle views metaphor as a fundamental
figure of speech. It is a trope based on similitude, or a ‘simile compressed in a word’,
as defined in Johnson’s Dictionary. It is the major form of figurative language, or trope
which has received the greater part of attention by writers and analysts.

Metaphor is, then, a linguistic process used to make a comparison between the
attributes of something/somebody and something else. It is the process of
transferring or transporting qualities from one object to another: from an animal to a
person, a thing to an animal, a flower to a human being, a thing to another, etc. A
metaphor was originally a Greek word for ‘transport’. Understanding a metaphor as a
sort of transport implies that a metaphor transports a concept from its normal
location, to somewhere else where it is not usually used or found.

76
Put differently, it transfers a concept from its usual context to a new context. In Dylan
Thomas’s poem, for example, 'my wishes raced' is a metaphor where the word ‘raced’
is usually found in the context of ‘horse racing’, and it has been transferred to the
context of ‘wishes’. In such a process of transporting a word from its normal context,
the readers are invited to connect the word not only with its new context (in this case,
‘wishes’) but also with its old context (i.e. horse racing). Thus, reading the word
‘raced’ may introduce into the interpretation of the poem other qualities the readers
associate with racing horses to the context of ‘wishes’. Readers may attribute the
wishes of the poem with the speed, power and wildness of horses in racing tracks,
creating an image of unusual, competitive, wild and neck-and-neck speed among the
speaker’s many unfulfilled wishes looking forward to which one to be realized first
(see the previous subsection on collocations).

3.2.2.1 Figures of Rhetoric other than the Metaphor

Before proceeding to investigate the types of metaphor, it must be stressed that due
to its prime importance and superordinate reference, metaphor subsumes almost all
major types of tropes (or rhetorical figures) like:

(a) syndeton ‫عطؼ‬

(b) Asyndeton ‫عطؼ مرسؿ ؛ عبارات متتالية مف دوف حرؼ عطؼ‬
(c) polysyndeton ‫تكرار متواؿ لحرؼ العطؼ‬
(d) synecdoche / anthimaria / hypallage ‫(المجاز المرسؿ‬
(e) metonymy / antonomasia / metalepsis )‫(الكناية‬
(f) pun / paronomasia / antanaclasis / double-entendre )‫ اإليياـ‬/ ‫(التورية‬
(g) simile )‫(التشبيو‬
(h) personification ‫ أنسنة‬/ ‫تشخيص‬
(i) anaphora (e.g. Children are a comfort, children are amusing, and children are
sometimes a nuisance) ‫تكرار الصدارة‬
(j) epistrophe (e.g. you may not like rules, you might spend your time breaking
the rules) ‫تكرار ختامي‬
(k) anadiplosis and climax (e.g. there he met a lady, a lady who supported his
throughout his life) ‫تكرار تتابعي وتصاعد مطرد‬
(l) symploce: a combination of anaphora and epistrophe (e.g. The Syrian People
decided to regain their freedom; the Syrian People have determined to pay
whatever price for their freedom) )‫ختامي‬-‫تكرار مركب (ابتدائي‬
(m) parison: matching or comparison of constructions occurring in pairs or trees
(e.g. nothing, they say, succeeds like success, and everything, it appears,
collapses in failure) ‫ تكافؤ عبارات‬/ ‫تناظر نحوي‬

77
 (n) isocolon: (I frequently watch football on TV., he rarely eats fish, she usually
reads short stories) ‫تواز نحوي‬
(o) chiasmus / antimetabole (e.g. one should eat to live, live to eat (Moliere) ‫قمػب‬
‫ تكرار متصالب‬/ ‫نحوي‬
(p) hendiadys (e.g. merriment and hilarity) ‫توأمة مترادفات اسمية‬
(q) oxymoron (e.g. disgustingly good; brilliantly boring) ‫توافؽ المتناقضات‬
(r) Zeugma / syllepsis (e.g. her beauty and bank account faded; he lost his
money and his temper; the manager left in good humor and a Mercedes) ‫التئاـ‬
(s) epizeuxis (e.g. go out! I said go out! You understand, go out!) ‫تكرار توكيدي‬
(t) epanorthesis (e.g. her manner was brisk and cool, not to say boreal) ‫اسػتدراؾ‬
‫ببلغي‬
(u) Epanalepsis (e.g. much must he be beloved, that loves much) ‫رد العجػز عمػى‬
‫ختامي‬-‫الصدر؛ تكرار استيبللي‬
(v) antanaclasis / ploce (a handsome fellow with a handsome salary; the dumb
may not be as dumb as you might think) ‫تكرار متغاير؛ تورية تكرار‬
(w) polyptoton (I don't enjoy singing, nor the singer) ‫تكرار متنوع‬

3.2.2.2 Types of Metaphor

Different types of metaphor have been suggested by writers. Here is an account of

some the different types of metaphor in both Languages, Arabic and English.

In Arabic literature of rhetoric, metaphor has generally several types. Here are the
major types of metaphor (see Al-Maidani, 1996):

(1) Original Metaphor )‫( (أصػمية‬an inanimate noun used: e.g. "he is a lion / a
moon, etc.)
(2) Derivative / supplementary metaphor )‫( (تبعيػة‬a verb, an adjective or any
derivative from an inanimate noun: e.g. "he is shining / sharp, etc.
‫عضنا الدىر بنابو‬
(3) Overt metaphor )‫( (تصػريحية‬the image )‫ (المشػبو بػو‬is stated clearly: e.g. "the
athlete is an arrow; she is a fox, etc.) ‫ أي‬،‫وقػؼ الغضػنفر عمػى المنبػر (أي األسػد‬
‫ تجػارة لػف تبػور؛ وأسػبمت لؤلػؤاً مػف نػرجس فسػقت‬،‫األمير ؛ لتخرج النػاس مػف الظممػات إلػى النػور‬
)‫ورداً وعضت عمى العناب بالبرد (الوأواء الدمشقي‬
(4) Covert metaphor )‫( (مكنيػة‬the image is not stated clearly, only a feature of
it: e.g. " he is roaring" (the lion is not stated); "she is cunning" (the fox is
not stated), etc.)‫ألفيت كؿ تميمة ال تنفع‬ ‫واذا المنية أنشبت أظفارىا‬

78
 (5) Absolute metaphor )‫( (مطمقػة‬the object and image are not features of it:
"the new leader cut off the head of the snake (in reference to disposing
of corruption and the corrupt, which has no direct relevance to cutting
the snake's head)
(6) Extended metaphor )‫( (مرش ػػحة‬extended metaphorical details are
provided about the image: e.g. " the new leader cut off the head of the
snake that bred small snakes and spit venom everywhere " (''bred small
snakes…everywhere).
(7) Abstract metaphor )‫( (مجػردة‬abstract, non-metaphorical details about the
image: e.g. the new leader cut off the head of the snake that developed
many problems in the community and caused dissatisfaction among
people ('developed many problems…among people').
(8) Concrete Metaphor )‫ مدركػة بػالحس الظػاىر‬/ ‫( (حسػية‬e.g. an image perceived
by senses: e.g. ‫وتركنا بعضيـ يومئذ يموج في بعض؛ وآية ليـ الميؿ نسمخ منو النيار‬
(9) Conceptual Metaphor )‫ مدركػػة بػػالفكر والوجػػداف‬/ ‫( (غيػػر حسػػية‬the image is
conceived conceptually rather than sensually: e.g. ‫(تكاد تميز مف الغيظ‬
(10) Mixed (Conceptual-concrete) metaphor )‫حسػػية‬-‫( (فكريػػة‬the image is
conceptual made clear through concrete image ( ‫ىػذا التسػونامي غضػب مػف اهلل‬
‫( انصػب دمػا اًر وخ اربػاً عمػى الػببلد‬anger = conceptual; 'ruin and devastation' =
concretization of 'anger')
(11) Mixed (Concrete-conceptual) metaphor )‫فكريػػة‬-‫( (حسػػية‬concrete image
implying a conceptual image: e.g. ‫فاصدع بما تؤمر؛ تكسر الظمـ عمى جدار العزيمػة‬
.‫والثبات‬
(12) Double-decker compromising metaphor )‫( (وفاقيػة‬an image which can be
at the same time concrete and conceptual) ‫أومف كاف ميتاً فأحييناه وجعمنا لو نو اًر‬
(both metaphorical senses come together); ‫أخزاه اهلل‬
(13) Uncompromising single-sense metaphor )‫( (عناديػة‬an image that has one
single sense only, conceptual, or concrete, though looking contrastive):
‫يػػداوي رأس مػػف يشكوالصػػداعا‬ ً‫(تحيػػة بيػػنيـ ضػػرب وجيػػع؛ وسػػيفي كػػاف فػػي الييجػػا طبيب ػا‬
)‫(عنترة‬
(14) Compound / exemplary metaphor )‫( (تمثيمي ػػة‬adages and proverbs
suggesting exemplification: e.g. ‫بػػاب النجػػار مخمػػع؛ السػكافي حػػافي والحايػػؾ عريػػاف؛‬
‫يػػنفخ فػػي قربػػة مخرومػػة؛ ال يمػػدغ الػػؤمف مػػف جحػػر م ػرتيف؛ إف الحديػػد بالحديػػد يفمَػػح (أي ُيشػػؽ‬
‫ويقطػع)؛ أعقميػا وتوكػػؿ؛ يػداؾ أوكتػػا وفػوؾ نفػػخ (أي ينػاؿ جػزاء عممػػو خيػ اًر أو شػ اًر)؛ حاطػب ليػػؿ‬
)‫ أي يكتب في مؤلفاتو كؿ ما يطمع عميو دوف تحقؽ‬،‫(ينقؿ كؿ ما يسمع‬

In English Language, Newmark proposes seven types of metaphor (1988: Chapter 9):

79
(ii) dead metaphors (foot of a page/of a bed; to kill time)
(iii) cliché metaphors (at the end of the day)
(iv) standard metaphors (his wife wears the trousers)
(v) cultural metaphors (a knock for six (from cricket))
(vi) adapted metaphors (the ball is in their court now)
(vii) recent metaphors (wooden talk)
(viii) original metaphors (dribbling talks and trickling offers; ‘my wishes raced’)

Thornborrow and Wareing suggest the following types of metaphor, particularly in

literary discourse(1998: 99-110):

(i) explicit metaphors (she is the apple of his eye; the war will be hell)
(ii) embedded metaphors (moon-skulled; the cash machine ate his card)
(iii) anthropomorphic metaphors (or personification) (Tom and Jerry Cartoons)
(iv) pathetic fallacy (dark clouds; simple stars; tossing trees)
(v) mixed metaphors (a bottleneck strangles the traffic flow)
(vi) dead metaphors (the same as Newmark’s above)
(vii) metaphorical collocations (green with envy; green politics; bite the dust)
(viii) extended metaphors (as in the following example where Eliot compares ‘fog’ to
‘a cat’, a metaphor extending over the whole stanza: cat-metaphors
underlined):

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes,
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evenings,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap
And seeing it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
(T.S. Eliot: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock)

،‫النافذه‬
ْ ‫)ضباب أصفر يفرؾ ظيره عمى‬
،‫النافذه‬
ْ ‫دخاف أصفر يفرؾ أنفو عمى‬
،‫لعؽ لسانو في زوايا األمسيات‬
،‫تمدمد فوؽ البرؾ في مجاري المصروفات‬
‫ترؾ سخاـ المداخف يسقط عمى ظيرْه‬
‫مفاجئو‬
ْ ‫ وثب وثبة‬،‫انزلؽ قرب المنحدر‬
‫يفيو‬
ْ ‫ورأيتو في ليمة ىادئة خر‬
)‫برويو‬
ْ ‫ وخمد لمنوـ‬،‫يمؼ نفسو حوؿ المنزؿ لفة لولبية‬

80
Leech, on the other hand, proposes four notional classes of metaphor based on the
semantic relation between literal and figurative senses (1969):
(a) The Concretive Metaphor: attributes concreteness to an abstraction (e.g. a
vicious circle; room for negotiation).
(b) The Animistic Metaphor: attributes animate characteristics to the inanimate
(e.g. angry weather; the shoulder of the hill; the foot of the mountain; graves
yawn).
(c) The Humanizing (Anthropomorphic) Metaphor: attributes human
characteristics to what is not human (i.e. personification) (e.g. a smiling town; a
friendly tree; laughing rivers).
(d) The Synaesthetic Metaphor: transfers meaning from one domain of sensory
perception to another (e.g. vivid color; dull sound; bright voice; loud perfume).
(e) Extended Metaphor (see Eliot’s example of the metaphor of ‘Fog’ above, and
Winterson’s Misery Metaphor below);
(f) Compound Metaphor: consisting in the overlapping of two or more individual
metaphors of two different objects working on two different levels of meaning
with two vehicles and two tenors (e.g. two humanising metaphors used in the
same line of verse);
(g) Mixed Metaphor: a dead metaphor brought to attention artificially and
forcefully (e.g. ‘from the cradle to the bucket’; ‘the boot is on the other kettle
of fish’).

Black (2006: 103) suggests a pragmatic and cognitive approach to metaphor. She
agrees with Cooper (1986) that metaphor is a creative use of language and has a
social function in the first place. To her, the principal power of metaphor is to open up
new lines of thought, of original thinking. More so, she culturalizes metaphor which,
in order to be understood by readers, they have to share the same cultural
experiences, the ability to reason analogically, familiarity with the tradition of
metaphorical expressions. By appreciating the metaphor, readers demonstrate their
belonging to a certain sub-set of the human race. By this, she narrows down the
possible universality of metaphor. Black extends her discussion of metaphor to side
with Lakoff and Johnson (1980), Lakoff (1987), and Lakoff and Turner (1989), who
view metaphor as a part of the human cognitive system. So she perceives metaphors
as mainly conceptual, based on concepts (e.g. time is money, death is departure). The
conceptual/mental notion of metaphor brings us to the heart of the cognitive stylistic
view of metaphor.

In cognitive stylistics, however, metaphor has been reconsidered from a conceptual

point of view, as argued in the next subunit.

3.2.2.3 Cognitive Metaphor

A cognitive view of metaphor takes it not as a rhetorical by-product of objective

thinking, but as the basis of the human conceptual system. That is, metaphors may be
expressed in language accurately, for human thought processes are fundamentally

81
metaphorical. Here is a literary passage from a novel by Winterson to analyse
cognitively, and then translate (in Simpson, 2004: 145):

“Misery is a vacuum. A space without air, a suffocated dead place, the abode of the
miserable. Misery is a tenement block, rooms like battery cages, sit over your own
droppings, lie in your filth. Misery is a no-U-turns , no stopping road. .. . It happens so
fast that once you get started, there’s no anchor from the real world to slow you
down…. Misery pulls away the brackets of life leaving you free to fall. Whatever your
private hell, you’ll find millions like it in Misery….”
(Winterson: Written on the Body, 1993: 183)

The text is all in all metaphorical. It introduces a huge number of novel conceptualized
metaphors which might be unique. This uniqueness is featured out by having one
target domain, MISERY, which is mentally represented by diverse source domains, as
illustrated below:

Target Domain Source Domain

Misery is a vacuum
Misery is a space without air
Misery is a suffocated dead place;
Misery is the abode of the miserable;
Misery is a tenement block;
Misery is a no U-turns;
Misery is no stopping road;
Misery pulls away the brackets of life leaving … free to fall;
Misery is millions of hell.

This unique target domain is so powerful that several source domains have been
conceptualized out of it. Conceptualization has been presented mainly through
concretization (all metaphors but the first two), and abstraction (the first two
metaphors). Some of these source domains are based on terms of modernized life
such as ‘a tenement block’ (building tower blocks/informal housing culture); ‘no U-
turns’/‘no stopping road) (traffic culture) and ‘brackets of life’ (fixing tools).

On the other hand, some metaphors have been conceptually elaborated through
extension, making new concepts available for mapping. The metaphor ‘tenement
blocks’ is extended and elaborated by bringing into play individuated concepts within
it, such as rooms. Rooms are conceptualized further as battery cages, or prison cells.

Further metaphors can be chained, in the sense that a source domain from one
metaphor may itself be opened up to form a target domain for a series of sub-
metaphors that suggests new metaphorical mapping and conceptualization. The
following examples are chained well in Winterson’s text:

(1) Misery is a vacuum → A vacuum is a space without air →

82
 A space without air is a suffocated dead place → A suffocated dead place is the
abode of the miserable.

(2) Misery is a tenement block →Rooms like battery cages →

(In) battery cages you sit over your droppings, lie in your filth.

(3) Misery is a no-U-turns → No-U-turns have no stopping road→

A road where you travel down … in front → A road where you travel down it at
a furious speed … mummified in lead →
A furious speed that happens so fast … nothing to hold onto it.

Here is an Arabic creative version of translation which preserves the target domain of
the metaphor, MISERY, but constructs new source domains:

‫ بيوتػو كزن ازنػات‬،‫ البػؤس حػي لمفقػراء‬.‫ مرتػع البؤسػاء‬،‫ سرداب مظمـ مكظػوـ‬،‫ كوكب كمو ضباب‬.‫"البؤس سراب بس راب‬
‫ البػؤس يعنػي جػواالً خػارج التغطيػة ال‬.‫ وتنػاـ عمػى وقػع الجػرذاف والفئػراف‬،‫ حيث تعػيش بػيف مجػاري القػاذورات‬،‫السجف‬
‫ وتتعث ػػر‬،‫ تن ػػدفع إلي ػػو بتحػ ػريض م ػػف أولئ ػػؾ المتطفم ػػيف ال ػػذيف م ػػف حول ػػؾ‬.‫ جػ ػواالً م ػػف دوف رص ػػيد‬،‫يرس ػػؿ وال يس ػػتقبؿ‬
".‫اتصاالتؾ مف أولئؾ الذيف معؾ‬

The source domains of this version are different in type, not in label. Similar to the
source text labeling of the types of domains into general categorization of concrete,
abstract and so on, the target text has followed suit in this respect. Conceptualization
has been presented here mainly through concretization (all metaphors but the first
two), and abstraction (the first two metaphors). Some of these source domains are
based on terms of modernized life such as ‘a slum’) )‫( ) حيً فقيراء‬ghetto and informal
housing culture) )‫‘ ;(ثقافيية األحٌيياء الفقٌييرة‬a no-network-coverage mobile/a no-balance
mobile) )‫ جيوال مين دون رصيٌد‬/ ‫( ) ( جوال خارج التغطٌية‬mobile culture) )‫ ;(ثقافية الجيوال‬and ‘heart
pulse device’ )‫( (ج ياز نيبض القليب‬today’s medicine) )‫(ثقافية الطيب المعاصير‬. The next table is a
representation of the source domains in Arabic, translated back into English for
convenience of illustration and comparison with those of the first version. (For further
discussion, see Ghazala, 2011: ch.5).

3.2.3 Irony

Irony, the most difficult type of rhetorical style to realize, recognize and construct in
language – and, hence, in translation – is a method of humorous, sarcastic expression
in which the intended meaning of the words is the direct opposite of their sense” (e.g.
it is irony to call a stupid person ‘very clever’). It is alsoWales also defines it in the
same way (1989: 263). It is described by Newmark as “the most serious and powerful
weapon in satirical comedy and farce, particularly when used to expose pomposity
and deceit or to deflate self-importance” (1993: 132) Nash defines it simply as "it…says
what it does not mean and means what it does not say”. He considers it as a major
stylistic resort in humor (1989: 118 & 1985. See also Wales, 1989: 263).

83
A differentiation is made between three major kinds of irony: (1) dramatic/situational
irony (implications of a situation or expression understood by the audience, but not
understood by the characters in the play; (2) Socratic irony (pretence of ignorance in a
discussion to expose the ignorance of the opponent); and (3) irony of fate (pointed to
by Leech, 1969: 170) (adding insult to injury, so to speak).
Having established the basics of the concept of irony in language, we now can discuss
it not as a major stylistic problem of translation, but a rich source of cognitive
conceptualization of the writer/speaker’s mind. The translator is therefore required to
construct the style of irony in the target text in terms of mental conceptualization
suggested by the source text’s style. Irony is figurative at heart, so it should be
constructed in the same way that metaphors are constructed in terms of conceptual
domains, source domain, and target domain. If the cognitive source domain of irony
can be constructed in the same way in the target domain, it would be among the
universals in the field of translating from one text world into another different text
world.

There are different, types of irony. Here is an account of these types (for illustrative
examples and suggested translations into the target language, see Ghazala, 2011).

3.2.3.1 Types of Irony

(a) Contrastive irony: Discrepancy understood in contrast to what follows.

(b) Reactionary irony: involves a statement or a comment by an addresser and an
unexpectedly opposite reaction by an addressee.
(c) Litotes / understatement: an under-exaggeration that draws upon the
understatement of something which is, in actual fact, quite the contrary of
that.
(d) Hyperbolé: overstatement: an overexaggeration manipulated to give the
ironical sense of overstatement.
(e) Double entendre irony: a double reference: one negative, another positive.
Although it seems positive on the surface, it is intended by the speaker to be
negative by insinuation.
(f) Disguised Irony: The complex irony: a concealed irony that it is perhaps the
most intricate type to spot and construct in translation for it is not restricted
to one word or phrase, but scattered through the whole text. What adds to
this complexity is the cultural, philosophical, religious or intellectual
background of the text.
(g) Innuendo: The Strange irony: a special kind of depreciatory irony that draws
heavily on insinuation. The speaker appears to be positive, but means to be
negative. That is, he numbers another person’s merits, to imply his
outnumbered demerits. Put metaphorically, he points out the tip )‫(الغػيض‬, to
draw attention to the iceberg )‫(الفػيض‬. Here is an example left to the reader to
consider and see whether it is a praise, or a criticism of somebody:
‫َأيا كاتباً طاب فيؾ الرجاء‬
‫وطابت مساعيؾ والطاء خاء‬

84
 ‫كتبت الرواية والراء غيف‬
‫وكاف الثنا منؾ والثاء خاء‬
‫بمي كما قيؿ والغيف داؿ‬
‫خبير نعـ أنت والراء ثاء‬

‫أمير الصحافة والحاء الـ‬

‫سفير الثقافة والراء ىاء‬
‫يحؿ بمثمؾ عصر السبلـ‬
‫فيحيا بو الجيؿ والسف ظاء‬
‫وتسعى دؤوباً لنشر السطور‬
‫بأرض الفضيمة والطاء فاء‬
(www.ingdz.com/vb/archive/index)

Another example can be provided for further illustration ( in Ghazala, 2009):

"A Doctor of tea in the making!

Joseph is a disgustingly hard-working pupil. He is the unbeatable secondary school

failure candidate for ten years in a row now. Therefore, he deserves the nickname of
the master of the failing candidates, for he has a head above the rest in the number of
failures as well as a distinguished tea-maker!. For all that, he is the likely winner of the
despicable prize of utter failure and perhaps a Ph.D. candidate in tea making!"

!‫"مشروع دكتور تخصص شاي‬

‫ فيػػو فػػارس الرسػػوب الػػذي ال يُ َشػػؽ لػػو غبػػار فػػي الثانويػػة لمػػدة عشػػر‬.‫يعتبػػر جوزيػػؼ تمميػػذاً مجػػداً بشػػكؿ مثيػػر لمقػػرؼ‬
‫ لذا يستحؽ عف جدارة لقب شيخ فرساف الرسوب ألنو عمـ عمى رأسو نار بػيف سػائر زمبلئػو‬.‫سنوات عمى التوالي اآلف‬
‫ وليػػذه األسػباب مجتمعػػة؛ سػيكوف عمػػى األرجػػح الفػائز بالجػػائزة المشػػينة‬.‫بعػدد مػرات الرسػوب؛ وىػػو صػػانع شػاي بػػارع‬
"!‫ وربما المرشح لنيؿ درجة دكتوراه في صنع الشاي‬،‫لمفشؿ الذريع‬
This text cannot be mistaken for anything else but ironical for the following reasons:

(a) The title which is nonsensical if taken seriously )‫(مشروع دكتور تخصص شاي‬
(b) The use of the ironical phrases ‫ مشروع دكتور‬and ‫ تخصص شاي‬in the title.
(c) The exclamation mark in the title and at the end of text.
(d) The paradoxical adverb, 'disgustingly' )‫ (بشػكؿ مثيػر لمقػرؼ‬which stands in contrast
with hard-working.
(e) The unknown exaggerative combination, "unbeatable… failure candidate."
)‫(فارس الرسوب الذي ال ُيشؽ لو غبار‬
(f) The unusual nickname "master of failing candidates.")‫(شيخ فرساف الرسوب‬

85
 (g) The exaggerative expression, "a head above…failures" ‫مرات‬...‫(عمػـ عمػى أرسػو نػار‬
)‫الرسوب‬.
(h) The sarcastic phrase, "a distinguished tea maker" )‫(صانع شاي بارع‬.
(i) The winner of an unusual "despicable prize" )‫(جائزة مشينة‬
(j) The weird kinds of prize, "the despicable prize / prize utter failure."( / ‫جػائزة مشػينة‬
)‫جائزة الفشؿ الذريع‬
(k) Perhaps, the strangest Ph.D. in the world, "Ph.D. in Tea Making" ( ‫درجػة دكتػوراه‬
‫(في إعداد الشاي‬.

The style of irony is strongly present in literature. Writers use it to imply several
meanings and effects. One example from Charles Dickens’ novel, Hard Times is
translated and considered:
“You saw nothing in Coketown but what was severely workful. …All the public
inscriptions in the town were painted alike, in severe characters of black and white. The
jail might have been the infirmary, the infirmary might have been the jail, the town-hall
might have been either, or both, or anything else, for anything that appeared on the
contrary in the graces of their construction. Fact, fact, fact, everywhere in the material
aspect of the town; fact, fact, fact, everywhere in the immaterial… . Amen.”
(Charles Dickens' Hard Times, Chapter 5)

In this passage, the style of irony is more insinuated than made clear. Readers are
required to read carefully to trace the sense of irony here. We feel, upon a cursory
scanning, that there is a sense of bitterness and despair, with the touch of irony being
passed over. However, considerable investigation of the style of the extract would
unveil the traces of ironical insinuations. All things in the town, the jail, the infirmary,
the town hall and everything else is obscure – we do not know which is which. This
suggests a kind of bitter irony. Further, anything looks contrary to what it really is, thus
representing a severe ironical aspect of everything in Coketown. More explicitly, the
repetition of the word ‘fact’ abruptly, several times in a row, to mean quite the
opposite is a further indication of the ironical state of this miserable town. Ironically
enough, there is no one single fact in it, and all appearances, even the lying in hospital
and the cemetery, are anything but facts. ‘World without end’ also suggests a touch of
irony about this endless world of contradictions and frustrations that begins and ends
in Coketown.

Perhaps the most indelible evidence for the presence of the style of irony in this text is
the last word, ‘Amen’, the religious word which marks the end of a serious sermon or a
prayer in the church. However, here it marks the end of a sarcastic literary passage to
make it ironically look like a sermon or a prayer on the one hand, and to mock the
church’s sermons and prayers which are as hypocritical, non-realistic and nonsensical
facts as those of Coketown. More seriously, ‘Amen’ is ironical and critical of the whole
Christian religion and religious practices of the writer’s time, the Victorian Age. Hence
the following suggested version of the translation:

86
،‫ تمونػت كػؿ الكتابػات فػي المدينػة بمػوف واحػد‬... .‫("إنؾ لـ تر شػيئاً فػي مدينػة كوكتػاوف الميػـ إال الشػاؽ مػف األعمػاؿ‬
‫ أو كػاف المستوصػؼ ىػو السػجف؛ وربمػا كانػت‬،‫ ربمػا كػاف السػجف ىػو المستوصػؼ‬.‫وحروؼ كالحة باألبيض واألسود‬
،‫ حقيقػة‬.‫ ألف أي شػيء بػدا عمػى عكػس مػا أوحػى بػو حسػف مظيػره‬،‫ أو أي شػيء آخػر‬،‫دار البمدية أحدىما أو كمييما‬
. ...‫ فػي كػؿ شػيء غيػر مػادي فييػا حقيقػة‬،‫ حقيقػة‬،‫ حقيقػة‬،‫ حقيقػة‬،‫ في كؿ مكاف مادي لممدينػة حقيقػة‬،‫ حقيقة‬،‫حقيقة‬
)".‫آميف‬

To make the style of irony still more sharply felt, here is an alternative version of
translation which brings to the surface the writer’s ideological and political motives
and concepts, by reducing ironical insinuations to a minimum:

‫ كانػت كػؿ الكتابػات فػي المدينػة‬... .‫ الميػـ إال الشػاؽ مػف األعمػاؿ‬،‫"إنؾ لـ تر شيئاً فػي مدينػة كوكتػاوف عمػى حقيقتػو‬
‫ لػـ يكػف ىنػاؾ‬،ً‫ مػا كػاف السػجف سػجناً ومػا كػاف المستوصػؼ مستوصػفا‬.‫ وحروؼ كالحة باألبيض واألسود‬،‫بموف واحد‬
‫ أو‬،‫ػؼ‬
َ ‫ػجف أو المستوص ػ‬
َ ‫ أو كانػػت السػ‬،‫فػػرؽ بػػيف المستوصػػؼ والسػػجف؛ وربمػػا كان ػػت دار البمديػػة ليسػػت دار البمديػػة‬
‫ ال يوجػد حقيقػة فػي أي‬.‫ ألف أي شيء بدا عمى عكس مػا أوحػى بػو حسػف مظيػره‬،‫ أو ليست ىذا وال ذاؾ‬،ً‫كمييما معا‬
".‫شيء مادي أو غير مادي في المدينة‬

All facts are changed into no facts, as they are in reality. This has affected the original
negatively in more than one way. The style of irony is at the heart of the meaning of
the text. Therefore, missing it would have serious consequences on meaning in
translation. (More on irony is forthcoming throughout the examples of Chapters 4-6 of
this work).

3.2.4 Repetition vs. Variation

Lexical repetition is one of the richest rhetorical and stylistic features of literary texts
with respect to effects and implications. It can be a repetition of the same word,
phrase, or any grammatical or lexical structure a number of times in the same text. Or,
the same word may be repeated in different grammatical forms and places
throughout. Lexical repetition is, perhaps, the most employed by writers and the most
discussed feature of vocabulary in literary texts and style.

Variation, on the other hand, refers here to the words which are similar or identical to
the key word used deliberately to avoid the repetition of the same word. It is a
relationship of general synonymy aimed at preserving the meaning of the key word
and at the same time allegedly making it less boring.

In principle, repetition is one of the essential styles of rhetorical speech and writing
that all speakers, listeners, readers and writers use at will for diverse reasons to
produce various effects. This is not to say that repetition is of equal significance in all
types of text and discourse. Its importance varies from text to text. Generally,
describing repetition as boring, tedious and unnecessary should be dismissed as the

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exception, not the rule. This could be true of casual, unimportant conversation, and
when a summary of the contents of a text is aimed at. However, in religious and legal
texts, where a high degree of accuracy is demanded, or in literary texts, where
language is rhetorical and functional, attendance to the style of repetition is a must.
Even variation on repetition is dismissed as disruptive in effect in these texts, let alone
eliminating it.

Nash rightly argues that "We should distinguish, perhaps, between planned reiteration and
the lexical stammer of ungainly repetition"(1980: 48). In the Holy Koran, however, we have
the first type only, for no single word in it is unnecessary or redundant. The same applies to
the style of repetition in literature; all examples of literary repetition are rhetorical and
functional.

As to repetition in English, it can be as effective and functional as intended, and as ineffective

and non-functional as imagined. In English language and rhetoric there are over thirty types of
repetition (See Leech, 1969; Nash, 1980; Ghazala, 2000 and 2011 and others). Indeed
repetition in both languages, English and Arabic, is in general not a waste of time, not to
mention its highly functional and rhetorical use in the Language of the Holy Koran, then in
literary texts in particular.

To confirm the significance of the style of repetition, two major types of text are
exemplified here: the Holy Koran; and Literature. First, here are miscellaneous
examples from the Holy Koran:

(1) (Examples from The Holy Koran)

Repetition in the Holy Koran is a style of rhetoric used for emphatic, expressive, effective and
other functions. Once repetition occurs, it adds to meaning variably. To illustrate the point,
and to organize argument, repetition is discussed through the following points, followed by a
critical review of translating it into English:

(a) Repetition of warning and threatening:(e.g. ‫( القارعػة مػا القارعػة ومػا أدراؾ مػا القارعػة‬It is the
Striker. What is the Striker? What do you know of the Striker?)
(b) Drawing attention and counseling: (e.g. )...‫يػا قومنػػا أجيبػوا داعػػي اهلل‬...ً‫يػػا قومنػا إنػػا سػػمعنا كتابا‬
(Our people! we have really heard a scripture (the Koran…Our people! Respond to
the Caller of Allah…).
(c) Repetitive predicate as an emphatic refrain (e.g. / )‫ مػرة) (الػرحمف‬33(‫فبػأي آالء ربكمػا تكػذباف‬
(Then which of the bounties of your Lord do you both (jinn and mankind) deny?) (For
further functions of the rhetorical style of repetition in the Holy Koran, see also
Ghazala, 2009 and 2011).

Thus, the Holy Koran's style of repetition is understandably justified, and the English
readership is expected to appreciate it.

(2) (A Literary Example):

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 "Rain, rain all day, all evening, all night, pouring rain. Out in the country, over
field and fen and moorland, sweet-smelling rain, borne on the wind. Rain in London,
rolling along gutters, gurgling down drains. Street lamps blurred by rain. A policeman
walking by in a cape, rain gleaming silver on its shoulders. Rain bouncing on roofs and
pavements, soft rain falling secretly in woodland and on dark heath. Rain on London's
river, and slanting among the sheds, wharves and quays. Rain on suburban gardens,
dense with laurel and rhododendron. Rain from north to south and from east to west,
as though it had never rained until now, and now might never stop.
Rain on all the silent streets and squares, alleys and courts, gardens and
churchyards and stone steps and nooks and crannies of the city.
Rain. London. The back end of the year."
(Hill, The Mist in the Mirror, 1993: 9, (In Verdonk and Weber, 1995: 15-16)

We consider carefully the functions and effects of this painting of heavy, incessant rain
fall which is given in delicate details. The word 'rain' is repeated fifteen times probably
to shower down our ears unstoppably by way of resembling those incessant showers
of rain. More importantly, the writer would convey a message about the miseries,
mysteries, darkness, harshness and relentlessness of not only London, but the whole
society of the corrupt Victorian age, the time of writing the novel and its content.

Underpinning this repetition is the grammatical structuring of verb phrase, which is

marked by the absence of finite main verbs completely, and the abundant use of the
progressive non-finite '-ing' form of verbs. This suggests a marginalization of any action
other than rain fall, on the one hand, and the continual relentless state of heavy rain
and, in effect, the world of misery that cannot be brought to end, on the other.

Hence, a translation into Arabic is assumed to take all these implications into account
in the process of constructing the text's meaning in the target text. The following
version of translation might come close to such construction:

‫ عمػى المسػتنقعات‘ عمػى أرض‬،‫ فػوؽ الحقػوؿ‬،‫ بعيداً في الريػؼ‬.‫ مطر منيمر‬،‫ طواؿ الميؿ‬،‫مطر طواؿ اليوـ‬...‫(مطر‬
‫ يخرخ ػ ػػر ف ػ ػػي‬،‫ يتػ ػػدحرج ف ػ ػػي الميازيػ ػػب‬،‫ مط ػ ػػر فػ ػػي لن ػ ػػدف‬.‫ محمػ ػػوؿ م ػ ػػع ال ػ ػريح‬،‫ مط ػ ػػر زكػ ػػي الرائح ػ ػػة‬،‫اهلل الواسػ ػػعة‬
‫ والمطػػر يضػػيء بػػالموف الفضػػي عمػػى‬،‫ شػػرطي يتمشػػى فػػي ردائػػو الػواقي‬.‫غشػت أنػوار الشػوارع مػػف المطػػر‬،‫المصاريؼ‬
‫ مطػػر خفيػػؼ ييطػػؿ عمػػى اسػػتحياء فػػي الغابػػات وعمػػى األرض‬،ً‫ مطػػر يصػػب عمػػى السػػقوؼ واألرصػػفة صػػبا‬.‫منكبيػػو‬
‫ مطػر‬. ‫ ينحدر بػيف السػقيفات وأرصػفة التحميػؿ والتفريػ وأرصػفة المػوان‬،‫ مطر منيمر عمى نير لندف‬.‫البراح الظمماء‬
‫ وكػػأف‬،‫ مطػػر مػػف الشػػماؿ إلػػى الجنػػوب ومػػف الشػػرؽ إلػػى الغػػرب‬.‫عمػػى حػػدائؽ الضػواحي التػػي تعػػج بالغػػار والورديػػات‬
.ً‫ واآلف ربما لف تتوقؼ أبدا‬،‫السماء لـ تمطر مف قبؿ أبداً حتى اآلف‬
‫ والزوايػا والخبايػا‬،‫ ودرج الحجػر‬،‫ والحػدائؽ والمقػابر‬،‫ األزقػة والمبلعػب‬،‫ الشوارع والسػاحات‬،‫مطر عمى البقاع الصامتة‬
.‫في مدينة لندف‬
).‫ أواخر السنة‬.‫ لندف‬.‫مطر‬

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An alternative translation which aims at avoiding repetition may take up variation as a
better, less boring style. Here is a suggestion (variations are underlined):

‫ عمػى المسػتنقعات‘ عمػى أرض‬،‫ فػوؽ الحقػوؿ‬،‫ بعيػداً فػي الريػؼ‬.‫ ماء منيمػر‬،‫ طواؿ الميؿ‬،‫غيث طواؿ اليوـ‬...‫("مطر‬
‫ يخرخ ػػر ف ػػي‬،‫ يت ػػدحرج ف ػػي الميازي ػػب‬،‫ م ػػاء الس ػػماء ف ػػي لن ػػدف‬.‫ محم ػػوؿ م ػػع الػ ػريح‬،‫حي ػػا زك ػػي الرائح ػػة‬
َ ،‫اهلل الواس ػػعة‬
‫ والطػػؿ يضػػيء بػػالموف الفضػػي عمػػى‬،‫ شػػرطي يتمشػػى فػػي ردائػػو ال ػواقي‬.‫طػػر‬ ْ َ‫غشػػت أن ػوار الش ػوارع مػػف الق‬،‫المصاريؼ‬
‫ رذاذ خفيػػؼ ييطػػؿ عمػػى اسػػتحياء فػػي الغابػػات وعمػػى األرض‬،ً‫ وابػػؿ يصػػب عمػػى السػػقوؼ واألرصػػفة صػػبا‬.‫منكبيػػو‬
‫ روائػح‬. ‫ ينحدر بيف السقيفات وأرصفة التحميؿ والتفريػ وأرصػفة المػوان‬،‫ َن ْوء متساقط عمى نير لندف‬.‫البراح الظمماء‬
ِ ،‫ طَ ْفػػؿ مػػف الشػػماؿ إلػػى الجنػػوب‬.‫عمػػى حػػدائؽ الضػواحي التػػي تعػػج بالغػػار والورديػػات‬
،‫ورزؽ مػػف الشػػرؽ إلػػى الغػػرب‬
.ً‫ واآلف ربما لف تتوقؼ أبدا‬،‫وكأف السماء لـ تمطر مف قبؿ أبداً حتى اآلف‬
‫ والزوايػا والخبايػا‬،‫ ودرج الحجػر‬،‫ والحػدائؽ والمقػابر‬،‫ األزقػة والمبلعػب‬،‫ الشػوارع والسػاحات‬،‫ودؽ عمى البقاع الصػامتة‬
ْ
.‫في مدينة لندف‬
)".‫ أواخر السنة‬.‫ لندف‬.‫شتوي‬

The elimination of the repetitions of ‫ مطػر‬in favour of its variations has caused serious
damages to the target text. It has disrupted the source text's meanings and effects
drastically. The whole text is minimized to a mere search for the differences among
these synonyms, turning translation and interpretation into a dictionary-activity of
looking words up in dictionaries and references . In effect, the pivotal implications and
connotations of the repetitions of ‫ مطػر‬pointed out above have subsided. (See Chapter
Five later for further argument about this example).

3.2.5 Relationship of Synonymy

Synonymy is the sameness, or similarity of meaning. Synonyms are different words

which have either the same or very similar meanings. They are usually relatively
similar, which implies a percentage of difference. Collinson suggests a set of nine
principles for distinguishing relative synonyms (what he calls ‘apparent synonyms’)
(1939, in Ullmann, 1964: 142-3):
1. One term is more general than another: refuse – reject.
2. One term is more intense than another: repudiate – refuse.
3. One term is more emotive than another: reject – decline.
4. One term may imply approbation or censure where another is neutral: thrifty
– economical.
5. One term is more professional than another: decease – death.
6. One term is more literary than another: passing – death.
7. One term is more colloquial than another: turn down – refuse.
8. One term is more local or dialectal than another: Scots flesher – butcher.
9. One of the synonyms belongs to child-talk: daddy – father.

Two further features are proposed by Carter and McCarthy (1988: 29):

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 10. One synonym does not always collocate identically: ‘the class begins/starts’;
‘start a car’, not *‘begin a car’; ‘the world began’, not *‘the world started’.
11. One term does not fit in the same frame of syntactic restrictions of another:
‘his second book is not nearly as good as his first’. The use of almost instead
of nearly would change the meaning drastically.

I suggest two more dimensions of difference between synonyms in language:

12. One term belongs to technical terminology, another to popular: encephalon –

brain.
13. One term is more register-biased than another: defendant (legal) – accused;
begotten (religious) – born. (See also Ghazala, 2011: ch. 2).

These dimensions can be looked at as criteria for distinguishing between pairs or

groups of synonyms by way of confirming that absolute synonyms are probably not a
part of the origins of language. There must be at least a shade of difference between
two synonymous words on one dimension at least. That said, and as Carter and
McCarthy (ibid.) also argue, synonyms can be frequently interchangeable in a
particular context, what they call “local synonymy”. In practical use of language, this
type of synonymy is an important feature that is recurrently employed by language
users and in language learning and teaching in particular.

The important issue in stylistics in relation to synonymy is to find out to what effect it
is put in texts, and how it contributes to interpretation of these texts, especially
literary texts. Another stylistic dimension of synonymy is to consider whether words
are synonymous at the two levels of meaning, denotative and connotative. This can be
elaborated through the following example:

"…The jail might have been the infirmary, the infirmary might have been the jail, the
town-hall might have been either, or both, or anything else… . Fact, fact, fact,
everywhere in the material aspect of the town; fact, fact, fact, everywhere in the
immaterial. The M’Choakumchild school was all fact and the school of design was all
fact, and everything was fact between master and man were all fact, and everything
was fact between the lying-in hospital and the cemetery, and what you couldn’t state
in figures, or show to be purchasable in the cheapest market and salable in the dearest,
was not, and never should be, world without end, Amen."
(Charles Dickens: Hard Times)

The pattern of synonymy suggested by Dickens here is quite delicate and peculiar. The
lexical relationships created by some synonyms suggest at first sight a paradoxical
pattern which is normally not feasible. That is, an infirmary is not a synonym of jail, nor
a town-hall is synonymous with both or with either. More unusual is to regard
‘material’ a synonym of its opposite ‘immaterial’. These and other antonymic
synonyms interchange and have been made by Dickens to meet at one and the same
point, i.e. fact. Everything in life is fact. All these seemingly antonymous features are

91
synonymous facts. This is a sharp irony aimed at criticizing life and society in the
Victorian era, the era of Dickens’ living time, for understandably contrasts cannot be
synonymous but only parodically.

Sharper irony is exposed by the repetition of the word ‘fact’ several times in a row to
suggest a kind of satire that even facts themselves are a topic irony, as facts are in fact
not facts at all! Thus, facts are at the same time synonyms and antonyms of facts. It is
astonishing how elaborate this feat of style is made to express the absurdity,
corruption and paradoxicality of the Victorian society, materially as well as morally.
Amen’, the word that concludes supplication to God, is the sharpest word of irony (see
also the Chapters forthcoming).

3.2.6 Periphrasis: Elaborate Variation

Periphrasis is a statement or a phrase which uses more words than are necessary. It is
equivalent to redundancy, but periphrasis is usually associated with politeness, formal
or elevated styles of speech and writing. It is often characteristic of euphemism and
jargon, used to avoid unpleasant associations . I take periphrasis here to refer to a
style of planned, elaborate variation used to construct the same concept into different
creative concepts, be referential or metaphorical, to further our knowledge and
comprehension of a certain term, attitude or ideology (see also Nash, 1980). Thus,
periphrasis is a creative style that is more sophisticated and distinguished than the two
less formal notorious terms, redundancy and circumlocution, both of which imply a
reference to superfluity and unnecessary elongations of lexical and grammatical
structures for no good reasons (see Nash, 1980; Wales, 1989 and Ghazala 2011). Here
is Two examples are cited to illustrate this significant style of periphrasis in translation,
one rhetorical; another literary:

(1)

"Policemen are sorely beset in their traditional battle with the common criminal; now
they have another opponent and an increasingly dangerous one, the urban terrorist.
The ordinary ratepayer, alas, expects far too much of the everyday guardian of the law,
looking for security not only from practising hoodlum and housebreaker but also from
the theorist of violence who lives by the outrageous code of the bomb. The officer on
the beat, with all his competence and courage, is simply not equipped to meet this
threat. Apart from anything else, the force is undermanned. Every year sees fewer men
in blue, because the public will not urge the justice of paying them a wage that might
compensate for some of their dangers and hardships. As far as terrorism is concerned,
there might be a case for establishing a special force to deal with the politicized
enemies of society. …One fact is clear, however; if we really want our protectors of
public safety, in whatever form they come, we are going to have to pay for them."
(Nash, 1980: 53-4)

The major periphrastic phrases are:

92
 (a) policeman (the everyday guardian of the law; the protector of public safety;
the officer on the beat; the man in blue);
(b) the common criminal (practicing hoodlum and housebreaker);
(c) the urban terrorist (the theorist of violence; the politicized enemy of society);
(d) terrorism (the outrageous code of the bomb);

These variations on the first words represent enlightening constructions of newly

created concepts of them. The policeman, to start with, is reconstructed positively
as the guardian of law, the protector of people's security, the officer on the beat
who never tires and the man in his smart, lovely blue uniform. All these cognitive
representations of the policeman aim at adding to our information and knowledge
of the world in variant ways. This positive representation is an evaluative slant
that readers are earnestly invite to assume a positive, sympathetic attitude
toward policemen. By contrast, the common criminal and the urban terrorist are
represented quite negatively so that readers would take up a more intense
aggressive attitude against them, feeling yet more alarmed toward them. The last
ideological and political representation of the urban terrorist as 'the politicized
enemy of society' is ostensibly provocative, urging readers to take him as their
enemy. Terrorism is also represented disparagingly in modern terminology of a
bomb, the terrible explosive device of terrorists.

Readers are really enlightened by these periphrastic creative, cognitive, attitudinal

and political conceptualizations of the key words of the text. They represent
shrewd processes of persuasion by means of renaming, or cognitively,
reconstructing and reconceptualizing, the central function of periphrasis. Hence,
these periphrastic elaborative variations and their implications are cognitive
constructions of the stylistic choices made in the source text, that they have to be
constructed appropriately in the target text by the translator:

‫"ينتاب الشرطة القمؽ الشديد في معركتيا التقميدية مػع المجػرميف المعػروفيف؛ وىػي اآلف أمػاـ خصػـ آخػر يت ازيػد خطػره‬
‫ الكثي ػػر م ػػف حم ػػاة‬،‫ لؤلس ػػؼ الش ػػديد‬،‫ إذ يتوق ػػع دافػػع الضػ ػرائب الع ػػادي‬.‫ أال وى ػػو اإلرى ػػابي المتحض ػػر‬،‫يوم ػاً بع ػػد ي ػػوـ‬
‫ بػػؿ أيض ػاً مػػف‬،‫ ويتطمػػع إلػػى الشػػعور بػػاألمف ال مػػف السػػفاحيف ولصػػوص المنػػازؿ الممتينػػيف لئلج ػراـ فحسػػب‬،‫القػػانوف‬
‫المن أ‬
‫ ب ػػرغـ كفاءت ػػو‬،‫ إف ض ػػابط الش ػػرطة المن ػػاوب‬.‫ظ ػػر ع ػػف العن ػػؼ ال ػػذي يع ػػيش عم ػػى أنق ػػاض لغ ػػة القناب ػػؿ البغيض ػػة‬ َُ
‫ وفػي كػؿ سػنة يقػؿ‬.‫ قوات الشرطة المناوبة منقوصة العدد‬،‫ وقبؿ كؿ شيء‬.‫ غير مييأ لمواجية ىذا التيديد‬،‫وشجاعتو‬
‫ ألف العامػػة لػػف يحث ػوا القضػػاء عمػػى دفػػع أجػػور ليػػـ تعوضػػيـ عػػف بعػػض األخطػػار‬،‫عػػدد أصػػحاب الب ػزات الزرقػػاء‬
‫ ربمػػا ىنػػاؾ إمكانيػػة لتأسػػيس قػػوة خاصػػة لمتعامػػؿ مػػع أعػػداء‬،‫ أمػػا فيمػػا يتعمػػؽ باإلرىػػاب‬.‫والمشػػقة التػػي يتعرضػػوف ليػػا‬
‫ إذا مػا كنػا نريػد فعػبلً اإلبقػاء‬، ‫ ىنػاؾ حقيقػة واحػدة واضػحة وضػوح الشػمس وىػي‬،‫ عمػى أيػة حػاؿ‬.‫المجتمع المسيسػيف‬
".‫ عمينا أف نجزؿ العطاء ليـ‬،‫ بأي ىيئة يكونوف عمييا‬،‫عمى حماة أمننا العاـ‬

The key periphrastic variations are constructed as follows (they are juxtaposed with
the originals expressions):

93
 (a) policeman (the everyday guardian of the law; the protector of public safety;
the officer on the beat; the man in blue);
)‫(الشرطة (حماة القانوف؛ ضابط الشرطة المناوب؛ أصحاب البزات الزرقاء‬
(b) the common criminal (practicing hoodlum and housebreaker);
)‫(المجرموف المعروفيف (السفاحوف ولصوص المنازؿ الممتينوف لئلجراـ‬
(c) the urban terrorist (the theorist of violence; the politicized enemy of society);
)‫(المَنظر عف العنؼ؛ أعداء المجتمع المسيسوف‬
ُ ‫(اإلرىابي المتحضر‬
(d) terrorism (the outrageous code of the bomb);
)‫(اإلرىاب (لغة القنابؿ البغيضة‬

The concepts created by these variations are constructed in Arabic in a similar way for
their resemblance to them. ‫ أصػحاب البػزات الزرقػاء‬retains the colour 'blue' for there is no
specific cultural colour for Arab readers at large, for it might be blue, beige, black or
cream. New explorations of ideas are also created in Arabic by these periphrastic
variations. Therefore, we have here additions, modifications and contributions to our
cognitive experience and knowledge of reality and the world. It is not recommended,
then, to reduce them in any way.

(2)

"Mrs Grey sat on a hard chair in the corner looking – but at what? Apparently nothing.
She did not change the focus of her eyes when visitors came in. Her eyes had ceased to
focus themselves; it may be that they had lost the power. They were aged eyes, blue,
unspectacled. They could see, but without looking. She had never used her eyes on
anything minute and difficult; merely upon faces, and dishes and fields. And now at the
age of ninety-two they saw nothing but a zigzag of pain wriggling across the door, pain
that twisted her legs as it wriggled; jerked her body to and fro like a marionette. Her
body was wrapped round the pain as a damp sheet is folded over a wire. The wire was
spasmodically jerked by a cruel, invisible hand. She flung out a foot, a hand. Then it
stopped. She sat still for a moment.
In that pause she saw herself in the past at ten, at twenty, at twenty five. She was
running in and out of a cottage with eleven brothers and sisters. The line jerked. She
was thrown forward in her chair.
'All dead. All dead,' she mumbled. 'My brothers and sisters. And my husband gone. My
daughter too. But I got on. Every morning I pray to God to let me pass.'"
(Virginia Woolf's Old Mrs Grey. Fairely (1995). In Verdonk and Weber, 1995)

This text is charged with many significant implications, insinuations, effects, meanings,
images, feelings and emotions. Its style is unique patterned that every word,
conjunction and punctuation mark is hypersensitively functional and may say
something of importance, directly or indirectly, more sadly than happily. This prolific
richness of meanings and effects of the novels' narrative feel and intense emotion of
the writer might be justified yet more sharply by realizing the fact that this incident is
of an autobiographical nature both Woolf and her husband had actually paid a visit to

94
‫‪Mrs Grey), sketching Woolf's own emotions, actions and reactions in reality by‬‬
‫‪committing suicide, drowning herself in a river at the age of 59, thus deciding to‬‬
‫‪choose for herself the moment of her death (see also Fairely, 1995. In Verdonk and‬‬
‫‪Weber, 1995: Chapter 10). All these are good reasons to translate this passage into‬‬
‫‪Arabic in this cognitive stylistic background of the events, incidents, feelings, emotions‬‬
‫‪and mentality, as suggested below:‬‬

‫("جمسػت السػيدة ْجػراي عمػى كرسػي قػاس تنظػر –لكػف إلػى مػاذا؟ الظػاىر إلػى ال شػيء‪ .‬لػـ تغيػر نقطػة تركيػز عينييػا‬
‫حينمػػا كػػاف يػػأتي الػػزوار‪ .‬توقفػػت عيناىػػا عػػف التركيػػز‪ ،‬ربمػػا ألنيمػػا فقػػدتا القػػدرة عمػػى ذلػػؾ‪ .‬كانتػػا عينػػيف ىػػرمتيف‪،‬‬
‫زرقاويف مف دوف نظارة‪ .‬كاف بمقدورىما أف تريا‪ ،‬لكف مف دوف أف تنظرا‪ .‬لـ تستعمؿ عينييا قط لمنظػر إلػى أي شػيء‬
‫دقيؽ أو عويص‪ ،‬الميـ إال لمنظر في الوجوه واألطباؽ والحقػوؿ‪ .‬واآلف وىػي فػي سػف الثانيػة والتسػعيف لػـ تعػودا تريػاف‬
‫سػوى خػط متعػػرج مػف األلػـ وىػػي تتمػوى عبػر البػػاب‪ ،‬ألػـ كػاف يمػػوي رجمييػا كممػا انسػػؿ فػي جسػميا أو ىػزه إلػى األمػػاـ‬
‫والخمؼ كدمية متحركة‪ .‬لُؼ جسمُيا حوؿ األلـَ كما يَمؼ شرشؼ مبتؿ مطوي حبؿ الغسػيؿ‪ .‬ىُ ّػز الحبػؿ بشػكؿ متقطػع‬
‫بيد قاسية خفية‪ .‬فأطمقت السيدة جراي قدماً‪ ،‬فيداً‪ .‬ثـ توقؼ الحبؿ‪ .‬جمست ساكنة لمحظة‪.‬‬

‫فػػي تمػػؾ المحظػػة عػػادت بػػذاكرتيا ورأت نفسػػيا وىػػي فػػي العاشػرة‪ ،‬فػػي العشػريف‪ ،‬فػػي الخامسػػة والعشػريف‪ .‬كانػػت تجػػري‬
‫مف الكوخ تـ تعود إليو مع أحد عشر أخاً وأختاً‪ .‬اىتز الحبؿ‪ .‬فقُذؼ بيا إلى األماـ في كرسييا‪.‬‬

‫غمغمػت قائمػػة‪’ :‬كميػـ مػػاتوا‪ ،‬كميػػـ مػاتوا‪ .‬إخػػوتي وأخػواتي‪ .‬وزوجػي رحػػؿ أيضػاً‪ .‬وابنتػي أيضػاً ماتػػت‪ .‬وأنػا بقيػػت‪ .‬كػػؿ‬
‫صباح أدعو اهلل أف يميتني‪)".‬‬

‫‪Seemingly, this text has a number of redundancies that might suggest a boring style of‬‬
‫‪writing and content. A version of translation that eliminates these redundancies might‬‬
‫‪be proposed:‬‬

‫("جمسػػت السػػيدة ْجػراي عمػػى كرسػػي قػػاس تنظػػر إلػػى ال شػػيء‪ .‬لػػـ تحػػوؿ عينييػػا حينمػػا كػػاف يػػأتي الػػزوار‪ .‬ربمػػا فقػػدتا‬
‫القدرة عمى التركيز ألنيما ىرمتاف‪ .‬كانتا زرقاويف مػف دوف نظػارة‪ .‬لػـ تسػتعمؿ عينييػا إال لمنظػر فػي الوجػوه واألطبػاؽ‬
‫ػؼ جس ُػميا‬‫جسػميا كدميػة‪ .‬لَ َ‬ ‫والحقوؿ‪ .‬واآلف وىي في سف الثانية والتسعيف لػـ تعػودا تريػاف إال بصيصػاً مػف األلػـ يػرج َ‬
‫األل ػػـ كشرش ػػؼ يم ػػؼ حب ػػؿ الغس ػػيؿ‪ُ .‬ى ػ ّػز الحب ػػؿ ف ػػاىتزت‪ .‬توق ػػؼ فجمس ػػت س ػػاكنة لمحظ ػػة ع ػػادت فيي ػػا ب ػػذاكرتيا إل ػػى‬
‫طفولتيا‪ .‬كانت تمعب مع أحد عشر أخاً وأختاً‪.‬‬
‫غمغمت‪’ :‬كميـ ماتوا وزوجي وابنتي‪ .‬كؿ صباح أدعو اهلل أف ُيمحقني بيـ‪)"‘.‬‬

‫‪This is a truncated version of the source text. Many words and expressions have been‬‬
‫‪dropped. All minute details about the lady's eyes, and body's movements. This‬‬
‫‪translation has reduced the original almost by half, having dropped out all repetitions‬‬
‫‪and redundancies. For those readers who are concerned with superficial narrative‬‬
‫‪material events and episodes, it might be a good version. However, for serious, real‬‬
‫‪readers, who are the majority, this translation has destructive consequences on‬‬
‫‪Woolf's text. It represents a complete misunderstanding of the original. It is an‬‬

‫‪95‬‬
outcome of a superficial reading of a profoundly emotional and humane text. The
influential implicatures and effects of the style of repetition and redundancy of the
source text, which create an impressive world of emotions and sympathy with the Old
Lady, have sadly disappeared. This has disrupted the whole interpretive message of
the original.

Comparing these two hypothetical versions to those suggested above would illustrate
the many differences between them. Adding to those disruptions of implications just
pointed out above is the several deletions of indirect redundancies and cohesive
devices which in effect cause much ambiguity. Examples include:

-but at what? Apparently nothing‫لكف إلى ماذا؟ الظاىر إلى ال شيء‬

-She did not change the focus of her eyes when visitors came in. Her eyes had ceased
to focus themselves‫ ربما فقدتا القدرة عمى التركيز‬.‫لـ تحوؿ عينييا حينما كاف يأتي الزوار‬
- They could see, but without looking‫ لكف مف دوف أف تنظ ار‬،‫كاف بمقدورىما أف تريا‬
- She had never used her eyes on anything minute and difficult ‫لػـ تسػتعمؿ عينييػا قػط لمنظػر‬
‫إلى أي شيء دقيؽ أو عويص‬
- And now at the age of ninety-two they saw nothing but a zigzag of pain wriggling
across the door, pain that twisted her legs as it wriggled; jerked her body to and fro
‫ ألػـ كػاف يمػوي‬،‫واآلف وىي في سف الثانية والتسعيف لـ تعودا ترياف سوى خط متعرج مف األلـ وىػي تتمػوى عبػر البػاب‬
‫رجمييا كمما انسؿ في جسميا أو ىزه إلى األماـ والخمؼ‬
- spasmodically …by cruel invisible hand ‫بشكؿ متقطع بيد قاسية خفية‬
- ten, at twenty, at twenty five. She was running in and out of a cottage
‫ كانت تجري مف الكوخ تـ تعود إليو‬.‫ في الخامسة والعشريف‬،‫ في العشريف‬،‫في العاشرة‬
- She was thrown forward in her chair.‫فقُذؼ بيا إلى األماـ في كرسييا‬
-'All dead. All dead, my brothers and sisters'.‫ إخوتي وأخواتي‬.‫ كميـ ماتوا‬،‫كميـ ماتوا‬

All these details are missing from the second version, for they are allegedly
unnecessary. This turns it into some kind of summary, and a summary is of course not
a translation. Moreover, the reference of some words and pronouns have become
ambiguous (e.g. the reference of the pronoun of ‘‫ ’توقػؼ‬can be either to 'pain', or 'wire')
or loosely misleading (‘‫( ’طفولتيػا‬her childhood) could be a reference to her as a little
child of perhaps ten years old or so, but not necessarily to her when she was twenty or
twenty five). For all these reasons, this version of translation is clearly defective, and
'defame', as it were, the original text, minimizing it to a piece of writing, any piece of
writing. The redundancies and repetitions of Woolf's text is what makes its style really
different and distinguished. (See Chapter Five later for translating and discussing the
same text from a different perspective of literary vs. ordinary version of translation).

3.2.7 Relationship of Antonymy

96
. It is a lexical relationship between pairs of words that are Antonymy is a formal term
for oppositeness absolutely opposite one another, e.g. ‘come’ and ‘go’; ‘alive’ and
‘dead’; ‘off’ and ‘on’; ‘married’ and ‘single’; ‘true’ and ‘false’; ‘pass’ and ‘fail’; ‘open’
and ‘shut’, etc. They are described as complementaries. Any two opposite words of
this type cannot be used in one and the same context. Thus, it is not possible to
describe someone as ‘dead and alive’, or ‘married and single’ at the same time. When
this occurs, it may be described as a contradiction, or a paradox. Lexical opposites
which are gradable include: ‘easy’ vs. ‘difficult’; ‘good’ vs. ‘bad’; ‘hot’ vs. ‘cold’; ‘fast’
vs. ‘slow’, etc. (For more details see Leech, 1974; Palmer, 1976/1981; Lyons, 1977;
Cruse, 1986; Hofmann, 1993, Saeed, 2003, and others).

Our concern is how the lexical relationship of antonymy is employed by writers of

texts, literary texts in particular, as a significant feature of literary style in particular
that might bring about weighty effects and meanings. The term suggested here is
‘paradox’, which is taken in the sense of ‘contradiction’ as pointed out above. To
demonstrate some of these effects, here is an illustrative example from Shakespeare's
Play, Romeo and Juliet (see also Ghazala, 2011):

(Romeo responds to the feud between his family and Juliet’s)

Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love.

Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
Of anything of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness! Serious vanity!
Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
(Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)

The quotation is shrouded with contradictions and paradoxes. Here they are in
juxtaposition:

- hate vs. love

- brawling love vs. loving hate
- of anything vs. of nothing
- heavy lightness vs. serious vanity
- mis-shapen chaos vs. well-seeming forms
- feather of lead
- bright smoke
- cold fire
- sick health
- still-waking sleep

Apart from ‘hate’ and ‘love’, and ‘of anything’ and ‘of nothing’, which represent
antonymy in its normal sense, these contradictory pairs of antonyms are unique and

97
striking. Each pair combines two contradictory words that normally cannot be
tolerated by language rules or language users. How can love be brawling, or hate be
loving? Usually, ‘hate can be brawling’ and ‘love can be loving’.

Such contradictory words of ambivalent senses and concepts are not unexpected in
literary texts. Bringing them together is a well-established literary device known as
‘oxymoron’, used to realize significant stylistic implications. Among these implications
here on the part of Romeo is his sharp acumen, foreseeing future events that take
place later in the play. Later on, sleep becomes waking, lightness turns heavy, and
health becomes sick. Thus, these oxymorons of predictions, which were impossible to
conceive, have come true to become facts that have had their devastating
repercussions on both Romeo and Juliet. Another implication that has also come true
is the irony suggested by ‘brawling love’ and ‘loving hate’, that love between family
members would bring about fighting, hate and bloodshed between families. It is quite
ironic that love turns into hate because of Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other.

This love has brought them great joy and great sorrow (see also Thornborrow and
Wareing, 1998: 86). Juliet has taken a drug that has made her appear dead but from
which she has awaken, only to find Romeo really dead beside her in the grave. In such
an ambivalent, tragic context of irony, hate can become loving, and love may be
brawling. A further implication of Romeo’s style of contradictions is his state of despair
and exasperation, which is understandably normal in his case. At the same time,
seemingly irrational paradoxical concepts like these might suggest a sense of madness
on the part of the speaker, Romeo. However, apart from his madness of Juliet’s love,
Romeo can be anything but insane.

One more implication for these abnormal contradictions is their reflection of the
abnormal feud between the two families of Romeo and Juliet, whose cost has been
eventually paid by the tragic death of the two innocent lovers. Now, perhaps, we have
a reformulation of our cognitive conceptualization, perception and interpretation of
these paradoxical concepts in a new context of feud of brawling love and loving hate.

3.2.8 Expressivity: Literary and Rhetorical

Expressive meaning is used in semantics to mean 'affective' or 'emotive' meaning that

words evoke in users. It also refers to meanings which indicate the attitudes and
feelings of thee user. It is the type of meaning concerned with the speaker / writer's
feelings, emotions, behavior or / and attitude rather than to what words refer to
(Baker, 1992: 13).Expressive linguistic devices are affective,or conative in as much as
they trigger a response in the readers/listeners. Leech's expressivity principle is a
feature of the text's rhetoric (1983). Lyons' expressive fuction of language aims at
identifying the speaker's feelings of personality (1977). To Searle, expressivity is a type
of utterance in which speakers express their feelings and attitudes to the state of
affairs at issue (see Wales, 1989).

98
I take expressivity (or expressiveness) to be not only a form of rhetorical, metaphorical
style, but also as a precindition for describing a literary translation as 'literary', for
literature is mainly about people's feelings, emotions and attitudes of different types.
Expressivity here is a style of constructing personal views, emotions, feelings, attitudes
and ideologies adopted by translators and target readers in translation for achieving
specific functions of effectiveness for specific reasons and motives. Expressive style is
used commonly in literary texts, but it is not restricted to them when used only
necessarily. Following are examples that can be added to those of collocations above
and many others forthcoming in the next Chapters of this work.

English Expressive Language Ordinary Language

1. “I swear”
‫وأيـ اهلل‬ )‫أقسـ (باهلل‬
2. “he is in trouble” ‫ادليمت بو الخطوب‬ ‫ىو في ورطة‬
3. “proud ِ
‫صمؼ‬/‫متغطرس‬ ‫متكبر‬
4. “habit” ‫ديدف‬ ‫عادة‬
5. “slowly” ‫بتؤدة‬ ‫ببطء‬
6. “pleased” ‫ طاير مف الفرح‬/ ‫مغتبط‬ ‫مسرور‬/‫سعيد‬
7. “tired” ‫خائر القوى‬ ‫متعب‬
8. “he killed a snake” ً‫أصاب مف أفعى مقتبل‬ ‫قتؿ أفعى‬
9. “request” ‫يييب بػ‬ ‫يرجو‬
10. “leave me alone” ‫اغرب عف وجيي‬ ‫اتركني لوحدي‬
11. “disgusting” ‫مثير لمتقزز‬/‫مقزز‬ ‫مثير لمقرؼ‬/‫مقرؼ‬
12. “she felt sad” ‫بم الحزف منيا مبمغ ًا‬ ‫شعرت بالحزف‬
13. “poor ‫عو ِاز‬
َ ‫م‬/‫ز‬
ُ ‫أع َو‬
ْ ‫فقير‬
14.“rude” )‫ فظ (غميظ القمب‬/ ‫صفيؽ‬ ‫وقح‬
15. “pale face
‫وجو ُم ْكفَ ِي ّر‬ ‫وجو شاحب‬
16. "She's hungry" ً‫تتضور جوعا‬ ‫ىي جائعة‬
17. "I am so sad" ً‫بم الحزف مني مبمغا‬ ً‫أنا حزيف جدا‬
18. "Debts worried him ‫أقضت الديوف مضجعو‬ ‫أقمقتو الديوف‬
19. "They arrived in London ‫انتيى بيـ المطاؼ في لندف‬ ‫وصموا إلى لندف‬
20. "He fell in love" ‫اكتوى بنار الحب‬ ‫ وقع في الحب‬/ ‫أحب‬

The list can be very long indeed. The expressive choices are recurrently allowed in
expressive texts like literary texts. Otherwise, and when used unnecessarily and
pompously for miconceieved reasons of misplaced exaggeration or rhetoric,
expressivity turns to be pejoratively described ad "a show-of-muscles' style" (see
Ghazala, 2008/2012d for further details on the last point).

99
In conclusion to this subsection on rhetorical expressivity, some grammatical and
lexical features of language are provisionally suggested to demonstrate features of
expressivity in language:

(a) The use of intensifiers (e.g. very, much, so, so much , a great deal, a lot of,
etc.).
(b) The use of intensifying adjectives(big, huge, fantastic, great, astonishing,
exciting, etc.
(c) The use of intensifying adverbs of manner (e.g. greatly, deeply, fully,
excessively, astoundingly, etc.).
(d) The use of adverbs of certainty(e.g. absolutely, definitely, categorically,
certainly, bluntly, etc.
(e) The use of exclamatory sentences(e.g. What a goal!)!‫ ;(يػا لػو مػف ىػدؼ‬What a
beautiful child!)!‫ما أجمؿ ىذا الطفؿ‬/‫(ما أجممو مف طفؿ‬.
(f) The use of amplifications (e.g. The use of 'thousands' instead of 'hundreds'; 'it
takes ages' instead of 'it takes a long time'; the use of phrases like 'everybody/
all of them/men and women))‫عف بكػرة أبييػػا‬/ً‫ (قاطبػة‬in the following example:
'Many people of the town went out to receive the president' ‫(خرجػت المدينػة عػف‬
)‫( بكرة أبييا الستقباؿ الرئيس‬instead of )‫عدد كبير مف الناس‬/‫كثيروف‬/‫(كثير مف الناس‬.
(g) The use of the expressive, effective language of rhetoric (e.g.
idioms/proverbs, collocations, figures of rhetoric/figures of speech like
metaphor, pun, metonymy, word play, imagery etc. See the previous section
on vocabulary for examples).
(h) The use of rhetorical figures of exaggeration (e.g. tautology, pleonasm,
redundancy, litotes, hyperbole, synecdoche, etc.).
etc.

Throwing light on these means of achieving expressivity in language in general, and in

literature in particular can be quite helpful to the students, sharpening their sensitivity
to language and style, especially literary style in literary translation, emotionally,
rhetorically, structurally and functionally.

3.2.9 Ambiguity

Ambiguity is a central feature of literary texts. A word or an expression is described as

ambiguous when it has more than one interpretation. It is one of the universal
language features, for it is common to all languages (Wales, 1989). To Newmark, it is a
word or a syntactic structure which has more than one meaning in context or in spite
of it. ‘Vagueness’ and ‘obscurity’ are parts of ambiguity for they can be reduced to it.
He points out seven types of ambiguity in translation (i.e. grammatical, lexical,
pragmatic, cultural, idiolectal, referential and metaphorical) (1988: 218-20). The most
prominent and recurrent are the following three types: the grammatical, the lexical
and the metaphorical (see also Wales, 1989).

100
I hold Boase-Beier’s view that, in a cognitive translation approach to literary ambiguity:
the translator focuses not so much on the ambiguity of the word itself as on the
ambiguous concept this word suggests (2006: 121). Usually, the style of ambiguity in
literary texts and translation is used intentionally by the ST writer. Therefore, it has to
be retained in the TL translation to match the same implications and functions of the
original. Perhaps there are translators and translation theorists who might claim that it
is the job of the translator to clear up ambiguity. Certainly not; the SL writer could
have clarified everything, but he has opted for ambiguity.

In principle, certain texts, especially religious, humorous, literary, political and

advertising texts, have proportional potentials being ambiguous, implying more than
one possible interpretation. Here are two examples, one rhetorical; another literary:

(1)

"I'm not superstitious, but I don't believe in flouting superstition either. I walk under
ladders when walking round them would mean stepping in front of a bus, but when the
choice is less drastically governed I've no objection to going a yard or two out of my
way. I see no harm in picking up pins (but not on the Tube in the rush hour) and I knock
on wood quite regularly, even though our plastic times are making wood ever less
available for knocking on. In fifty years, I suppose, we shall be knocking on polyvinyl."
(Nash, 1980: 137)

)1(
‫ أنػػا عمػػى اسػػتعداد أف أمشػػي تحػػت السػػبللـ حينمػػا‬.‫ لكننػػي ال أومػػف بالخ ارفػػات السػػاخرة‬،‫("أنػػا لسػػت مؤمن ػاً بالخ ارفػػات‬
‫ ال مػانع عنػدي مػف أف أخػػرج‬،‫ ولكػف عنػدما ال تكػوف الخيػارات صػعبة‬،‫يكػوف المشػي حوليػا يعنػي الوقػوؼ أمػاـ حافمػة‬
‫ وأنقػر‬،)‫ ال بأس عندي مف التقاط الدبابيس (لكف لػيس فػي قطػار األنفػاؽ وقػت الزحػاـ‬.‫خطوة أو خطوتيف عف طريقي‬
‫ بعػد خمسػيف‬.‫ حتى لو كاف زماننا زماف الببلستؾ يجعؿ مف الخشب عممػة نػادرة لننقػر عميػو‬،‫عمى الخشب بشكؿ دائـ‬
)".‫سنة مف اآلف أظف أننا سوؼ ننقر عمى ببلستيؾ البوليفيميف‬

)2(
‫ أنػػا مسػػتعد لتجشػػـ المخػػاطر حينمػػا يعنػػي تجنبيػػا الوقػػوع فػػي‬.ً‫ وال ممػػف يتخػػذونيا ىػػزوا‬،‫("أنػػا لسػػت مػػف أىػػؿ الخ ارفػػات‬
‫ وال أرى بأسػاً فػي فعػؿ‬.ً‫ ال أمانع مف التحوؿ عف مسار حياتي الطبيعي قمػيبل‬،‫ لكف عندما ال أكوف في خطر‬.‫الميالؾ‬
‫ وأثبػػت عمػػى الحػػؽ وأتمسػػؾ بالثوابػػت والقػػيـ حتػػى فػػي زماننػػا‬.‫ لكػػف لػػيس حينمػػا تحػػدؽ بيػػا األخطػػار‬،‫صػػغائر األمػػور‬
‫ بعػد خمسػػيف عامػاً مػػف اآلف سػيكوف وضػػعنا خطيػ اًر وشػ اًر مسػتطي اًر وأسػوأ بكثيػر مػػف‬.‫زمػاف المياعػة والتحمػػؿ مػف القػػيـ‬
)".‫المياعة والتحمؿ‬

Although the two translations are feasible, they are obviously different in several ways.
(1), on the one hand, preserves the entertainer's style of ambiguity. The speaker's
humorous hints are made through metaphorical insinuations intended to be perceived

101
by readers either literally, or symbolically, or both. This might result in ambiguity of
style and content. However, the first translation has retained this tone of ambiguous
interpretation and, by so doing, has reflected the style of the entertainer of the
original in Arabic.

Translation (2) on the other hand, has a different approach to stylistic tone and
purpose. The source text's style of insinuative ambiguity has been made explicit in the
target text. Nothing has been left ambiguous as illustrated in the following table:

 I walk under ladders (‫)أنا مستعد لتجشـ المخاطر→ أنا عمى استعداد أف أمشي تحت السبللـ‬
 when walking round them would mean stepping in front of a bus ( ‫حينمػا يكػوف‬
‫)حينما يعني تجنبيا الوقوع في الميالؾ → المشي حوليا يعني الوقوؼ أماـ حافمة‬
 but when the choice is less drastically governed I've no objection to going a
yard or two out of my way ( ‫ ال مانع عندي مف أف أخرج‬،‫ولكف عندما ال تكوف الخيا ارت صعبة‬
‫ ال أمانع مف التحوؿ عف مسار حيػاتي →خطوة أو خطوتيف عف طريقي‬،‫لكف عندما ال أكوف في خطر‬
ً‫)الطبيعي قميبل‬
 I see no harm in picking up pins (‫وال أرى بأسػاً فػي فعػؿ → ال بأس عندي مف التقاط الدبابيس‬
‫)صغائر األمور‬
 (but not on the Tube in the rush hour) ()‫لكػف → (لكف لػيس فػي قطػار األنفػاؽ وقػت الزحػاـ‬
‫)ليس حينما تحدؽ بيا األخطار‬
 and I knock on wood quite regularly (‫وأثبػت عمػى الحػؽ → وأنقػر عمػى الخشػب بشػكؿ دائػـ‬
‫)وأتمسؾ بالثوابت والقيـ حتى في زماننا زماف المياعة والتحمؿ مف القيـ‬
 even though our plastic times are making wood ever less available for
knocking on (‫وأثبت → حتى لو كاف زماننا زماف الببلستؾ يجعؿ مف الخشب عممة نادرة لننقر عميو‬
‫)عمى الحؽ وأتمسؾ بالثوابت والقيـ حتى في زماننا زماف المياعة والتحمؿ مف القيـ‬
 In fifty years, I suppose, we shall be knocking on polyvinyl ( ‫بعد خمسيف سنة مف اآلف‬
‫بعد خمسيف عاماً مف اآلف سيكوف وضعنا خطي اًر وش اًر → أظف أننا سوؼ ننقر عمى ببلستيؾ البوليفيميف‬
‫)مستطي اًر وأسوأ بكثير مف المياعة والتحمؿ‬.

All metaphorical domains and concepts have been transposed and constructed
completely as direct domains and concepts that state everything in clear terms, thus
avoiding all ambiguous insinuations. The overall entertainer's style of the source text
has been partly changed into a less sardonic, more serious and emotional tone than
the first translation above. The choice between (1) and (2) is the reader's.

(2)
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the
age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the
season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the
winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us”.

102
 (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities)

Towards the end of this text, we understand that we have ‘nothing before us’.
Everything is countered, encountered and nullified by its opposite. Yet, a more careful
reading of this style of paradoxes would suggest the unusual co-existence of pairs of
ambivalent situations that cannot meet at one and the same time. Or, they are
brought in an unusual way, face to face, in a clash that brings about the re-conception
of neutralizing their effect to become a zero effect:

-the best of times → ╫ ←the worst of times

-the age of wisdom → ╫ ←the age of foolishness
-the epoch of belief → ╫ ←the epoch of incredulity
-the season of Light → ╫ ←the season of darkness
-the spring of hope → ╫ ←the winter of despair
-everything before us → ╫ ←nothing before us
Figure 3: Congrous relationships of antonymy
(The inside arrows pull antonyms in to meet at a clashing point)

It is not clear which way to go. Perhaps everything in life has come to a halt and has
been struck by paralysis. The feeling of despair is everywhere and in everything. Yet,
perhaps hope is embedded in this condition of ambiguity, frustration and despair,
which has hopefully come to an end to make way for a new era of hopefulness.

In any case, ambiguity is unique here. It is neither referential nor semantic nor
connotative. It is an ambiguity of oxymoron and ambivalence of pairs of contrastive
concepts that normally cannot be perceived as quite ostensible. We all know that
something can be black or white, or at one time black and at another time white, but
not simultaneously black and white. The well-known English phrase ‘in black and
white’ means ‘in extremes’ (Collins English Dictionary, 2000). So, how can extremes co-
exist? And how can something be both at the same time? Thus, ambiguity lies in the
inconceivability of extremes living together. Yet, this can be conceived and perceived
in fiction as ‘fictional reality’. Further, the environment where extremes in contention
are made to co-exist in such way is given unusual emphasis and conceptualization that
has to be dwelt upon considerably. The Arabic translation preserves the same style
and conceptualization of the environment of the original:
)1(
‫ كػاف حقبػة‬،‫ كػاف حقبػة الصػدؽ‬،‫ كػاف عصػر الحماقػة‬،‫ كػاف عصػر الحكمػة‬،‫ كاف أسػوأ األزمػاف‬،‫( "كاف أفضؿ األزماف‬
‫ مػػا‬،‫ ممكنػػا كػػؿ شػػيء بػػيف أيػػدينا‬،‫ كػػاف شػػتاء اليػػأس‬،‫ كػػاف ربيػػع األمػػؿ‬،‫ كػػاف فصػػؿ الظػػبلـ‬،‫ كػػاف فصػػؿ النػػور‬،‫الكػػذب‬
)".‫ممكنا شيئاً بيف أيدينا‬

This version is concerned with the preservation of the fictional conceptualization of the
style of the original in the target text, for it is conceivable to have such ambivalent
situations in our daily life. Many of us sometimes feel that opposing concepts, feelings,
emotions, ideologies and attitudes may co-exist at one and the same time. Whether
we like it or not, we have to live with that. As a matter of fact, this is life.

103
To alleviate ambiguity resulting from describing time contentiously, another creative
interpretation of these co-existing concepts in contention is to understand them in a
context of alternation. That is, each two extremes occur alternately rather than
simultaneously. Sometimes, they may intersect but only exceptionally:
)2(
‫ كػػاف ذاؾ العصػػر عصػػر الحكمػػة‬.‫ لكنػػو كػػاف أسػوأىا فػػي أشػػياء أخػػرى‬،‫( "كػػاف ذاؾ الزمػػاف أحسػػف األزمػػاف فػػي أشػػياء‬
‫ بيػد أنيػا فػي الوقػت ذاتػو كانػت‬،‫ كانػت تمػؾ الحقبػة حقبػة الصػدؽ‬.‫ لكنو كاف أيضاً عصر الحماقػة والحمقػى‬،‫والحكماء‬
‫ إال إنػو‬،‫ كػاف ذاؾ الربيػع ربيػع األمػؿ‬.‫ غيػر أنػو كػاف أيضػاً فصػؿ الظػبلـ‬،‫ كاف ذاؾ الفصؿ فصػؿ النػور‬.‫حقبة الكذب‬
‫ لكػف أيػدينا كانػت أيضػاً خاويػة مػف أي شػيء‬،‫ لقػد كػاف كػؿ شػيء بػيف أيػدينا آنػذاؾ‬.‫كاف في الوقت نفسو شتاء اليػأس‬
‫ لقػػد ذقنػػا حػػبلوة‬.‫ فمػػا عرفنػػا خيػره مػػف شػره‬،‫ حرنػػا فيػػو‬،‫ لقػػد كػػاف زمػػاف العجايػػب والمتناقضػػات‬،‫ يػػا لػػذاؾ ال زمػػاف‬.‫آنػػذاؾ‬
)".‫ وتجرعنا م اررة شره‬،‫خيره‬

The expressions used to indicate alternation include ‫ فػػي أشػػياء أخػػرى‬/ ‫( فػػي أشػػياء‬with
respect to some things/with respect to other things). The contrastive connector ‫لكػف‬
(but) is used with variations at the head of the second clause of each pair to
demonstrate the paradoxical relationship between them and the fact that it is not
normal for them to co-exist. However, the two phrases ‫ فػي الوقػت نفسػو‬/ ‫( فػي الوقػت ذاتػو‬at
the same time) are used toemphasize the abnormal simultaneous survival of
adversative situations. At the end of the translation, commenting expressions are
appended by way of putting these adversary pairs of situations in their context of
unusual setting.
To clarify and at the same time clear ambiguity, an outline of the implications of the
English original can be suggested as follows:

‫ لقػد‬.‫ فمػا عرفنػا خيػره مػف شػره‬.‫ حرنػا فيػو‬.‫ كػاف زمػاف المتناقضػات‬.‫"يا لذاؾ الزماف! لقد كاف زماف العجايػب والغ ارئػب‬
".‫ وتجرعنا م اررة شره‬،‫ذقنا حبلوة خيره‬

This is a summary of the contents rather than a translation. However, it is not wise to
disambiguate ambiguous style, or else a significant function that can be crucial to the
whole statement or speech in question. Thus, ambiguity is intentional and functional,
and recommended for good reasons in this literary text.

3.2.9 Syntactic Elaboration: Foregrounding and Backgrounding

These two stylistic features are used frequently in literary texts for more specific
functions and effects. Foregrounding, to start with, is also called fronting, linguistic
prominence, salience, or deviation from language norms, both grammatically and
lexically in particular. In other words, foregrounding involves a change of grammatical
word order, such as starting a verbal sentence in Arabic with the subject to become
the topic; or the start of an English sentence with the object rather than the subject,
and so on. A semantic feature of foregrounding is the employment of unusual, or

104
deviant, word combinations or concepts. Examples include: 'mad madness')‫(جنػوف مجنػوف‬
(normally: 'raving / serious madness')‫)(جنػػوف خطيػػر‬, 'explosive temper')‫(م ػزاج انفجػػاري‬
(normally: 'bad temper')‫)(م ػزاج معكػػر‬, 'flowery faces' )‫( (وجػػوه ورديػػة‬normally: ' bright
faces' )‫ متػػوردة‬/ ‫)(وجػػوه مش ػرقة‬, 'disgusting beauty' )‫( (جمػػاؿ مقػػرؼ‬normally: 'fascinating /
exquisite beauty' )‫ فتػػاف‬/ ‫)(جمػػاؿ أخػػاذ‬, 'smiling trees' )‫( (أشػػجار ضػػاحكة‬normally: 'smiling
faces')‫' ;(وجػػوه ضػػاحكة‬evergreen/big/small/shady trees' / ‫كبيرة‬/‫ خض ػراء‬/ ‫(أشػػجار دائمػػة الخض ػرة‬
‫ ظميمػة‬/ ‫))صػغيرة‬, etc. Such deviant collocations and concepts are tolerated in literature as
foregrounded features of creativity in literature

Foregrounding is one of the major universals in language and translation. It can be

understood as some kind of unusual emphasis, or deviant use of a linguistic feature for
reasons of making it more prominent than other features among other things. Other
reasons for employing it is the change of focus in a sentence from something to
something else, which in turn triggers other points about the foregrounded item(s).
Besides that, foregrounding can be used for achieving sound features and effects like
rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, foot and parallelism, especially in poetry and, occasionally
in narrative. In cognitive approaches to translation, foregrounding can be defined as
the notion of a text, or a structure of language that draws attention to itself, which
involves a mental power that is aimed at influencing meaning in some way.

Thus, foregrounding seems to stand in contrast to naturalness, smoothness and

neutrality (see also Venuti, 1996). This is quite normal in literary texts where many
elements of language and literary translation may not necessarily seem natural,
smooth or neutral for special reasons in literature in particular, including creativity,
novelty, inventiveness and emphasis, among other things.

Backgrounding, on the other hand, is the opposite of foregrounding. That is, while the
latter is a front shift of back structures and words, the former is back shift of front
structures and words. It take a subject, a verb or any other front item from its front
position back to the end of the sentence. Like foregrounding, backgrounding is
employed in literary texts on a large scale for achieving several functions and rhetorical
implications of emphasis, realization of sound features and effects of rhyme, rhythm,
prose rhyme, alliteration and so on, but perhaps more effectively creation of
originality, expressiveness and impressiveness, yet sharper than those created by
foregrounding. It is more frequent in Arabic rhetoric, oration and literature and, above
all, the Holy Koran than English. A variety of examples can be traced in the next three
chapters of this book.

3.2.10 The Main Clause Structure

A main clause is the clause that contains the main/lexical verb of the sentence. It is
also called a finite clause that includes the finite verb of a sentence. Besides that, a
main clause can stand alone, and when it does, it tends to be short and crisp. The

105
structure of the main clause is discussed from a stylistic perspective through the
following narrative passage:

(in Wright and Hope, 2003: 127-8)

"Someone said 'Sh'! and Gracie's eyes again sought the screen. The Indians were driven
off, a hearty prayer was said by all, and the fields were expeditiously plowed for corn.
Then, to Cracie's astonishment, the whole scene began to change. The suburban plain
disappeared, and one of the covered wagons faded before her eyes into a handsome
limousine. From the limousine stepped out a modern young girl in a fur coat with hat to
match. It was none other than Miss Virginia Blue Ribbon, the pretty daughter of the
owner of the Blue Ribbon store. Gracie stared. Was the pioneer part over, she
wondered- in less than fifteen minutes? And what did this limousine have to do with
the picture?" (Zelda Fitzgerald, Our Own Movie Queen: p. 284)

This text is a description of the effect of a person watching a moving picture in the
early days of silent cinema. The writer uses a series of generally short main clauses.
She uses the coordinate connector of addition, and, adjectives and prepositional
phrases "to mitigate the starkness of …contiguous clauses", as Wright and Hope
suggest (ibid.: 131-132). They conclude that the string of main clauses suggests rapidly
changing action, which echoes the flickering speed of early silent films. Indeed, such
juxtaposition of a series of main clauses may imply that there is no time or space for
slow subordination and elaboration of modification. All that is required is a style of
clausing that precipitates the easy-going flow of watching the pictures of the film, by
means of using fluent, uninterrupted, uncomplicated and lucid continuum of main
clauses. The primary concern here is to keep watching and going through the plot to
catch up with the contiguous astonishing events of suspense and what happened next,
to get hold of the climax and the end eagerly and impatiently.

Heightening this atmosphere of wonder and suspense still further is the disruption of
the normal word order of some clauses and sentences such as: 'From the limousine
stepped out a modern young girl …', where prominence is given to the backgrounded
subject, or in transitivity terms, Actor (see below), the fancy lady. Suspense is reflected
by fronting 'from the limousine' to arouse viewer's curiosity to wait impatiently for the
character who is going to emerge from the limousine. When she emerged, she was
who else but Miss Virginia Blue Ribbon, the pretty daughter of the owner of Blue
Ribbon store! The point of focus, then, is underpinned mainly by the fluent structure of
short main clauses and coordination of addition.

3.2.10.1 Coordination vs. Subordination

"I came in over the Pole and we were stacked up for nearly twenty minutes in a holding
circuit round London before they could find us a runway and then we had to wait for a
bottle-neck on the ground to get itself sorted out and all we could do was stare through
the windows at the downpour and that didn't help.

106
… There was a long queue in No. 3 Passenger Building and I was starting to sweat
because the wire had said fully urgent and London never uses that phrase just for a
laugh; then a quietly high-powered type in sharp blue civvies came up and asked who I
was and I told him and he whipped me straight past Immigration and Customs without
touching the sides and told me there was a police car waiting and it was nice weather
in Tokyo." (Adam Hall, The Tango Briefing, pp. 7-8)

Coordination is domineering here. The simple coordinate connector, 'and', (i.e.

syndetic coordination) is the only one used throughout. It is a fluent, sequential type of
coordination that causes to interconnect equally balanced clauses and phrases (which
are eventually conceptualized ideas) uninterruptedly. Each clause flows into the
subsequent one in a linear narrative ordered by the rapid passage of time. This kind of
syntactic structuring of coordinative clauses reflects some kind of haste and urgency
on the part of the speaker who is in a hurry, rushing to a climax, "an effective opening
for a thriller", as Wright and Hope (2003: 139) suggest. Further, by this coordination,
the text stands as one indivisible whole that cannot be split at understanding and
interpreting it. On the other hand, the use of 'and' as such is informal, which suggests a
text with a touch of informality of structure and in effect in the general atmosphere of
the intimate relationship among people. Such stylistic effects can be felt by rewriting
the text with asyndetic coordination, that is, 'and' is dropped and sentences set apart
(The underlined spots point to the rewritten structures):

" … I came in over the Pole. We were stacked up for nearly twenty minutes in a holding
circuit round London before they could find us a runway. Then we had to wait for a
bottle-neck on the ground to get itself sorted out. All we could do was stare through
the windows at the downpour. That didn't help.
… There was a long queue in No. 3 Passenger Building. I was starting to sweat because
the wire had said fully urgent. London never uses that phrase just for a laugh. Then a
quietly high-powered type in sharp blue civvies came up and asked who I was. I told
him. He whipped me straight past Immigration and Customs without touching the
sides. He told me there was a police car waiting. Was it nice weather in Tokyo?"

Now the pace, flow and time and frantic sense of events are slowed down with
interruptive and separated sentences – which replace clauses here -, looking less
united and poorly linked (cf. the last sentence in form of a question, which looks quite
misplaced and irrelevant to the context of the text). However, the terse tone of the
original can be described as only little changed, and the atmosphere of informality has
disappeared to be replaced by a sense of formality of both structure and human
relations.

Alternatively, if subordination is substituted for coordination, stylistic reactions and

implications may undergo considerable changes, as the following rewritten version of
the second paragraph of the previous example illustrates:

"… There was a long queue in No. 3 Passenger Building where I was starting to sweat
because the wire had said fully urgent and London never uses that phrase just for a

107
laugh; then a quietly high-powered type in sharp blue civvies came up asking who I
was. When I told him, he whipped me straight past Immigration and Customs without
touching the sides. After telling me there was a police car waiting, he asked if it was
nice weather in Tokyo."

This alteration into normal subordination, mixed with normal coordination has
changed the whole text into a normal one. In effect, our reaction to its events and
characters changes considerably into something normal. Our interpretation is also to
be reconsidered and reoriented. Now we have a cause-and-effect relationship (cf. the
last two sentences where two actions are preconditioned by, and related to one
another in each: 'when I told him, he whipped… '; 'after telling me … he asked if …').
Besides that, formality is the only tone of the text, including the proper use of
punctuation marks. One more effect of punctuality can be concluded from the use of
relative pronouns of time (when/then/after/if) and place (where) on the head of the
subordinate clauses. There is more concern now with the time and place of events,
actions and people than their fluent narrative sequencing. Hence the stylistic
implications of the original sequencing of loose and lucid coordination. (More on
subordination is forthcoming in relation to sentences below).

Now we might twist to a hugely influential and developed topic in contemporary

stylistic studies of clause structure from a completely new perspective of style as
choice, that is, TRANSITIVITY.

3.2.11 Transitivity

Transitivity is “the set of options relating to cognitive content, the linguistic

representation of extralinguistic experience, whether of phenomena of the external
world or of feelings, thoughts and perceptions” (Halliday, 1967). Transitivity is used in
contemporary stylistics in an expanded semantic sense, referring to “the way
meanings are encoded in the clause and to the way different types of process are
represented in language” (Simpson: 2004: 22). He argues that transitivity refers
broadly to the way meaning is represented in the clause structure. The major types of
transitivity processes suggested by Halliday’s Model are three: (i) Material Process; (ii)
Mental Process; and (iii) Relational Process (see Chapter Three above for further
discussion).

Clearly, the style of transitivity is so crucial to the interpretation of some texts,

especially those which exhibit relational powers and political attitudes and ideologies.
And since these issues are the gist of style as mind, transitivity has been occupying a
leading position in contemporary cognitive stylistic studies and, naturally, in cognitive

108
stylistic translation. The task of attending to the style of transitivity in translation is
daunting, yet quite rewarding and worthwhile, for it endeavors to reach the untrodden
depths of style, meaning and mind.

When translating some texts, there are processes and relations among people, or
characters that have to be taken seriously and practically into account. A fully detailed
analysis of a literary text in terms of transitivity model of is forthcoming in Chapter Five
(see 5.9).

3.2.12 Simple and Complex Sentence Structure

A sentence is defined by Crystal as "The largest structural unit in terms of which the
grammar of language is organized." The hierarchical analysis of Hallidayan grammar of
rank scale, for example, views sentences as composites, or a complex of clauses of
different types, which in turn are analysed into phrases of different types, words, etc.)
(see also Simpson: 2004: 10). However, characterizing a sentence in written language
is much less problematic than in spoken language. Hence, the sentences are used in
written varieties only, whereas in speech we do not speak in sentences, but in
utterances which may or may not meet the conditions of complete, well-formed
grammatical sentences as in writing.

A grammatical sentence consists of a subject and a predicate. The subject is the noun
phrase which starts the sentence; the predicate is a reference to everything that
follows it (i.e. Verb, Complement, Object, Adverbial: V, C, O, A). These elements are
the same for clause, the main, finite clause (see Quirk et al, (1973: Chapter Two). The
subject and the main verb only are obligatory elements for any grammatical English
sentence; the rest are optional.

All linguistic evidence confirms the indisputable existence of sentence as "one of the
most significant units of grammatical analysis, the largest: the others being clause,
phrase, word and morpheme", as Wales plainly declares (1989:418). Further, all
grammar books, old and new, have sentence as the basic, most important linguistic
unit of written language. However, they have differences in defining it, but none of
them has disputed its existence.

The complexity and simplicity of the structures of language, especially sentence and
clause structures can be a prominent feature of the style of texts. Simplicity or
complexity of style might make a difference of a sort in the interpretation and, hence,
translation of a literary text. Therefore, the translator has to attend to these two
different grammatical styles of language and texts.

Sentences are several types, two of which are major: simple (consisting of one main
clause each) and complex (two sentences plus each). Simple sentences first:

Simple sentences coincide with main clauses. A sentence can be one clause only with
the main lexical verb, in which case it can be described as either a sentence, or a

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clause. On the other hand, a complex sentence is a sentence that has two or more
clauses, one of which is main, the rest are subordinate. Complexity of sentences are
caused mainly by subordination and coordination (see above). There is no limit for the
number of subordinate and/or coordinate clauses in a complex sentence. Using this
style of complexity may produce several stylistic effects and functions. Examples are
translated and investigated from a creative, literary point of view in the next two
Chapters, 4-5, of this work.

3.2.13 Textual Cohesion

Cohesion is the process that refers to the linguistic means (grammatical, lexical,
semantic and phonological) of linking sentences into larger units to make paragraphs,
chapters or texts. The concept of cohesion is a semantic one, referring to relations of
meaning that exist within the text, and in terms of which it is defined (Halliday and
Hasan, 1976: 4; see also Wales, 1989: 73-75). It is the linguistic ways in which the
words of a text cross-refer or link up across sentences (Toolan, 1998: 23). In the same
context, Wright and Hope (2003: 164) point out that cohesion is the formal linguistic
means that texts have for demonstrating that they have structure larger than that of
the clause.

Thus, cohesion is a part of the language system. In comparison to ‘coherence’, which is

the underlying connection of propositions and ideas of a text, and when a text makes a
consistent sense, cohesion is concerned with surface features of connectivity (see
Widdowson, 1979 & 1984). Cohesive devices (or ties) include pronouns (personal and
demonstratives), connectors, lexical repetition, ellipsis, coordination, subordination,
etc. They can be overt (explicit) (the first three types down), or covert (implicit) (the
final type, ellipsis). Here are the four major types of cohesion as listed by Halliday and
Hasan (1976):
(a) Reference: including personal pronouns/proforms; comparatives (like
same, similar, such, other, different, more, less, firstly, secondly, etc., as
+ adjective); and demonstratives (i.e. anaphora (or reference to
preceding text), cataphora (or reference to following text), and exophora
(or reference to accompanying text, or context of situation).
(b) Conjunction: Sentence connectors of different kinds, usually used at the
beginning of sentences: additive, adversative, causal, temporal, etc.
(c) Lexical cohesion: repetition of the same word(s), phrase or expression
two or more times in the text. It is more frequent at the level of
text/discourse than individual sentences.
(d) Ellipsis: Omission of words or phrases that are thought to be
unnecessary to repeat or mention in the first place for it is understood
from the flow of text. Ellipsis is two types: (i) Partial, where an abridged
or condensed structure (or encapsulator) is used, to stand in for the full
sequence, the so-called 'substitution'. Substitution is a relation in the
wording rather than in meaning. It is a replacement of an item or an
expression by another encapsulating item of general reference by way of
avoiding repetition, especially in answering yes-no questions (e.g. 'one'

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 for a thing or a person, etc.; 'verb do' in statements like: 'do you feel ill?'
Yes I do.', etc.). Substitution is three main types: nominal; verbal; and
clausal. (ii) Full ellipsis where there is complete omission of the second
mention of lexical items which can be understood, and is retrievable
from the given context of text. (See ibid. for full details, and Toolan,
1998: Chapter Two).

Two sample examples of cohesion, one about deixis, another about ellipsis, are
considered below from a stylistic and translational perspective:

3.2.13.1 Deixis: e.g.:

Here
Swerving east, from rich industrial shadows
And traffic all night north; swerving through fields
Too thin and thistled to be called meadows,
[…]

Gathers to the surprise of a large town:

Here domes and statues, spires and cranes cluster
Beside grain-scattered streets, barge-crowded water,
And residents from raw estates, brought down
[..]

Loneliness clarifies. Here silence stands

Like heat. Here leaves unnoticed thicken,
Hidden weeds flower, neglected waters quicken,
[…]
Ends the land suddenly beyond a beach
Of shapes and shingle. Here is unfenced existence:
Facing the sun, untalkative, out of reach.
(Philip Larkin, Here, extracted from Toolan, 1998: 1-2)

In this poem, the conjunction of place 'here', the title of the poem, is a deictic word
that gains a special importance in the poem. Deixis in linguistics refers to all features of
language which orientate our utterances in the context of place ( 'here, there, this and
that') and of time ('now, then') relative to the speaker's viewpoint. However, deictics
have a more general reference to the first and second pronouns, the demonstratives,
'this' and 'that', adverbs of place and time, tense (past and present, textual/secondary
deixis ('the former, the latter', and the anaphoric/ cataphoric 'this', and 'that', and
determiners ('the, a, and the possessives 'his, her, their, my,' etc.).

As a deictic word, 'here' is a reference to an assumed location of the speaker. So it is

not the same 'here' for different people in different places. 'Here' means Makkah Al-
Mukarramah to me, whereas it is London to my friend Ali, who is living there, yet it is
New York to Mr. Obama, the new President of the United States, and so on. The poem
is about 'here' which might mean everybody everywhere in the world. It is an open

111
invitation to every reader in every location on earth to enliven this moment of 'here-
ness'. Further, 'here' seems to suggest that the poem's world is the replica world of
everybody everywhere. This entails the translator's special attention to such a hugely
functional cohesive device to construct its functions in Arabic.

3.2.13.2 Ellipsis: e.g.:

"'I will ask you once more. It is the last time. Will you or will you not?'
'I will not. It is also the last time. It must be the last.'
'You will not give me your reasons?'
'I will give you one. You have too much. Your house and your land. Your
parents and your sister. Your sister who is also your friend. Your work and your growing
name. I like things to be on a moderate scale. To have them in my hands and not be
held by them.'
'That is not the only reason. There must be a deeper one.'
'There is. And it may be deep. I do not want to marry. I seldom say so, to be
disbelieved.' … "
(God and His Gifts, pp. 5-7. In Wright and Hope, 2003: 172-3)

In this example, the cohesive device of ellipsis is paramount here. Although it is

recoverable in one or two instances of substitution (such as 'one' of line 4 and 8 which
substitutes for reason in both cases), most occurrences of ellipsis are hard to recover
in this passage. More striking is the type of ellipsis that occurs in the first two lines,
which is not recoverable from context for several lines, or perhaps not recoverable
from text at all. Reading the first two lines only, it is not possible to know for sure
what they are about, and the range of things deleted are not recoverable for guesses
are widely open and equally feasible. The conversation can be about anything and may
accept many forms of the sequence: 'I will ask you' to join us/to help me/to stay with
me/to leave me alone/to study hard/to leave/to keep your quiet/to take something/to
decide/to marry somebody, etc.; and the sequence: 'I will ask you something', where a
great number of nouns substitute for 'something'. Six lines later, we understand that
the dialogue of the first two lines is about marriage. However, all we collect is that one
speaker (gender is not stated) does not want to marry, but it is not clear whether
he/she means to marry/not to marry the other speaker, which obviously makes a big
difference to our interpretation of the whole passage.

Such opening ellipsis might propose to us that the dialogue has already started
somewhere in the past, so that the two speakers have stated the topic of their
conversation. Yet, this is not helpful to readers who do not know anything about this
assumed past start of the conversation, which makes them perplexed in their
inference and interpretation of the dropped cohesive reference. This kind of perplexity
on the readers' part may reflect upon the perplexity of speakers as much as theme.
Eventually, the readers' frustration at using the style of unrecoverable ellipsis goes
very well with the frustrated speakers who cross swords with one another – however
quietly – about the topic of marriage and at the end have no consent to marry one
another.

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In sum, cohesion is decisive in many literary texts that any ambiguity or vagueness of
style of reference might cause a snag of some kind for the understanding and
interpretation and, hence, translation of a text.

3.2.13 Prosodic / Sound Features

The most prominent sound features of prosody are vital in constructing creative
literary translation, especially poetic translation. They are mainly rhyme, rhythm,
meter, foot, beat, stress, alliteration, onomatopoeia, consonance, assonance and
chiming. Their investigation and illustration are provided in full in Chapter Six on the
translation of poetry.

3.3 Summary

This Chapter has laid the theoretical and generally practical foundations necessary for
the next three practical Chapters dedicated for applications of literary translation to
three major literary genres, the Short Story, the Novel and Poetry. The major points of
the Chapter investigates the sources of literary rhetoric, diction and creativity of the
stylistic features of literariness at translating literature. Among these Arabic sources
are the Holy Koran, the Prophetic Tradition, classic books of rhetoric, oration,
rhetorical dialogue, popular fiction, anecdotes, history and biographies.

Then, many stylistic features of literariness and creativity in both languages, English
and Arabic literary heritage. Among them are rhetorical figures of metaphor,
collocation, rhetorical repetition, periphrasis, expressivity, foregrounding,
backgrounding, clause structure, especially coordination and subordination, and
transitivity, sentence structure of simplicity and complexity and textual cohesion. All
these features are discussed and elaborated in both languages, alongside the
translation of all many examples both directions. A reference is made frequently to
illustrative examples forthcoming in the next chapters, 4-6.

It has been argued throughout that all features of literariness highlighted in this
chapter in addition to those of literary genres are features of literary style and the
source of creativity in literary translation. And creativity is the point of departure of
literary translation from ordinary and other types of translation.

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Exercises

1. Define creativity in language in general, and in literature in particular.

2. Point out the major sources of creativity in Arabic Language.
3. Point out the major sources of creativity in English Language.
4. Point out the major sources of creativity of literary language.
5. How different are the sources of creativity in English and Arabic, and why?
6. Are there other sources of creativity in Language? Point them out.
7. Why is creativity a precondition for a good literary translation, while it is not in
other types of translation?
8. Is creativity inborn or acquired? Do you believe in Godly genius, or hard work?
Say why.
9. Point out some creative features of literary language in translation.
10. Is creativity 'a piece of cake' in literary translation? What is difficult about it?

114
 CHAPTER FOUR

TRANSLATING PROSE: THE SHORT STORY

4.0 Introduction: Definitions and Boundaries

Having established a general theoretical background about literature, features of

literariness and literary style, sources of literary diction, characteristics of literary
creativity and creative stylistic method of translation to be adopted and developed in
literary translation, it is high time now to introduce practical applications of translating
examples from major literary genres, the short story, the novel, drama and poetry,
starting with the SHORT STORY.

The Short Story, alongside, or, probably, next to poetry, is the most popular literary
genre, popular in terms of readability and impact. It is the youngest genre in World
Literature. It is defined as a work of literature created deliberately for artistic and
entertaining values and cannot be replaced by a mere narration of events (Bates, 1954:

115
13). The modern short story is different from older literary forms and subgenres like
myths, legends, fables and anecdotes. Poe (1809-1849) is one of the creators of the
short story. He views it as a short prosaic narration characteristic if the specific effect
intended by the author and achieved by a proper combination of events, that is, a
specific unity of motives and actions. Newmark considers the short story as a compact
narrative, and rates it next to poetry. He regards it as "the most intimate and personal
form of writing in imaginative literature … Its essence is compactness, simplicity,
concentration, cohesion. Its symbolic connotative power transcends its realism and its
denotative effect (1993: 48). On the other hand, Raffel asserts that the translation of
prose, including the short story, is sharply different from the translation of poetry. That
is, while poetry's most important features in translation are prosodic, or sound
features, prose is based on syntactic and semantic features (1994).

At translating the Short Story, Newmark singles out nine significant features:

(1) Its grammatical structure and layout: opening and closing sentences and
paragraphs and the title point to the story's theme and resolution.
Punctuation, paragraphing and capitalization are significant to attend to.
(2) Leitmotifs: repeated key words or leading concepts related to the story's
theme. These have to be reproduced in the translation.
(3) Stylistic markers of the author's style : typical words and structures related to
the theme. These have also to be reproduced in the translation.
(4) Cultural and universal references which have to be explained economically by
the translator.
(5) Cultural metaphors.
(6) Genre: tale or story, spoken or written mode. The written form may conform
to ordinary social usage.
(7) Tradition: the story has to be in line with established literary tradition of short
story writing. This tradition should be preserved in the translation to enrich
the target literature.
(8) Collateral works (i.e. intertextuality): understanding the story in relation to
other works by the same author.
(9) Functional sentence perspective: stresses that any coherent and cohesive
links within the sentence must be reproduced in the translation.

Other factors might be as important as, or more important than these suggested by
Newmark. Chief among these is the style-based creative / literary approach to
translating short stories in sharp contrast to content-based literal translation of sense.
In other words, a sharp distinction is recommended to be drawn between the
translation of short stories into expressive meaning (i.e. style-based creative literary
meaning) and their translation into non-expressive meaning (i.e. non-expressive,
literal, ordinary or non-creative meaning). This means that the major difference
between the two methods of translation lies in the use of expressive, effective,
rhetorical, figurative, pragmatic, impressive and emotional language vis-à-vis literal,
nonfigurative, non-effective, non-expressive and not necessarily emotional language.

116
Accordingly, an anthology of texts from a number of short stories in both languages,
English and Arabic, are translated below into two main versions of translation each,
one non-creative, or ordinary; another creative, or literary. Each pair of translation is
juxtaposed and discussed in the light of the features of literariness and style, the major
source of creativity in literature, introduced in the previous two chapters.

4.1 TEXT (1):

"Once upon a time a lady was sitting in a train with a small dog upon her lap.
The conductor came along, looked at the dog and then said, 'Madam, do you
have a ticket for the dog?' 'No,' she answered, 'but he's just a little dog, and
he's not taking up a seat...' I'm sorry, madam, ' said the conductor, 'but rules
are rules, and you'll have to buy a ticket for the dog.' So the lady paid.
Meanwhile, a clergyman sitting next to the lady is becoming visibly uneasy
and, before the conductor passes on, he reaches up to the luggage rack and
lifts down a small box. He opens it, revealing to the conductor that he is
transporting a tortoise. 'Must I buy a ticket for my tortoise?' he asks. The
conductor scrutinizes the animal, scratches his head, opens his little book of
rules and searches through the pages. Finally, he snaps the book shut and
makes his pronouncement, 'No,' he says, 'you don't have to pay. Insects are
free.' " (An English Anecdote: Jon Udall. In Carter, 1987: 29)

(Ordinary Translation)
،‫ جاءىا جامع التذاكر‬.‫(" ذات مرة كانت سيدة إنجميزية تجمس في قطار ومعيا كمب صغير في حضنيا‬
‫ وال يحجز‬،‫ ىؿ حصمت عمى تذكرة لمكمب؟ قالت ’ال‘ لكنو كمب صغير‬،‫ مداـ‬،‫نظر إلى الكمب ثـ قاؿ‬
‫ فدفعت‬.‘‫ وعميؾ شراء تذكرة لمكمب‬،‫ لكف القواعد قواعد‬،‫ قاؿ جامع التذاكر ’ أنا آسؼ مداـ‬.‘...ً‫مقعدا‬
‫ وقبيؿ أف يغادر‬،ً‫ يصبح قسيس يجمس إلى جوار السيدة قمقا‬،‫ في ىذه األثناء‬.‫السيدة ثمف تذكرة لمكمب‬
‫ يفتحو ويكشؼ لجامع‬.‫ ينيض القسيس ويتناوؿ مف رؼ الحقائب مف فوقو صندوقاً صغي اًر‬،‫جامع التذاكر‬
‫ أخذ جامع التذاكر يتفحص‬.‫ ’ىؿ عمي أف أشتري تذكرة لسمحفاتي؟‘ يسألو‬.‫التذاكر أنو ينقؿ سمحفاة‬
‫ يغمؽ الكتاب بشكؿ‬،‫ أخي اًر‬.‫ ويقمب صفحاتو‬،‫ ويفتح كتابو الصغير لمقواعد‬،‫ وىو يحؾ رأسو‬،‫الحيواف‬
)"‘.‫ فالحشرات مجانية‬.‫ ال تحتاج إلى دفع ثمف تذكرة‬،‫ ’ال‬:‫خاطؼ ويعمف إعبلنو الخطير‬

The translation is obviously committed to the lexical literality of both words and
meaning. The words are translated in context into their literal and ordinary senses. The
referential meaning of the text is generally comprehended by readers. However, the
pragmatic, stylistic, cultural and literary implications are not accounted for, as the
second literary version does.

Yet, the translation here is too literal. For example, 'the conductor' is translated into its
dictionary meaning as ‫جامع التذاكر‬, rather than into its common collocation / ‫جابي التذاكر‬
‫ناظر‬. Likewise, 'have a ticket', buy a ticket, and 'pay (for a ticket)' are translated into
their literal sense successively as ‫ يدفع ثمف تذكرة‬،‫ يشتري تذكرة‬،‫يحصؿ عمى تذكرة‬, in preference

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to the recurrent collocation ‫يقطع تذكرة‬. Here is a list with these and other examples and
their possible alternatives:

once upon a time ‫ذات مرة‬ ‫كاف يا ما كاف في قديـ الزماف‬

to have/buy ticket / pay ‫ يدفع ثمف‬/ ‫ يشتري‬/ ‫يحصؿ عمى‬ ‫يقطع تذكرة‬
‫تذكرة‬
Conductor ‫جامع التذاكر‬ ‫ الناظر‬/ ‫جابي التذاكر‬
Madam ‫مداـ‬ ‫سيدة‬
rules are rules ‫القواعد قواعد‬ ‫القانوف ىو القانوف‬
become uneasy ً‫يصبح قمقا‬ ‫يتمممؿ‬
Transport ‫ينقؿ‬ ‫يحمؿ معو‬
insects are free ‫الحشرات مجانية‬ ً‫ ركوب الحشرات مجانا‬/ ‫سفر‬

However, except for the punch line of the anecdote, i.e. 'insects are free', the ironical,
literary and pragmatic touches of the meaning of the original are lost. Further,
ambiguity can be lurking behind some literal translations like 'transport' )‫( (ينقؿ‬instead
of ‫ يصطحب‬/ ‫)يحمؿ‬, 'sit in a train' )‫( (تجمس في القطار‬rather than ‫)تسافر‬, 'insects are free'
)‫(الحشرات مجانية‬, which does not specify either word (replacing ‫)ركوب الحشرات مجان ًا‬, which
specifies both words, etc. On the other hand, foreign words are transferred rather than
naturalized or translated into Arabic (e.g. 'madam' is transferred into ‫مداـ‬, rather than
translated into ‫ سيدة‬/ ‫(سيدتي‬. Moreover, the grammatical case of vocative of 'madam', is
ignored in the TL. That is, it is translated into ‫مداـ‬, dropping the Arabic vocative particle
‘‫( ’يا‬i.e. ‫)يا مداـ‬.

Hence, this version of ordinary translation of the text is mundane, disregarding all
features of literariness of effective, expressive, rhetorical, figurative, symbolic,
metaphorical or emotional language. A literary, creative translation of the same text
may compensate for these features in the Target Language:

(Literary Translation)

‫("كػػاف يػػا مػػا كػػاف فػػي قػػديـ الزمػػاف فػػي سػػالؼ العصػػر واألواف سػػيدة إنجميزيػػة ذات طمعػػة بييػػة تسػػافر فػػي‬
:‫ ثػـ ألقػى عمييػا السػؤاؿ‬،‫ فرمقػو بنظػرة‬،‫ قدـ إلييا جػابي التػذاكر‬.‫القطار ىي وكمبيا الصغير في األحضاف‬
‫ فمػا ىػو إال كمػب صػغير ال‬،‫ مػا ىنػاؾ ضػرورة‬،‫ ال‬:‫"يا مداـ ىؿ يا ترى قطعت لمكمػب تػذكرة؟ قالػت المػداـ‬
‫ يػا سػبلـ! وعميػؾ قطػع‬،‫ فالقػانوف ىػو القػانوف‬،‫ "عذ اًر منػؾ يػا مػداـ‬:‫ قاؿ الموظؼ‬...‫يحجز مقعداً بؿ يسير‬
‫ فػػي ىػػذه‬.‫ فمػػا كػػاف مػػف السػػيدة إال أف قطعػػت تػػذكرة‬."!‫تػػذكرة لمكمػػب الصػػغير س ػواء أكػػاف يسػػير أـ يطيػػر‬
‫ ولمػا ىػـ الموظػؼ باالنصػراؼ انتصػب‬.‫األثناء بػدأ قػس قػد جمػس إلػى جػوار السػيدة يتمممػؿ بعػد أف خػنس‬

118
 ‫ ففػػتح الصػػندوؽ وكشػػؼ‬.‫ وتنػػاوؿ مػػف رؼ الحقائػػب صػػندوقاً صػػغي ار مميئ ػاً بالعجائػػب المثيػػرة‬،‫القػػس ووقػػؼ‬
‫ "ىػػؿ يػػا تػػرى عمػػى سػػمحفاتي تػػذكرة؟ أخػػذ‬:‫ فبػػادر الجػػابي بالس ػؤاؿ‬.‫لمموظػػؼ النقػػاب عػػف سػػمحفاة صػػغيرة‬
،‫ ويفػتح كتيػب القػوانيف ويػنعـ النظػر فيػو ويقمػب صػفحاتو‬،‫ ويحػؾ أرسػو حيػراف‬،‫الموظؼ يتفحص الحيػواف‬
،‫ ال عميػؾ‬:‫ وأطمػؽ إعبلنػو الخطيػر‬،‫ أطبػؽ الكتػاب بشػكؿ خػاطؼ‬،‫ في نيايػة المطػاؼ‬.‫صفحة بعد صفحة‬
)".‫ فالحشرات تركب مجاناً في القطار يا ُشطّار‬،‫ ال تذكرة لسمحفاتؾ‬،‫ال عميؾ‬
The English anecdote is obviously English culture-specific. This translation is claimed to
have gathered literary momentum due to the overwhelming change of style into
prose-rhyme style (which is classical in Arabic Language, revived here to give the sense
of humor that is overwhelming in the original) and expressive language, and taking
pragmatic, literary cultural and stylistic implications into account. Expressive language
is a superordinate term that subsumes effectiveness, impressiveness, expressiveness,
formality, emotiveness, collocability, connotativeness, pragmaticality, rhetoric,
prosody, figurativeness and, above all, overall ironic tone of the literary text
concerned. It must be stressed that some of these features of literariness overlap (e.g.
effectiveness / impressiveness / expressiveness; rhetoric / collocability / formality;
etc.). Here are illustrative examples:

1. Effective features: ‫ ;عجائب مثيرة ;طمعة بيية‬etc.

2. Collocational / rhetorical / formal features: e.g. ‫ كشؼ النقاب‬،‫;رمقو بنظرة ;طمعة بيية‬
‫ القانوف ىو القانوف ;ىؿ يا ترى ;ألقى السؤاؿ ;في نياية المطاؼ ;تمممؿ ;بادر بالسؤاؿ ;ينعـ النظر‬etc.
3. Assertive repetition: e.g. ‫( ىؿ يا ترى‬rhetorical question repeated twice); ‫ال عميؾ‬
‫( القانوف ىو القانوف ;صفحة بعد صفحة ;ال عميؾ‬to sharpen the sense of irony).
4. Sound features: e.g.
(a) Prose rhyme and rhythm: ‫;كاف يا ما كاف في قديـ الزماف في سالؼ العصر واألواف‬
‫قس قد جمس إلى جوار السيدة ;ىؿ يا ترى قطعت لمكمب تذكرة ;سيدة إنجميزية ذات طمعة بيية‬
‫ ويحؾ رأسو حيراف ;يتمممؿ بعد أف خنس‬،‫ صندوقاً صغي ار مميئاً ;يتفحص الحيواف‬... ‫وتناوؿ‬
‫ يا سبلـ ;بالعجائب المثيرة‬،‫ فالقانوف ىو القانوف‬،‫ عذ اًر منؾ يا مداـ‬etc.
(b) Alliteration: e.g. ‫في القطار يا شطار ;يسير أـ يطير ;قس قد جمس ;الموظؼ باالنصراؼ‬
(c) Leitmotifs: ( repetition of the same sound in consecutive words in
different places): e.g. ‫ ويحؾ رأسو حيراف‬،‫ ;الحيواف‬،‫ أطبؽ الكتاب بشكؿ خاطؼ‬،‫المطاؼ‬
‫قطار يا شطار ;وأطمؽ إعبلنو الخطير‬
5. Synonyms: ‫ سالؼ‬/ ‫ أواف ;قديـ‬/ ‫ عصر‬/ ‫ وقؼ ;زماف‬/ ‫ كشؼ ;انتصب‬/ ‫ ;فتح‬etc.
6. Formal Periphrasis: e.g. ‫( ىؿ يا ترى‬c.f. ‫ ألقى السؤاؿ ;)ىؿ‬/ ‫( بادر بالسؤاؿ‬c.f. ‫;)سأؿ‬
7. Functional additions: e.g. the addition of the ironical ‫( يا سبلـ‬to rhyme with
‫ بعد أف خنس ;)مداـ‬to rhyme with ‫جمس‬...‫( يا شطار ;)قس‬to rhyme with ‫ ;)قطار‬etc.

119
8. Disrupted word order (to achieve rhyme and rhythm): e.g. ‫ألقى عمييا السؤاؿ‬
(instead of ‫( قطعت لمكمب تذكرة ;)ألقى السؤاؿ عمييا‬rather than the normal ‫قطعت تذكرة‬
‫( فالحشرات تركب مجان ًا ;)لمكمب‬replacing ‫ ;)تركب الحشرات مجان ًا‬etc.
9. Traditional clichés (for sharpening the sense of irony): e.g. ‫كاف يا ما كاف في قديـ‬
‫الزماف في سالؼ العصر واألواف‬
10. Rhythmical grammatical structures: e.g. ‫( ما ىناؾ ضرورة‬cf. ‫بدأ قس قد جمس ;)ال ضرورة‬
(cf. ‫;)بدأ قس جمس‬
11. Functional vocalization: end stop vocalization )‫(سكوف‬: ‫خن ْس‬...‫جمس‬ ْ ‫قس قد‬ْ ;
‫تذكرْه‬...‫خاطؼ ;ترى‬...
ْ ‫;مطاؼ‬
ْ ‫شطار‬...
ْ ‫;قطار‬
ْ etc.
12. Ironic tone: The ironic tone of the anecdote is overwhelming. The punch line
of the joke at the end is sharpened extraordinarily by most of the features
outlined above. A case in point is the translation of 'once upon a time' into a
traditional equivalent in Arabic )‫(كاف يا ما كاف في قديـ الزماف في سالؼ العصر واألواف‬
which is an excessively redundant, but rhymed and rhythmical version,
compared to short versions like: ‫ في يوـ مف األياـ‬/ ‫كاف يا ما كاف‬, to make the
contrast and irony sharper. That is, starting a very short anecdote with a long
cliché suggests an ironical contrast between them. Further, the rhymed,
rhythmical and synonymous sequence of the statement adds to this tone of
irony.

On the other hand, the functional additions made in the translation - which
can be justified on stylistic, pragmatic and cultural grounds - are chosen
deliberately and with care not only to achieve rhyme, but also to insinuate
sarcasm, for, lexically and culturally, ‫ يا سبلـ‬and ‫ يا شطار‬are used among other
things for humorous and exclamatory purposes. Moreover, the latter suggests
a still sharper sense of irony for the speaker is supposed to use it mocking the
listeners, but it turns against him and, in fact, describes him as a fool by
implication, which is what the whole anecdote wants to say. Culturally
speaking, it reflects the famous English way of joking by fooling oneself.

The sharpest ironic feature of all is the manipulation of prose rhyme and
rhythm on a large scale in the translation of the text. It is not so much aimed
at creating a poetic effect of some kind as reinforcing the sharp tone of irony
in a unique way that draws much on a classical literary style of writing in
Arabic literary heritage. In Arabic tradition of literary writings, prose rhyme
and rhythm are two distinctive basic and indispensable features of style
aimed first and foremost at creating poetic, literary effects. Now, however,
this type of style is no longer common in use; yet, when used, it suggests
primarily a tremendous sense of irony, as the case may be here.

120
Thus, These are the features of literariness behind describing the second version of
translation as literary. Obviously, all of them are uniquely elaborated to sharpen the
overwhelming tone of irony of the original.

4.2 TEXT (2):

"There were only two Americans stopping at the hotel. They did not know any of the
people they passed on the stairs on the way to and from their room. Their room was on
the second floor facing the sea. It also faced the public garden and the war monument.
There were big palms and green benches in the public garden. In the good weather
there was always an artist with his easel. Artists liked the way the palms grew and the
bright colours of the hotels facing the gardens and the sea. Italians came from a long
way off to look up at the war monument. It was made of bronze and glistened in the
rain. It was raining. The rain dripped from the palm trees. Water stood in pools on the
gravel paths. The sea broke in a long line in the rain and slipped back down the breach
to come up and break again in a long line in the rain. The motor-cars were gone from
the square by the war monument. Across the square in the doorway of the café a
waiter stood looking out at the empty square. …
The American wife stood at the window looking out. Outside right under their window
a cat was crouched under one of the dripping green tables. The cat was trying to make
herself so compact that she would not be dripped on.
'I'm going down to get that kitty', the American wife said.
'I'll do it', her husband offered from the bed.
'No, I'll get it'. The poor kitty out trying to keep dry under a table.
The husband went on reading, lying propped up with the two pillows at the foot of the
bed."
(Ernest Hemingway: Cat in the Rain, in Carter and Nash, 1990: 228-9)

(Ordinary Translation)
‫ لـ يعرفا أحداً مف األشخاص الذيف م ار بيـ عمى السمـ مف‬.‫("كاف ىناؾ شاباف أمريكياف يقفاف لوحدىما عند الفندؽ‬
‫ ومقاعد طويمة‬،‫ وكانت ىناؾ أشجار نخيؿ كبيرة‬.‫ كانت غرفتيما في الدور الثاني ت شرؼ عمى البحر‬.‫غرفتيما والييا‬
‫ أحب الرساموف طريقة‬.‫ عندما يكوف الجو جميبلً كاف ىناؾ دائماً رساـ ومعو حاممو‬.‫خضراء في الحديقة العامة‬
‫ جاء اإليطاليوف مف مسافات بعيدة لمنظر‬.‫نمو النخيؿ وألواف الفندؽ الزاىية التي كانت تشرؼ عمى الحدائؽ والبحر‬
‫ تجمع الماء في‬.‫ كاف المطر ينزؿ مف أشجار النخيؿ‬.‫ كاف مصنوعاً مف البرونز ويتؤلأل في المطر‬.‫صب‬
ُ ‫الن‬
ُ ‫إلى‬
‫ ثـ تراجع وابتعد عف الشاط‬.‫ انقسـ البحر إلى نصفيف في خط طويؿ مف المطر‬.‫برؾ صغيرة عمى طرؽ الحصى‬
‫ وكانت السيارات قد غادرت الساحة القريبة مف نصب‬.‫حتى عبل ليعود ثانية وينقسـ في خط طويؿ في المطر‬
‫ وقفت الزوجة األمريكية عمى‬.‫ في الجية األخرى مف الساحة وقؼ صبي القيوة ينظر إلى الساحة الفارغة‬.‫الحرب‬
.‫ جمست قطة تحت إحدى طاولة خضراء يتساقط منيا المطر‬،ً‫ في الخارج تحت النافذة تماما‬.‫النافذة تطؿ منيا‬
‫ قالت الزوجة‬،"‫ "أنا ذاىبة ألجمب القطة الصغيرة‬.‫كانت القطة تحاوؿ أف تنكمش عمى نفسيا حتى ال تبتؿ مف المطر‬
‫ كانت القطة‬."‫ "ال سأجمبيا بنفسي‬:‫ أجابت الزوجة‬.‫ عرض زوجيا عمييا مف السرير‬،"‫ "أنا أفعؿ ذلؾ‬.‫األمريكية‬

121
‫المسكينة في الخارج تحاوؿ أف تبقى تحت الطاولة‪ .‬استمر الزوج بالقراءة وىو مستمؽ مستنداً ًا إلى وسادتيف في‬
‫أسفؿ السرير‪)".‬‬

‫‪This version of translation is committed to rendering the literal textual meaning of the‬‬
‫‪original. The main concern is the accuracy of translating every word in context‬‬
‫‪referentially only, using ordinary language only. There is no concern in expressivity,‬‬
‫‪allegory, or making effect of a sort on the Target reader. It is not different in any way‬‬
‫‪from translating a newspaper article, a general text, or a technical text. Hence, the‬‬
‫‪distinction between the intricacies of the language and style of literature is totally‬‬
‫‪sidelined in this translation of the English original short story. That is a major reason of‬‬
‫‪arousing a feeling of dissatisfaction with it on the part of the readers who expect to‬‬
‫‪find literary touches of the language and style of the translation. Perhaps the next‬‬
‫‪version may meet these literary demands.‬‬

‫)‪(Literary Translation‬‬
‫("وقؼ ىنالؾ شاباف أمريكياف وحيديف عند النزؿ‪ .‬ما عرفا أحداً ممف مروا بيما عمى سبللـ النزؿ غدواً ورواحاً مف‬
‫غرفتيما‪ .‬كانت غرفتيما ىذه تقع في الطابؽ الثاني وتطؿ عمى البحر‪ .‬وكانت ىناؾ أيض ًا أشجار نخؿ باسقة‪،‬‬
‫ومقاعد خضراء فارعة‪ ،‬تعج بيا الحديقة العامة حيث ىي قابعة‪ .‬واذا ما كاف النوء صحواً‪ ،‬كاف يقؼ ىناؾ رساـ‬
‫فناف يجر أذياؿ حامؿ رسمو‪ .‬تعمؽ قمب الفنانيف التشكيمييف بالطريقة البديعة التي نما فييا النخيؿ وألواف النزؿ‬
‫قدـ الطمياف مف مسافات بعيدة ليمتعوا‬‫الزاىية التي كانت تطؿ بزىوىا عمى الحدائؽ وخضرتيا‪ ،‬والبحار وأمواجيا‪ِ .‬‬
‫أنظارىـ بالنصب‪ .‬كاف مصنوعاً مف البرونز ذي الموف البني الضارب إلى الصفرة يبرؽ متؤللئاً مف حبات المطر‪.‬‬
‫لقد أُرسمت السماء مد ار اًر‪ .‬ك انت قطرات المطر تقطر مف شجر النخيؿ‪ .‬تيافت الماء عمى برؾ صغيرة عمى‬
‫الطرقات المفروشة بالحصى‪ .‬انشطر البحر إلى نصفيف في خط طويؿ مف جراء المطر‪ .‬ثـ ما لبث أف عاد القيقرى‬
‫ونأى بنفسو عف الشاط حتى شب وعبل في اليواء ليعيد الكرة مف جديد وينشطر في خط طويؿ مستقيـ مف جراء‬
‫المطر‪ .‬في الجية المقابمة مف الساحة‪ ،‬وقؼ نادؿ القيوة يطؿ عمى الساحة الخاوية‪ .‬وقفت الزوجة األمريكية متسمرة‬
‫أماـ النافذة تطؿ منيا عمى الفضاء الخارجي‪ ،‬الىية عف زوجيا‪ .‬خارج الغرفة تحت النافذة بالتماـ والكماؿ‪ ،‬جثمت‬
‫قطة تحت طاولة خضراء يتصبب منيا المطر‪ .‬كانت القطة تسعى إلى لمممة بعضيا عمى بعضيا اآلخر حتى‬
‫تحتمي بالطاولة فبل تصيبنيا حبات المطر‪ .‬أردفت الزوجة األمريكية قائمة‪" :‬أنا نازلة إلى األسفؿ آلتي بالقطة‬
‫الصغيرة بنفسي"‪ .‬قدـ زوجيا عرضاً باىتاً ليا قائبلً‪" :‬أنا آتيؾ بيا"‪ .‬ردت الزوجة معترضة‪" :‬ال ال‪ ،‬أنا آتي بيا‬
‫بنفسي"‪ .‬كانت القطة المسكينة في الخارج تسعى جيدىا لكي تحتمي بالطاولة مف قطرات المطر‪ .‬تابع الزوج‬
‫المطالعة غير آبو بيا وىو مستمؽ‪ ،‬مستنداً ًا إلى وسادتيف في الجية األخرى مف السرير‪)".‬‬
‫‪This version of translation is made literary by using expressive language in every‬‬
‫‪sentence and clause semantically / lexically, syntactically, figuratively, rhetorically,‬‬
‫‪metaphorically, collocably, stylistically, pragmatically and culturally. Here are the‬‬
‫‪details sentence by sentence (or clause by clause as indicated by the numbering in the‬‬
‫‪table below):‬‬

‫‪(, and emotional words‬ىناؾ ‪ replacing the normal‬ىنالؾ ‪(1) Classical poetic style (e.g.‬‬
‫‪).‬لوحدىما ‪ is more passionate than the normal‬وحيديف ‪(e.g.‬‬

‫‪122‬‬
(2) Literary grammatical sequence of ً‫( ما عرفا أحدا‬compared to the normal
sequence of the ordinary version), formality (‫ النزؿ‬instead of the normal ‫(فندؽ‬,
and collocability ‫( غدواً ورواح ًا‬instead of the ordinary ‫)م ار بيـ‬.
(3) Formal language (manifested in replacing ‫ تشرؼ‬with ‫ )تطؿ‬and prosodic feature
(or leitmotif) (e.g. the sound / letter /‫ط‬/ ‫ تطؿ‬and ‫)طابؽ‬.
(4) Formal / classical language (e.g. ‫ ;)أشجار نخؿ باسقة‬religious cultural parody ( ‫أشجار‬
‫ نخؿ باسقة‬in contrastive parallelism to theKoranic expression ‫;)أعجاز نخؿ خاوية‬
rhetorical words (e.g. ‫ باسقة‬and ‫ ;)فارعة‬emphatic exaggeration (e.g. ‫ باسقة‬and
‫ ;)فارعة‬semi-rhyme (between ‫ باسقة‬and ‫ )فارعة‬and personification ()‫ فارعة (الطوؿ‬is
used for animates only).
(5) Formal collocation (‫ ;)نوء صحو‬emphatic synonymy (‫ )رساـ فناف‬and idiomatic
collocation (‫)يجر أذياؿ‬.
(6) Emotional imagery (‫ ;)تعمؽ قمب الرساميف‬pragmatic assertion understood from
context (‫ الحدائؽ وخضرتيا ;تطؿ بزىوىا ;بالطريقة البديعة‬and ‫ ;)البحار وأمواجيا‬rhythm ( ‫البحار‬
‫ وأمواجيا‬and ‫ )الحدائؽ وخضرتيا‬and rhyme (between ‫ خضرتيا‬and ‫)أمواجيا‬
(7) Classical literary words (‫الطمياف‬, rather than the modern ‫ )اإليطاليوف‬and formal
collocation (‫ليمتعوا أنظارىـ‬, replacing ‫)لمنظر‬.
(8) Literary amplification ( ‫ ضارب إلى الصفرة‬instead of only ‫ ;)أصفر‬rhetorical
collocation (ً‫يبرؽ متؤللئا‬, rather than ‫ )يتؤلأل‬and poetic choice of words (‫)حبات المطر‬.
(9) Classical Arabic (‫أُرسمت السماء مد ار اًر‬, replacing the ordinary ‫)أمطرت السماء‬
(10) Alliterative and rhythmic language(‫)تقطر قطرات المطر‬.
(11) Hyperbolic personification (‫تيافت الماء‬, rather than ‫ )تجمع الماء‬assertive classical
paraphrase (‫الطرقات المفروشة بالحصى‬, instead of the vague ‫)طرؽ الحصى‬.
(12) Formal effective choice of words (‫ انشطر‬reflects a greater effect for rain than
‫)انقسـ‬.
(13) Formal collocable language (‫ما لبث أف‬, ‫عاد القيقرى‬, ‫نأى بنفسو‬, ‫ )مف جراء المطر‬and
assertive synonymy (‫)شب وعبل‬
(14) Formal hyperbolic language (‫أخمت‬, ‫ ;محاذية‬in preference to ‫غادرت‬, ‫)قريبة‬.
(15) Accuracy of reference (‫في الجية المقابمة‬, ‫يطؿ عمى‬, as alternatives to ‫في الجية األخرى‬
and ‫ ينظر إلى‬in a row); classical Arabic ( ‫ نادؿ‬for the ordinary ‫ صبي‬/ ‫ )خادـ‬and
literary hyperbole (‫( خاوية‬for ‫)فارغة‬.
(16) Pragmatic/stylistic equivalence beyond the textual meaning ( ‫متسمرة أماـ النافذة تطؿ‬
‫ )منيا عمى الفضاء الخارجي الىية عف زوجيا‬and classical / religious terms( ً‫)الىية‬.

123
 (17) Collocation (‫ ;)بالتماـ والكماؿ‬effective and impressive words (‫جثمت‬, in the place of
‫ )جمست‬and poetic, figurative expressions (‫( يتصبب منيا المطر‬cf. / ‫يتصبب منو العرؽ‬
‫)يتصبب عرق ًا‬.
(18) Onomatopoeic, rhythmical language ( ‫ تحتمي‬/ ‫ ;)لمممة‬formal paraphrase ‫بعض منيا‬
‫ )عمى بعضيا اآلخر‬and poetic figurative expressions (‫ )فبل تصيبنيا حبات المطر‬and
formal emphatic grammar (the so called the strong emphatic ‫ نوف‬in ‫)تصيبنيا‬.
(19) Formal traditional style of quoting statements (i.e. unlike English, in Arabic ‫قاؿ‬
statement comes traditionally and formally before the quotation: e.g. ... ‫بادرت‬
"...‫ "أنا نازلة‬:‫ ;)قائمة‬formal words (e.g. ‫ أردفت‬and ‫ )آتي‬and emphatic additions (‫)بنفسي‬.
(20) Formal paraphrase (ً‫قدـ زوجيا عرضا‬, compared to ‫)عرض‬, classical expressions ‫أنا‬
ِ
‫)آتيؾ بيا‬ and pragmatic implications of non-emotions (ً‫عرضاً باىتا‬, understood by
implication from the husband's carelessness).
(21) Overemphasis (the addition of ‫ معترضة‬and duplicated ‫)ال‬.
(22) Collocation ( ‫تسعى جاىدة‬, replacing ‫ )تحاوؿ‬and formal and impressive language
(‫ تحتمي‬and ‫)قطرات الماء‬.
(23) Formal expressions (‫تابع الزوج المطالعة‬, ‫ )في الجية األخرى‬and pragmatic / stylistic
implications (‫)غير آبو‬.

Here are the two translations, the ordinary, then the literary, juxtaposed:

The English Original Ordinary Translation Literary Translation

There were only two ‫) كاف ىناؾ شاباف أمريكياف‬1( ‫) وقؼ ىنالؾ شاباف أمريكياف‬1(
Americans stopping at the
‫يقفاف لوحدىما عند الفندؽ‬ ‫وحيديف عند النزؿ‬
hotel
They did not know any of ‫) لـ يعرفا أحدًا مف األشخاص‬2( ‫) ما عرفا أحداً ممف مروا بيما‬2(
the people they passed on
‫الذيف م ار بيـ عمى السمـ مف‬ ‫عمى سبللـ النزؿ غدواً ورواحاً مف‬
the stairs on the way to
and from their room ‫غرفتيما والييا‬ ‫غرفتيما‬
Their room was on the ‫) كانت غرفتيما في الدور الثاني‬3( ‫) كانت غرفتيما ىذه تقع في‬3(
second floor facing the sea
‫تشرؼ عمى البحر‬ ‫الطابؽ الثاني وتطؿ عمى البحر‬
There were big palms and ،‫) وكاف ىناؾ أشجار نخيؿ كبيرة‬4( ‫) وكانت ىناؾ أيضاً أشجار نخؿ‬4(
green benches in the
‫ومقاعد طويمة خضراء في الحديقة‬ ‫ تعج‬،‫ ومقاعد خضراء فارعة‬،‫باسقة‬
public garden
‫العامة‬ ‫بيا الحديقة العامة حيث ىي قابعة‬
In the good weather there ‫) عندما يكوف الجو جميبلً كاف‬5( ‫ كاف‬،ً‫) واذا ما كاف النوء صحوا‬5(
was always an artist with

124
‫‪his easel‬‬
‫‪Artists liked the way the‬‬
‫‪palms grew and the bright‬‬
‫النخيؿ وألواف الفندؽ الزاىية التي‬
‫‪colours of the hotels facing‬‬
‫‪the gardens and the sea‬‬
‫‪Italians came from a long‬‬
‫‪way off to look up at the‬‬
‫‪war monument‬‬
‫‪It was made of bronze and‬‬
‫‪glistened in the rain‬‬
‫‪It was raining.‬‬
‫‪The rain dripped from the‬‬
‫‪palm trees‬‬
‫‪Water stood in pools on‬‬
‫‪the gravel paths‬‬
‫‪The sea broke in a long line‬‬
‫‪in the rain‬‬
‫‪and slipped back down the‬‬
‫‪breach to come up and‬‬
‫حتى عبل ليعود ثانية وينقسـ في‬
‫‪break again in a long line in‬‬
‫‪the rain‬‬
‫‪The motor-cars were gone‬‬
‫‪from the square by the‬‬
‫الساحة القريبة مف نصب الحرب‬
‫‪war monument.‬‬
‫‪Across the square in the‬‬
‫‪doorway of the café a‬‬
‫وقؼ صبي القيوة ينظر إلى الساحة‬
‫‪waiter stood looking out at‬‬
‫‪the empty square‬‬
‫‪The American wife stood‬‬
‫‪at the window looking out‬‬
‫‪Outside right under their‬‬
‫ىناؾ دائم ًا رساـ ومعو حاممو‬ ‫يقؼ ىناؾ رساـ فناف يجر أذياؿ‬
‫حامؿ رسمو‬
‫(‪ )6‬أحب الرساموف طريقة نمو‬ ‫(‪ )6‬تعمؽ قمب الفنانيف التشكيمييف‬
‫بالطريقة البديعة التي نما فييا‬
‫كانت تشرؼ عمى الحدائؽ والبحر‬ ‫النخيؿ وألواف النزؿ الزاىية التي‬
‫عمى الحدائؽ‬ ‫كانت تطؿ بزىوىا‬
‫وخضرتيا والبحار وأمواجيا‬
‫(‪ )7‬جاء اإليطاليوف مف مسافات‬ ‫(‪ )7‬قدـ الطمياف مف مسافات بعيدة‬
‫بعيدة لمنظر إلى النصب‬ ‫ليمتعوا أنظارىـ بالنصب‬
‫(‪ )8‬كاف مصنوعاً مف البرونز‬ ‫(‪ )8‬كاف مصنوعاً مف البرونز ذي‬
‫ويتؤلأل في المطر‪.‬‬ ‫الموف البني الضارب إلى الصفرة‬
‫يبرؽ متؤللئاً مف حبات المطر‪.‬‬
‫(‪ )9‬لقد كانت السماء تمطر‬ ‫(‪ )9‬لقد أُرسمت السماء مد ار ًار‬
‫(‪ )10‬كاف المطر ينزؿ مف أشجار‬ ‫(‪ )10‬كانت قطرات المطر تقطر‬
‫النخيؿ‬ ‫مف شجر النخيؿ‬
‫(‪ )11‬تجمع الماء في برؾ صغيرة‬ ‫(‪ )11‬تيافت الماء عمى برؾ صغيرة‬
‫عمى طرؽ الحصى‬ ‫عمى الطرقات المفروشة بالحصى‬
‫(‪ )12‬انقسـ البحر إلى نصفيف في‬ ‫(‪ )12‬انشطر البحر إلى نصفيف في‬
‫خط طويؿ مف المطر‬ ‫خط طويؿ مف جراء المطر‬
‫(‪ )13‬ثـ تراجع وابتعد عف الشاط‬ ‫(‪ )13‬ثـ ما لبث أف عاد القيقرى‬
‫ونأى بنفسو عف الشاط حتى شب‬
‫خط طويؿ في المطر‪.‬‬ ‫وعبل في اليواء ليعيد الكرة مف جديد‬
‫وينشطر في خط طويؿ مستقيـ مف‬
‫جراء المطر‬
‫(‪ )14‬وكانت السيارات قد غادرت‬ ‫(‪ )14‬وكانت السيارات قد أخمت‬
‫الساحة المحاذية لنصب الحرب‬
‫(‪ )15‬في الجية األخرى مف الساحة‬ ‫(‪ )15‬في الجية المقابمة مف‬
‫الساحة‪ ،‬وقؼ نادؿ القيوة يطؿ عمى‬
‫الفارغة‬ ‫الساحة الخاوية‬
‫(‪ )16‬وقفت الزوجة األمريكية عمى‬ ‫األمريكية‬ ‫الزوجة‬ ‫وقفت‬ ‫(‪)16‬‬
‫النافذة تطؿ منيا‬ ‫متسمرة أماـ النافذة تطؿ منيا عمى‬
‫الفضاء الخارجي الىية عف زوجيا‬
‫(‪ )17‬في الخارج تحت النافذة‬ ‫(‪ )17‬خارج الغرفة تحت النافذة‬
‫‪125‬‬
window a cat was ‫ جمست قطة تحت إحدى‬،ً‫تماما‬ ‫ جثمت قطة تحت‬،‫بالتماـ والكماؿ‬
crouched under one of the
‫طاولة خضراء يتساقط منيا المطر‬ ‫طاولة خضراء يتصبب منيا المطر‬
dripping green tables
The cat was trying to make ‫) كانت القطة تحاوؿ أف‬18( ‫) كانت القطة تسعى إلى لمممة‬18(
herself so compact that
‫تنكمش عمى نفسيا حتى ال تبتؿ مف‬ ‫بعضيا عمى بعضيا اآلخر حتى‬
she would not be dripped
on ‫المطر‬ ‫تحتمي بالطاولة فبل تصيبنيا حبات‬
‫المطر‬
I'm going down to get that ‫) "أنا ذاىبة ألجمب القطة‬19( ‫) أردفت الزوجة األمريكية‬19(
kitty', the American wife
‫ قالت الزوجة األمريكية‬،"‫الصغيرة‬ ‫ "أنا نازلة إلى األسفؿ آلتي‬:‫قائمة‬
said
." ‫بالقطة الصغيرة بنفسي‬
'I'll do it', her husband ‫ عرض زوجيا‬،"‫) "أنا أفعؿ ذلؾ‬20( ‫) قدـ زوجيا عرضاً باىتاً ليا‬20(
offered from the bed
‫عمييا مف السرير‬ ."‫ "أنا آتيؾ بيا‬:ً‫قائبل‬
'No, I'll get it'. The poor ‫ "ال سأجمبيا‬:‫) أجابت الزوجة‬21( ‫ "ال ال‬:‫) ردت الزوجة معترضة‬21(
kitty out trying to keep dry
"‫بنفسي‬ "‫أنا آتي بيا بنفسي‬
under a table
The poor kitty out trying to ‫) كانت القطة المسكينة في‬22( ‫) كانت القطة المسكينة في‬22(
keep dry under a table.
‫الخارج تحاوؿ أف تبقى تحت‬ ‫الخارج تسعى جيدىا لكي تحتمي‬
‫الطاولة‬ ‫بالطاولة مف قطرات المطر‬
The husband went on ‫) استمر الزوج بالقراءة وىو‬23( ‫) تابع الزوج المطالعة غير آبو‬23(
reading, lying propped up
‫بيا وىو مستمؽ مستنداً ًا إلى مستمؽ مستنداً ًا إلى وسادتيف في‬
with the two pillows at the
foot of the bed ‫أسفؿ السرير‬ ...‫وسادتيف في الجية األخرى مف‬
These grammatical, semantic, stylistic and pragmatic intricacies and elaborations are in
other words the components of the expressive language of this literary version of
translation. A new spirit is being injected in the translation to match the mainly
symbolic literary original. The language of Hemingway's short story is seemingly
simple, yet it is sometimes tricky, ambiguous and hugely symbolic. The whole story is
about a rift between the two main characters, the husband, George, and the American
wife, whose name is never mentioned in the story for symbolic reasons. The major
topic of the story, i.e. the rift between the husband and wife, is also never mentioned
in the story, to be left to the reader to conclude it. We understand it from the wife's
preoccupation with, and bad want for a cat, any cat, to compensate for her husband's
negligence of her. Throughout, she looks for someone to care for her, or for a cat to
coddle. Hence, the title of the story, "Cat in the Rain" not 'a cat', or 'the cat' - is
expressive and indicative of the girl's desperate want for an animal called 'cat', any cat,
not necessarily the cat in the rain (see also Carter, 1982).

These stylistic and pragmatic implications of the story pass unnoticed in the first
ordinary translation, whereas they are attended to carefully in the second literary one.
Hence, the insertions and additions made here and there in the translation, which are
made on stylistic, pragmatic and symbolic grounds.

126
It may be claimed that the first translation is superficial and does not go deep in the
stylistic, symbolic, connotative and pragmatic implications of the meaning of the
original short story. Therefore, it is directed to superficial readers. However, the
second literary translation goes deep down into these implications of the original to
unearth these meanings and render them to the Target Language readers, who are
supposed to be serious readers, and they are the majority, for sure. That is why the
first version of ordinary translation may be the least appropriate for a literary text. By
contrast, the literary version is what is aimed at as the most appropriate translation for
a literary text.

4.3 TEXT (3):

"There was no hope for him this time: it was the third stroke. Night after night I had
passed the house (it was vacation time) and studied the lighted square of window: and
night after night I had found it lighted in the same way, faintly and evenly. If he was dead,
I thought, I would see the reflection of candles on the darkened blind for I knew that two
candles must be set at the head of a corpse. He had often said to me: I am not long for
this world, and I thought his words idle. Now I knew they were true. Every night as I gazed
up at the window I said softly to myself the word paralysis. It had always sounded
strangely in my ears, like the word gnomon in the Euclid and the word simony in the
Catechism. But now it sounded to me like the name of some maleficent and sinful being.
It filled me with fear, and yet I longed to be nearer to it and to look upon its deadly
work." (James Joyce, The Sisters)

(Ordinary Language)
)‫ مررت بالمنزؿ في الميؿ عدة مرات (كانت فترة إجازة‬.‫ لقد كانت األزمة الثالثة‬.‫(" لـ يبؽ لو أمؿ ىذه المرة‬
‫ بشكؿ باىت ال‬،ً‫مضاء كما كاف دائما‬
ً ‫ وفي كؿ ليمة مررت بيذا المنزؿ كنت أجده‬.‫وتفحصت المربع المضاء لمنافذة‬
‫ لرأيت انعكاس أشعة الشمس عمى الستارة المظممة ألنني عممت أنو ينبغي‬،ً‫ فكرت في نفسي أنو لو كاف ميتا‬.‫يتحرؾ‬
‫ وعممت اآلف أنيا‬،‫ قاؿ لي كثي اًر لف أعيش طويبلً وظننت أف كمماتو كانت عبثية‬.‫وضع شمعتيف عند رأس الميت‬
.‫ في كؿ ليمة كنت أنظر بدقة فييا إلى النافذة كنت أتحدث مع نفسي بصوت خافت قائبلً كممة الشمؿ‬.‫كانت حقيقة‬
‫ مثؿ كممة متوازي أضبلع ناقص في اليندسة اإلقميدية وكممة التجارة بالديف‬،‫لقد كاف تأثيرىا دائماً غريباً في أذني‬
‫ ولكنني أحببت‬،ً‫ إذ مؤلتني خوفا‬،‫ أما اآلف فقد أصبح تأثيرىا كاسـ كائف شرير‬.‫في كتاب التعميـ الشفيي لمديف‬
)".‫االقتراب منيا أكثر ألنظر إلى فعميا القاتؿ‬

This is the opening paragraph of the first short story of James Joyce's Collection of
Short Stories, Dubliners, i.e. The Sisters. It provides a psychological and emotional
account of the main topic of the whole story, the death of the priest out of paralysis,
the teacher of the protagonist, the boy-narrator. and challenge. It ends up with the
serious repercussions of the major event of the story and the challenge put forward by

127
it to the boy-narrator: the deadly work of paralysis. Thus, the translation of an
emotiona
.0l description of inner feelings and impressions demands the translator's attendance
to every nuance of the description.

This first ordinary version of translation accounts for the contents as literally and
accurately as possible. Its prime concern is to transmit the referential, textual meaning
of the text in context as closely as possible, with all SL specific, cultural and other
details being retained. Examples include literal translations like: ‫كانت األزمة الثالثة‬, ‫لف أعيش‬
ً‫طويبل‬, ‫متوازي أضبلع ناقص في اليندسة اإلقميدية وكممة التجارة في الديف في كتاب التعميـ الشفيي لمديف‬, ‫فعميا‬
‫القاتؿ‬. These translations are SL biased, rendering meaning in SL terms and not caring
for the TL readers as to whether they understand them or not. It is a kind of literal, or
semantic translation of meaning that is accurate in the first place, but not necessarily
stylistic, pragmatic, emotional or expressive, being a literary text. However, a literary
version of translation like the one suggested below can be more convincing:

(Literary Translation)
‫ ليمة بعد ليمة مررت بالمنزؿ وقت اإلجازة وتمحصت المربع‬.‫ فقد كانت الضربة القاضية‬:‫(" ما عاد لو أمؿ ىذه المرة‬
،‫ قمت في نفسي‬،‫ لو كاف قد رحؿ‬.ً‫ باىت ًا وساكن ًا وساكتا‬،‫مضاء كما كاف دائم ًا‬
ً ‫ وليمة بعد ليمة ألفيتو‬:‫المضاء لمنافذة‬
‫ ردد عمى‬.‫لرأيت ظؿ الشمس عمى الستارة المظممة ألنني عممت أنو ينبغي وضع شمعتيف عند رأس الجثماف‬
‫ اآلف أدركت أنيا كانت حقيقة مرة‬.‫ىباء منثو اًر‬
ً ‫مسامعي كثي اًر مقولتو المؤثرة لقد اقترب أجمي وخمت أف كمماتو كانت‬
‫ لقد كاف‬.‫ كنت أقوؿ في نفسي بصوت خفيض الكممة المرعبة الشمؿ‬،‫ في كؿ ليمة كنت أحدؽ فييا إلى النافذة‬.‫واقعة‬
ٍ
‫منحرؼ مشموؿ وكممة المتاجرة في‬ ‫ مثميا كمثؿ كممة شكؿ ىندسي شبو‬،‫وقعيا عجيباً غريباً في أذني عمى الدواـ‬
‫ أما اآلف فقد أصبح وقعيا كوقع اسـ‬.‫ وىي بمثابة الشمؿ‬،ً‫الديف ممف يشتروف بكتب تعميـ الديف المسيحي ثمناً قميبل‬
‫ َبيد أنني أصررت وتقت شوقاً إلى االقتراب منيا ودغدغتيا أكثر‬،ً‫ قد أرعدت فرائصي خوفا‬،‫كائف شرير آثـ آبؽ‬
)".‫ أال وىو جثماف القسيس الميت‬،‫وأكثر والقاء نظرة عمى فعميا القاتؿ الشنيع‬

This translation can be claimed to have met some literary demands of expressivity,
emotionality, stylistic and pragmatic implications. Each of these literary implications of
the textual meaning of the original text is elaborated below:

(1) Expressivity:
(a) Syntactic expressivity: e.g. ‫( ما عاد لو أمؿ‬cf. ‫)لـ يبؽ لو أمؿ‬.
(b) Lexical expressivity: e.g. ‫( الضربة القاضية‬cf. ‫( ظؿ الشمس ;)األزمة الثالثة‬cf. ‫انعكاس‬
‫( تمحصت ;)أشعة الشمس‬cf. ‫مضاء ;)تفصحت‬
ً ‫( ألفيتو‬cf. ‫( ردد عمى مسامعي ;)وجدتو مضاء‬cf.
‫( إللقاء نظرة ;)لكنني( بيد أنني ;)قاؿ( مقولتو ;)قاؿ لي كثي ًار‬cf. ‫)ألنظر‬, ‫خمت‬
ُ (cf. ‫أحدؽ ;)ظننت‬
(cf. ‫( بصوت خفيض ;)أنظر بدقة‬cf. ‫ ;)بصوت خافت‬...‫أصبح تأثيرىا ( أصبح وقعيا كوقع اسـ‬
... ‫( متاجرة ;)كاسـ‬cf. ‫( أرعدت فرائصي خوفاً ;)تجارة‬cf. ً‫جثماف القسيس الراحؿ ;)مؤلتني خوفا‬
(‫ راحؿ‬instead of ‫)ميت‬, etc.

128
 (2) Emotionality: ‫( ليمة بعد ليمة مررت بالمنزؿ‬cf.‫مضاء ;(مررت بالمنزؿ في الميؿ‬ ً ‫وليمة بعد ليمة ألفيتو‬
‫ باىتاً وساكناً وساكت ًا‬،‫ ( كما كاف دائم ًا‬،ً‫مضاء كما كاف دائما‬
ً ‫وفي كؿ ليمة مررت بيذا المنزؿ كنت أجده‬
‫( لو كاف قد فارؽ الحياة ;)بشكؿ باىت ال يتحرؾ‬cf. ‫( لقد اقترب أجمي ;)لو كاف ميت ًا‬cf. ‫لف أعيش‬
ً‫ ;)طويبل‬etc. (all points and examples can be described generally as expressive).
(3) Stylistic implications: Emphatic fronting and repetition (e.g. ‫وليمة بعد‬...‫ليمة بعد ليمة‬
‫ليمة‬, ‫ ;)لو كاف قد فارؽ الحياة‬effective exaggeration(e.g. ‫( عمى الدواـ‬cf. ً‫ ;))دائما‬emphatic
alliteration and rhyme (e.g. ً‫( باىتاً وساكناً وساكتا‬cf. ‫)باىتاً ال يتحرؾ‬, ً‫كاف وقعيا عجيبا‬
ً‫( كائف شرير آثـ آبؽ;)غريبا‬see also next point).
(4) Pragmatic implications: e.g. ‫( الضربة القاضية‬understood from the direct ‫األزمة‬
‫ مرعبة ( الكممة المرعبة الشمؿ ;)الثالثة‬is understood by implication); ‫شكؿ ىندسي شبو‬
ٍ
‫منحرؼ‬ (implicated in the literal ‫كممة المتاجرة ;)متوازي أضبلع ناقص في اليندسة اإلقميدية‬
‫ممف يشتروف الشمؿ‬...‫( بالديف‬cultural-religious translation concluded from ‫التجارة‬
‫ أصررت( أصررت وتقت إلى االقتراب منيا ودغدغتيا ;)بالديف‬and ‫ دغدغتيا‬are understood
from context); ‫ الشنيع ( فعميا القاتؿ الشنيع‬is an emphatic addition inferred from ‫فعميا‬
‫)القاتؿ‬, etc.

All these features of this version of literary translation are features of creative
translation of the Joycean literary text that goes deep into it to explore normally
unseen meanings and implications. The following table is a juxtaposition of the two
types of translation aimed at sharpening and explicating the differences between them
in further details:
The English Original Ordinary Translation Literary Translation
(1) There was no hope for .‫) لـ يبؽ لو أمؿ ىذه المرة‬1( :‫) ما عاد لو أمؿ ىذه المرة‬1(
him this time:
.‫) لقد كانت األزمة الثالثة‬2( .‫) فقد كانت الضربة القاضية‬2(
(2) it was the third stroke.
(3) Night after night I had ‫) مررت بالمنزؿ في الميؿ عدة‬3( ‫) ليمة بعد ليمة مررت بالمنزؿ‬3(
passed the house (it was ‫وقت اإلجازة وتمحصت المربع مرات (كانت فترة إجازة) وتفحصت‬
vacation time) and studied
the lighted square of .‫المربع المضاء لمنافذة‬ :‫المضاء لمنافذة‬
window: ‫) وفي كؿ ليمة مررت بيذا المنزؿ‬4( ‫مضاء كما‬ ً ‫) وليمة بعد ليمة ألفيتو‬4(
(4) and night after night I ،‫ باىتا وساكنا كنت أجده مضاء كما كاف دائما‬،‫كاف عمى الدواـ‬
ً ً ً ً
had found it lighted in the
same way, faintly and .‫بشكؿ باىت ال يتحرؾ‬ .ً‫وساكتا‬
evenly. ،ً‫) قمت في نفسي أنو لو كاف ميتا‬5( ‫ قمت‬،‫) لو كاف قد فارؽ الحياة‬5(
(5) If he was dead, I
‫ لرأيت ظؿ الشمس عمى لرأيت انعكاس أشعة الشمس عمى‬،‫في نفسي‬
thought, I would see the
reflection of candles on the ‫الستارة المظممة ألنني عممت أنو الستارة المظممة ألنني عممت أنو‬
darkened blind for I knew ‫ينبغي وضع شمعتيف عند رأس ينبغي وضع شمعتيف عند رأس‬
that two candles must be
.‫الميت‬ .‫الجثماف‬
set at the head of a corpse.

129
(6) He had often said to me:
I am not long for this world,
and I thought his words
idle.
(7) Now I knew they were
true.
(8) Every night as I gazed up
at the window I said softly
to myself the word
paralysis.
(9) It had always sounded
strangely in my ears, like
the word gnomon in the
Euclid and the word simony
in the Catechism.
(10) But now it sounded to
me like the name of some
maleficent and sinful being.
It filled me with fear, and
yet I longed to be nearer to
it and to look upon its
deadly work."
4.4 TEXT (4):
‫بل‬
ً ‫) قاؿ لي كثي اًر لف أعيش طوي‬6( ‫) قاليا لي كثي اًر لقد اقترب أجمي‬6(
،‫وظننت أف كمماتو كانت عبثية‬ ،‫ىباء منثو اًر‬
ً ‫وخمت أف كمماتو كانت‬
‫) اآلف عممت أنيا كانت حقيقة‬7(
.‫) وعممت اآلف أنيا كانت حقيقة‬7( .‫واقعة‬
‫) في كؿ ليمة كنت أحدؽ فييا‬8(
‫) في كؿ ليمة كنت أنظر بدقة‬8( ‫إلى النافذة كنت أقوؿ في نفسي‬
‫فييا إلى النافذة كنت أتحدث مع‬ ‫بصوت خفيض الكممة المرعبة‬
‫نفسي بصوت خافت قائبلً كممة‬ .‫الشمؿ‬
.‫الشمؿ‬ ‫) لقد كاف وقعيا عجيب ًا غريب ًا في‬9(
‫) لقد كاف تأثيرىا دائماً غريباً في‬9( ‫ مثميا كمثؿ كممة‬،‫أذني عمى الدواـ‬
‫ مثؿ كممة متوازي أضبلع‬،‫أذني‬ ٍ
‫منحرؼ مشموؿ‬ ‫شكؿ ىندسي شبو‬
‫ناقص في اليندسة اإلقميدية وكممة‬ ‫وكممة المتاجرة بالديف ممف يشتروف‬
‫التجارة بالديف في كتاب التعميـ‬ ً‫بكتب تعميـ الديف المسيحي ثمنا‬
.‫الشفيي لمديف‬ .‫ وىي بمثابة الشمؿ‬،ً‫قميبل‬
‫) أما اآلف فقد أصبح وقعيا‬10(
‫) أما اآلف فقد أصبح تأثيرىا‬10( ‫ قد‬،‫كوقع اسـ كائف شرير آثـ آبؽ‬
،ً‫ إذ مؤلتني خوفا‬،‫كاسـ كائف شرير‬ ‫ ولكنني‬،ً‫أرعدت فرائصي خوفا‬
‫ولكنني أحببت االقتراب منيا أكثر‬ ‫أصررت وتقت إلى االقتراب منيا‬
.‫ألنظر إلى فعميا القاتؿ‬ .‫ وىو جثماف القسيس الراحؿ‬...

"Two young men came down the hill of Rutland Square. One of them was just bringing
a long monologue to a close. The other, who walked on the verge of the path and was
at times obliged to step on to the road, owing to his companion's rudeness, wore an
amused listening face. He was squat and ruddy. A yachting cap was shoved far back
from his forehead, and the narrative to which he listened made constant waves of
expression break forth over his face from the corners of his nose and eyes and mouth.
Little jets of wheezing laughter followed one another out of his convulsed body. His
eyes twinkling with cunning enjoyment, glanced at every moment towards his
companion's face. Once or twice he rearranged the light waterproof which he had
slung over one shoulder in toreador fashion. His breeches, his white rubber shoes and
his jauntily slung waterproof expressed youth. But his figure fell into rotundity at the
waist, his hair was scant and grey and his face, when the waves of expression had
passed over it, had a ravaged look." (James Joyce: Two Gallants)

(Ordinary Translation)

130
‫( "نزؿ شاباف مف ىضبة روتبلند سكوير‪ .‬كاف أحدىما قد أنيى لمتو حديثو الطويؿ الممؿ‪ .‬أما اآلخر‪ ،‬والذي كاف‬
‫يمشي عمى حافة المسار وكاف مضط اًر أحيان ًا لمسير عمى الطريؽ مف جبلفة رفيقو‪ ،‬فقد كاف وجيو منفرجاً ومصغياً‪.‬‬
‫كاف قصي اًر وعريض ًا ولعيناً‪ .‬كاف يرتدي قبعة بحارة عمى جبيتو إلى الخمؼ‪ ،‬وبسبب ما كاف يستمع إليو مف رواية‪،‬‬
‫غمرت وجيو موجات مف التعابير المتباينة مف زوايا أنفو وعينيو وفمو‪ .‬توالت أصوات ضحكاتو العالية المنبعثة مف‬
‫جسمو المتشنج‪ .‬عيناه المتاف تممعاف بسرور ماكر كانتا موجيتاف في كؿ لحظة إلى وجو رفيقو‪ .‬مرة أو مرتيف أعاد‬
‫الركبي القصير الذي يمبسو‪،‬‬
‫ترتيب معطفو الواقي لممطر الذي رماه عمى كتفو كما يفعؿ مصارعو الثيراف‪ .‬كاف ُ‬
‫وحذاؤه المطاطي‪ ،‬ومعطفو المطري الذي رماه بشكؿ أنيؽ عمى كتفو تعبي اًر عف أنو في سف الشباب‪ .‬لكف قوامو كاف‬
‫ممتمئاً عند الخصر‪ ،‬وكاف شعره قميبلً ورمادياً‪ ،‬وكاف وجيو حينما كانت موجات التعابير المختمفة تغطيو يبدو‬
‫ميموماً‪)".‬‬

‫‪This second paragraph of the opening of the James Joyce's short story, Two Gallants‬‬
‫‪provides an accurate description of the two chaps leaving no nuance out. This version‬‬
‫‪of ordinary translation has achieved this accuracy of description in Arabic, but it is‬‬
‫‪excessively literal, spiritless, dolorous and void of vividness. Joyce's description of the‬‬
‫‪two gallants is inspiring, spirited and vivid. We feel it before we understand it; we feel‬‬
‫‪that the two youths are standing before us, living with us. Because of this inspired‬‬
‫‪description of them, we feel we know them a long time ago. Indeed, very few men of‬‬
‫‪letters have provided such rare creatively lively account. Hence, an ordinary translation‬‬
‫‪that fails to attend to this spirited vividness of description cannot be reliable with such‬‬
‫‪literary text. Another literary version of translation of the text that reflects the‬‬
‫‪liveliness of description is in earnest now:‬‬

‫)‪(Literary Translation‬‬
‫("تحد ر فتياف يافعاف مف ىضبة إيرلندية مشيورة‪ .‬أما أحدىما فقد أنيى لمتو حديثو الممؿ‪ .‬وأما اآلخر‪ ،‬والذي كاف‬
‫يمشي عمى حافة المسار ووجد نفسو مضط اًر بيف الفينة واألخرى لمسير عمى الطريؽ العامة مف جراء فظاظة رفيقو‪،‬‬
‫فقد كاف وجيو ىاشاً باشاً وتوحي أساريره باإلنصات لحديث صاحبو‪ .‬بيد أنو كاف قصير القامة ثخيناً ولعيناً‪ .‬كاف‬
‫يضع عمى رأسو قبعة بحارة دفع بيا بعيداً عف جبيتو‪ .‬ونظ اًر لما كاف يستمع إليو مف قَصص وثرثرة‪ ،‬اجتاحت وجيَو‬
‫موجات متفاوتة مف التقاسيـ مف زوايا أنفو وعينيو وفيو‪ .‬تعالى سيؿ مف فرقعات ضحكاتو وقيقياتو المنبعثة مف‬‫ٌ‬
‫جسمو المتشنج‪ .‬كانت عيناه المتاف تبرقاف بمتعة خبيثة تخفياف ما تخفياف وراءىما ترمقاف في كؿ لحظة وجو‬
‫صاحبو بنظرة ‪ .‬مرة أو مرتا ف قاـ بإعادة ترتيب معطفو الواقي لممطر الذي رمى بو عمى منكبو‪ ،‬كما لو كاف‬
‫مصارع ثيراف إسبانياً‪ .‬كاف بنطاؿ الخيالة القصير الذي يرتديو‪ ،‬وحذاؤه المطاطي‪ ،‬ومعطفو المطري المرمي بأناقة‬
‫المياس كاف محشواً مستدي اًر‪ ،‬وكاف شعره رمادي الموف ضئيبلً‪ ،‬وكاف‬
‫عمى منكبو دليبلً عمى طيش الشباب‪ .‬لكف قده ّ‬
‫وجيو وموجات التقاسيـ المختمفة تمفحو يصير مثقبلً باليموـ وكأف نوائب الدىر قد اعترتو‪)".‬‬

‫‪The vivid description of the original is revived carefully in this literary version. This‬‬
‫‪vividness is reflected mainly by expressive language and style, as the following‬‬
‫‪investigation confirms:‬‬

‫‪131‬‬
 ‫دحداحاً حنببلً ;قصير القامة ;ىاشاً باشاً ‪(1) Rhetorical and alliterative collocations: e.g.‬‬
‫نوائب الدىر ;قده المياس;طيش شباب ;فرقعات ضحكاتو وقيقياتو ;حزنببلً ربعة غميظاً لعين ًا‬
‫بل ;فتياف يافعاف ‪(2) Classical collocations: e.g.‬‬
‫‪ (humorous and insulting‬دحداحاً حنببلً حزنب ً‬
‫‪, etc.‬بيف الفينة واألخرى ;)‪ (ironic‬قد مياس ;)قصير القامة ‪expression for‬‬
‫;رْبعة ;إنصات ;فظاظة ;تحدر ‪(3) Classical words: e.g.‬‬ ‫ِ‬
‫‪, etc.‬نوائب ‪),‬فمو ‪ (i.e.‬فيو َ‬
‫;اجتاحت وجيَو موجات ;وتوحي أساريره باإلنصات ‪(4) Original / creative collocations: e.g.‬‬
‫تمفح وجيو ;شعره ضئيؿ ;محشواً مستدي اًر غميظاً ;سيؿ مف فرقعات ضحكاتو ;قصير القامة دحداحاً‬
‫‪, etc.‬متعة خبيثة ;موجات التقاسيـ‬
‫تمفح موجات التقاسيـ المختمفة ;موجات شتى ;)أما أحدىما ‪ ...‬وأما اآلخر( ‪(5) Cultural /Koranic style‬‬
‫)تمفح وجوىيـ النار ‪ (cf‬وجيو‬
‫وأساريره توحي باإلنصات ;)عمى حافة المسار ‪ (cf.‬وحافة المسار ‪(6) Syntactic elaboration: e.g.‬‬
‫كاف قصير القامة دحداحاً ;اجتاحت وجيَو موجات شتى مف التقاسيـ ;)توحي أساريره باإلنصات ‪(cf.‬‬
‫وجيو ;)‪ ('and' is dropped for greater sequential effect‬حنببلً حزنببلً ربعة غميظاً لعيناً‬
‫‪), etc.‬تمفح موجات التقاسيـ المختمفة وجيو ‪ (cf.‬وموجات التقاسيـ المختمفة تمفحو‬

‫‪The Original English‬‬ ‫‪Ordinary Translation‬‬ ‫‪Literary Translation‬‬

‫‪(1) Two young men came‬‬
‫‪down the hill of Rutland‬‬
‫‪Square.‬‬
‫‪(2) One of them was just‬‬
‫‪bringing a long monologue‬‬
‫‪to a close.‬‬
‫‪(3) The other, who walked‬‬
‫‪on the verge of the path‬‬
‫‪and was at times obliged‬‬
‫‪to step on to the road,‬‬
‫‪owing to his companion's‬‬
‫‪rudeness, wore an amused‬‬
‫‪listening face.‬‬
‫‪(4) He was squat and‬‬
‫‪ruddy.‬‬
‫‪(5) A yachting cap was‬‬
‫‪shoved far back from his‬‬
‫‪forehead,‬‬
‫‪(6) and the narrative to‬‬
‫‪which he listened made‬‬
‫‪constant‬‬ ‫‪waves‬‬
‫(‪ )1‬نزؿ شاباف مف ىضبة روتبلند‬
‫سكوير‪.‬‬
‫(‪ )2‬كاف أحدىما قد أنيى لمتو‬
‫حديثو الطويؿ الممؿ‪.‬‬
‫(‪ )3‬أما اآلخر‪ ،‬والذي كاف يمشي‬
‫عمى حافة المسار وكاف مضط اًر‬
‫أحيان ًا لمسير عمى الطريؽ مف‬
‫جبلفة رفيقو‪ ،‬فقد كاف وجيو منفرجاً‬
‫ومصغياً‪.‬‬
‫وأساريره توحي باإلنصات لحديث‬
‫(‪ )4‬كاف قصي اًر وعريضاً ولعيناً‪.‬‬
‫(‪ )5‬كاف يرتدي قبعة يخوت عمى‬
‫جبيتو إلى الخمؼ‪،‬‬
‫(‪ )6‬وبسبب ما كاف يستمع إليو مف‬
‫رواية‪ ،‬غمرت وجيو موجات مف‬
‫التعابير المتباينة مف زوايا أنفو‬
‫‪of‬‬
‫(‪ )1‬تحدر فتياف يافعاف مف ىضبة‬
‫إيرلندية مشيورة‪.‬‬
‫(‪ )2‬أما أحدىما فقد أنيى لمتو‬
‫حديثو الممؿ‪.‬‬
‫(‪ )3‬وأما اآلخر‪ ،‬والذي كاف يمشي‬
‫وحافة المسار ووجد نفسو مضط ًار‬
‫بيف الفينة واألخرى لمسير عمى‬
‫الطريؽ العامة مف جراء فظاظة‬
‫رفيقو‪ ،‬فقد كاف وجيو ىاشاً باشاً‬
‫صاحبو‪.‬‬
‫(‪ )4‬كاف قصير القامة دحداحاً‬
‫حنببلً حزنببلً ربعة غميظاً لعين ًا‪.‬‬
‫(‪ )5‬وكاف عمى رأسو قبعة بحارة‬
‫دفع بيا بعيداً عف جبيتو استيتا اًر‪،‬‬
‫(‪ )6‬ونظ اًر لما كاف يستمع إليو مف‬
‫سرد وثرثرة ‪،‬اجتاحت وجيَو موجات‬
‫شتى مف التقاسيـ مف زوايا أنفو‬

‫‪132‬‬
expression break forth .‫وعينيو وفمو‬ .‫وعينيو وفيو‬
over his face from the
corners of his nose and
eyes and mouth. ‫) توالت أصوات ضحكاتو العالية‬7( ‫مف فرقعات‬ ‫توالى سيؿ‬ )7(
(7) Little jets of wheezing .‫المنبعثة مف جسمو المتشنج‬ ‫ضحكاتو وقيقياتو المنبعثة مف‬
laughter followed one
another out of his .‫جسمو المتشنج‬
convulsed body. ‫) عيناه المتاف تممعاف بسرور‬8( ‫) كانت عيناه المتاف تبرقاف بمتعة‬8(
(8) His eyes twinkling with ‫ماكر كانتا موجيتاف في كؿ لحظة‬ ‫خبيثة تخفياف ما تخفياف وراءىما‬
cunning enjoyment,
glanced at every moment .‫إلى وجو رفيقو‬ ‫ترمقاف بيف لحظة وأخرى وجو‬
towards his companion's . ‫صاحبو بنظرة‬
face. ‫) أعاد مرة أو مرتيف ترتيب‬9( ‫ ) مرة أو مرتيف قاـ بإعادة ترتيب‬9(
(9) Once or twice he
rearranged the light ‫معطفو الواقي الذي رماه عمى كتفو‬ ‫معطفو الواقي لممطر الذي رمى بو‬
waterproof which he had .‫كما يفعؿ مصارعو الثيراف‬ ‫ كما لو كاف مصارع‬،‫عمى منكبو‬
slung over one shoulder in
.ً‫ثيراف إسبانيا‬
toreador fashion.
(10) His breeches, his ‫الركبي القصير الذي‬
ُ ‫) كاف‬10( ‫) كاف بنطاؿ الخيالة القصير‬10(
white rubber shoes and ‫ ومعطفو‬،‫ وحذاؤه المطاطي‬،‫يمبسو‬ ،‫ وحذاؤه المطاطي‬،‫الذي يرتديو‬
his jauntily slung
‫الواقي الذي رماه بشكؿ أنيؽ عمى‬ ‫ومعطفو المطري المرمي بأناقة عمى‬
waterproof expressed
youth. .‫كتفو تعبي اًر عف أنو في سف الشباب‬ .‫منكبو دليبلً عمى طيش الشباب‬
‫) لكف قوامو كاف ممتمئاً عند‬11( ً‫) لكف قده المياس كاف محشوا‬11(

(11) But his figure fell into
rotundity at the waist, his
hair was scant and grey
and his face,
(12) when the waves of
expression had passed
over it, had a ravaged look
،ً‫ وكاف شعره قميبلً ورماديا‬،‫الخصر‬
‫) وكاف وجيو حينما كانت‬12(
‫موجات التعابير المختمفة تغطيو‬
.ً‫يبدو ميموما‬
‫ وكاف شعره رمادي‬،ً‫مستدي اًر غميظا‬
،ً‫الموف ضئيبل‬
‫) وكاف وجيو وموجات التقاسيـ‬12(
‫المختمفة تمفحو يصير مثقبلً باليموـ‬
.‫وكأف نوائب الدىر قد اعترتو‬

4.5 TEXT (5):

"The Pacific is inconstant and uncertain, like the soul of the man. Sometimes it is grey
like the English Channel and Beachy Head, with a heavy swell, and sometimes it is
rough, capped with white crests, and boisterous. It is not so often that it is calm and
blue. Then, indeed, the blue is arrogant. The sun shines fiercely from an unclouded sky.
The trade wind gets into your blood and you are filled with an impatience for the
unknown. The billows, magnificently rolling, stretch widely on all sides of you, and you
forget your vanished youth, with its memories, cruel and sweet, in a restless,
intolerable desire for life".
(Somerset Maugham, The Pacific, in Snell-Hornby, 1988: 71).

133
Somerset Maugham is a famous English writer. His literary style of writing is
remarkable, no doubt about that. Here is an account of the main features of the style
of this unique literary extract:

(a) Personification (e.g. 'uncertain' Pacific);

(b) Simile (uncertain Pacific, like the soul of man);
(c) Pun (e.g. 'Beachy Head' is a headland in East Essex on the English Channel. In
addition to its 'grey' color, here perhaps it is used as a symbolic reference to
its shape which consists of chalk cliffs).
(d) Phrases of addition (e.g. 'rough and boisterous'; 'calm and blue'; cruel and
sweet').
(e) Ambivalent phrases (i.e. antonyms coexisting simultaneously: e.g. 'cruel and
sweet'; 'calm and blue' (in its specific sense of 'arrogance')).
(f) Deviant expressions (e.g. lexical: 'arrogant blue'; grammatical: 'an impatience'
(uncountable noun).
(g) Syntactic elaboration (e.g. the last sentence is made syntactically elaborate
due to interruptive phrases and disrupted word order: (c.f. "The magnificently
rolling billows, stretch widely on all sides of you, and you forget your vanished
youth, with its cruel and sweet memories, in a restless, intolerable desire for
life")).
(h) Direct involvement of readers (The use of the second person pronoun, 'you',
in the last sentence, to address the reader directly).

Following are two suggested versions of translation, as we used to do in this Chapter:

Ordinary, and Literary:

(Ordinary Translation)
‫ فيو أحياناً رمادي مثؿ القناة اإلنجميزية‬.‫ كما ىي حاؿ النفس اإلنسانية‬،‫("المحيط اليادي غير متواتر وغير متيقف‬
‫ فيو في معظـ األحياف غير ىادئ‬.‫ وعاصؼ‬،‫ متوج بالرغوة البيضاء‬،‫ وأحياناً ىائج‬،‫ىيد بانتفاخ ثقيؿ‬
ْ ‫وبيتشي‬
‫ تصؿ ريح التجارة إلى دمؾ وتشعر‬.‫ تضيء الشمس بحدة مف سماء خالية مف الغيوـ‬.‫ حقاً إف األزرؽ عنيد‬.‫وأزرؽ‬
‫ وتنسى معيا‬،‫ وتتمدد األمواج التي تتدحرج بشكؿ رائع في كؿ أنحاء جسمؾ‬.‫بأنؾ تمتم غضباً لسبب غير معروؼ‬
)".‫ في رغبة متواصمة ومفرطة في الحياة‬،‫ مع ذكرياتو القاسية والحموة‬،‫شبابؾ الغابر‬

This version is too keen to translate everything accurately and closely. Nothing is left
out, and nothing is added. And sense is translated and understood satisfactorily into
Arabic. Yet, there are two main drawbacks regarding style which have great bearing on
sense and literariness of Arabic translation: AMBIGUITY and LITERARY TOUCHES. The
translation first:

(Literary Translation)
‫ فيو تارة رمادي كما القناة‬.‫ حالو في ذلؾ حاؿ روح اإلنساف‬،‫("المحيط اليادي ال تواتر فيو وبالظنوف مشوب‬
‫ وتارة‬،‫اإلنجميزية ورأس بيتشي اإلنجميزي المطؿ عمى القناة اإلنجميزية الضارب في البحر والمثقؿ بتخمة منتفخة‬

134
.‫ حقاً إف الموف األزرؽ متعنت‬.ً‫ فيو غالباً ما يكوف حمبلً وديعاً أزرقا‬.‫أخرى ىائج عاصؼ تيجانو الذرى البيضاء‬
‫ تيب الرياح التجارية نحو خط االستواء فتخترؽ‬.‫يسطع شعاع الشمس بضراوة مف سماء صافية ال تمبدىا الغيوـ‬
‫ وتتمدمد األمواج المتبلطمة متدحرجة تدحرجاً بديعاً في‬.‫دمؾ وتحس أف الغضب يمؤل كيانؾ لسبب ال تدري كنيو‬
‫ في‬،‫ الحموة منيا والمرة‬،‫ ومعو ذكرياتو‬،‫ وتنسى معيا أياـ شبابؾ المتبلشي في زوايا النسياف‬،‫شتى أنحاء جسدؾ‬
)".‫رغبة جامحة ال تنقطع وال تنقضي أبد الدىر‬

As to ambiguity, the first disadvantage of the previous ordinary version of translation,

it is overcome in this version through supplying extra details implied in the ambiguous
expressions of the original. For example, 'Beachy Head' is now made clear by means of
the two translation procedures, paraphrase (i.e. short explanation) and classifier
(identifying word): ‫رأس بيتشي اإلنجميزي المطؿ عمى القناة اإلنجميزية‬. After all, there is a
translation gap here filled in necessarily with further specific details about the term.
The point becomes clearer if a hasty wrong literal translation of words is applied, as
follows ‫ الرأس الشاطئي‬which involves misunderstanding 'Beachy' as an adjective of
'beach'. There is no such word in English Language, and the proper adjective of 'beach'
is 'littoral'.

Another example is "trade wind" which is paraphrased into ‫تيب الرياح التجارية نحو خط‬
‫االستواء‬, illustrating its direction very shortly.
As to literary touches, although the ordinary version of translation above is not entirely
un-literary, it is not as literary as the second version. The latter has taken into account
all the features of the literary style of the passage, pointed out in relation to the
English original. Here are the specifications:

(a) Elaborate personification (e.g. ‫(بالظنوف مشوب؛ الضارب في البحر؛ مثقؿ بتخمة منتفخة‬.
(b) Disruption of word order (e.g. ‫( وبالظنوف مشوب‬c.f. ‫)مشوب بالظنوف‬
(c) Syntactic elaboration (e.g. the last sentence).
(d) Assertive redundancy (e.g. ‫سماء صافية ال تمبدىا الغيوـ؛ متدحرجة تدحرجاً؛ ال تنقطع وال‬
‫)تنقضي؛ أبد الدىر‬.
(e) Pun (e.g. ‫ الضارب؛ حمؿ وديع‬... ‫)الشاىؽ‬
(f) Variable rhetorical repetition: (e.g. ‫ زوايا النسياف‬... ‫المتبلشي‬... ‫)وتنسى معيا‬
(g) Lexical deviation (e.g. ‫( حمؿ وديع أزرؽ‬the term is not qualified with any color in
Arabic); ‫( لوف أزرؽ متعنت‬no adjective like ‫ متعنت‬is normally used with the blue
color.
(h) Poetic choice of words, taken in comparison to the choice made in the first
ordinary version (e.g. ‫( بالظنوف مشوب‬c.f. ‫تارة أخرى ;)غير متيقف‬... ‫( تارة‬c.f.
ً‫وأحيانا‬...ً‫( بالغيوـ غير ممبدة ;)أحيانا‬c.f. ‫( حموىا ومرىا ;(خالية مف الغيوـ‬c.f. ‫أبد ;)القاسية والحموة‬
‫( الدىر‬c.f. ‫ ;)في الحياة‬etc.

135
 (i) Poetic sound effects (‫ال تنقضي‬...‫ ال تنقطع‬،‫(تخمة متخمة؛ متدحرجة تدحرجاً؛ تتمدمد‬.
(j) Poetic, rhythmical, rhymed and parallel patterning of language. The whole
Arabic translation is patterned elaborately in a poetic-like form that may –
through a deliberate reading – reflects the rhythms and rhymes that would
not pass unnoticed. This is the most delicate literary touch of the style of this
translation, which can be felt by rewriting the whole translation in form of
modern verse vis-à-vis the original, which is somehow similar in this
connection:

-The Pacific ‫المحيط اليادي‬-

-is inconstant
‫ال تواتر فيو‬-
-and uncertain,
،‫وبالظنوف مشوب‬-
-like ‫حالو في ذلؾ‬-
-the soul of the man.
.‫حاؿ روح اإلنساف‬-
-Sometimes it is grey ‫فيو تارة رمادي‬-
‫كما القناة اإلنجميزية‬-
-like the English Channel
‫ورأس بيتشي اإلنجميزي الشاىؽ‬-
-and Beachy Head, ‫المطؿ عمى القناة اإلنجميزية‬-
‫والضارب في البحر‬-
-with a heavy swell, ،‫والمثقؿ بتخمة منتفخة‬-
‫وتارة أخرى ىائج عاصؼ‬-
-and sometimes it is rough,
.‫تيجانو الذرى البيضاء‬-
-capped with white crests, and
boisterous. .ً‫فيو غالباً ما يكوف حمبلً وديعاً أزرقا‬
-It is not so often that it is calm and blue. .‫حقاً إف الموف األزرؽ متعنت‬-
-Then, indeed, the blue is arrogant.
‫يسطع شعاع الشمس بضراوة‬-
-The sun shines fiercely from
-an unclouded sky. ‫مف سماء صافية‬-
.‫بالغيوـ غير ممبدة‬-
-The trade wind gets into your blood
‫تيب الرياح التجارية نحو خط االستواء‬-
-and you are filled with an impatience ‫فتخترؽ األجواء إلى دمؾ‬-
‫وتحس أف الغضب يمؤل كيانؾ‬-

-for the unknown. .‫لسبب ال تدري كنيو‬-

‫وتتمدمد األمواج المتبلطمة‬-
-The billows, magnificently
ً‫متدحرجة تدحرجاً بديعا‬-
-rolling, stretch widely
،‫في شتى أنحاء جسدؾ‬-
-on all sides of you, ‫وتنسى معيا أياـ شبابؾ‬-
-and you forget
،‫المتبلشي في زوايا النسياف‬-
-your vanished youth,

136
 ،‫ومعو ذكرياتو‬-
-with its memories,
،‫حموىا ومرىا‬-
-cruel and sweet,
in a restless, ‫في رغبة جامحة‬-
‫ال تنقطع وال تنقضي‬-
-intolerable desire
-for life". .‫أبد الدىر‬-

4.6 TEXT (6):

"The engine whistled as it came into the wide bay of railway lines beside the colliery,
where rows of trucks stood in harbour.
Miners, single, trailing and in groups, passed like shadows diverging home. At the
edge of the ribbed level of sidings squat a low cottage, three steps down from the
cinder track. A large bony vine clutched at the house, as if to claw down the tiled
roof. Round the bricked yard grew a few wintry primroses. Beyond, the long garden
sloped down to a bush-covered brook course. There were some twiggy apple trees,
winter-crack trees, and ragged cabbages. Beside the path hung dishevelled pink
chrysanthemums, like pink cloths hung on bushes. …"
(D.H. Lawrence, Odour of the Chrysanthemums: in Carter, 1982).

This is the second paragraph of the famous English novelist and poet, D.H.
Lawrence's short story, Odour of the Chrysanthemums. It represents a unique
literary style of providing the slightest details of a descriptive account of
background surroundings. It is unique due to the fact that even the tiniest of details
about the whereabouts and accurate conditions of everything and everybody
moving or static in their small circle of setting. This accurate description of the
nuances of the elements of this setting are so impressive and passionate making
readers feel as though they were there. In addition, there is a unique style of
animating the inanimate participants, leaving them to speak for themselves, on the
one hand, and turning the animate elements (i.e. characters) into shadows at best.
In our translation of this passage, special attention has to be given to these hints.
First, an ordinary version of translation is suggested, followed by a literary one:

(Ordinary Translation)
‫ حيث كانت صفوؼ مف العربات‬،‫("صف ر القطار حينما دخؿ إلى العنبر الفسيح لمسكؾ الحديدية بجانب منجـ الفحـ‬
‫ يقع عند حافة المستوى‬.‫ مر عماؿ المناجـ فرادى ومتفرقيف وجماعات كاألشباح عائديف لبيوتيـ‬.‫تقؼ في الميناء‬
‫ تسمقت أغصاف كرمة ناتئة‬.‫ ثبلث درجات إلى أسفؿ طريؽ الرماد مف اآلجر‬، ‫المضمع لمخطوط الجانبية كوخ واط‬
.‫ نبتت حوؿ الفناء القرميدي بضع زىرات مف الربيع الشتوية‬.‫ وكأنيا تخدش سقؼ اآلجر‬،‫يابسة عمى المنزؿ‬
‫ كانت ىناؾ أشجار تفاح كثيرة‬.‫انحدرت خمفيا الحديقة الطويمة إلى األسفؿ حتى طريؽ الغدير المغطى بالشجر‬
‫ كثياب وردية تعمقت‬،‫ تدلى بمحاذاة الطريؽ أقحواف وردي مبعثر‬.‫ وممفوؼ ميترئ‬،‫ وأشجار شققيا الشتاء‬،‫األغصاف‬
)".‫عمى الشجيرات الصغيرة‬

137
‫‪This translation does not drop any minute detail of the original, using a normal style‬‬
‫‪of language regarding grammar, word order and lexical choice in particular. The‬‬
‫‪examples and their discussion are left until later to be provided in juxtaposition with‬‬
‫‪those of the literary version of translation, which is in order now:‬‬

‫)‪(Literary Translation‬‬
‫الرحب لمسكؾ الحديدية بمحاذاة منجـ الفحـ‪ ،‬حيث كانت أرتاؿ مف العربات تربض‬ ‫("نعؽ القطار وىو يمج الفضاء ْ‬
‫في الميناء‪ .‬مر عماؿ المناجـ زرافات ووحداناً وكأنيـ أشباح وقد أقفموا راجعيف إلى بيوتيـ‪ .‬عند حافة المستوى‬
‫اليندسي المضمع يقبع كوخ واط تنزؿ إليو ثبلث درجات إلى أسفؿ طريؽ الرماد مف اآلجر‪ .‬أغصاف دالية عنب‬
‫ناتئة بعظاميا قد يبست‪ .‬تسمقت البيت وكأنيا تنشب مخالبيا في سقؼ اآلجر فتجره‪ .‬حوؿ الفناء القرميدي نبتت‬
‫زىرات مف الربيع الشتوية‪ .‬خمفيا‪ ،‬تحدرت الحديقة الطويمة إلى األسفؿ حتى بمغت الغدير الذي غطاه الشجر‪ .‬ىناؾ‬
‫تناثرت أشجار تفاح مغصوصنة‪ ،‬وأشجار شققيا الشتاء‪ ،‬وممفوؼ أشعث أغبر‪ .‬بمحاذاة الطريؽ تدلى أقحواف وردي‬
‫أشعث‪ ،‬وكأنو أثواب وردية تعمقت عمى الشجيرات الصغيرة متدلية‪)".‬‬

‫‪The major point of departure between this and the previous ordinary version is the‬‬
‫‪choice of words and expressions in the first place. In comparison to the first, literary‬‬
‫‪translation has the following major changes in style (see table for juxtaposition):‬‬

‫نعؽ؛ ولج؛ ‪(a) Formality: frozen formal, or Classical Arabic is overwhelming (e.g.‬‬
‫صفر؛ دخؿ؛ بجانب؛ فرادى ومتفرقيف وجماعات؛ ‪ (c.f.‬بمحاذاة؛ زرافات ووحداناً؛ أقفؿ راجعاً؛ إلخ‪.‬‬
‫‪).‬عاد‬
‫‪).‬صفر؛ صفوؼ؛ وقؼ؛ وقع؛ إلخ‪) (c.f. .‬نعؽ؛ أرتاؿ؛ ربض؛ قبع؛ إلخ(‪(b) Expressivity:‬‬
‫‪ (e.g.‬زرافات ووحداناً؛ أقفموا راجعيف؛ إلخ‪(c) Formal collocability: (e.g .‬‬ ‫فرادى ومتفرقيف‬
‫‪(.‬وجماعات؛ عادوا؛ إلخ‪.‬‬
‫‪The English Original‬‬ ‫‪Ordinary Translation‬‬ ‫‪Literary Translation‬‬
‫‪-The engine whistled‬‬ ‫‪-‬صفر القطار‬ ‫‪-‬نعؽ القطار‬
‫‪-as it came into the‬‬
‫‪-‬حينما دخؿ إلى العنبر الفسيح‬ ‫‪-‬وىو يمج الفضاء الرحب‬
‫‪wide bay‬‬
‫‪-of railway lines‬‬ ‫‪-‬لمسكؾ الحديدية بجانب منجـ‬ ‫‪-‬لمسكؾ الحديدية بمحاذاة منجـ‬
‫‪beside the colliery,‬‬ ‫الفحـ‪،‬‬ ‫الفحـ‪،‬‬

‫‪-where rows of‬‬
‫‪trucks stood in‬‬
‫‪harbour.‬‬
‫‪-Miners, single,‬‬
‫‪trailing and in‬‬
‫‪groups, passed like‬‬
‫‪shadows diverging‬‬
‫‪home.‬‬
‫‪-At the edge of the‬‬
‫‪ribbed level of‬‬
‫‪-‬حيث كانت صفوؼ مف العربات‬
‫تقؼ في الميناء‪.‬‬
‫‪-‬مر عماؿ المناجـ فرادى‬
‫ومتفرقيف وجماعات كاألشباح‬
‫عائديف لبيوتيـ‪.‬‬
‫‪-‬يقع عند حافة المستوى المضمع‬
‫لمخطوط الجانبية كوخ‬
‫‪-‬حيث كانت أرتاؿ مف العربات‬
‫تربض في الميناء‪.‬‬
‫‪-‬مر عماؿ المناجـ زرافات‬
‫ووحداناً وكأنيـ أشباح وقد أقفموا‬
‫راجعيف إلى بيوتيـ‪.‬‬
‫‪-‬عند حافة المستوى اليندسي‬
‫المضمع يقبع كوخ واط تنزؿ‬

‫‪138‬‬
 ‫‪sidings squat a low‬‬ ‫واط ‪ ،‬ثبلث درجات إلى أسفؿ‬ ‫إليو ثبلث درجات إلى أسفؿ‬
‫‪cottage, three steps‬‬
‫طريؽ الرماد مف اآلجر‪.‬‬ ‫طريؽ الرماد مف اآلجر‪.‬‬
‫‪down from the‬‬
‫‪cinder track.‬‬ ‫‪-‬تسمقت أغصاف كرمة ناتئة يابسة‬ ‫‪-‬أغصاف دالية عنب ناتئة بعظاميا‬
‫‪-A large bony vine‬‬ ‫عمى المنزؿ‪ ،‬وكأنيا تخدش سقؼ‬ ‫قد يبست تسمقت البيت وكأنيا‬
‫‪clutched at the‬‬
‫‪house, as if to claw‬‬ ‫اآلجر‪.‬‬ ‫تنشب مخالبيا في سقؼ اآلجر‬
‫‪down the tiled roof.‬‬ ‫فتجره‪.‬‬
‫‪-‬نبتت حوؿ الفناء القرميدي بضع‬ ‫‪-‬حوؿ الفناء القرميدي نبتت‬
‫‪-Round the bricked‬‬
‫‪yard grew a few‬‬ ‫زىرات مف الربيع الشتوية‪.‬‬ ‫زىرات مف الربيع الشتوية‪.‬‬
‫‪wintry primroses.‬‬ ‫‪-‬انحدرت خمفيا الحديقة الطويمة‬ ‫‪-‬خمفيا‪ ،‬تحدرت الحديقة الطويمة‬
‫‪-Beyond, the long‬‬ ‫إلى األسفؿ حتى طريؽ الغدير‬ ‫إلى األسفؿ حتى بمغت الغدير‬
‫‪garden sloped‬‬
‫‪down to a bush-‬‬ ‫المغطى بالشجر‪.‬‬ ‫الذي غطاه الشجر‪.‬‬
‫‪covered brook‬‬
‫‪course.‬‬
‫‪-‬كانت ىناؾ أشجار تفاح كثيرة‬ ‫‪-‬ىنالؾ تناثرت أشجار تفاح‬
‫‪-There were some‬‬
‫‪twiggy apple trees,‬‬ ‫األغصاف‪ ،‬وأشجار مزقيا الشتاء‪،‬‬ ‫مغصوصنة‪ ،‬وأشجار شققيا‬
‫‪winter-crack trees,‬‬ ‫وممفوؼ ميترئ‪.‬‬ ‫الشتاء‪ ،‬وممفوؼ أشعث أغبر‪.‬‬
‫‪and ragged‬‬
‫‪cabbages.‬‬
‫‪-Beside the path‬‬ ‫‪-‬تدلى بمحاذاة الطريؽ أقحواف‬ ‫‪-‬بمحاذاة الطريؽ تدلى أقحواف‬
‫‪hung dishevelled‬‬ ‫وردي مبعثر‪،‬‬ ‫وردي أشعث‪،‬‬
‫‪pink‬‬
‫‪chrysanthemums,‬‬ ‫‪-‬كثياب وردية تعمقت عمى‬ ‫‪-‬وكأنو أثواب وردية تعمقت عمى‬
‫‪-like pink cloths hung‬‬ ‫الشجيرات الصغيرة‪.‬‬ ‫الشجيرات الصغيرة متدلية‪.‬‬
‫‪on bushes.‬‬
‫رحب؛ تنشب مخالبيا؛ تحدرت؛ تعمقت متدلية) ‪(d) Hyperboles:‬‬ ‫عنبر فسيح؛ تخدش؛ ‪ (e.g.‬فضاء ْ‬
‫‪(.‬انحدرت؛ تعمقت؛ إلخ‪.‬‬
‫تنشب المخالب؛ تناثرت األشجار؛ ممفوؼ أشعث أغبر؛ أقحواف أشعث؛ ‪(e) Literary metaphors: (e.g.‬‬
‫‪(.‬تخدش؛ كاف ىناؾ أشجار؛ ممفوؼ ميترئ؛ أقحواف مبعثر؛ إلخ‪ (c.f. .‬إلخ‪.‬‬
‫دالية ناتئة بعظاميا؛ قد يبست؛ مغصوصنة؛ تدلى؛ ‪(f) Literary words and expressions (e.g.‬‬
‫‪).‬كرمة ناتئة بأغصانيا؛ يابسة؛ كثيرة األغصاف؛ تعمؽ؛ مزقيا الشتاء؛ إلخ‪ (c.f. .‬شققيا الشتاء؛ إلخ‪).‬‬
‫‪(g) Directional foregrounding: Fronting of many adverbials of the passage‬‬
‫عند حافة؛ حوؿ (الفناء؛ ‪functioning as Signposts for accuracy of description (e.g.‬‬
‫‪. These adverbials of place direct the readers to‬خمؼ؛ ىنالؾ؛ بمحاذاة الطريؽ؛ إلخ‪.‬‬
‫‪the locations of the most significant elements of the story's setting. In other‬‬
‫‪words, the inanimate is preceding and replacing the animate which is turned‬‬
‫‪inanimate, or at best, into shadows (i.e. the miners). A further literary‬‬
‫‪implication for this foregrounding of signposts of description is the quiet and‬‬
‫‪smooth flow of description passionately as much as unconsciously, which‬‬

‫‪139‬‬
 creates for the reader an atmosphere of tranquility and yielding to the
miseries going around (see also Nash, 1982).

4.7 TEXT (7):

"Ten thousand vehicles careering through the Park this perfect afternoon. Such a show!
And I have seen all – watch'd it narrowly, and at my leisure. Private barouches, cabs
and coupés, some fine horseflesh – lapdogs, footmen, fashions, foreigners, cockades on
hats, crests on panels – the full oceanic tide of New York's wealth and 'gentility'. It was
an impressive, rich, interminable circus on a grand scale, full of action and color in the
beauty of the day, under the clear sun and moderate breeze … Yet what I saw those
hours (I took two other occasions, two other afternoons to watch the same scene)
confirms a thought that haunts me every additional glimpse I get of our top-loftical
general or rather exceptional phrases of wealth and fashion in this country – namely,
that they are ill at ease, much too conscious, cased in too many cerements, and far
from happy – that there is nothing in them which we who are poor and plain need at all
envy, and that instead of the perennial smell of the grass and woods and shores, their
typical redolence is of soaps and essences, very rare may be, but suggesting the barber
shop – something that turns stale and musty in a few hours anyhow."
(Walter Whitman, Specimen Days, in Nash, 1986, in Brumfit and Carter, 1986: 87)

This passage is an exquisite descriptive scene of a procession on a special New York

occasion, followed by the writer's sarcastic reaction to it in a splendid literary style. A
good translation has to attend not only to the procession but also to its implications.
Here is the first, ordinary attempt, followed by the literary attempt:

(Ordinary Translation)
‫ يا لو مف عرض! ولقد رأيت كؿ شيء – راقبتيا بدقة‬.‫( "تجوب عشرة آالؼ عربة الموقؼ عصر ىذا اليوـ الرائع‬
‫ وخيؿ الركوب‬،‫ وعربات الكوبيو‬،‫ ومركبات الخيؿ الثنائية‬،‫ عربات الخيؿ البروشة الرباعية الخاصة‬:‫وعمى راحتي‬
– ‫ وأعراؼ عمى ألواح زينة‬،‫ وعقد شرائط زينة عمى القبعات‬،‫ وأجانب‬،‫ وموضات‬،‫ وخدـ‬،‫والسباؽ – كبلب حضف‬
‫ مميئاً بالحركة‬،‫ لقد كاف سيركاً مؤث اًر وغنياً وال متناىياً عمى صعيد ضخـ‬."‫المد المحيطي لثراء نيويورؾ "ودماثتيا‬
‫ لكف ما رأيتو في تمؾ الساعات‬... ‫ تحت أشعة الشمس الساطعة والنسيـ المعتدؿ‬،‫واأللواف في جماؿ النيار‬
‫ وعصريتيف أخرييف لمشاىدة المشيد نفسو) يؤكد فكرة سكنت في داخمي عند كؿ نظرة‬،‫(اغتنمت مناسبتيف أخرييف‬
،‫إضافية ألقيتيا عمى عبارات البيرجة العامة منيا واالستثنائية لمثراء والموضة في ىذا البمد – أي أنيا مضطربة‬
‫ وبعيداً جداً عف السعادة – أنو ال شيء فييا نحتاج نحف الفقراء والبسطاء‬،ً‫ ومغمفة في أكفاف كثيرة جدا‬،ً‫ومتعمدة جدا‬
‫ ربما‬،‫ يفوح شذا الصابوف والعطور المقطرة‬، ‫ وأنو عوضاً عف الرائحة الخال دة لمعشب والغابات و الشواط‬،‫أف نحسده‬
)".‫ لكنيا توحي بصالوف حبلقة – شيء يصبح نتناً وعفناً في غضوف ساعات قميمة عمى أية حاؿ‬،ً‫ناد اًر جدا‬

140
The translation insists on rendering the literal contextual meaning of the English text as
closely as possible. Yet, the original is over-stuck to more referentially than
implicationally. That is, the implications of the style of irony of the description of the
parade and the reactions to it are left out. Further, some expressions and terms are
translated ambiguously either through loan words ( or transcription / transference)
(e.g. ‫ سيرؾ‬،‫ )بروشة؛ كوبيو‬or literal translation of words (e.g. ‫)كبلب حضف؛ أعراؼ عمى ألواح‬.
Perhaps the major drawback of this translation is its lack of literary spiritedness, as it
were, for it is a translation of the description of the original in body only, which might
make it look all serious and positive, but in reality it is not. Hence a literary version is
suggested below to compensate for this serious shortcoming.
)2(
‫ ما أبياه مف عرض! ولقد رأيت كؿ شيء – أنعمت‬.‫( "عشرة آالؼ عربة تجوب الموقؼ عصر ىذا اليوـ الرائع‬
‫ ومركبات الخيؿ الثنائية‬،‫ عربات الخيؿ اإلفرنجية الرباعية الخاصة البيية‬:‫النظر بالعربات قاطبة وعمى راحتي‬
،‫ وخدـ وحشـ‬،‫ وخيؿ الركوب والسباؽ – كبلب مدلمة في األحضاف كالولداف‬،‫ وعربات رباعية مقفمة وديعة‬،‫البديعة‬
‫ود ُسر – المد‬
ُ ‫ وأعراؼ عمى ألواح‬،‫ وقبعات مزدانة بالشرائط والعقد والتيجاف‬،‫ وأجانب وأغراب‬،‫وموضات وموديبلت‬
‫ لقد كانت فرقة ألعاب بيموانية وخفة بالغة األثر وذاخرة‬."‫الرىيب لثراء نيويورؾ الفاره العجيب "ونبالتيا عريقة المحتد‬
‫ مفعـ بالحركة والحيوية واأللواف الزاىية في وضح النيار‬،‫بأبية وبيرجة ومنظرة ال تنتيي أبداً عمى نطاؽ ىائؿ‬
،‫ لكف ما رأيتو في تمؾ السويعات (اغتنمت مناسبتيف أخرييف‬... ‫ تحت أشعة الشمس الساطعة والنسيـ العميؿ‬،‫البديع‬
‫وعصريتيف أخرييف لمتفرج عمى المشيد نفسو) يؤكد فكرة استقرت بيف حناياي عند كؿ نظرة إضافية رمقت بيا عمى‬
‫ لمغنى والثراء والموضة واألزياء في ىذا البمد المعطاء – أي أنيا‬،‫ العامة منيا واالستث نائية‬،‫عبارات البيرجة‬
‫ وأبعد ما تكوف عف السرور والحبور – أنو ال‬،‫ ومغمفة في أكفاف كثيرة وفيرة‬،‫ ومتعمدة مقصودة‬،‫مضطربة ميزوزة‬
‫ وأنو عوضاً عف العبير الخالد لؤلعشاب والغابات‬،‫شيء فييا يجعمنا نحف الفقراء والبسطاء أف نحسده أو نغبطو‬
‫ والتي توحي بعبؽ دكاكيف الحبلقيف‬،‫ تنبعث رائحة الصابوف والعطور المقطرة‬،‫والشطآف والخمجاف يفوح في كؿ مكاف‬
".‫– شيء ينقمب نتناً وعفناً في غضوف ىنييات‬
At first sight, the original suggests a lovely and lively scene that the New Yorkers must
feel proud of. However, reading through the lines, the sense of irony is lurking
everywhere in the description. Therefore, this translation has tracked all the possible
traces of irony and rendered them in a spirited literary style, using the two general
translation procedures of paraphrase and addition. Many words and phrases are
amplified by way of achieving the sharpest sense of irony possible to match the huge
sarcastic implications of the text. Following is an account of the ironical touches,
indirect and direct, which are eventually the major component of the translation's
literary flavor:

(a) Exaggerated exclamation: (e.g. !‫)ما أبياه مف عرض‬.

(b) Pretentious synonymy: (e.g. ‫(بالغة األثر وذاخرة بأبية وبيرجة ومنفاخية‬
(c) Ostentatious pairs of synonyms (e.g. ‫لمغنى والثراء؛ والموضة واألزياء؛ نحسده أو نغبطو؛‬
).‫مضطربة ميزوزة؛ متعمدة مقصودة؛ كثيرة وفيرة؛ السرور والحبور؛ نتناً وعفناً؛ إلخ‬

141
 (d) Forced, fictitious prose rhyme: (e.g. (most words and phrases of the
translation are made rhymed) ‫ وديعة؛ في األحضاف‬... ‫ البيية؛ البديعة‬... ‫اإلفرنجية الرباعية‬
‫ المعطاء؛ الشطآف والخمجاف؛‬... ‫ األزياء‬... ‫)كالولداف؛ خدـ وحشـ؛ موضات وموديبلت؛ الثراء‬
(e) Affected rhythm: (e.g. ‫ والموضة واألزياء؛‬/ ‫ متعمدة مقصودة؛ لمغنى والثراء‬/ ‫مضطربة ميزوزة‬
.‫)إلخ‬
(f) Classical pompous phrases: (e.g. .‫)خدـ وحشـ؛ ألواح ودسر؛ إلخ‬
(g) Triads of end-prominence: Three synonymous words with emphasis falling on
the last one: (e.g. ‫)بأبية وبيرجة ومنفاخية‬
(h) Redundant repetition (e.g. ‫ وعصريتيف أخرييف‬،‫(مناسبتيف أخرييف‬
(i) Deliberate variation (e.g. ‫عبؽ‬/‫رائحة‬/‫عطر‬/‫)عبير‬
(j) Rhymed variation (e.g. ‫ في غضوف ىنييات‬/ ‫)في غضوف سويعات‬
(k) Harmonious rhymed antonyms: (e.g. ‫( كبلب مدلمة في األحضاف كالولداف‬the repulsive
equation between 'dogs' and 'children').

These features of the literary style of irony are made sharper by reading the text as a
representation of two extremes in contention: (1) The seemingly exalted, exquisite
description of the parade('ten thousand … breeze'), (2) counteracted by cynical
critique ('Yet … anyhow') This can be interpreted in terms of two polar lexical sets of
positive and negative as follows:

Positive Attitude Negative Attitude

Ten thousand vehicles careering through
the Park this perfect afternoon. Such a
show! And I have seen all – watch'd it
narrowly, and at my leisure. Private
barouches, cabs and coupés, some fine
horseflesh – lapdogs, footmen, fashions,
foreigners, cockades on hats, crests on
panels – the full oceanic tide of New
York's wealth and 'gentility'. It was an
impressive, rich, interminable circus on a
grand scale, full of action and color in the
beauty of the day, under the clear sun
and moderate breeze.
‫عشرة آالؼ عربة تجوب الموقؼ عصر ىذا اليوـ‬
– ‫ ما أبياه مف عرض! ولقد رأيت كؿ شيء‬.‫الرائع‬
‫ عربات‬:‫أنعمت النظر بالعربات قاطبة وعمى راحتي‬
‫ ومركبات‬،‫الخيؿ اإلفرنجية الرباعية الخاصة البيية‬
،‫ وعربات رباعية مقفمة وديعة‬،‫الخيؿ الثنائية البديعة‬
‫وخيؿ الركوب والسباؽ – كبلب مدلمة في األحضاف‬
Yet what I saw those hours (I took two
other occasions, two other afternoons to
watch the same scene) confirms a
thought that haunts me every additional
glimpse I get of our top-loftical general or
rather exceptional phrases of wealth and
fashion in this country – namely, that they
are ill at ease, much too conscious, cased
in too many cerements, and far from
happy – that there is nothing in them
which we who are poor and plain need at
all envy, and that instead of the perennial
smell of the grass and woods and shores,
their typical redolence is of soaps and
essences, very rare may be, but
suggesting the barber shop – something
that turns stale and musty in a few hours
anyhow.
‫لكف ما رأيتو في تمؾ السويعات (اغتنمت مناسبتيف‬
)‫ وعصريتيف أخرييف لمتفرج عمى المشيد نفسو‬،‫أخرييف‬

142
 ‫كالولداف‪ ،‬وخدـ وحشـ‪ ،‬وموضات وموديبلت‪ ،‬وأجانب‬ ‫يؤكد فكرة استقرت بيف حناياي عند كؿ نظرة إضافية‬
‫وأغراب‪ ،‬وقبعات مزدانة بالشرائط والعقد والتيجاف‪،‬‬ ‫رمقت بيا عمى عبارات البيرجة‪ ،‬العامة منيا‬
‫وأعراؼ عمى ألواح ودسر – المد الرىيب لثراء نيويورؾ‬ ‫واالستثنائية‪ ،‬لمغنى والثراء والموضة واألزياء في ىذا‬
‫الفاره العجيب "ونبالتيا عريقة المحتد"‪ .‬لقد كانت فرقة‬ ‫البمد المعطاء – أي أنيا مضطربة ميزوزة‪ ،‬ومتعمدة‬
‫ألعاب بيموانية وخفة بالغة األثر وذاخرة بأبية وبيرجة‬ ‫مقصودة‪ ،‬ومغمفة في أكفاف كثيرة وفيرة‪ ،‬وأبعد ما تكوف‬
‫ومنظرة ال تنتيي أبداً عمى نطاؽ ىائؿ‪ ،‬مفعـ بالحركة‬ ‫عف السرور والحبور – أنو ال شيء فييا يجعمنا نحف‬
‫والحيوية واأللواف الزاىية في وضح النيار البديع‪ ،‬تحت‬ ‫الفقراء والبسطاء أف نحسده أو نغبطو‪ ،‬وأنو عوضاً عف‬
‫أشعة الشمس الساطعة والنسيـ العميؿ‪.‬‬ ‫العبير الخالد لؤلعشاب والغابات والشطآف والخمجاف‬
‫يفوح في كؿ مكاف‪ ،‬تنبعث رائحة الصابوف والعطور‬
‫المقطرة‪ ،‬والتي توحي بعبؽ دكاكيف الحبلقيف – شيء‬
‫ينقمب نتناً وعفناً في غضوف ىنييات‪.‬‬

‫‪The whole foregoing argument is based on reading the text at more than one level: at‬‬
‫‪the level of its textual-contextual meanings (i.e. 'the ordinary version'), and its creative‬‬
‫‪literary-stylistic implications (i.e. 'the literary version'). However, the two are‬‬
‫‪interrelated, and in the latter, we usually go one direction: from textual-contextual‬‬
‫‪meanings to literary-stylistic implications.‬‬

‫‪4.8 TEXT (8):‬‬

‫‪"I have just read a news item about a tragic love affair. He killed her, then he killed‬‬
‫;‪himself, so he loved her. What do He or She matter? Their love alone matters to me‬‬
‫‪and it doesn't interest me because it moves me to pity or because it amazes me or‬‬
‫‪because it recalls to me or because it upsets me or because it makes me think, but‬‬
‫‪because it recalls to me a memory of my youth, a strange memory of a shoot when‬‬
‫‪Love appeared to me as crosses appeared to the first Christians in the middle of the‬‬
‫"‪sky.‬‬ ‫‪(Newmark, 1993: 49 (from French)).‬‬

‫)‪(Ordinary Translation‬‬
‫("قرأت لمتو خب اًر حوؿ قصة حب مأساوية‪ .‬قتميا‪ ،‬ثـ قتؿ نفسو‪ ،‬وىكذا أحبيا‪.‬وما ييمنا مف ’ىو‘ و’ىي‘؟ قصة‬
‫حبيما ىي التي تيمنا وحسب؛ وىي ال تيمني ألنيا تثير في الشفقة‪ ،‬أو ألنيا تقمقني‪ ،‬أو ألنيا تجعمني أفكر‪ ،‬بؿ‬
‫إلي ذكرى في شبابي‪ ،‬ذكرى غريبة مرت كالبرؽ حينما ظير الحب لي كما ظير الصميب لمنصارى‬ ‫ألنيا تعيد ّ‬
‫األوائؿ في السماء‪)".‬‬
‫)‪(Literary Translation‬‬
‫ًا حوؿ قصة حب مأساوية‪ .‬قتميا‪ ،‬ثـ قتؿ ن فسو‪ ،‬وكذا كانت طريقة تعبيره عف حبو ليا‪ .‬ما‬
‫("طالعت منذ ىنيية نبأ ً‬
‫في‬
‫أىمني َمف ىما ’ىو‘ و’ىي‘‪ .‬ما أىمني قصة حبيما العذري وحسب‪ ،‬ال شيء آخر‪ .‬وما أىمتني ألنيا تثير ّ‬
‫في رغبة في التفكير؛ ما أىمتني‬
‫في قمقاً‪ ،‬وما أىمتني ألنيا تثير ّ‬
‫الشفقة والتعاطؼ اإلنساني‪ ،‬وما أىمتني ألنيا تثير ّ‬
‫إال أل نيا تفتؽ جروحي وتحرؾ أشجاني وترد إلي ذكرى في أياـ شبابي الغابر‪ ،‬ذكرى مشوبة بالغرابة مرت خاطفة‬
‫ضوء القمر ليمة البدر‪)".‬‬
‫ُ‬ ‫قموب العاشقيف‬
‫َ‬ ‫كممح البصر مف أمامي وقت أف دغدغني الحب ألوؿ مرة كما يدغدغ‬

‫‪143‬‬
‫‪A comparison of the two translations would show the major differences between‬‬
‫‪them:‬‬

‫‪Ordinary Translation‬‬ ‫‪Literary Translation‬‬

‫‪-‬قرأت‬
‫‪-‬لمتو‬
‫‪-‬خب اًر‬
‫‪-‬حوؿ قصة حب مأساوية‪ .‬قتميا‪ ،‬ثـ قتؿ نفسو‪،‬‬
‫‪-‬وىكذا أحبيا‪.‬‬
‫‪-‬وما ييمنا مف ’ىو‘ و’ىي‘؟‬
‫قصة حبيما ىي التي تيمنا وحسب؛‬ ‫‪-‬ما أىمني قصة حبيما العذري وحسب‪ ،‬ال شيء‬
‫‪-‬وىي ال تيمني ألنيا تثير في الشفقة‪،‬‬
‫‪-‬أو ألنيا تقمقني‪،‬‬
‫‪-‬أو ألنيا تجعمني أفكر‪،‬‬
‫إلي‬
‫‪-‬بؿ ألنيا تعيد ّ‬ ‫‪-‬ما أىمتني إال ألنيا تفتؽ جروحي وتحرؾ أشجاني‬
‫‪-‬ذكرى في شبابي‪،‬‬
‫‪-‬ذكرى غريبة‬
‫‪-‬مرت كالبرؽ‬
‫‪-‬حينما ظير الحب لي‬
‫‪-‬كما ظير الصميب لمنصارى األوائؿ في السماء‪.‬‬
‫‪-‬طالعت‬
‫‪-‬منذ ىنيية‬
‫ًا‬
‫‪-‬نبأ ً‬
‫‪-‬حوؿ قصة حب مأساوية‪ .‬قتميا‪ ،‬ثـ قتؿ نفسو‪،‬‬
‫‪-‬وكذا كانت طريقة تعبيره عف حبو ليا‪.‬‬
‫‪-‬ما أىمني مف ىما ’ىو‘ و’ىي‘‪.‬‬
‫آخر‪.‬‬
‫في الشفقة والتعاطؼ‬
‫‪-‬وما أىمتني ألنيا تثير ّ‬
‫اإلنسانييف‪،‬‬
‫في قمقاً‪،‬‬
‫‪-‬وما أىمتني ألنيا تثير ّ‬
‫في رغبة في التفكير؛‬‫‪-‬وما أىمتني ألنيا تثير ّ‬
‫وترد إلي‬
‫‪-‬ذكرى في أياـ شبابي الغابر‪،‬‬
‫‪-‬ذكرى مشوبة بالغرابة‬
‫‪-‬مرت خاطفة كممح البصر مف أمامي‬
‫‪-‬وقت أف دغدغني الحب ألوؿ مرة‬
‫ضوء القمر ليمة البدر‪.‬‬
‫ُ‬ ‫قموب العاشقيف‬
‫َ‬ ‫‪-‬كما يدغدغ‬

‫‪Comparing these differences, we may notice that there is nothing unusual, nothing‬‬
‫‪made so impressive, extra passionate, or deeply touching in the first ordinary version,‬‬
‫‪whereas almost everything is impressive, passionate and touching feelings in the‬‬
‫‪second. In other words, the latter version is literary and, hence, more fitting than the‬‬
‫‪former for a literary text like the one concerned. These literary features are mainly‬‬
‫‪lexical, grammatical and cultural:‬‬

‫)طالعت ‪ /‬قرأت؛ وكذا ‪ /‬وىكذا؛ دغدغني الحب ‪ /‬ظير لي الحب ‪(a) More formality (e.g.‬‬
‫الحب العذري ‪ /‬الحب؛ تفتؽ جروحي وتحرؾ ‪(b) Emotively charged classical phrases (e.g.‬‬
‫أشجاني ‪ /‬تعيد إلي ذكرى؛ خاطفة كممح البصر‪ /‬مرت كالبرؽ)‬
‫في رغبة في التفكير ‪(c) Elaborate collocational periphrasis (e.g. /‬‬
‫في قمقاً ‪ /‬تقمقني؛ تثير ّ‬
‫تثير ّ‬
‫تجعمني أفكر؛ شبابي الغابر ‪ /‬شبابي؛ مشوبة بالغرابة ‪ /‬غريبة)‬

‫‪144‬‬
 ‫)ىنيية ‪ /‬دغدغ ‪(d) Literary-rhythmical words and phrases (e.g.‬‬
‫)ما أىمتني (‪ / )4‬ال تيمني (‪(e) Literary-rhetorical repetition (e.g. )1‬‬
‫ضوء القمر ليمة البدر ‪ /‬كما ‪(f) Literary-cultural equivalence (e.g.‬‬
‫ُ‬ ‫قموب العاشقيف‬
‫َ‬ ‫كما يدغدغ‬
‫ظير الصميب لمنصارى األوائؿ في السماء)‬
‫‪ (c.f.‬وقت أف دغدغني الحب ;)لـ تيمني ‪ (c.f.‬ما أىمتني ‪(g) Literary forms and structures (e.g.‬‬
‫)حينما ظير الحب لي‬

‫‪4.9 TEXT (9):‬‬

‫زائر الفجر‬
‫بقمـ نجيب محفوظ ( ار جبر وآخروف‪)1999 ،‬‬
‫عند فراغو مف صبلة الفجر وجده واقفاً أمامو في خموتو‪ .‬يمتؼ بعباءة مف نسيج كالسحاب ويطالعو كالبدر المنير‪.‬‬
‫الدىشة تفوؽ الخوؼ‪ ،‬ربما لجمالو الموحي بالخير‪ ،‬وألف الرجؿ الخاتـ لصبلتو ذا استعداد قديـ لتمقي العجائب‬
‫يتعذر عميو الكبلـ فيشجعو القادـ بصوت عذب قائبلً‪:‬‬
‫‪ -‬تسأؿ وال شؾ مف أكوف؟‬
‫حنى رأسو باإليجاب وحمت بو طمأنينة‪ .‬فقاؿ القادـ‪:‬‬
‫أنا ضيؼ متطوع مف عالـ الغيب يجد الشجاعة ليسأؿ‪:‬‬ ‫‪-‬‬
‫مف أرسمؾ يا سيدي؟‬ ‫‪‬‬
‫أنا متطوع لشعوري بحاجتؾ إلى العوف‪ ،‬أليس كذلؾ؟‬ ‫‪-‬‬
‫فقاؿ بنبرة متيدجة‪:‬‬
‫ما أحوجنى لمطيبيف!‬ ‫‪‬‬
‫وقاؿ بجدارة ‪:‬‬
‫لست وحدي في ذلؾ‪ ،‬ال شكوى شخصية لنا‪ ،‬وكمنا نحزف لما يجري حولنا نحزف أكثر لعجزنا عف‬ ‫‪‬‬
‫تغييره‪.‬‬
‫قصة قديمة‪.‬‬ ‫‪-‬‬
‫ولكنيا أليمة‪.‬‬ ‫‪‬‬
‫كؿ يؤدى دوره بما ىو مؤىؿ لو‪.‬‬ ‫‪-‬‬
‫ال تكفي طوبة لتقويـ بناء معوج!‬ ‫‪‬‬
‫فصمت القادـ مقدار لحظة ثـ تساءؿ‪:‬‬
‫ىؿ توافؽ عمى أف تصحبني إلى عالـ الخير المطمؽ؟‬ ‫‪-‬‬
‫فاعتراه قمؽ وقاؿ‪:‬‬
‫ىذا ىو الموت كما نفيمو في دنيانا؟‬ ‫‪‬‬
‫سمو بأى اسـ شئت!‬ ‫‪-‬‬
‫ولكف ‪ ...‬ولكف اختيار الموت انتحار وىو معدود عندنا مف الرذائؿ!‬ ‫‪‬‬

‫‪145‬‬
 !‫إنؾ ما زلت تفضؿ دنياؾ بكؿ ما فييا عمى عالـ الخير المطمؽ‬ -
:‫فقاؿ كالمعتذر‬
:‫ فصمت القادـ قميبلً ثـ قاؿ‬.. ‫ مزوي في مكاف ما‬... ‫ثمة أمؿ‬ 
:‫ فقاؿ بابتياج‬.‫أفكر بأف أمدؾ بقوة ىائمة ال تقاوـ‬ -
.ً‫فكرة عظيمة حقا‬ 
‫ولكنيا أمانة خطيرة فيؿ أنت عمى استعداد لحمميا؟‬ -
.‫حبي الخير يؤىمني لذلؾ‬ 
‫حدثني عف أوؿ خاطر يخطر لؾ لو ممكتيا؟‬ -
:‫فقاؿ بحماس‬
.‫أطير دنياي مف األشرار‬ 
:‫فقاؿ القادـ بنبرة ممتعة‬
!‫ما أنت إال واحد منيـ‬ -
:‫فيتؼ‬
... ‫معاذ اهلل‬ 
!‫تريد أف تبدأ بجريمة قتؿ جماعية‬ -
.‫ولكنى أقاتؿ الشر لحساب الخير‬ 
:‫فقاؿ القادـ بصوت بارد‬
.‫األخيار حقاً يفكروف بطريقة أخرى‬ -
.‫وتبلشى فجأة قبؿ أف تنفتح ستائر النافذة بضوء الصباح‬

(Ordinary Translation)
The Dawn Visitor
("At finishing the dawn prayer, he saw him standing alone, wrapped up in a fabric cloak
like a cloud, and looking like the shining moon. Surprise overcame fear, perhaps due to
his beauty which suggested good. And since the man who had just concluded his prayer
was already prepared to receive surprises found it impossible to talk, the coming man
encouraged him sweetly and said:
- "No doubt you ask who I am."
He nodded his head down, felt secure and then the coming man said:
- "I am a volunteer guest from the Unknown World who has the courage of
asking":
- "Who sent you, Sir?"
- "I am a volunteer for I feel your need for help. Aren't I right?"
He said in a shivering tone:
- "I badly need the good".
He said efficiently:

146
 - "I am not the only one in that. No personal complaints; we all feel sad about
what is going on around us. And we feel more sad for being unable to change
it."
- "An old story."
- "But painful."
- "Everyone does his lot in terms of his qualifications."
- "One block is not enough to straighten a crooked building."
- The newcomer remained silent for one moment, then wondered:
- "Do you agree to accompany me to the absolute World of Good?"
He felt anxious and said:
- "This is death as we understand it in our World?"
- "Call it what you like".
- "But … but your choice of death is a suicide which is vice!"
- "You still prefer your World in its entirety over the Absolute World of Good!"
He said apologetically:
'There is hope … crouching somewhere" … the comer remained silent for a while
then said:
- "I am thinking of supplying you with an irresistible great power".
He said delightfully:
- "A great idea indeed".
- "But it is a serious dependability. Are you prepared to forebear it?"
- "My love of good qualifies me for that."
- "Tell me about your first impression if you have it."
He said zealously:
- "I purify my World of the bad".
The comer said in an exciting tone:
- "You are but one of them!"
He hailed:
- "God forbid …"
- "You want to start with a massacre!"
- "But I fight evil in favor of good."
The comer said coolly:
- "The chosen really think differently".
He suddenly disappeared before the blinds of the window opened with the
morning light.")

Before commenting on this ordinary version of translation, a counter version of literary

translation is provided to develop further argument about the differences between the
two:

(Literary Translation)
The Invisible Visitor at Dawn
("At completing the dawn prayer, he saw him standing upright solely, engrossed in a
fabric garment like an elderly monk, bright as a star. Surprise overshadowed fear,
perhaps for his exquisite charm which inspired good. And as the man who had just

147
closed his prayer was predisposed to experience surprises found it impossible to talk,
the newcomer encouraged him pleasantly and said:
- "without a doubt, you wonder who I am."
He nodded his head, felt peace of mind and then said:
- "I am a volunteer guest from the Unknown, out of the blue, who dare ask":
- "Who sent you, Sir?"
- "I am a volunteer for I feel your need for help. Aren't I right?"
He said in a shivery tone:
- "how badly I need the good!"
He said briskly:
- "I am not the only one in that. No personal grudges; we all feel sad about
what is going on around us. And we feel yet more dejected being unable to
change it".
- "The same old story".
- "But excruciating."
- "Everyone does his share in proportion to his means".
- "One flower makes no garland".
- The newcomer kept his quiet for one moment, then wondered:
- "Do you agree to join me to the absolute World of Good?"
He felt uneasy and said:
- "This is death as we understand it in our World?"
- "Call it whatever you like".
- "But … but your choice of death is a suicide, and suicide in our religion is
vice!"
- "You still prefer your World in its entirety over the Absolute World of Good!"
He said apologetically:
"There is hope … stooping somewhere ….
The newcomer remained silent for a while then said:
- "I contemplate furnishing you with an irresistible gigantic power".
He said delightedly:
- "What a great idea!"
- "But it is a serious trusteeship. Are you prepared for the challenge?"
- "My love of good qualifies me for that".
- Tell me about your first impression once you have it.
He retorted passionately:
- "I fumigate my World of the wicked".
The newcomer said excitingly:
- "You are none but one of them!"
- "God forbid …". He shouted.
- "You conspire a massacre to start with!"
- "But I fight evil for good to prevail".
The newcomer said coolly:
- "The good think really differently from the normal".
Out of a sudden he vanished before the blinds of the window allowed for the morning
light to come in.")

148
The two versions seem generally not dissimilar. Yet certain differences of lexical and
cultural type in the second version make the difference. Here are some of these
differences which overload the latter with further features of literariness in
comparison with, and alongside the ordinary version suggested above (see table
below. The light color marks the examples juxtaposed in both versions):

(a) Unearthing the underlying meaning: (e.g. The Invisible Visitor at Dawn (c.f.
The Dawn Visitor).
(b) Effective language (e.g. standing upright solely (c.f. standing alone);
Overshadowed (c.f. overcame); exquisite charm (c.f. beauty); inspired (c.f.
suggested); without a doubt (c.f. no doubt); the Unknown, out of the blue (c.f.
the unknown world); dejected (c.f. sad); challenge (c.f. forebear); excruciating
(c.f. painful); vanished (c.f. disappeared); gigantic (c.f. great); etc.
(c) Figurative language (e.g. out of the blue (c.f. unknown world);
(d) Decisive language: double negative (e.g. You are none but one of them! (c.f.
You are but one of them); etc.
(e) Emphatic language (e.g. call it whatever you like (c.f. Call it what you like); etc.
(f) Assertive language (e.g. death is a suicide, and suicide … is vice! (c.f. a suicide
which is vice!)
(g) English cultural (e.g. 'engrossed in a fabric garment like an elderly monk,
bright as stars' (c.f. 'wrapped up in a fabric cloak like a cloud, and looking like
a shining moon'); 'one flower makes no garland' (c.f. the literal 'one block is
not enough to straighten a crooked building');
(h) Literary-tinted terms (e.g. engrossed; excruciating; fumigate; contemplate;
wonder; retorted passionately; vanished (c.f. wrapped up; painful; purify;
think; ask; said zealously; disappeared, in succession).
(i) Emphatic exclamation (e.g. what a great idea! (a great idea); how badly I need
the good (c.f. I badly need the good))
(j) Assertive clichés (e.g. the same old story (c.f. an old story); out of a sudden
(c.f. suddenly).
(k) More depressing language (e.g. conspire a massacre (c.f. start with a
massacre))
(l) Assertive apposition (e.g. from the Unknown, out of the blue (c.f. from the
Unknown World).

All these features are suggestive of the core components that make for the
literariness of the second version of translation. At the end, it is left to readers to
decide on that:

Ordinary Translation Literary Translation

The Dawn visitor
At finishing the dawn prayer, he saw him
standing alone, wrapped up in a fabric
cloak like a cloud, and looking like the
shining moon. Surprise overcame fear,
perhaps due to his beauty which
The Invisible Visitor at Dawn
At completing the dawn prayer, he saw
him standing upright solely, engrossed in a
fabric garment like an elderly monk, bright
as stars. Surprise overshadowed fear,
perhaps for his exquisite charm which

149
suggested good. And since the man who
had just concluded his prayer was already
prepared to receive surprises found it
impossible to talk, the coming man
encouraged him sweetly and said:
- "No doubt you ask who I am."
He nodded his head down, felt secure and
then the coming man said:
- "I am a volunteer guest from the
Unknown World who has the
courage to ask":
- "Who sent you, Sir?"
- "I am a volunteer for I feel your
need for help. Aren't I right?"
He said in a shivering tone:
- "I badly need the good."
He said efficiently:
- "I am not the only one in that.
No personal complaints; we all
feel sad about what is going on
around us. And we feel more sad
for being unable to change it."
- "An old story."
- "But painful.
- "Everyone does his lot in terms
of his qualifications."
- "One block is not enough to
straighten a crooked building."
- The newcomer remained silent
for one moment, then
wondered:
- "Do you agree to accompany me
to the absolute World of Good?"
He felt anxious and said:
- "This is death as we understand
it in our World?"
- "Call it what you like."
- "But … but your choice of death
is a suicide which is vice!"
- "You still prefer your World in its
entirety over the Absolute World
of Good!"
He said apologetically:
"There is hope … crouching
150
inspired good. And as the man who had
just closed his prayer was predisposed to
experience surprises found it impossible to
talk, the newcomer encouraged him
pleasantly and said:
- "without a doubt, you wonder
who I am."
He nodded his head, felt peace of mind
and then the newcomer said:
- "I am a volunteer guest from the
Unknown, out of the blue, who
dare ask":
- "Who sent you, Sir?"
- "I am a volunteer for I feel your
need for help. Aren't I right?"
He said in a shivery tone:
- "how badly I need the good!"
He said briskly:
- "I am not the only one in that.
No personal grudges; we all feel
sad about what is going on
around us. And we feel yet more
dejected being unable to change
it."
- "The same old story."
- "But excruciating."
- "Everyone does his share in
proportion to his means."
- "One flower makes no garland."
- The newcomer kept his quiet for
one moment, then wondered:
- "Do you agree to join me to the
absolute World of Good?"
He felt uneasy and said:
- "This is death as we understand
it in our World?"
- "Call it whatever you like."
- "But … but your choice of death
is a suicide, and suicide in our
religion is vice!"
- "You still prefer your World in its
entirety over the Absolute World
of Good!"
He said apologetically:
"There is hope … stooping somewhere … .
The newcomer remained silent for a while
somewhere…". The comer remained then said:
silent for a while then said: - "I contemplate furnishing you
- "I am thinking of supplying you with an irresistible gigantic
with an irresistible great power." power."
He said delightedly: He said delightedly:
- A great idea indeed. - "What a great idea!"
- But it is a serious dependability. - "But it is a serious trusteeship.
Are you prepared to forebear it? Are you prepared for the
challenge?"
- My love of good qualifies me for - "My love of good qualifies me for
that. that."
- Tell me about your first - "Tell me about your first
impression if you have it. impression once you have it."
He said zealously: He retorted passionately:
- I purify my World of the bad. - "I fumigate my World of the
The comer said in an exciting tone: wicked."
- You are but one of them! The newcomer said excitingly:
He hailed: - "You are none but one of them!"
- "God forbid …" - "God forbid …" He shouted."
- "You want to start with a - "You conspire a massacre …!"
massacre!"
- "But I fight evil in favor of good." - "But I fight evil for good to
prevail."
The comer said coolly: The newcomer said coolly:
- "The chosen really think - "The good think really differently
differently". from the normal."
- He suddenly disappeared before - Out of a sudden he vanished
the blinds of the window opened before the blinds of the window
with the morning light." allowed for the morning light to
come in."
4.10. Text (10)
‫ وكػاف يحتػاؿ عمػى تعػذيبي فيسػكف متربصػاً سػاعات النيػار ويسػقط مضػطرباً فػي‬،‫"كاف في فمي ضرس مسوس‬
]...[ .‫ىدوء الميؿ عندما يكوف أطباء األسناف نائميف والصيدلية مقفمة‬
‫ وال تعتػرض ’فمػف يأكػؿ‬،ً‫ أال فاخمعو ضرساً مذىباً شػري ار‬:‫فذىبت إلى طبيب آخر وقمت لو بصوت يعانقو الحزـ‬
.‘‫العصي ال كمف يعدىا‬
.‫فنزع الطبيب الضرس وكانت ساعة ىائمة بأوجاعيا ولكنيا ساعة مباركة‬
‫ فالعم ػػة ق ػػد تحكم ػػت بأص ػػوؿ‬.ً‫ لق ػػد فعم ػػت حس ػػنا‬:ً‫وق ػػاؿ ل ػػي الطبي ػػب بع ػػد أف استأص ػػؿ الض ػػرس وتفحص ػػو جي ػػدا‬
]...[ .‫ضرسؾ ىذا حتى لـ يبؽ رجاء بشفائو‬
‫ غيػر أف الجامعػة البشػرية ال‬.‫في فـ الجامعة البشرية أضراس مسوسة وقػد نخرتيػا العمػة حتػى بمغػت عظػـ الفػؾ‬
.‫تستأصميا لترتاح مف أوجاعيا بؿ تكتفي بتمريضيا وتنظيؼ خارجيا ومؿء ثقوبيا بالذىب المماع‬
‫ ومػػا أكثػػر المرضػػى الػػذيف‬.‫ومػػا أكثػػر األطبػػاء الػػذيف يػػداووف أضػراس اإلنسػػانية بػػالطبلء الجميػػؿ والمػواد الب ارقػػة‬
.‫يستسمموف إلى مشيئة أولئؾ األطباء المصمحيف فيتوجعوف ويسقموف ثـ يموتوف بعمتيـ مخدوعيف‬

151
‫وفي فـ األمة السورية أضراس بالية سوداء قذرة ذات رائحة كريية وقػد حػاوؿ أطباؤنػا تطييرىػا وحشػوىا بالمينػاء‬
‫ واألمػة التػي تكػوف أض ارسػيا معتمػة‬.‫والباس خارجيا رقوؽ الذىب ولكنيػا ال تشػفى ولػف تشػفى بغيػر االستئصػاؿ‬
"‫ وكـ أمة ذىبت شييدة عسر اليضـ‬،‫تكوف معدتيا ضعيفة‬
)"‫ "األضراس المسوسة‬:‫ العواصؼ‬:1920 ،‫(جبراف خميؿ جبراف‬

(Ordinary Translation)

Decayed Teeth
("I had a decayed tooth in my mouth that troubled me. It stayed dormant during
the day. But in the tranquility of the night, when dentists were asleep and drug-
stores closed, it began to ache. [...]
So I went to another dentist and said to him, 'Extract this damned tooth without
asking me any question, for the person who receives the blows is not like the one
who counts them.'
Obeying my command, he extracted the tooth. Looking at it he said, 'You have
done well to have this rotten tooth extracted.'
[...]
In the mouth of Society are many diseased teeth, decayed to the bones of the
jaws. But Society makes no efforts to have them extracted and be rid of the
affliction. It contents itself with gold fillings.
Many are the dentists who treat the decayed teeth of Society with glittering gold.
Numerous are those who yield to the enticements of such reformers, and pain,
sickness and death are their lot.
In the mouth of the Syrian nation are many rotten, black and dirty teeth that
fester and stink. The doctors have attempted cures with gold fittings instead of
extraction. And the disease remains. A nation with rotten teeth is doomed to have
a sick stomach. Many are the nations afflicted with such indigestion.")
(Translated by: Anthony Ferris, 1961, in Emery, 1996)

The English translator has done his best to translate to his reader what he thinks
to be the general meaning of the Arabic original. Perhaps he succeeded in that,
and the reader can easily read the translation at two levels: the literal / referential
(involving a patient, a dentist and wisdom extraction); and the literary / symbolic
(applying the patient's sufferings, the dentist's golden fillings and the torture of
the wisdom's extraction to the ills of Human Society in general, and the Syrian
People in particular, i.e. understanding the whole short story as a diatribe, a bitter
criticism leveled against the hypocrisy and complacency of the so-called reformers
of the Nation of the period who invent subtle cosmetic remedies to treat the ills of
society without eradicating the root causes of poverty, ignorance, oppression and
corruption. The story is pessimistic in tone, castigating both the rulers and the
ruled in society for their failings (see also ibid.).

152
Yet, a translation is a translation of the whole text, especially a literary text, not
parts of it, which may turn the translation into a long summary, and a good
translation is not a summary. Let us have some statistics about the original and its
translation. The Arabic extract is 182 words; only two thirds of it (i.e. 125) are
translated; the remaining third (i.e. 57 words) is left out. Oddly enough, the two
thirds are translated by Ferris into 282 words into English. Generally, word count
does not count in translation theory and practice, yet not always, especially in
literary translation, where almost everything in the text counts. Newmark is right
to label literary texts in general as expressive texts performing expressive
functions, that everything should be attended to – although I object to his
exaggeration of describing these texts as sacred, except in the sense of everything
counts in them. Therefore, dropping one or two details of a literary text is not
advisable, let alone dropping a third of it, for these details can be as important as,
or perhaps more important than the other translated parts of meaning – as the
case is possibly here.

Chief among the details ignored by the translator is ‫( كػاف يحتػاؿ عمػى تعػذيبي‬It wangled
to torture me) which includes one of the weightiest, if not the weightiest – key
words of the Arabic original (i.e. torture), summing up its whole meaning and
symbolic implications about the human Community's ills. Further, whole
sentences of considerable importance and relevance to the story's implications
are unjustifiably left out: (e.g. ‫( وكانػػت سػػاعة ىائمػػة بأوجاعيػػا ولكنيػػا سػػاعة مباركػػة‬It was a
horrific hour of aches, yet it was a blessed hour of relief); ‫فالعمػة قػد تحكمػت بأصػوؿ‬
.‫( ضرسػؾ ىػذا حتػى لػـ يبػؽ رجػاء بشػفائو‬Ailment has tightened its firm grip on the roots of
your wisdom that it has turned incurable); etc. Here is a list with the words,
phrases and statements which are not translated by the English translator, but
translated in the alternative literary version suggested below:

Their translation into English Untranslated parts of the Arabic

original
-It wangled to torture me ‫كاف يحتاؿ عمى تعذيبي‬-
-He said firmly
‫بصوت يعانقو الحزـ‬-
- …bloody golden .ً‫ مذىبا‬... ‫أال‬-
-It was a horrific hour of aches, yet it ‫وكانت ساعة ىائمة بأوجاعيا ولكنيا ساعة‬-
was a blessed hour of relief
.‫مباركة‬
- scrutinized the wisdom scrupulously ً‫تفحصو جيدا‬-
-Ailment has tightened its firm grip on ‫فالعمة قد تحكمت بأصوؿ ضرسؾ ىذا حتى لـ‬-
the roots of your wisdom that it has
turned incurable." .‫يبؽ رجاء بشفائو‬
-It contents itself with nursing them, ‫بؿ تكتفي بتمريضيا وتنظيؼ خارجيا ومؿء‬-
cleaning their outward shape and filling

153
-good-looking … stuff
-patients … doctor (reformers)
- to cure them with cleansing, enamel
fillings and gold-coating …
-will never ever heal except by
eradication
‫ثقوبيا‬
‫بالطبلء الجميؿ‬-
.‫ أولئؾ األطباء‬... ‫المرضى‬-
‫وحشوىا بالميناء والباس خارجيا رقوؽ الذىب‬-
.‫ال تشفى ولف تشفى بغير االستئصاؿ‬-

Hence, the translator has failed to translate the meaning of the text in full, and
dropped essential parts of it. He paid no due respect for the speciality of the type
of text as literary, neither to faithfulness principle in translation, that is, everything
should be taken into account in translation, and nothing should be left
untranslated but for a good reason. And the translator has dropped parts of the
original text on purpose for no good reason.

Now we may consider the literariness / non-literariness of the translation at the

level of word choice. ‫ضرس‬, to start with, is translated by Ferris into the general
term, 'tooth', rather than into the specific 'molar (tooth)'. Certainly, in English
Language, 'tooth' is the basic term in a lexical set related to it, whereas 'molar /
wisdom tooth' is one member of this set. Therefore, the former receives greater
attention in language regarding word combination, metaphors and fixed phrases.
In English, for example, there are 'tooth decay' )‫(تسوس األسناف‬, 'tooth ache' / ‫(ألـ السف‬
)‫الضرس‬, 'set of teeth' )‫ (طقـ أسناف‬, 'tooth abscess' )‫(خراج سف‬, 'tooth extraction' / ‫(قمع‬
)‫خمع سف‬, a 'sweet tooth'‫ شخص مولع بالحموى‬/ ‫((ضرس حمو‬, 'tooth and nail' ‫(بكؿ ما أوتي مف‬
)‫ بيديو ورجميو‬/ ‫قوة‬, and 'to show one's teeth' )‫(يكشر عف أنيابو‬, to point out some.
However, 'molar / wisdom tooth' does not have such combinations, except
perhaps 'wisdom tooth', which implies that at the end it is a 'kind of tooth'. Hence,
the translator has good reasons for going for 'tooth', and not 'molar tooth'.

However, in Arabic, it is the other way round, i.e. the term ‫'( ضرس‬molar (tooth)')
has the greater share of word combinations and fixed phrases. For example: ‫ضرس‬
‫( حمو‬sweet tooth (see above)), ‫ض ِرس مف الحامض‬ َ (one's teeth become dull out of
sour); ‫ض َرس‬ ِ
َ (to bite with one's molars), ‫( ضرس العقؿ‬wisdom tooth), ‫ىو ال يعض في العمـ‬
‫( بضرس قاطع‬he has not mastered it properly yet), ‫ضرس‬ ِ ‫( رجؿ‬a rough man), ‫ضارس‬
‫( األمور‬to experience things knowingly), ‫( حرب ضروس‬ferocious war), etc. (See Al-
Mu'jam Al-Wasit: 1987: 539). Generally, the Arabic term, ‫ ضرس‬has a cultural
connotation of power and firmness. Therefore, the phrases, ‫ أضراس مسوسة‬and
‫ استئصاؿ األضراس‬are richer and more effective than ‫ أسناف مسوسة‬and ‫ استئصاؿ األسناف‬in
their connotative meanings. Apparently, there are cultural differences between
English and Arabic, which are not quite clear to the English translator.

154
Hence, to me, the more appropriate translation for ‫ ضرس‬here could be 'wisdom
tooth', for the context of the story implies this sense (i.e. ‫)ضرس العقؿ‬.

Another critical term in the story is the terms ‫استئصاؿ‬, which is translated by Ferris
into 'extraction'. The latter term is the normal ‫ قمع‬/ ‫ خمع‬in Arabic, rather than
‫استئصاؿ‬, which is 'eradication'. Well, conventionally, one may 'extract', not
'eradicate', one's tooth. But it is not a matter of a normal pullout of a decayed
tooth; rather it is a radical wipeout and elimination of a tooth, i.e. corruption in
the human community, especially the Syrian People. Therefore, due to the type of
text, i.e. literary, and since creativity is one feature of it, and as the original term
‫ استئصاؿ‬is meant to be understood more connotatively and metaphorically than
denotatively and referentially, 'eradication' is a better choice here. Accordingly, it
is more literary than 'extraction'.

‫ يسكف متربص ًا‬is translated by Ferris into 'he stayed dormant' which does not match
the expressivity and literariness of the Arabic original. That is, the original term,
ً‫ متربصا‬implies a sense of 'waiting, anticipation, alertness, readiness and potential
aggressiveness', whereas 'stayed' does not suggest any of these senses but the
first. Therefore, 'lurk' is a proposed replacement for it implies the senses of the
original. Hence: "lurking dormant".

ً‫ يسقط مضطربا‬is also translated by Ferris into less impressive version as 'started to
ache'. 'Ache' is much less effective than ‫ مضطرب‬which involves, in addition to ache,
chaos and tumult, which are symbolic of chaotic Society. Hence: 'ache
tumultuously'.

‫ ويسقموف ثـ يموتوف بعمتيـ مخدوعيف‬is translated poorly normally into '… sickness and
death are their lot', as though their sickness and death were natural. Further, the
heavy-loaded term ‫( مخدوعوف‬deceived / fooled). In fact, the original implies a
miserable, tragic sickness and death of fooled people caused by the Society. Thus,
an alternative translation is suggested: 'to die in the end plagued and fooled'.

‫ وال تعترض‬،‫ أال فاخمعو ضرساً مذىباً شري اًر‬is translated into 'extract this damned tooth
without asking me any question', with no due attendance to the grammatical
emphatic style of ‫أال فاخمعو‬, and unjustified omission of a crucial term ‫ُم َذىب‬
(gold/golden) which, at the same time, stands in sharp contrast with the next
word, ‫( شرير‬wicked). Although the translator has some justification for ignoring the
first, due to the fact that no equivalence is available in English Language, the
second is not justified. However, there is some way to compensate for the
emphatic tone of the first in English (i.e. right away / on the spot, etc.). Hence the

155
following version: 'eradicate this damned gold-coated wisdom tooth right away
and don't say no'.

‫ ولكنيا ال تشفى ولف تشفى بغير االستئصاؿ‬includes double emphasis implied in the double
negative of ‫ال تشفى ولف تشفى‬, but Ferris ignores this completely and, instead, he
translates the emphatic double negative into normal positive. Hence the
replacement version that attends to this particularly important grammatical style:
'but the disease remains and will never ever heal except by eradication'.

‫ وكـ أمة ذىبت شييدة عسر اليضـ‬/ is translated loosely into 'Many are the nations
afflicted with such indigestion', and the key term, ‫( شييدة‬martyr / martyred) which
is laden with religious, cultural, and noble / cynical connotations in Arabic.
'Martyrdom' is a sublime religious concept, a culturally noble objective and style of
implicit bitter irony (i.e. irony of fate). The cynical style is based on the sharp
contrast between the transcendental status of martyrs for a Divine cause and
martyrs for a silly cause, as the case may be here. The author of the original aims
at leveling sharp sarcasm at the miseries and ills of the Human Community as
much as the Syrian People, by drawing an implicit cultural sharp contrast between
'a nation that is martyred for the sake of God, the Homeland, etc.' and 'a nation
that is martyred due to indigestion!'. Hence the following alternative translation:
'martyred scapegoats of indigestion', where 'scapegoats' is illustrative and
insinuative of cynical martyrdom.

On the other hand, the term, 'Syrian Nation' is a wrong literal translation of ‫األمة‬
‫السورية‬, for the term is not meant in the sense of 'nation' but rather in the sense of
'People' )‫(شعب‬. Although we talk about 'The Arab Nation', 'The Muslim Nation', we
usually do not talk about the Egyptian Nation, the Saudi Nation, etc. who are a
part of the previous two Nations. We talk in terms of the Egyptian People, and the
Saudi People. Thus, ‫ األمة السورية‬is better translated properly into ‫الشعب السوري‬.

In conclusion, this version of translation by Anthony Ferris is at best closer to

ordinary literal translation of the original, which is a uniquely delicate and
connotative literary text. In other words, the translation has failed to match the
sublimity of the literariness of the Arabic original. Hence, a literary version of
translation that may overcome all the shortcomings pointed out above can be
suggested now:

(Literary Translation)

Decayed Wisdom Teeth

("I had a decayed wisdom tooth that troubled me. It wangled to torture me,
lurking dormant during the day, but aching tumultuously in the tranquility of the
night, when dentists were asleep and chemists' closed. [...]

156
So I went to see another dentist and said to him firmly, 'eradicate this damned
gold-coated wisdom tooth right away and don't say no, for the person who
receives the blows is not like the one who counts them.'
Obeying my command, he eradicated the wisdom. It was a horrific hour of aches,
yet it was a blessed hour of relief.
Having eradicated and scrutinized the wisdom scrupulously, he said, 'You have
done well to have this rotten wisdom tooth eradicated. Ailment has tightened its
firm grip on the roots of your wisdom that it has turned incurable." [...]
In the mouth of the Human Community are many diseased wisdom teeth, decayed
to the bone. But the Human Society makes no efforts to have them eradicated and
be rid of the affliction. It contents itself with nursing them, cleaning their outward
shape and filling in their holes with glittering gold.
So many are the doctors of reform who medicate the wisdom of humanity by
means of good-looking and dazzling stuff. And so many are the patients who yield
to the enticements of such doctoral reformers, suffer pain and fall sick to die in
the end plagued and fooled.
In the mouth of the Syrian People are many rotten, blackened and dirty wisdoms
that fester and stink. Our reform doctors have attempted to cure them with
cleansing, enamel fillings and gold-coating instead of eradication, but the disease
remains and will never ever heal except by eradication. A nation with rotten
wisdom is doomed to have a sick stomach. Many are the nations that have been
martyred scapegoats of indigestion.")

4.11 Summary

The foregoing pairs of versions of translation of texts representative of ten short

stories (eight English and two Arabic) and the ensuing discussions suggest two
main lines of argument for the translation of Short Story:

(1) Possible ordinary translation that focuses solely on the rendition of meaning
in a straightforward way, with full commitment to sense in a normal,
unmarked style of the Target language; and
(2) Literary translation claimed to have been creative and accounted for the
major literary delicacies, features, functions, tones and touches. Prime among
these are: metaphorical expressions (including fixed phrases, idioms, adages
and proverbs) and implications, symbolisms, lexical densities, metonyms,
puns, personifications, rhetorical repetitions of all types, rhetorical figures of
different types (especially syndetic, polysyndetic and asyndetic patterns,
chiasmus, hyperboles, periphrases, etc.), assertive/emphatic features of all
types, lexical and syntactic foregrounding / backgrounding, literary diction,

157
 literary structures, sound / prosodic features and effects (especially, rhyme,
rhythm, prose rhyme, sound harmony / disharmony, etc.), formality, classical
literary phrases and expressions, antonyms and contrasts, synonyms and
variations, parallel structures (lexical, grammatical and phonological), cultural
expressions and implications and deviations (lexical and syntactic in
particular), to name but the major ones. All these and other features
discussed earlier in the Chapter are described to be features of impressive,
expressive and effective literary language of this and other major genres of
literary text forthcoming.

It has been claimed throughout that, due to the speciality of the language and
style of the literary texts, and due to the abundance of features of literariness
unique to these texts, our translation of them is expected to be sensed and judged
as literary in the Target Language. And these very features of literariness and
literary style are the master key, as it were, to any version of translation to be
described as 'literary'. This has been demonstrated in practice through a close
comparison between the Ordinary Version and the Literary Version of translation
suggested more naturally than artificially for every short story quoted earlier in
this Chapter. At the end, it is left to the reader to draw the final judgment about
the credibility of the literary version in particular.

Remarkably, the literary versions of all texts exemplified here are longer than the
original, due to providing extra details and stylistic implications of different types,
whereas the ordinary versions are either shorter, or of equal length owing to the
literal, direct and curtailed nature of the translation of meaning into the TL, with
no concern with giving any extra details or implications of any type.

The short stories discussed in this Chapter have been deliberately chosen to
represent a wide range of writers, topics and styles in both languages.
In conclusion, the translation of Short Story into equally creative and literary
version in the Target Language is by no means a straightforward process. Yet, it is
not impossible nor far-fetched, but rather challenging and enjoying to attempt
unabashedly. Perhaps more challenging than the literary translation of Short Story,
is the translation of Novel and Narrative, the topic due to discuss in the next
Chapter.

158
Exercises

1. The following extract is another quotation from D.H. Lawrence's Short Story,
'Odour of the Chrysanthemums', discussed earlier in the Chapter (the next
part). As has been done throughout the Chapter, it is translated into two
versions, Ordinary, and Literary. Find out about the major differences
between the two Arabic versions in the same way done above:

There were some twiggy apple trees, winter-crack trees, and ragged cabbages.
Beside the path hung dishevelled pink chrysanthemums, like pink cloths hung on
bushes. A woman came stooping out of the felt-covered fowl-house, half-way
down the garden. She closed and padlocked the door, then drew herself erect,
having brushed some bits from her white apron.
She was a tall woman of imperious mien, handsome, with definite black
eyebrows. Her smooth black hair was parted exactly. For a few moments she
stood steadily watching the miners as they passed along the railway: then she

159
 ‫‪turned towards the brook course. Her face was calm and set, her mouth was‬‬
‫‪closed with disillusionment. After a moment she called:‬‬
‫‪“John!” There was no answer. She waited, and then said distinctly:‬‬
‫…”?‪“Where are you‬‬
‫‪For answer the child showed himself before the raspberry-canes that rose like‬‬
‫‪whips. He was a small, sturdy boy of five. He stood quite still, defiantly.‬‬
‫‪As they went slowly towards the house he tore at the ragged wisps of‬‬
‫‪chrysanthemums and dropped the petals in handfuls along the path.‬‬
‫‪“Don’t do that—it does look nasty,” said his mother. He refrained, and she,‬‬
‫‪suddenly pitiful, broke off a twig with three or four wan flowers and held them‬‬
‫"‪against her face.‬‬

‫)‪(Ordinary Translation‬‬
‫("كانت ىناؾ أشجار تفاح كثيرة األغصاف‪ ،‬وأشجار شققيا الشتاء‪ ،‬وممفوؼ ميترئ‪ .‬بمحاذاة الطريؽ تدلى أقحواف‬
‫وردي مبعثر‪ ،‬كثياب وردية تعمقت عمى الشجيرات الصغيرة‪ .‬أتت امرأة وىي تخرج منحنية مف قف دجاج مغطى‬
‫بالمباد‪ ،‬في منتصؼ الطريؽ أسفؿ الحديقة‪ .‬أغمقت الباب وأقفمتو مف الخمؼ‪ ،‬ثـ انتصبت واقفة وقد نظفت فتاتاً مف‬
‫مئزرىا الواقي األبيض‪.‬‬
‫كانت امرأة طويمة بطمعة بيية‪ ،‬جميمة‪ ،‬بحواجب سوداء‪ .‬كاف شعرىا األسود الناعـ ُم ْف َرقاً عمى نحو دقيؽ‪ .‬لمحظات‬
‫وقفت بثبات تراقب عماؿ المناجـ أثناء مرورىـ بمحاذاة سكة الحديد‪ :‬ثـ التفتت باتجاه درب الجدوؿ‪ .‬كاف وجييا‬
‫ىادئاً وجامداً‪ ،‬وكاف فميا مغمقاً مع شعور باإلحباط‪ .‬بعد لحظة نادت‪:‬‬
‫"يا جوف!" لـ يكف ىناؾ جواب‪ .‬انتظرت‪ ،‬ثـ قالت بشكؿ منفصؿ‪" :‬أيف أنت؟" ‪...‬‬
‫وكرد‪ ،‬أباف الطفؿ نفسو أماـ سوؽ توت العميؽ نمت في شكؿ سياط‪ .‬كاف صبياً متيناً في الخامسة مف عمره‪.‬‬
‫وقؼ ساكناً تماماً‪ ،‬متحدياً‪.‬‬
‫وفي طريقيما باتجاه المنزؿ ببطء‪ ،‬كسر الصبي حزم ًا ممزقة مف األقحواف ورمى بتويجات أزىارىا بحزـ عمى‬
‫الطريؽ‪.‬‬
‫"ال تفعؿ ذلؾ – ىذا شيء قبيح"‪ ،‬قالت لو أمو‪ .‬فكؼ عف ذلؾ‪ ،‬وفجأة ومما يثير الشفقة‪ ،‬قامت ىي بكسر‬
‫غصيف مع ثبلث وردات ضعيفة وأمسكت بيا أماـ وجييا‪)".‬‬

‫)‪(Literary Translation‬‬
‫"ىناؾ تناثرت أشجار تفاح مغصوصنة‪ ،‬وأشجار شققيا الشتاء‪ ،‬وممفوؼ أشعث‪ .‬بمحاذاة الطريؽ تدلى أقحواف وردي‬
‫أشعث‪ ،‬وكأنو أثواب وردية تعمقت عمى الشجيرات الصغيرة متدلية‪ .‬قدمت امرأة وىي تخرج متموية منحنية مف بيت‬
‫طيور مغطى بالمباد‪ ،‬في منتصؼ الطريؽ أسفؿ الحديقة‪ .‬أوصدت الباب ثـ أقفمتو مف الخمؼ‪ ،‬ثـ انتصبت واقفة‬
‫وىي تنفض عنيا فتات ًا مف مئزرىا الواقي األبيض‪.‬‬
‫كانت امرأة فارىة الطوؿ بطمعة بيية جميمة وحواجب سوداء‪ .‬كاف شعرىا األسود الناعـ ُم ْف َرق ًا عمى نحو دقيؽ‪.‬‬
‫لمحظات وقفت ثابتة القمب والقدـ ترقب عماؿ المناجـ أثناء مرورىـ بمحاذاة سكة الحديد‪ :‬ثـ التفتت صوب درب‬
‫الجدوؿ‪ .‬كاف وجييا ىادئاً وجامداً‪ ،‬وفميا مغمقاً مع خيبة أمؿ كبيرة‪ .‬بعد لحظة نادت‪:‬‬
‫"يا جوف!" ما أحد أجاب‪ .‬انتظرت‪ ،‬ثـ قالت بنبرة حادة‪" :‬أيف أنت؟" ‪...‬‬

‫‪160‬‬
 ‫ كاف صبياً قوياً متيناً في‬.‫رد الطفؿ رفعاً لمعتب بأف أباف نفسو أماـ سوؽ مف توت عميؽ نمت كأنيا سياط‬
.‫ في تحد وعناد‬،‫ وقؼ ساكناً ساكتاً لـ ينبس ببنت شفة‬.‫الخامسة مف عمره‬
‫ كسر الصبي حزماً ممزقة مف األقحواف وألقى بتويجات أزىارىا أرض ًا‬،‫وفي طريقيما صوب البيت عمى ميَؿ‬
.‫حزماً حزماً عمى الطريؽ‬
‫ ومف المفارقات العجيبة المثيرة‬،‫ وفجأة‬.‫ فكؼ عف ذلؾ‬. ،"‫ "كؼ عف ذلؾ – ىذا شيء قبيح‬:‫قالت لو أمو‬
".‫ فعمتيا ىي نفسيا وقامت بكسر غصيف وثبلث وردات سقيمة وأمسكت بيا ورفعتيا قبالة وجييا‬،‫لمشفقة‬

2. The next paragraph is another translation of the same passage of the

Short Story discussed above (see 4.8), translated by another translator,
Margaret Bourne. Two translations are provided for it: Trace the literary
features and touches of each version of translation to discover which one
is literary; how different / similar they are and how convincing the
literary one is:

"Among the miscellaneous items in the newspaper, I have just read an account of a
tragic love affair, in which a lover killed first his sweetheart and then himself. Their
personalities did not concern me. What interested me was the intensity of their
passion, not because I was touched, or surprised, or thrilled, or saddened, but because
it recalled to me a revelation of love, like those versions of the Cross in the sky which
were granted to the early Christians."
(Margaret Bourne's translation, in Newmark, ibid.)

)1(
‫ إذ قتؿ الحبيب حبيبتو أوالً ثـ قتؿ‬،‫ قرأت لتوي أحداثاً روائية لقصة حب مأساوية‬،‫("مف بيف أنباء شتى في الصحؼ‬
‫ أو أذىمت‬،‫ ال ألنيا أثرت في عاطفتي‬،‫ بؿ أىمني حدة عاطفتيما الجياشة‬،‫ ما أىمني الحبيباف لشخصييما‬.‫نفسو‬
ً‫ كما أجج قيسا‬،‫ بؿ ألنيا أججت ذكرياتي وحنيني إلى حبي الحقيقي األوؿ‬،‫طرت قمبي‬
ّ ‫ أو ف‬،‫ أو أثارت شفقتي‬،‫عقمي‬
)".‫حب عذري لميمى‬
ٌ

)2(
‫ حيث قتؿ الحبيب حبيبتو أوالً ثـ‬،‫ قرأت لتوي سرداً لقصة حب مأساوية‬،‫"مف بيف األخبار المتفرقة في الصحؼ‬
‫ بؿ ألنيا‬،‫ أو حزنت‬،‫ أو أُثرت‬،‫ أو ُدىشت‬،‫ ال ألنني تأثرت‬،‫ ما أىمني حدة عاطفتيما‬.‫ لـ تيمني شخصيتييما‬.‫نفسو‬
".‫ مثؿ نسخ الصميب في السماء والتي منحت لمنصارى األوائؿ‬،‫ذكرتني بحبي الحقيقي األوؿ‬

3. Following is an anecdote by the famous Arab writer, Al-Jahez. As usual, it is

translated into English twice: (a) Ordinary Translation, and (b) Literary
Translation. Check how accurate and clear the first version is, and how
literary and touching the second is in comparison to the Original Arabic,
especially the punch lines of the humorous parts of the anecdote. Can you
suggest any changes or modifications for the literary versions?

161
‫("ومف القصص الطريفة التي جاء بيا الجاحظ عف النوكى بعد اف عدد أسماءىـ ما ذكره مف ديسيموس اليوناني‬
:‫ يقوؿ الجاحظ‬.‫وجعيفراف الموسوس الشاعر‬
‫ ما باؿ ديسموس يعأمـ الناس الشعر وال يستطيع قولو؟‬:‫ قاؿ لو قائؿ‬،‫فأما ديسيموس فكاف مف موسوسي اليونانيف‬
ِ ‫ مثمو مثؿ‬:‫قاؿ‬
‫المسَ ّف الذي يشحذ وال يقطع؟‬
.‫ إذا جاع في السوؽ أكؿ في السوؽ‬:‫ ما باؿ ديسيموس يأكؿ في السوؽ؟ فقاؿ‬:‫ورآه رجؿ وىو يأكؿ في السوؽ فقاؿ‬
‫ واف رمحؾ حمار أترمحو؟‬،‫ أرأيت إف نبّحؾ كمب أتنبحو‬:‫وألح عميو رجؿ بالشتيمة وىو ساكت؟ فقاؿ‬
‫ وكاف كممّا رجع‬.‫ حتى ال يعاني دفع بابو إذا رجع‬،ً‫وكاف إذا خرج في الفجر يريد الفرات ألقى في دوارة بابو حج ار‬
‫ فمما رآه قد‬،ً‫ فكمف لصاحبو يوما‬،‫إلى بابو وجد الحجر مرفوعاً والباب منصفقاً فعمـ أف أحداً يأخذ الحجر مف مكانو‬
)".‫ فقد عممت أنو ليس لؾ‬:‫ قاؿ‬.‫ لـ أعمـ أنو لؾ‬:‫ مالؾ تأخذ ما ليس لؾ؟ قاؿ‬:‫أخذ الحجر قاؿ‬
)143-142 :2009 :‫ مصطفى الشكعة‬:‫(الجاحظ‬

(Ordinary Translation)
("One of the humorous anecdotes reported by Al-Jahez on some imbeciles was what he
said of Deicimos, the Greek, and Ju'aifaran, the obsessed poet:

Decimos was one of the obsessed Greek people. Once he was asked: "How come that
Decimos teaches poetry and he does not recite it?" He said: "he is like a grindstone
which sharpens but does not cut".

A man saw him in the market and asked him: "How come that Decimos eats in the
market?" He replied: "If he feels hungry in the market, he eats in the market".

Once a man kept swearing at him, but he kept his cool. He said "What about if a dog
barks at you, do you bark at it? Or a donkey kicks you, do you kick it?"

When he left his house at dawn for water, he used to keep the door open with a stone
to avoid pushing it when he came back. He came back several times to find the stone
carried away and the door closed. So one day he lied in for the man who did it. When
he saw him carry the stone away, he protested: "How come that you take what is not
yours?" He said: "I did not know that it was yours". He said: "Now you know it is not
yours.") (Ghazala: 2010: 81 (Translation of Ash-Shak'ah, 2009)

(Literary Translation)
("One of the humorous anecdotes reported by Al-Jahez on some imbeciles was what he
said of Deicimos, the Greek, and Ju'aifaran, the obsessed poet:

Decimos was an obsessed Greek guy. Once upon a time he was asked: "How come that
Decimos instructs verse and recites it not?" He said: "he looks like a grindstone that
sharpens but does not cut".

162
A man saw him in the market and asked him: "How come that Decimos eats in the
market?" He asked. Decimos replied: "If he feels hungry in the market, he eats in the
market".

Once a man kept swearing at him, but he kept his cool. He muttered: "How if a dog
barks at you, do you bark at it? Or a donkey kicks you, do you kick it?"

When he left his house at the break of dawn for water, he used to keep the door open
with a stone to avoid pushing it when he came back. He came back several times to find
the stone carried away and the door closed. So one day he lurked in unobtrusively for
the man who committed it. When he saw him carry the stone away, he protested:
"How come that you take what is not yours?" The man replied: "I did not know that it
was yours". Decimos said: Now you know it is not yours."

4. The next text is the second part of Gibran's Short Story, the first part of
which is discussed above (see 4.10), followed by it translation into English
by the same translator, Anthony Ferris. Consider the translation and:
(a) Find out about the missing parts of the original left out by the
translator. (and there are several). With the help of the teacher, try to
translate them into literary language.
(b) Translate these missing parts into literary language with the aid of your
teacher.
(c) In the light of the discussion of the translation of the first part in 4.10
above, suggest better choices for some key terms used by the
translator.
(d) Check the literary style of irony, which is paramount in the story, and
see how successful the translator is in rendering it into English.

‫األضراس المسوسة‬
)‫(بقمـ جبراف خميؿ جبراف‬
]...[(
‫"ومف شاء أف يرى أضراس سوريا المسوسة فميذىب إلى المدرسة حيث يستظير رجاؿ الغد ما قالو األخفش نقبلً عف‬
.‫ وسيبويو عف سائؽ األظعاف‬،‫سيبويو‬
.‫أو فميذىب إلى المحكمة حيث يتبلعب الذكاء البيمواني بالقضايا الشرعية مثمما تمعب القطة بصيدىا‬
.‫أو فميذىب إلى منازؿ المثريف حيث التصنع والكذب والرياء‬
.‫أو فميذىب إلى بيوت الفقراء حيث الخوؼ والجبانة والجيالة‬
‫وبعد ذلؾ فميذىب إلى أطباء األسناف نرى األصابع الناعمة واآلالت الدقيقة والمساحيؽ المخدرة الذيف يصرفوف‬
‫ واذا أراد محادثتيـ واالنتفاع بمواىبيـ فيـ ىـ النبياء‬،‫األياـ بمؿء ثقوب األضراس المسوسة وتطيير زواياىا المعتمة‬
‫ ففي حديثيـ نغمة‬،‫الفصحاء البمغاء الذيف يؤلفوف الجمعيات ويعقدوف المؤتمرات ويخطبوف في النوادي والساحات‬
.‫أسمى مف أناشيد حجر الرحى وأنبؿ مف أغاني الضفادع في ليالي تموز‬

163
‫ واف كؿ لقمة تموكيا تمتزج بمعاب مسمـ‬،‫ولكف إذا قاؿ ليـ إف األمة السورية تقضـ قوت الحياة بأضراس مسوسة‬
‫ نعـ نحف اآلف منصرفوف إلى درس أحدث‬:‫ إذا قاؿ ىذا يجيبونو بقوليـ‬،‫وأنو قد نتج عف ذلؾ مرض في أمعائيا‬
.‫المساحيؽ وأجدّ المخدرات‬
.‫ ما قولكـ باالستئصاؿ؟ يضحكوف منو ألنو لـ يدرس طب األسناف الشريؼ‬:‫واذا قاؿ ليـ‬
‫ ما أكثر الخيالييف في ىذا العالـ وما أوىى‬:‫واذا أعاد السؤاؿ ثانية يبتعدوف عنو متضجريف قاتميف في نفوسيـ‬
)"!‫أحبلميـ‬

Decayed Teeth
("*…+
If you wish to take a look at the decayed teeth of Syria, visit its schools where the sons
and daughters of today are preparing to become the men and women of tomorrow.
Visit the courts and witness the acts of the crooked and corrupted purveyors of justice.
See how they play with the thoughts and minds of the simple people as a cat plays
with a mouse.
Visit the homes of the rich where conceit, falsehood and hypocrisy reign.
But don't neglect to go through the huts of the poor as well, where dwell fear,
ignorance and cowardice.
Then visit the nimble-fingered dentists, possessors of delicate instruments, dental
plasters and tranquilizers, who spend their days filling the cavities in the rotten teeth
of the nation to mask decay.
Talk to those performers who pose as the intelligentsia of the Syrian nation and
organized societies, hold conferences, and deliver public speeches. When you talk to
them you will hear tunes that perhaps sound more sublime than the grinding of the
millstone, and nobler than the croaking of the frogs on a June night.")
(English translation by Anthony Ferris, 1961, in Emery, 1996)

CHAPTER FIVE

TRANSLATING PROSE: THE NOVEL

5.0 Introduction: Definitions and Boundaries

It is a fact amongst translators that poetry is the most difficult literary genre to tackle
in translation, due to its elaborate sound / prosodic features and effects which are
farfetched – to say the least - in the Target Language. As to the next difficult genre,
there has been a controversy between two parties of writers and translators: one
party claims that it is the Short Story, due to its essence which is compactness,
simplicity, concentration, cohesion, time and space limitation and other factors
pointed out earlier in Chapter Four (see Newmark, 1993: 48). Another party – and I am
one of them – has a claim for the Novel as being more difficult than the short story,
due to a number of stylistic, semantic and syntactic factors that make the

164
comprehension of its structures (sentences and clauses) more elaborated and
complicated to translate than the former (see Raffel, 1994). More notably, the new
and rapid developments in the stylistic studies and models of narrative analysis and
interpretation have revealed a really complex matrix of narrative structures that have
influenced the interpretation and, hence, translation of narrative fiction in general,
with special attendance to the Novel. Among the major latest developments is
NARRATIVE STYLISTICS.

This trend in stylistics is classical in terms of early coining and practice, but
contemporary with respect to major developments of models of analysis. The main
thesis of this type of stylistics is to find more elaborate models of description, analysis
and interpretation of narrative fiction that work at the level of clause. A narrative has a
temporal progression between two clauses that describe two actions in a certain order
of sequence in such a way that a clause reversal, or a change of this sequence entails a
change of response to, and interpretation of, events, which in turn entails a change of
meaning potentials in translation.

There is in narrative stylistics a distinction between two major levels of narrative

analysis: structure and comprehension. Further, a primary distinction is made between
two basic components of narrative: plot and (narrative) discourse. The plot refers to
the abstract storyline of a narrative, i.e. the sequence of chronological order of events.
Narrative discourse, on the other hand, is a reference to the manner or means by
which the plot is narrated. Narrative discourse is characterized by the use of stylistic
devices like flashback, prevision and repetition that disrupt the logical flow of
chronology of the narrative plot. This means that narrative discourse represents the
text as a concretized piece of language used by a story-teller in a specific interactive
context. A model of stylistic analysis of the structure of narrative discourse is designed
(illustrated in the next figure). It is composed of six basic units (or stylistic domains)
that provide a useful set of reference points for locating the specific aspects of
narrative which inform a stylistic analysis. Therefore, these units can be described as
stylistic domains in the analysis of narrative. Here they are in brief:

Abstract Represented Domain in

storyline storyline stylistics

-Textual medium
-Sociolinguistic code
PLOT DISCOURSE -Characterization 1: actions and events
-Characterization 2: points of view
-Textual structure
-Intertextuality

Figure 4: A model of narrative discourse

165
 (a) Textual mediums: the physical channel of communication through which the
story is narrated (e.g. the novel).
(b) Sociolinguistic code: the historical, cultural and linguistic setting which frames
a narrative by means of language.
(c) Characterization elements, actions and events: description of how the
development of character participates and intersects with the actions and
events of the story.

More developments have occurred in structural narratology (e.g. morphology of the

folklore; the morphology of contemporary narrative; the application of schema theory
in narrative; text worlds and narrative comprehension; approaches to point of view;
planes of point of views; techniques of speech and thought presentation; direct vs.
indirect narrative discourse presentation; strategies of dialogue; structure of dialogue,
to point out but a few. These issues have recently been put forward to a great effect in
the stylistic analysis of narrative fiction.

The rationale of narrative stylistics is social, historical and cultural in the main. On the
other hand, among the basic purposes of narrative stylistics, is language-based
‘conceptualization’ of narrative discourse and structure. So it is ideological and
conceptual in its latest approaches and developments. (see in particular Simpson, 2004
and Ghazala, 2011).

Another major recent development at clause level in narrative studies is

TRANSITIVITY.

In traditional grammar, the concept of transitivity is a reference to verbs which take

direct objects (i.e. monotransitives, or single transitives) and - in case of some verbs -
indirect objects (or ditransitives, or double transitives). However, in cognitive
stylistics, transitivity is used in an expanded semantic sense, referring to the way
meanings are converted in the clause and to the way different types of process are
represented in language in general, and in narrative in particular. Broadly speaking,
transitivity refers to the way meaning is represented in the clause structure. It shows
how speakers encode in language their mental image of reality and how they account
for their experience of the world around them.

In narrative discourse, transitivity originally represents patterns of experience in

spoken and written texts that realize the Experiential Function at CLAUSE LEVEL. This
type of function is a significant style marker because it emphasizes the concept of
style as choice (see Chapter Two earlier). There are three main components of the
processes of transitivity: the first, the process itself and the major one, is typically
realized in grammar by the VERB PHRASE; the second is PARTICIPANT(s), associated
with the process, and realized by the NOUN PHRASE, and the circumstances of the
process, the latter being less important for stylistic analysis. The third component is
expressed by PREPOSITIONAL and ADVERB phrases, or ADJUNCTS.

166
Several transitivity models have been suggested, but the most common one is the
original Hallidayan model. Here it is in brief (see Burton, 1982. In Carter (ed.), 1982:
199):
(1) material processes (doing) (2) mental processes (sensing)
(3) behavioral processes (behaving) (4) verbal/verbalization processes (saying)
(5) relational processes (being) (6) existential processes (existing)

material

behavioural doing existential

being
mental sensing relational

verbal

Figure 5: Re-representation of types of Hallidayan transitivity processes

These processes are explained explicitly as follows: “In English grammar we make
choices between different types of process, between different types of participant,
between different types of circumstance, between different roles for participants and
circumstances, between different numbers of participants and circumstances and
between different ways of combining processes, participants and circumstances.
These choices are known collectively as the transitivity choices” (see Berry, 1975, in
Burton, 1982, in Carter (ed.), 1982: 199).

Obviously, many of these models and concepts demand elaboration, but there is no
time or space to do that here for they are not the point of focus of this Chapter. The
main objective of pointing them out is multiple: (a) to confirm the complexity of the
analysis and interpretation of the style of narrative; (b) to demonstrate the
repercussions of these developments on the potential components of meaning in
translation; and (c) to stress strongly and in an unprecedented way the huge
significance of the implications of the literary style of narrative in meaning and, hence,
translation of narrative texts. (For full details about Narrative Stylistics and transitivity,
see Simpson, 2004, Pérez, 2007 and Ghazala, 2011).

167
Raffel has demonstrated the unusual importance of style in the translation of prose in
general terms. He declares that the fundamental argument of his book, The Art of
Translating Prose (1994) is that "proper translation of prose style is absolutely
essential to proper translation of prose, and close attention to prose syntax is
absolutely essential to proper translation of prose style". In literary prose, he
understands style as the man and the hallmark of "the mind and personality at work
on the page before us". He concludes from that that ignoring style means to fail before
you start translating. Raffel overstresses the syntactic component of the style of prose
in translation, which outweighs not only prosodic but also semantic components. He
says: "…translators of prose tend to be unaware that their originals have anything but
a semantic existence, it is by its very nature woven much closer to the syntactic bone
than is poetry". Throughout, Raffel attends carefully even to the slightest of syntactic
and syntactic-semantic details of the French texts he translates into English (see ibid.,
Preface).

Therefore, it goes without saying that although we translate words in context

(Newmark, 1988), and although "meaning does not exist without a potential of words"
(1998: 140), we cannot say that words alone carry meaning, or enough meaning
(Raffel, 1994: 4). The concern with literary style, which is obviously the source of
creativity, literary excellence and high levels of aesthetic accomplishments of literal
translation, means to go beyond words and find out about the stylistic, cultural and
other meanings and implications of the style of the text translated. Style is approached
as mind in the sense that it expresses the author's mental, ideological, social, cultural,
political attitudes and implications, the major constituents of the discipline of narrative
stylistics, which is after all a cognitive literary stylistic activity. This means that the
translation of narrative does not limit itself to the textual, contextual and referential
levels of meaning, but it goes beyond that to the depths and implications of the style
of the text concerned.

Hence, as in the previous Chapter on translating the Short Story, our approach of
discussion in this Chapter is creative literary stylistic, weighing up literary translation
against ordinary literary translation of each text given below in a form of juxtaposition
to sharpen the contrast between the two versions. The only difference in this Chapter
is the presentation of the argument mainly in terms of a distinguishing literary stylistic
feature of each text tackled. Our unremitting concern is in pursuing an expressive,
impressive, effective, rhetorical, emotional, aesthetic and creative literary version of
translation of any literary text that may attain 'heights of literary excellence', to use
Raffel's term (ibid.).

5.1 The Fourth Dimension: The Stylistic Implications of Time Markers

"The darkness grew apace; a cold wind began to blow in freshening gusts from the
east, and the showering white flakes in the air increased in number. From the edge of
the sea came a ripple and whisper. Beyond these lifeless sounds the world was silent.
Silent? It would be hard to convey the stillness of it. All the sounds of man, the bleating
of sheep, the cries of bird, the hum of insects, the stir that makes the background of our

168
lives –all that was over. As the darkness thickened, the eddying flakes grew more
abundant, dancing before my eyes: and the cold of the air more intense. At last, one of
one, swiftly, one after the other, the white peaks of the distant hills vanished into
blackness."
The breeze rose to a moaning wind. I saw the black central shadow of the eclipse
sweeping towards me. In another moment the pale stars alone were visible. All else
was rayless obscurity. The sky was absolutely black.
A horror of this great darkness came on me. The cold that smote to my marrow and the
pain I felt in breathing overcame me. I shivered and a deadly nausea seized me. Then
like a red-hot bow in the sky appeared the edge of the sun. I got off the machine to
recover myself. I felt giddy and incapable of facing the return journey."
(H.G. Wells: The Time Machine, in Khulusi, S. 2000: 19-21)

(Literal Translation)
،‫ وازداد عدد ندؼ الثمج في اليواء‬. ‫ وأخذت ريح باردة تيب مف الشرؽ ىبات منعشة‬- ‫)"وسرعاف ما اشتد الظبلـ‬
‫ ساكنة؟ إف‬.‫ وكانت الدنيا فيما خبل ىذه األصوات التي ال حياة فييا ساكنة‬،‫وارتفعت مف ناحية البحر ىمسة وحركة‬
‫ فإنو لـ يبؽ شيء مف أصوات اإلنساف وثغاء الخراؼ وبغاـ الطير وطنيف‬،‫مف العسير أف أصور لكـ سكونيا‬
‫ وزادت مع اشتداد الظبلـ ندؼ الثمج الدوارة زيادة وافرة‬.‫الحشرات أو الحركة التي تكوف مياد الصورة في حياتنا‬
،‫ واحدة بعد أخرى‬،‫ وأخي اًر اختفت القمـ البيضاء لمتبلؿ النائية بسرعة‬.‫ واشتدت برودة اليواء‬،‫وتراقصت أماـ عيني‬
‫ ولـ يبؽ‬.‫ ورأيت الظؿ األسود في وسط غبرة الكسوؼ يزحؼ نحوي‬.‫ وصارت الرياح تنوح‬،‫وتبلشت في سواد الميؿ‬
.‫ واحمولكت السماء فما يممع فييا شعاع واحد‬،‫ما يرى غير النجوـ الشواحب‬
‫ وغمبني األلـ الذي شعرت بو عند التنفس‬.‫ واشتد البرد الذي نفذ إلى نخاع عظمي‬،‫وروعني ذلؾ الظبلـ االكثيؼ‬
‫ فنزلت عف السرج‬.‫ ثـ بدت حافة الشمس في السماء كقوس حاـ أحمر‬،‫فارتجفت مف البرد وأصابني دوار مميت‬
)".‫حتى تثوب نفسي إلى فقد شعرت بأف رأسي يدور وأنني غير قادر عمى رحمة اإلياب‬
)‫ المرجع نفسو‬:‫ نعمات أحمد فؤاد‬:‫(ترجمة‬

The translator has done her best to translate every single word and part of meaning
into Arabic using conventional Arabic grammar and word order. The translation is no
doubt good, but it is sometimes too literal:

(a) 'increased in number' (‫(وازداد عدد‬, which can be reduced to ‫ كثرت‬/ ‫ ازدادت‬/ ‫)زادت‬.
(b) 'Silent? (‫(ساكنة؟‬, an informal question in English that requires formal
elaboration in Arabic (e.g. ،‫ أىي (كذلؾ؟‬/ ‫ أقمت ساكنة؟ ـ مف قا ؿ إنيا ساكنة؟‬/ ‫أىي ساكنة؟‬
.‫إلخ‬
(c) 'man' (‫)إنساف‬, preferably to be here in plural (i.e. ‫ (البشر‬to be in harmony with
the subsequent series of plural nouns.
(d) 'grew more abundant' (‫)زادت زيادة وافرة‬, unnecessarily redundant compared to
(.‫ إلخ‬،‫ تنامت‬/ ً‫ زادت أضعافا‬/ ‫(تضاعفت‬.

169
 ‫‪), which can be better translated‬وأصابني دوار مميت( '‪(e) 'a deadly nausea seized me‬‬
‫‪).‬اعتراني دوار رىيب( ‪into‬‬
‫بدت حافة ( '‪(f) 'Then like a red-hot bow in the sky appeared the edge of the sun‬‬
‫‪) which is too literal, word-for-word translation‬الشمس في السماء كقوس حاـ أحمر‬
‫‪(.‬ظير قرص الشمس كقوس أحمر( ‪compared to a better word combination like‬‬

‫‪Although this version is acceptable and faithful in giving the full meaning of the original‬‬
‫‪English, and although it has shared some literary touches with the second version, it‬‬
‫‪has failed to meet the full requirements of literary version, and has mixed (or rather‬‬
‫‪). Perhaps the next‬بغاـ ‪confused) the literary and the literal (c.f. the use old words like‬‬
‫‪one may succeed to do that.‬‬

‫)‪(Literary Translation‬‬
‫( "وأخذ الظبلـ يشتد وىبت ريح صرصر مف الشرؽ‪ ،‬وكثرت الثموج في الجو‪ ،‬وارتفعت مف ناحية البحر ىمسة‬
‫وحركة‪ ،‬وكا نت الدنيا فيما خبل ذلؾ ساكنة‪ .‬أأقوؿ ساكنة؟ إف مف العسير أف أصور لكـ سكونيا ووقعو‪ ،‬فما بقى‬
‫شيء مف أصوات اإلنساف والحيواف والطير والحشرات واليواـ‪ ،‬أو مف الحركة المألوفة في حياتنا‪ ،‬وجعؿ الثمج‬
‫المتساقط يزداد مع الظبلـ‪ ،‬ويأتي مف كؿ أوب‪ .‬واشتد البرد وىراني‪ .‬واختفت أخي اًر القمـ البيضاء لمتبلؿ النائية‪،‬‬
‫ولفيا الميؿ في سواده‪ ،‬وصارت تنوح وتيجيج‪ .‬ورأيت غبرة الكسوؼ تدنو مني‪ ،‬ولـ لـ يبؽ ما يرى غير النجوـ‬
‫الشواحب‪ .‬واحمولكت السماء فما يممع فييا شعاع واحد‪.‬‬
‫وثقمت عمى نفسي وطأة الظبلـ الكثيؼ‪ .‬واشتد عمي البرد وقؼ منو جمدي‪ ،‬وتعذر التنفس‪ ،‬فانتفضت‪ ،‬وعانيت مف‬
‫ذلؾ كرباً شديدًا‪ .‬ثـ ظير قوس الشمس‪ ،‬فنزلت عف السرج حتى تثوب نفسي إلي‪ ،‬فقد كاف رأسي يدور وكنت أحس‬
‫(ترجمة إبراىيـ المازني‪ :‬المرجع نفسو)‬ ‫أني غير قادر عمى رحمة اإلياب‪)".‬‬

‫‪Being a great man of letters, the translator has focused entirely on constructing a‬‬
‫‪purely literary version of translation. He has done that through the following:‬‬
‫‪(a) Literary syntactic structures which are formal, classical, flowing and / or‬‬
‫وأخذ الظبلـ يشتد (قا‪ :‬اشتدالظبلـ)؛ وكانت الدنيا فيما خبل ذلؾ؛ إف مف العسير؛ ‪emotional (e.g.‬‬
‫وجعؿ الثمج المتساقط يزداد؛ واشتد البرد وىراني؛ لـ يبؽ ما يرى غير النجوـ الشواحب؛ وغيرىا (معظـ‬
‫الجمؿ والتراكيب القواعدية)‬
‫وارتفعت مف ناحية ‪(b) Literary deviations: elaborate disruption of word order (e.g.‬‬
‫فما بقى شيء مف أصوات اإلنساف ‪ ...‬في حياتنا ;(وارتفعت ىمسة مف ناحية البحر ‪ (c.f.‬البحر ىمسة‬
‫‪), etc.‬فما بقى مف أصوات اإلنساف ‪...‬حيتنا شيء ‪(c.f.‬‬
‫اليواـ؛ احمولكت؛ قؼ؛ تثوب نفسي؛ مف كؿ ‪(c) Classico-literary words and phrases (e.g.‬‬
‫)أوب؛ تيجيج‬
‫‪).‬ريح صرصر؛ لفيا سواد الميؿ؛ ثقمت وطأة؛ كرب شديد ‪(d) Classical collocations (e.g.‬‬
‫‪(e) Rhythmical parallelism of language (most of the phrases and clauses of the‬‬
‫وأخذ الظبلـ يشتد ‪ /‬وىبت ريح ‪translation are made rhythmical and parallel (e.g.‬‬

‫‪170‬‬
 ‫ ويأتي مف‬/ ‫ يزداد مع الظبلـ‬/ ‫ وجعؿ الثمج المتساقط‬... ‫ وكثرت الثموج في الجو؛‬/ ‫صرصر مف الشرؽ‬
...‫ وصارت تنوح وتيجيج‬/ ‫ ولفيا الميؿ في سواده‬... ‫ واشتد البرد وىراني‬/ ‫)كؿ أوب‬
(f) Allegorical expressions (e.g. ‫)ىراني البرد؛ وقؼ منو جمدي؛ لفيا الميؿ‬
(g) Hyperboles (e.g. ‫ واحمولكت السماء؛ تيجيج‬.‫)النجوـ الشواحب‬.
(h) Onomatopoeic and rhythmical words (e.g. ‫)صرصر؛ تيجيج‬.
(i) Leitmotifs and alliterations (‫ الظبلـ‬... ‫ واليواـ‬... ‫)اإلنساف والحيواف‬.
(j) Assertive repetitions (e.g. repetition of ‫اشتد‬: ‫)اشتد الظبلـ؛ اشتد البرد ؛ اشتد الكرب‬

Having said that, the two translators have overlooked, or sacrificed one or two weighty
things to achieve their two different versions of translation:

(1) Both have omitted the most important phrase in the whole text, being the
central topic of the whole novel: 'In another moment' )‫(في لحظة أخرى‬. Unlike
other texts and contexts, this phrase is pregnant with implications here,
including a reference to another experience, sphere, phase of time and life
other than that of the previous moment experienced by the author. The
whole novel rotates about Time which, due to its critical importance, is
described by the author as 'the Fourth Dimension'. Obviously, both translators
did not take the context of the whole text into account, which is not
recommended these days.
(2) Both have translated the text into Arabic style of grammar and word order,
ignoring the style of the original, which has several functions and implications
that are significant components of the meaning of the text. The most serious
style ignored is the foregrounding of crucial phrases in the original owing to
their special importance to time, space, location and direction (e.g. 'From the
edge of the sea'; 'Beyond these lifeless sounds'…; As the darkness thickened';
'at last (only the second); 'in another moment' (not translated at all); 'all else';
'then like …'). Next to fronting is backgrounding which is again not attended to
by the translators (e.g. ' came a ripples and a whisper; all that was over';
'came on me'; 'overcame me'; 'seized me').
(3) Both have failed to translate 'one of one' )‫(واحداً واحدًا‬, which is emphatic
rhetorical redundancy. Likewise, 'obscurity' )‫ (عتمة‬is left out by them and
incorporated in ‫احمولكت السماء‬, but here we have a double emphatic synonym
that has to be taken into account in translating it here in this context, the
context of time.
(4) Wrong translation of 'cold wind began to blow in freshening gusts' into ‫وىبت‬
‫ ريح صرصر‬by Al-Mazini. This is completely different from ‫ىبت ىبات منعشة مف ريح‬
"‫باردة‬, which is right the opposite of the former. This is one of the sacrifices
made by the translator to keep to the literary impetus of his translation. Also,
'breeze' )‫ (نسيـ‬is understandably much milder than 'wind', as the sentence

171
 itself tells (i.e. The breeze rose to a moaning wind ‫ ;(انقمب النسيـ إلى ريح فييا‬and
'in another moment', which is discussed earlier. On the other hand, the two
terms: ‘)‫ ’غبرة (الكسوؼ‬and ‘‫’السرج‬, the first of which is not used in the original,
while the second is ambiguous, and a clearer term like ‫ آلة‬or ‫ جياز‬is perhaps a
better choice. The same can be said of the translation of 'ripple' by both
translators into the very loose word ‫حركة‬. A better choice is a word of specific
reference to its meaning like ‫ نِيمة‬/ ‫ موجة رقراقة‬/ ‫مويجة‬.
(5) Unjustified joining of sentences and paragraphs, which, stylistically speaking,
weakens the due emphasis assigned to each of them. This is applicable
especially to Al-Mazini who joins the second paragraph to the first, and
vaguely drops the translation of 'breeze' )‫ (الريح‬which can be a printing
mistake, anyway.
(6) Apparently, the literal version by Fuad has leaned heavily on Al-Mazini's, using
the same classical phrases and expressions and committing the same mistakes
(c.f. ‫(ىمسة وحركة؛ غبرة الكسوؼ؛ النجوـ الشواحب؛ احمولكت؛ السرج‬.

Comparing the two versions, it goes without saying that Al-Mazini's is the
translation that, save one or two shortcomings, can be said to have met the
requirements of literary translation. In an attempt to overcome the drawbacks
claimed above, a third version is suggested below:

‫ وتواتر سقوط ندؼ الثمح‬،‫(" وسرعاف ما خيـ الظبلـ؛ وبدأت تمفحني ىبات ريح باردة منعشة مف صوب الشرؽ‬
‫ خمؼ ىذه األصوات المقفرة كاف يخيـ عمى‬.‫ مف صوب البحر تقاطرت موجة رقراقة وىمسة‬.‫البيضاء في اليواء‬
‫ وتغريدات‬،‫ وثغاءات الغنـ‬،‫ فكؿ أصوات البشر‬.‫ أي سكوف؟ سكوف ما أصعب أف تعبر عف سكينتو‬.‫العالـ سكوف‬
‫ وما أف اشتدت الظممة‬.‫ وطنطنات الحشرات وكؿ ما ىب ودب في ضوضاء حياتنا – كؿ ذلؾ في سكوف‬،‫الطير‬
‫ كسرعة‬،‫ واحدة بعدة واحدة‬،‫ أخي اًر‬.‫حتى اشتد ىطوؿ ندؼ الثمج تتراقص أماـ عيني؛ واشتدت حدة اليواء البارد عمي‬
.‫ واحدة بعد أخرى توارت قمـ التبلؿ النائية البيضاء في الظممة السوداء‬،‫البرؽ‬
‫ وفي‬.ً‫ ورأيت ظؿ الكسوؼ المسود يزحؼ نحوي زحفا‬.‫واشتد أوار النسيـ العميؿ ليتحوؿ إلى ريح صرصر بأنيف‬
‫ وكانت السماء‬.‫ لؼ كؿ شيء عتمة ال يبرؽ منيا بارقة‬.‫ ما كاف يرى مف شيء إال النجوـ الباىتة‬،‫لحظة أخرى‬
.‫سوداء حالكة‬
‫ وكذا الزميرير الذي سرى في جسدي حتى نخر عظمي وىراني واأللـ الذي‬.‫رعب شديد م ف الظبلـ الدامس اعتراني‬
‫ وكقوس‬،‫ بعدئذ‬.‫ وتعذر التنفس‬،‫ فارتعشت مف البرد وتممكني دوار رىيب‬. ‫أحسست بو في صعوبة تنفسي وافاني‬
‫ شعرت بدوار في‬.‫ فترجمت عف اآللة التي كنت أمتطييا ألثوب إلى رشدي‬،‫أحمر في السماء قرص الشمس ظير‬
)".‫رأسي وأني ال ِقبؿ لي برحمة العودة‬

It is left to readers to judge this literary version in comparison to the other two above
in the light of the discussion put forward earlier.

172
5.2 Stylistic Contradictions Under Pressure

:‫ؾ؟ فأجاب عمى الفور‬َ ‫ ما ب‬:‫ فسألتو أمو‬.‫("عاد صبلح إلى البيت وقذؼ كتبو ودفاتره إلى األرض بحركة حانقة‬
‫ أريد أف‬:‫ فصمت صبلح لحظة ثـ قاؿ‬. ‫ لماذا سئمت المدرسة؟‬:‫ فقالت األـ متسائمة بحنو‬. "‫"سئمت المدرسة‬
‫ فمـ يأبو األب لسؤاليا إنما التفت أبو صبلح وقاؿ لو‬." ‫ ىؿ لؾ اعتراض؟‬:‫ وقالت األـ مخاطبة األب بوجؿ‬."‫أتزوج‬
‫ "سأكوف منذ ىذه المحظة‬:‫ فقاؿ صبلح بضراعة‬."‫ "أنت ولد عاؽ وال تستحؽ أف أوافؽ عمى زواجؾ‬:‫بصوت قاس‬
."ً‫ابناً با ارً مطيعا‬
‫ستصمي؟‬
.‫سأواظب عمى الصبلة‬
‫ستصمي خمس مرات في اليوـ؟‬
.‫سأصمي خمس مرات‬
‫ستصوـ شير رمضاف؟‬
.‫سأصوـ شير رمضاف كمو‬
‫لف تسير خارج البيت؟‬-
.ً‫لف أسير وسأناـ كؿ ليمة باك ار‬-
‫لف تسكر؟‬-
.‫لف أسكر وسأذىب إلى مكة سي ارً عمى األقداـ‬-
‫ وبعدئذ ضحؾ األب‬.‫ فدنا صبلح مف أبيو وأحنى رأسو وقبأؿ يده بخشوع‬."‫ "تعاؿ قبأؿ يدي‬:‫ففرح وجو األب وقاؿ‬
)72-71 ‫ ص‬1978 ‫ الرعد‬-‫(زكريا تامر‬ )"‫ "اآلف قؿ لي مف تريد أف تتزوج"؟‬:‫بابتياج وقاؿ‬
(In Abdul-Raof, 2001: 101-102)

(Literal Translation)
("Salah came back home and threw in anger his books and exercise books on the floor.
His mother asked him: "What is wrong?" He immediately answered: "I am fed up with
school!" His mother compassionately asked him: "And why are you fed up with
school?" Salah kept silent for a while and replied: "I want to marry." The mother spoke
with fear to the father: "Do you have any objection?" The father did not show any
interest in her question and turned towards Salah and said: "You are a disobedient son
and do not deserve my agreement on your marriage". Salah said humbly: "I shall be
from this moment an obedient and pious son".

-"Will you pray?"

-"I shall always observe my prayers".
-"Will you pray five times a day?"
-"I shall pray five times".
-"Will you keep the fast of Ramadan?"
-"I shall fast all Ramadan".
-"Will you not stay out late at night?"
-"I shall not stay late at night and I shall go to bed early every night".
-"Will you drink alcohol?"

173
 -"I shall not drink alcohol and I shall go to Mecca on foot".
The father's face looked happy and said: "Come and kiss my hand". Salah came
towards him, bent his head, and kissed his hand humbly. After that the father laughed
happily and said: "Now tell me, who do you want to marry?".")

This version of translation is too literal, direct and close to the original. The translator
has done his best to render all words and parts of the referential meaning of the Arabic
original, using simple and straightforward style and language. Therefore, its language is
ordinary and has no literary touches; and its style is referential rather than functional.
Put differently the translation is denotative, not connotative. Here are these and other
points in detail:

(a) Disorderly style: the Arabic word order is not committed to, which might
cause the disruption of emphasis of some terms as units of meanings and
their functions. Positioning a word or an expression at the end of a statement
injects it with an additional important function of assertion, etc. For example,
‫( بحركة حانقة‬in anger), of the first sentence, receives an end-focus in the
original, whereas in the English translation, this function has been lost for it is
slotted earlier in the sentence ("...threw in anger ... on the floor" (c.f. "threw
his books ... on the floor in anger"). By analogy, ‫وجؿ‬, of the ninth statement, is
taken back away from its backgrounded position to a less emphatic one ("The
mother spoke with fear to the father" (c.f. "The mother spoke to the father
with fear").
(b) Understatement of overstated key terms. For example, ‫ حانقة‬is stronger than
'angry'; ‫ وجؿ‬is more expressive than 'fear'; ‫ بتضرع‬is more humble than 'humbly,
etc.
(c) Too literal word-for-word Arabic-English translations: ("He immediately
answered" (c.f. he replied promptly); "do not deserve my agreement on your
marriage" (c.f. "I do not agree to ...")); many of the father's questions and the
son' answers, etc.
(d) Grammatical-semantic mistakes that have changed meaning: e.g. "Now tell
me who do you want to marry?" should be "Now tell me who you want to
marry"); "Will you pray" (and the rest of the father's questions) should be
"Shall you / you shall..." for it implies an order, while the former implies
request, and the father gives orders not requests.
(e) Disregard of stylistic implications of the text. Abdul-Raof's translation has
rendered the sense of the text only: un-spirited, uninspired, no literary
touches, no emotive charges and no revelations of any of the functions and
implications of the style. These revelations are what makes this seemingly
mundane text literary.

Two further versions are suggested below, one overcomes the shortcomings of the
first translated by Abdul-Raof above; another translates the stylistic implications of the
text, the so-called cognitive stylistic translation:

174
(Literary translation 1)

("Salah came back home and threw his books and notebooks down to the floor in
anger. His mother asked him: What is the matter?' "I am fed up with school", he
replied promptly. His mother tenderly wondered: "Why are you fed up with school?
"Salah kept his quiet for a while and replied: "I want to get married". The mother said
to the father in awe: "Have you an objection?" The father was nonchalant about her
question and, instead, turned toward Salah and said to him harshly: "You are a
disobedient son and do not deserve to get married". Salah said imploringly: "from this
very moment I will be a devoted, obedient son".
-"You shall pray?"
-"I shall always observe prayer".
-"You shall pray five times a day?"
-"I shall pray five times a day".
-"You shall fast the Month of Ramadan?"
-"I shall fast all Ramada".
-"You shall not stay out late at night?"
-"I shall not stay out late at night and I shall go to bed early every night".
-"You shall not drink alcohol?"
-"I shall not drink alcohol and I shall go to Makkah on foot".
The father's face glowed with joy and said: "Come forward and kiss my hand". Salah
came toward him, bent his head and kissed his hand submissively. Then, only then did
the father laugh delightedly and said: "Now tell me, who do you want to marry?".")

(Literary Translation 2: Stylistic Cognitive Translation)

(The light color marks the expressions that replace those of the second version above
which are crossed):

("Salah came back home from a nightmare called school and threw his terrible stuff
(books and notebooks) down to the floor in exasperation (anger). His mother asked
him: What's going on, boy (What is the matter)?" "I am fed up with school", he replied
promptly. His mother tenderly wondered: "Why are you fed up with school? "Salah
kept his quiet for a while and replied: "I hate to be single. I am a man and I want to get
married". The mother said to the father in scare (in awe): "Have you an objection?"
The father was nonchalant about her question and, instead, turned towards Salah and
said to him harshly: "You are a disobedient son and do not deserve to get married".
Salah said imploringly: " from this very moment I I will be a devoted, obedient son. Just
marry me and I will be at the tip of your finger!".
- Father: Order № 1:"You shall pray?"
- Son: "Yes, Sir!".
- Father: Order № 2: "You shall pray five times a day?"
- Son: "Yes, Sirr!"
- Father: Order № 3: "You shall fast the Month of Ramadan?"
- Son: "Yes, Sirrr!"
- Father: Order № 4: "You shall not stay out late at night?"
- Son: "Yes, Sirrrr!"

175
 - Father: Order № 5: "You shall not drink alcohol?"
- Son: "Yes, Sirrrrr! And I shall go to Makkah on foot. Any more orders, Sir?. Just
marry me!"
The father's face glowed with joy that his son would obey his orders, and said: "The
last order now! Come forward, bow down and kiss my hand". "Yes, Sir!" Salah came
toward him, bent his head down and kissed his hand in humiliation. Then, only then
did the father laugh delightedly and triumphantly and said: "Now I give you my orders
to marry who you want".")

This translation is an attempt to unearth the implied meanings and intentions of both
the father, who loves to be the master and the commander, and the son, who feels
that he is subjected by force and fear, and he has to obey orders and never say no!
This is the truth that the original intends to make sharply explicit, however by
implication. At the end of the day, this version is an attempt to demonstrate another
possible literary translation based on the stylistic implications , intentions and
meanings of a text.

5.3 The Sentimental Literary Style of "Everything Counts, in the Text and out"

"Mrs Grey sat on a hard chair in the corner looking – but at what? Apparently nothing.
She did not change the focus of her eyes when visitors came in. Her eyes had ceased to
focus themselves; it may be that they had lost the power. They were aged eyes, blue,
unspectacled. They could see, but without looking. She had never used her eyes on
anything minute and difficult; merely upon faces, and dishes and fields. And now at the
age of ninety-two they saw nothing but a zigzag of pain wriggling across the door, pain
that twisted her legs as it wriggled; jerked her body to and fro like a marionette. Her
body was wrapped round the pain as a damp sheet is folded over a wire. The wire was
spasmodically jerked by a cruel, invisible hand. She flung out a foot, a hand. Then it
stopped. She sat still for a moment.
In that pause she saw herself in the past at ten, at twenty, at twenty five. She was
running in and out of a cottage with eleven brothers and sisters. The line jerked. She
was thrown forward in her chair.
'All dead. All dead,' she mumbled. 'My brothers and sisters. And my husband gone. My
daughter too. But I got on. Every morning I pray to God to let me pass.'"
(Virginia Woolf, Old Mrs Grey. Fairely (1995). In Verdonk and Weber, 1995)

This text is charged heavily with effects, implied meanings, images, feelings and
emotions. Its style is uniquely patterned that every word, conjunction and punctuation
mark is particularly functional and may say something of importance, directly or
indirectly, more sadly than happily. This richness of meanings and effects of the novels'
narrative feel and intense emotion of the writer might be justified yet more sharply by
realizing the fact that this incident is of an autobiographical nature (both Woolf and
her husband had actually paid a visit to Mrs Grey), sketching Woolf's own emotions,
actions and reactions in reality by committing suicide, drowning herself in a river at the
age of 59, thus deciding to choose for herself the moment of her death (see also
Fairely, 1995. In Verdonk and Weber, 1995). All these suggest a literary translation into

176
‫‪Arabic that is touching and based on the cognitive stylistic background of the events,‬‬
‫‪incidents, feelings, and emotions, as suggested below:‬‬

‫)‪(Literary Translation‬‬
‫("جمست السيدة ْجراي عمى كرسي خشف تنظر – لكف إلى مػاذا؟ الظػاىر إلػى ال شػيء‪ .‬لػـ تغيػر نقطػة تركيػز عينييػا‬
‫حينمػػا كػػاف يػػأتي الػػزوار‪ .‬توقفػػت عيناىػػا عػػف التركيػػز‪ ،‬ربمػػا ألنيمػػا فقػػدتا القػػدرة عمػػى ذلػػؾ‪ .‬كانتػػا عينػػيف ىػػرمتيف‪،‬‬
‫زرقاويف مف دوف نظارة‪ .‬كاف بمقدورىما أف تريا‪ ،‬لكف مف دوف أف تنظرا‪ .‬لـ تستعمؿ عينييا قط لمنظػر إلػى أي شػيء‬
‫دقيؽ أو عويص‪ ،‬الميـ إال لمنظر في الوجوه واألطباؽ والحقػوؿ‪ .‬واآلف وىػي فػي سػف الثانيػة والتسػعيف لػـ تعػودا تريػاف‬
‫سػػوى خػػط متمػ ٍػو مػػف األلػػـ وىػػي تتمػػوى عبػػر البػػاب‪ ،‬ألػػـ كػػاف يمػػوي رجمييػػا كممػػا انسػػؿ فػػي جسػػميا أو ى ػزه إلػػى األمػػاـ‬
‫ػوب مبتػؿ مطػوي حبػ َؿ الغسػيؿ‪ُ .‬ى ّػز الحبػؿ بشػكؿ متقطػع‬
‫والخمؼ كدمية متحركػة‪ .‬لُػؼ جس ُػميا حػوؿ األلػـ كمػا َيمُػؼ ث ٌ‬
‫بيد قاسية خفية‪ .‬فأطمقت السيدة جراي قدماً ‪ ...‬فََيداً‪ .‬ثـ توقؼ الحبؿ‪ .‬جمست ساكنة ال حراؾ فييا لمحظة‪.‬‬
‫فػػي تمػػؾ المحظػػة عػػادت بػػذاكرتيا إلػػى أيػػاـ صػػباىا ورأت نفسػػيا وىػػي فػػي العاش ػرة ‪ ...‬فػػي العش ػريف ‪ ...‬فػػي الخامسػػة‬
‫والعشػريف‪ .‬كانػػت تجػػري مػػف الكػػوخ ث ػـ تعػػود إليػػو مػػع أحػػد عشػػر أخ ػاً وأخت ػاً‪ .‬اىتػػز الحبػػؿ‪ .‬فقُػػذؼ بيػػا إلػػى األمػػاـ فػػي‬
‫كرسييا‪.‬‬
‫غمغمػت قائمػػة‪’ :‬كميػـ مػػاتوا‪ ،‬كميػػـ مػاتوا‪ .‬إخػػوتي وأخػواتي‪ .‬وزوجػي رحػػؿ أيضػاً‪ .‬وابنتػي أيضػاً ماتػػت‪ .‬وأنػا بقيػػت‪ .‬كػػؿ‬
‫صباح أدعو اهلل أف يأخذني إليو‪)".‬‬

‫‪(The sentimental, heart-felt and sad tone of the original is constructed in Arabic‬‬
‫‪through the following stylistic devices (for further argument, see also Ghazala, 2011:‬‬
‫‪Ch. 5):‬‬

‫‪(1) The careful follow-up of everything in the sentence, for everything counts in‬‬
‫‪it. I do not mean words only, or word-for-word translation; I mean everything‬‬
‫‪including words, punctuation, syntactic pauses, semantic pauses and implied‬‬
‫‪emotional breaths of sadness and feelings of regret.‬‬
‫‪(2) Staged syntactic structuring based on forms and pauses that go parallel to the‬‬
‫‪sentimental tone of the whole text, marked by extra-carefully used‬‬
‫‪punctuation.‬‬
‫‪(3) Breath-timed sentence, clause and phrase structures that match the lady's‬‬
‫‪sad tone breathing, rather than English grammar e.g.‬‬
‫‪ (c.f. the‬جمسػت السػيدة ْجػراي عمػى كرسػي خشػف تنظػر – لكػف إلػى مػاذا؟ الظػاىر إلػى ال شػيء )‪(a‬‬
‫(جمسػػت السػػيدة ْجػراي عمػػى كرسػػي خشػػف تنظػػر إلػػى ال ‪better grammatical structure:‬‬
‫شيء)‬
‫ُى ّز الحبؿ بشكؿ متقطع بيد قاسية خفية‪ .‬فأطمقت السيدة (جراي ‪(b) Breath taking pauses (e.g.‬‬
‫‪. This syntactic‬ق ػػدماً ‪َ ...‬فيػ ػداً‪ .‬ث ػػـ توقػ ػؼ الحب ػػؿ‪ .‬جمس ػػت س ػػاكنة ال حػ ػراؾ فيي ػػا لمحظ ػػة‪.‬‬
‫‪structuring may give the impression that the lady's breath could stop at‬‬
‫‪any moment, and that every move of hers matches her breaths which are‬‬
‫‪counted now one by one.‬‬

‫‪177‬‬
 (c) Still shorter breath pauses: (e.g. ‫في تمؾ المحظػة عػادت بػذاكرتيا إلػى أيػاـ صػباىا ورأت‬
‫ كانػػت تجػػري مػػف الكػػوخ تػػـ‬.‫ فػػي الخامسػػة والعش ػريف‬... ‫ فػػي العش ػريف‬... ‫نفسػػيا وىػػي فػػي العاش ػرة‬
.‫ فقُػذؼ بيػا إلػى األمػاـ فػي (كرسػييا‬.‫ اىتز الحبػؿ‬.ً‫تعود إليو مع أحد عشر أخاً وأختا‬. These are
further indications that the old lady's breaths are numbered and may die
any time. Even when she went back to the past, she had only a moment
to do that.
(4) Careful choice of words that reflects as much as matches the stylistic
implications of the psychological and emotional state of affairs of the
character concerned:
(a) Proper expressive words: (e.g. 'hard' is translated into ‘‫ ’خشػػف‬which
matches the literary context as much as the old lady's age, physical and
psychological conditions, for nothing 'soft' )‫ (نػاعـ‬for her now. So, the
physical choice is made to match the psychological feeling of 'farewell to
softness'. Another example is the choice of ‫ انسػػؿ‬which implies 'going
through the body gradually and unconsciously'. Therefore, it is more
impressive and accurate than '‫'دخؿ‬, or even ‘‫ ’تغمغػؿ‬which might involve 'go
through quickly, powerfully and perhaps consciously'. A third example is
the preference of ‘‫ ’غمغمػت‬over, say, ‘‫ قالػت‬/ ‫ ’تمتمػت‬for the former implies
'inability to say something clearly or normally', which is expressive of a
ninety two years old lady, whereas the latter does not.
(b) Asyndetic stretches of words (without conjunction) that reflect the
submissive, reclining feeling of sadness (e.g. ‫ زرقػاويف‬،‫ كانتػا عينػيف ىػرمتيف‬/ ‫بيػد‬
‫ قاسية خفية‬/ ‫ في الخامسة والعشريف‬... ‫ في العشريف‬... ‫)في العاشرة‬
(c) Syndetic stretches of words (with conjunctions) which enforce the
submissiveness of the character involved (e.g. ‫لمنظػر فػي الوجػوه واألطبػاؽ والحقػوؿ‬
/ ً‫ فيدا‬... ً‫ فأطمقت السيدة جراي قدما‬/‫وأنا‬...‫وابنتي‬...‫وزوجي‬...‫)إخوتي وأخواتي‬
(d) Elaborate sentimental repetitions of polyptoton (i.e. different forms of
the same word):‫ ألـ كاف يموي رجمييا‬،‫متمو مف األلـ وىي تتموى عبر الباب‬ ٍ ‫;خط‬
(e) Assertive repetition of the same word / phrase (i.e. epizeuxis) (e.g. ‫كميػـ‬
‫ كميـ ماتوا‬،‫)ماتوا‬.
(f) Emotional collocational extensions (e.g. ‫ أيػػاـ صػػباىا‬is the well-known
collocation ‫( أيػػاـ الصػػبا‬the heydays of life) plus the specifier, the third
person attached pronoun in Arabic to be more intimate and emotional.
Another example is the uncommon collocation describing the old lady's
eyes as ‫عينػػاف ىرمتػػاف‬, which gives another emotional and semantic
dimension of meaning here.
(g) Figurative language (e.g.‫ػوب مبتػؿ مطػوي حبػ َؿ الغسػيؿ‬
ٌ ‫ كمػا َيمُػؼ ث‬/ ‫جسميا حوؿ األلـ‬
ُ ‫لُؼ‬
/ ‫)خط ممتو مف األلـ‬.

178
 (h) Semantic density ; (e.g. the incompatible and unusual combination of the
three words in ‫إال لمنظػػر فػػي الوجػػوه واألطبػػاؽ والحقػػوؿ‬, which belong to three
different semantic domains, is indicative of a unique literary density of
the semantic dimensions of words and phrases. Further, such an
unexpected combination of them would suggest the limitation of the old
lady's sight distance and , hence, world. Another example is the
exquisitely other-way-round literary image ‫( لُػؼ جس ُػميا حػوؿ األلػـ‬i.e. usually,
'pain wraps around the body') which is expressive of the old lady's
frustration at this age of life where life turns upside down compared to
the age of the prime of life.
(i) Rhythmical patterning: The whole text is set in rhythmical crisp phrases
and statements to in harmony with the deliberately slow pitch of the
sentimentality of Mrs Grey, which takes us back to (a) and (b) above.

Indeed, this passage is an exemplar for the ideally emotion-based literary text that
cannot be understood appropriately but through emotional reading and interpretation
of it.

Perhaps to some, seemingly, this text is normal in sense and has a number of
redundancies that might suggest a boring style of writing and content. A version of
ordinary translation that eliminates these redundancies might be a possible
alternative:

(Ordinary Translation)
‫ ربمػػا فقػػدتا‬.‫ لػػـ تحػػوؿ عينييػػا حينمػػا كػػاف يػػأتي الػػزوار‬.‫("جمسػػت السػػيدة ْجػراي عمػػى كرسػػي قػػاس تنظػػر إلػػى ال شػػيء‬
‫ لػـ تسػتعمؿ عينييػا إال لمنظػر فػي الوجػوه واألطبػاؽ‬.‫ كانتا زرقاويف مػف دوف نظػارة‬.‫القدرة عمى التركيز ألنيما ىرمتاف‬
‫ػؼ جس ُػميا‬َ َ‫ ل‬. ‫جسػميا كدميػة‬ َ ‫ واآلف وىي في سف الثانية والتسعيف لـ تعودا ترياف إال بصيصاً مف األلػـ يػرج‬.‫والحقوؿ‬
‫ توق ػػؼ فجمس ػػت س ػػاكنة لمحظ ػػة ع ػػادت فيي ػػا ب ػػذاكرتيا إل ػػى‬.‫ ُى ػ ّػز الحب ػػؿ ف ػػاىتزت‬.‫األل ػػـ كشرش ػػؼ يم ػػؼ حب ػػؿ الغس ػػيؿ‬
.ً‫ كانت تمعب مع أحد عشر أخاً وأختا‬.‫طفولتيا‬
)" ‘.‫ كؿ صباح أدعو اهلل أف ُيمحقني بيـ‬.‫ ’كميـ ماتوا‬:‫تمتمت قائمة‬
(Back Translation)
"Mrs Grey sat on a hard chair in the corner looking to nothing. She did not turn away
her eyes when visitors came in. Her eyes had ceased to focus, maybe they had lost the
power for they were aged. They were blue and unspectacled. She had never used
them but to look upon faces, dishes and fields. Now at ninety-two they saw nothing
but a glitter of pain that twisted her legs as it jerked her body like a marionette. Her
body was wrapped round the pain as a damp sheet is folded over a wire. The wire was
jerked, so did she. Then it stopped. She sat still for a moment in which she recalled her
childhood memories. She was playing with eleven brothers and sisters.
She mumbled, "all of them died. "Every morning I pray to God to let me pass". ")

This is a seriously undermined, truncated version of the source text. Many words and
expressions have been dropped. All minute details about the lady's eyes, and body's

179
movements have been either disrupted, lost or ignored, which means the distortion of
the sentimental, humanitarian and literary tones and touches of the text. More to that,
this translation has reduced the original almost by half, having dropped out all
repetitions and redundancies. For those readers who are concerned with superficial
narrative material events and episodes, it might be a good version. However, for
serious readers, who are hopefully the majority, this translation has destructive
consequences on Woolf's text. It represents a complete misunderstanding of the
original. It is an outcome of a superficial reading of a profoundly emotional and
humane text. The influential tiny emotional and literary implications and effects of the
style of repetition and redundancy of the source text, which creates an impressive
world of emotions and sympathy with the Old Lady, have sadly disappeared.
Consequently, this has distorted the whole interpretive message of the original.

Comparing these two hypothetical versions to those suggested above would illustrate
the many differences between them. Adding to those disruptions of implications just
pointed out above is the several deletions of indirect redundancies and cohesive
devices which in effect cause much ambiguity. Examples include:

- but at what? Apparently nothing ‫لكف إلى ماذا؟ الظاىر إلى ال شيء‬
- She did not change the focus of her eyes when visitors came in. Her eyes had
ceased to focus themselves‫ ربما فقدتا القدرة عمى التركيز‬.‫لـ تحوؿ عينييا حينما كاف يأتي الزوار‬
- They could see, but without looking‫ لكف مف دوف أف تنظ ار‬،‫كاف بمقدورىما أف تريا‬
- She had never used her eyes on anything minute and difficult ‫لـ تستعمؿ عينييا قط‬
‫لمنظر إلى أي شيء دقيؽ أو عويص‬
- And now at the age of ninety-two they saw nothing but a zigzag of pain wriggling
across the door, pain that twisted her legs as it wriggled; jerked her body to and
fro.
‫ ألـ كاف يموي‬،‫واآلف وىي في سف الثانية والتسعيف لـ تعودا ترياف سوى خط متعرج مف األلـ وىي تتموى عبر الباب‬
‫رجمييا كمما انسؿ في جسميا أو ىزه إلى األماـ والخمؼ‬
- spasmodically …by cruel invisible hand ‫بشكؿ متقطع بيد قاسية خفية‬
- ten, at twenty, at twenty five. She was running in and out of a cottage
‫ كانت تجري مف الكوخ ثـ تعود إليو‬.‫ في الخامسة والعشريف‬... ‫ في العشريف‬... ‫في العاشرة‬
- She was thrown forward in her chair.‫فقُذؼ بيا إلى األماـ في كرسييا‬
- 'All dead. All dead, my brothers and sisters. And my husband gone. My daughter
too.' .‫ وابنتي أيضاً ماتت‬.‫ وزوجي رحؿ‬.‫ إخوتي وأخواتي‬.‫ كميـ ماتوا‬،‫كميـ ماتوا‬

All these details are missing from the second version being allegedly unnecessary. This
turns it into some kind of ordinary translation providing a summary for the English
original; and a summary is, of course, not a translation, especially for a literary text.
Moreover, the reference of some words and pronouns have become ambiguous (e.g.
the reference of the pronoun of ‘‫ ’توقؼ‬can be either to 'pain', or 'wire') or loosely

180
misleading; (‘‫( ’طفولتيا‬her childhood) could be a reference to her as a little child of
perhaps ten years old or so, but not necessarily to her when she was twenty or twenty
five). Further, these are crucial significant gradual phases in her life. For all these
reasons, this version of translation is clearly defective and distortive of the touching
original, minimizing it to a piece of writing, any piece of writing. The redundancies and
repetitions of Woolf's text are what makes its style really different.

5.4 The Style of Suspense, Apprehension and Precipitation

"The bushes twitched again. Lok steadied by the tree and gazed. A head and chest
faced him, half-hidden. There were white bone things, behind the leaves and hairs. The
man had white bone things above his eyes and under the mouth so that his face was
longer than a face should be. The man turned sideways in the bushes and looked at Lok
along his shoulder. A stick rose upright and there was a lump of bone in the middle. Lok
peered at the stick and the bone and the small eyes in the bone things over the face.
Suddenly Lok understood that the man was holding the stick out to him but neither he
nor Lok could reach across the river. He would have laughed if it were not for the echo
of the screaming in his head. The stick began to grow shorter at both ends. Then it shot
out to full length again."
(William Golding's The Inheritors)

Obviously, this famous passage from Golding's famous novel, The Inheritors, is
narrated in simple, short sentences to be on par with the precipitated actions and
events. Usually action is full of suspension in narrative (as the case here) and,
therefore, preferably expressed in this type of style which reflects content. Besides
that, the doer of the action (or the subject) keeps changing (i.e. from 'bushes' to 'Lok',
to 'a head', to the dummy 'there were', to 'the man', and 'the man' again, to 'a stick',
then to 'Lok' again, etc.). Further, each sentence is made independent to gain more
emphasis and importance, especially the doer of the action which is mainly inanimate,
and the main verb phrases which are mainly intransitive (i.e. inactive). Moreover, each
sentence represents an episode in a series of narrative episodes of the plot that might
be required to concentrate on its own temporarily then in the minor linguistic, stylistic
and major context of the whole text. Hence the following version of translation:

(Literary Translation)
‫ اختفػػى منيمػػا‬،‫ رأس وصػػدر أطػػبل عميػػو‬.‫ تَسػػمر لػػوؾ بمحػػاذاة الشػػجرة وحػػدؽ بناظريػػو‬.‫("اىتػػزت األدغػػاؿ م ػرة أخػػرى‬
‫ كػػاف لمرجػػؿ أشػػياء عظميػػة بيضػػاء فػػوؽ‬.‫ ت ػوارت خمػػؼ األوراؽ والشػػعر‬،‫ كانػػت ىنػػاؾ أشػػياء عظميػػة بيضػػاء‬.‫النصػػؼ‬
.‫ ونظػر إلػى لػوؾ مػف منكبػػو‬،‫ تػوارى الرجػؿ فػي األدغػاؿ‬.‫ فبػدا وجيػو وكأنػو أطػوؿ مػف وجػوه البشػػر‬.‫عينيػو وتحػت فيػو‬
‫ أنع ػػـ ل ػػوؾ النظ ػػر ف ػػي العص ػػا وف ػػي العظم ػػة وف ػػي العين ػػيف‬.‫عص ػػا ارتفع ػػت قائم ػػة مس ػػتقيمة تتوس ػػطيا كتم ػػة عظميػ ػة‬
‫ فجػػأة فيػػـ لػػوؾ أف الرجػػؿ كػػاف يمػػد لػػو العصػػا لكػػف ال الرجػػؿ وال لػػوؾ‬.‫الصػػغيرتيف فػػي األشػػياء العظميػػة فػػوؽ الوجػػو‬
‫ بػػدأت العصػػا‬.‫ كػػاد أف ينفجػػر بالضػػحؾ لػوال صػػدى الصػراخ فػػي أرسػػو‬.‫وصػػؿ إلػػى اآلخػػر عبػػر النيػػر الفاصػػؿ بينيمػػا‬
)".‫ ثـ استطالت كميا باسقة مف جديد‬.‫تتناقص مف طرفييا‬

181
In this literary translation, concern has been mainly in five major features of literary
style:

(a) Short sentencing: which might be the best style to reflect the three major
functions of the original: suspense, apprehension and precipitation of actions
by the characters involved.
(b) Word choice, which has been mainly formal, expressive and figurative (e.g.
.‫ إلخ‬،‫ أنعـ النظر‬،‫ توارى‬،‫)تسرب‬. These are essential components of literary diction.
(c) Syntactic foregrounding of inanimate words indicating inactivity of humans:
(e.g. ‫( رأس وصػدر أطػبل عميػو‬c.f. ‫)أطػؿ رأس وصػدر‬, ‫( عصػا ارتفعػت قائمػة مسػتقيمة‬c.f. ‫ارتفعػت‬
...‫)عصا‬.
(d) Alliterative and rhythmical patterning as a part and parcel of the literary flavor
and emphasis of the translation (e.g. Most phrases and sentences of the
translation).
(e) Emphatic syndeton: (e.g. ‫فػػي العصػػا وفػػي العظمػػة وفػػي العينػػيف الصػػغيرتيف وفػػي األشػػياء‬
‫(العظمية‬

In an attempt to confirm the credibility of the literary version suggested above, and to
push the argument further, an alternative ordinary version that is one-sentence long
and uses normal vocabulary and grammar can be put forward now:

(Ordinary / Literal Translation)

‫("اىتزت الشجيرات مػرة أخػرى ووقػؼ لػوؾ بجانػب الشػجرة ونظػر محػدقاً وواجيػو رأس وصػدر نصػؼ مختفيػيف وكانػت‬
‫ لػذا‬،‫ خمؼ األوراؽ والشعر وكػاف لمرجػؿ أشػياء عظميػة بيضػاء فػوؽ عينيػو وتحػت فمػو‬،‫ىناؾ أشياء مف عظاـ بيضاء‬
‫ وابتعػد الرجػؿ فػي األدغػاؿ ونظػر إلػى لػوؾ فػي مػوازاة كتفػو وارتفعػت عصػا بشػكؿ قػائـ‬،‫كاف وجيو أطوؿ مػف المعتػاد‬
‫ ونظػر لػوؾ جيػداً إلػى العصػا والعظػـ والعينػيف الصػغيرتيف فػي األشػياء العظميػة‬،‫وكاف ىناؾ كتمة عظػـ فػي منتصػفيا‬
،‫ وفجأة فيـ لوؾ أف الرجؿ كاف يعطيو العصا لكنيما ال يصبلف إلى بعضيما عبػر النيػر الفاصػؿ بينيمػا‬،‫فوؽ الوجو‬
‫ وبدأت العصا تقصر مف طرفييا ثـ ظيػرت بكامػؿ الطػوؿ‬،‫وكاد أف يغمب عميو الضحؾ لوال صدى الصراخ في رأسو‬
)".‫مف جديد‬

This translation has a main objective to achieve, i.e. the literal, direct and close
translation of the sense of the original. Hence, it has wasted all the stylistic functions
and literary implications traced in the literary version above by joining the short
sentences into a single lengthy one, and using normal words and grammar (especially
of word order). None of the literary meanings and touches of the former is indicated
by the latter translation. On the contrary, this ordinary version has different functions
and implications of complexity of structure and meaning and understatement of the
literariness of the original, among other things. Therefore, it is not recommended
under any circumstances if a creative cognitive literary stylistic approach to translation
is aimed at.

182
To develop the argument yet further about complexity versus simplicity of structure,
the following complex text is introduced to translate and investigate.

5.5 Literary Style of Complexity and Syntactic Density

"Then, with Miss Warsham and the old negroes in Steven's car with the driver he had
hired and himself and the editor in the editor's, they followed the hearse as it swung
into the long hill up from the station, going fast in a whining lower gear until it reached
the crest, going pretty fast still but with an unctuous, an almost bishoplike purr until it
slowed into the square, crossing it, circling the Confederate monument and the
courthouse while the merchants and clerks and barbers and professional men who had
given Stevens the dollars and half-dollars and quarters and the ones who had not,
watched quietly from doors and upstairs windows, swinging then into the street which
at the edge of town would become the country road leading to the destination
seventeen miles away, already picking up speed again and followed still by the two cars
containing the four people – the high-headed erect white woman, the old negress, the
designated paladin of justice and truth and right, the Heidelberg Ph.D. – in formal
component to the negro murderer's catafalque: the slain wolf."
(From William Faulkner's Go Down, Moses, p. 196)

This single-sentence paragraph is really demanding for all readers, analysts and,
obviously, translators. Extra efforts are required to be exerted by them to make their
way through it. We have here a quite intricate network of subordinate clauses. Apart
from vocabulary, the style of complex sentence structure poses a kind of jigsaw puzzle
problem that readers have to sort out first to be able to put together the pieces of the
puzzle. The best way to test this claim by readers is to analyze the sentence into its
constituent clauses before they compare it with the following analysis:
1. "Then, with Miss Warsham and the old negroes in Steven's car with
the driver he had hired and himself and the editor in the editor's,
2. they followed the hearse
3. as it swung into the long hill up from the station,
4. going fast in a whining lower gear
5. until it reached the crest,
6. going pretty fast still but with an unctuous, an almost bishoplike purr
until it slowed into the square,
7. crossing it,
8. circling the Confederate monument and the courthouse
9. while the merchants and clerks and barbers and professional men
who had given Stevens the dollars and half-dollars
10. and quarters and the ones who had not, watched quietly from doors
and upstairs windows,
11. swinging then into the street which
12. at the edge of town would become the country road
13. leading to the destination seventeen miles away,
14. already picking up speed again
15. and followed still by the two cars

183
 16. containing the four people – the high-headed erect white woman,
the old negress, the designated paladin of justice and truth and right,
the Heidelberg Ph.D. – in formal component to the negro murderer's
catafalque: the slain wolf."

Perhaps it is easier to spot the main clause now, which is of course number '2'. This
overstretching of the sentence suggests a strong link between the message and
complexity of structure. The sentence gives a boring, detailed account of an official
funeral for the 'slain wolf', a black man who has been sentenced to death and hanged
for committing a murder. Faulkner's short story is about the man's family efforts to
bring his body back and have a dignified funeral for him. The clauses of the sentence
describe the stages of the stately progress of the funeral's procession, demonstrating
the black family's desperate attempt to achieve dignity for their son after death that
could not be achieved in life. Furthermore, the slow pace of clauses reflects the slow
pace of the funeral's procession, recording on the way every delicate detail of actions,
happenings, people and things. Almost nothing has been left out undescribed in
connection with the funeral's procession and surroundings.

This meticulous account of everything is suggestive of dignity for the dead man, as
everybody and everything is interested in showing respect for him. In addition, the
temporal sequencing of clauses in terms of time is another indication of the special
significance of the occasion and the dead man. Perhaps the writer wanted to point to
this special significance, however indirectly, by means of giving a precise account of
the progress of the funeral's procession from beginning to end. By just displaying the
events of the procession through a complex reticulum of sentence and clause structure
rather than arguing for them explicitly, Faulkner has left them to talk for themselves
for the dignity and humbleness of the occasion and the man. Thus, this style has
attained more power of persuasion. Hence, a literary translation based on this
deliberately, elaborate, microscopic and unique literary style of complexity is due next:

(Literary Translation)
‫ وىػػو‬،‫ واثػػر صػػعود اآلنسػػة وورشػػاـ والزنػػوج المسػػنيف فػػي سػػيارة سػػتيفف التػػي يقودىػػا السػػائؽ الػػذي اسػػتأجره‬،‫("بعدئػػذ‬
،‫ تبع ػوا الجنػػازة وىػػي تتمايػػؿ مخترقػػة اليضػػبة الطويمػػة صػػعداً مػػف المحطػػة‬،‫ورئػػيس التحريػػر فػػي سػػيارة ىػػذا األخيػػر‬
‫ وىي ال زالت تسير بسػرعة ال غبػار عمييػا‬،‫وتنطمؽ مسرعة وىي تئف وتستغيث وىي تمشي اليوينى حتى بمغت القمة‬
‫ ثػػـ عبرتيػػا لتػػدور حػػوؿ‬،‫ إلػػى أف خففػػت السػػرعة عنػػد دخوليػػا السػػاحة‬،‫بخرخ ػرة الزيػػت الػػذي يخػػرر كخرخ ػرة األسػػقؼ‬
‫ والتج ػػار والحبلق ػػوف والحرفيػػوف ال ػػذيف تص ػػدقوا ِلسػػتيفنز بال ػػدوالرات وأنص ػػافيا‬،‫صػػرح الوالي ػػات المتح ػػدة ودار القضػػاء‬
،‫ كميـ يطمّوف برؤوسيـ مف األبواب ونوافذ الطوابػؽ العميػا يتفرجػوف عمػى الموكػب‬،‫ والذيف لـ يتصدقوا بشيء‬،‫وأرباعيا‬
‫ثـ تمؼ الجنازة وىي تتمايؿ إلى داخؿ الشارع الذي ينقمب عند أطراؼ المدينة إلػى طريػؽ زراعيػة توصػؿ إلػى وجيػتيـ‬
‫ ومػف ورائيمػا السػيارتاف المحممتػاف‬،‫ وقػد زادت فػي سػرعتيا مػف جديػد‬،‫التي تقع عمى بعػد سػبعة عشػر مػيبلً مػف ىنػاؾ‬
‫ وف ػػارس العدال ػػة والح ػػؽ والحقيق ػػة‬،‫ والزنجي ػػة المس ػػنة‬،‫باألش ػػخاص األربع ػػة – المػ ػرأة البيض ػػاء الس ػػامقة مرفوع ػػة ال ػػرأس‬
‫ وحامػػؿ الػػدكتوراه مػػف سػػبللة ىايػػدلبيرغ البدائيػػة – وىػػـ الجوقػػة الرسػػمية المكممػػة المرافقػػة لموكػػب جنػػازة‬،ً‫الم َرسػػـ رسػػميا‬
ُ
)".‫ الزنجي المدعو بالذئب الذبيح‬:‫القاتؿ‬

184
Following are the main features of literariness of the style of this translation (to be
taken in comparison with their counterparts in the ordinary version below):

(1) The Syntactic density of the sentence structure (demonstrated above).

(2) Expressive literary vocabulary (e.g. ‫ال غبػار ;وىػي تمشػي اليػوينى ;تػئف وتسػتغيث ;تتمايػؿ مخترقػة‬
‫ ينقمب ;مرفوعة الرأس ; ومف ورائيـ البيضاء السامقة ;وىي تتمايؿ ;يطمّوف برؤوسيـ ;عمييا‬etc.)
(3) Formal style (e.g. ‫( وجيتيـ ;صرح ;صعداً ;بعدئذ‬and all the examples of (2)).
(4) Religious terminology that suits the occasion of a funeral (i.e ‫الػذيف تصػدقوا لِسػتيفنز‬
‫ والػذيف لػـ يتصػػدقوا‬،‫( بالػدوالرات وأنصػافيا وأرباعيػػا‬i.e. paid charity. c.f. 'give' of the version
below).
(5) Registration of every detail as a sign of awe for the funeral (almost the whole
text).
(6) Emphatic redundant synonymy that fits the occasion (e.g. ‫( تػئف وتسػتغيث‬i.e. ever the
car is living up the occasion).
(7) Polysyndeton: Consecutive use of the conjunction of addition in both languages
(e.g. ‫ والتجػار والحبلقػوف والحرفيػوف الػذيف تصػدقوا لِسػتيفنز بالػدوالرات‬،‫صػرح الواليػات المتحػدة ودار القضػاء‬
‫ والذيف لـ يتصدقوا بشيء‬،‫)وأنصافيا وأرباعيا‬.
(8) Hyperbolic and harmonic onomatopoeia (e.g. ‫بخرخػرة الزيػػت الػػذي يخػػرر كخرخػرة األسػػقؼ‬
(harmony is implied between the sound of the car and the bishop purr that fits in
the occasion of funeral: (the car) with an unctuous, an almost bishoplike purr).

Like the original, the whole translation is one sentence only (the commas are used
inside the sentence). Also like the original, it has been elaborately patterned as such to
suggest an unstoppable journey of the funeral procession from start to end, and stand
as a kind of paying tribute to the dead man who nobody paid tribute to. The 'purr' of
the car was even respectful of him, playing the bishop's role in funerals. These and
other stylistic effects and implications argued for above are good enough to preserve
this highly delicate literary style of complexity of sentence structure in the target text.
The two premodifying prepositional / adverbial phrases and the host of subordinate
clauses and phrases have been joined by a number of coordinating conjunctions (e.g.
‫ثػـ‬/‫( و‬and) in particular), the simple past and progressive constructions like (e.g. ‫وىػي‬
‫( تتمايؿ‬at the time it was swinging), ‫( وىي ال زالت تسير بسػرعة‬going pretty fast still), etc.), and
simple present tense forms (e.g. ‫( تتمايؿ‬swing), ‫( يتفرجوف‬watch), ‫( ينقمب‬turn)).
So any disruption of this sequential procession-like clauses and phrases which echoes
the hearse's procession would disrupt the significant implications of the text. The
literary and moral values implied in the source text are too critical to squander in the
translation. And the best way to construct and conceptualize them is by means of a
complex style of sentence structure in the target text. Unlike the style of simple
sentence structure discussed above, the sequencing of the stages of the funeral's
procession through subordinate clauses and phrases is different from that of short
sentencing in that it is continuing without stopping, whereas the latter is made

185
temporarily independent. Also, unlike the latter, taking the long sentence into pieces
might require a complete reconstruction of its syntactic structure and, naturally, its
meaning and stylistic effects. Therefore, complexity of style should not be touched in
translation as long as the TL syntactic rules of sentence structuring allow that. As to
cultural and other relevant connotations, they are made explicit to target readers
(especially through the three procedures of transference (proper names and names of
cities, places and States); a classifier (e.g. ‫ )سػبللة ىايػدلبيرغ البدائيػة‬and paraphrase ( ‫((وىػـ‬
...‫ الجوقػة الرسػمية المكممػة المرافقػة لموكػب‬without breaking down the complexity of sentence
structure.

To put the foregoing argument to test, to give an opportunity to draw a comparison

between a literary and an ordinary translation of the same text, and at the same time,
to show the sharp differences between them, an ordinary version of simplified
structure and vocabulary is suggested below:

(Ordinary/Literal Translation)
‫ وىػػو‬،‫ وبعػػد ركػػوب اآلنسػػة وورشػػاـ والزنػػوج المسػػنيف فػػي سػػيارة سػػتيفف التػػي يقودىػػا السػػائؽ الػػذي اسػػتأجره‬،‫("بعػػد ذلػػؾ‬
‫) وىي تتمايؿ متجية إلى داخػؿ اليضػبة الطويمػة صػعوداً مػف‬1( .‫ تبعوا الجنازة‬،‫ورئيس التحرير في سيارة ىذا األخير‬
‫) وىػي ال‬3( .‫) وتنطمؽ مسرعة وىي تصدر صوتاً كاألنيف عمى الغيػار البطػيء حتػى وصػمت إلػى القمػة‬2( .‫المحطة‬
‫) إلػػى أف خففػػت‬4( .‫ازلػػت تسػػير بسػػرعة ال بػػأس بيػػا بصػػوت الزيػػت الػػذي أشػػبو مػػا يكػػوف بصػػوت كخرخ ػرة األسػػقؼ‬
‫) بينمػا كػاف التجػار‬6( .‫) ثـ عبرتيا لتدور حوؿ تمثاؿ الواليات المتحػدة ودار القضػاء‬5( .‫السرعة عند دخوليا الساحة‬
‫ أطمّوا جميعاً مف األبػواب ونوافػذ الطوابػؽ العميػا‬،‫ والذيف لـ يعطوه‬،‫والحبلقوف والحرفيوف الذيف أعطوا ستيفنز الدوالرات‬
‫) ثػػـ تمػػؼ الجنػػازة مائمػػة إلػػى داخػػؿ الشػػارع الػػذي يتحػػوؿ عنػػد أط ػراؼ المدينػػة إلػػى طريػػؽ‬7( .‫يتفرجػػوف عمػػى الموكػػب‬
،‫) وقػػد زادت فػػي سػػرعتيا مػػف جديػػد‬8( .‫زراعيػػة توصػػؿ إلػػى وجيػػتيـ التػػي تقػػع عمػػى بعػػد سػػبعة عشػػر مػػيبلً مػػف ىنػػاؾ‬
‫ والزنجيػػة‬،‫) وىػػـ الم ػرأة البيضػػاء الطويمػػة مرفوعػػة ال ػرأس‬9( .‫متبوعػػة بالسػػيارتيف المتػػيف تحمػػبلف األشػػخاص األربعػػة‬
‫) وىػػـ‬10( .‫ وحامػػؿ الػػدكتوراه مػػف سػػبللة ىايػػدلبيرغ البدائيػػة‬،ً‫ ورجػػؿ العدالػػة والحػػؽ والحقيقػػة المعػػيف رسػػميا‬،‫المسػػنة‬
)")11( .‫ الزنجي المدعو بالذئب المذبوح‬:‫المجموعة الرسمية المكممة المرافقة لجنازة القاتؿ‬

Apparently, and in comparison to the previous version, this translation seems to have
concentrated on translating sense into a simplified Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)
both syntactically and semantically. The single, very long sentence of the English
original is now eleven short sentences long, which makes the translation more
readable and easier to follow. Further, words and phrases have become simpler and
easier to understand. That is true in normal sense and text, where possibly
simplification is required. However, in a highly sensitive and functional literary text like
this, and as we have noticed above, complexity of sentence structure is packed with
literary stylistic implications and meanings.

5.6 Translating the Narrative Style of Transitivity

186
As pointed out shortly above, transitivity is a newly developed stylistic analysis of, and
approach to the interpretation of literary texts, especially novels. It is based on tracing
the transitive and intransitive forms of a literary text and how the relations among
people ( represented by characters) are defined in terms of transitivity (i.e. activity and
control) and intransitivity (that is, inactivity and submissiveness). Simpson argues that
transitivity refers broadly to the way meaning is represented in the clause structure
(2004: 22). This type of function is a significant style marker, especially of narrative
discourse, because it emphasizes the concept of style as choice. Berry declares that "In
English grammar we make choices between different types of process, between
different types of participant, between different types of circumstance, between
different roles for participants and circumstances, between different numbers of
participants and circumstances, between different ways of combining processes,
participants and circumstances. These choices are known collectively as the transitivity
choices". As also pointed out earlier in the Chapter, the major types of transitivity
processes suggested by Halliday's Model are three: (i) Material Process; (ii) Mental
Process; and (iii) Relational Process.

At translating some texts, there are transitivity processes and relations among people,
or characters of power and subdual that have to be taken seriously and practically into
account. Here is a narrative text analyzed by Burton (1982) and translated below
(sentences are numbered for convenience of reference):

"(1) The wall–eyed nurse came back. (2) She unclasped my watch and dropped
it in her pocket. (3) Then she started tweaking the hairpins from my hair.
(4) Doctor Gordon was unlocking the closet. (5) He dragged out a table on
wheels with a machine on it and rolled it behind the head of the bed. (6) The nurse
started swabbing my temples with a smelly grease.
(7) As she leaned over to reach the side of my head nearest the wall, her fat
breast muffled my face like a cloud or a pillow. (8) A vague, medicinal stench emanated
from her flesh.
(9) 'Don't worry', the nurse grinned down at me. (10) 'Their first time
everybody's scared to death.'
(11) I tried to smile, but my skin had gone stiff, like parchment.
(12) Doctor Gordon was fitting two metal plates on either side of my head.
(13) He buckled them into place with a strap that dented my forehead, and gave me a
wire to bite.
(14) I shut my eyes.
(15) There was a brief silence, like an indrawn breath.
(16) Then something bent down and took hold of me and shook me like the
end of the world. (17) Whee-ee-ee-ee. It shrilled, through an air crackling with blue
light, and with each flash a great jolt drubbed me till I thought my bones would break
and the sap fly out of me like a split plant.
(18) I wondered what terrible thing it was that I had done.")
(Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar, in Carter (ed.), 1982: 202)

(Literary Translation)

187
‫) ثػـ بػدأت تنػزع دبػػابيس‬3( .‫ػت سػاعتي وأسػقطَتيا فػػي جيبيػا‬
ْ ‫) نزع‬2( .‫) رجعػت الممرضػة التػي فػي عينيػػا بيػاض‬1("
.‫المؼ مف شعري‬
‫ ث ػػـ دس ػػيا خم ػػؼ رأس‬،‫) ج ػػر طاول ػػة عم ػػى عج ػػبلت وعميي ػػا آل ػػة‬5( .‫) ك ػػاف ال ػػدكتور ج ػػوردوف يف ػػتح قف ػػؿ الخ ازن ػػة‬4(
.‫صدغ ّي بدىف كريو الرائحة‬
َ ‫) بدأت الممرضة تمسح‬6( .‫السرير‬
‫ ك ّػـ ثػدياىا السػميناف وجيػي كغيمػة‬،‫انحنت فوقي لكي تصؿ إلى الجية األخرى مف رأسي مف جية الحائط‬ ْ ‫) حينما‬7(
.‫) انبعثت رائحة دواء نتنة ال ُيعرؼ كنييا مف لحميا‬8( .،‫أو وسادة‬
.‘‫) ’ففي أوؿ مرة ترتعد فرائص كؿ المرضى‬10( .‘‫ ’ال تقمقي‬:‫) كشرت الممرضة في وجيي مبتسمة وقالت‬9(
.‫ لكف جمدي تيبس‬،‫) حاولت أف أبتسـ‬11(
،‫) شػػدىما ف ػي مكانيمػػا بربػػاط بعػػج أرسػػي‬13( . ‫) كػػاف الػػدكتور يرأكػػب صػػفيحتيف معػػدنيتيف عمػػى جيتػػي أرسػػي‬12(
.‫وأعطاني سمكاً ألعض عميو‬
.‫عيني‬
ّ ‫أغمضت‬
ُ )14(
.‫ وكأنو نفس شييؽ‬،‫) خيـ الصمت لبرىة‬15(
.‫قبضت روحي‬ ْ ‫) بعدئذ انحنى شيء فقبضني قبضاً وىزني ىزة بدت وكأنيا‬16(
‫ ومػع كػؿ ومضػة صػفعني صػفعة‬،.‫ في اليواء وىو يفرقػع نػو اًر أزرؽ‬،ً‫) وي ي ي ي ي ي! أصدر صوتاً صاعقا‬17(
.‫قوية حتى ظننت أف عظامي تتكسر ودمي مف أوعيتي يتطاير كما يتطاير ماء الحياة مف أوعية نبتة منفمقة‬
"‫فعؿ؟‬
َ ‫فعؿ بي ما ُي‬
َ ‫) سألت نفسي ما ىذا الذنب العظيـ الذي اقترفتو ُلي‬18(

Burton applies her model of transitivity to this passage from Sylvia Plath's novel, The
Bell Jar. Burton's reading is a feminist literary stylistic application of transitivity model,
with the aim of exploring relationships of power in Plath's text. In her analysis of the
excerpt, she identifies three types of participant: (a) a helpless nurse; (b) a victim
persona; and (c) medical staff more interested in getting a job than caring.

The central issue in Burton's model is: "Who does what to whom?" Applying the
transitivity model of material processes of Actor-participant roles, she finds out,
through lexical realization of the Actors (or doers of actions) of all processes (or main
verb phrases), that the Doctor and his equipment dominate the action, whereas the
nurse comes second, and the persona does not do anything. Then in the next stage of
analysis, Burton charts out the types of processes involved. The fact explored by her
analysis is the overwhelming choice of the material-action-intention process option
(twenty clauses out of thirty opt for this selection. Here is the full analysis:

The first part of analysis outlines the Actors in each process, and the lexical realization
of each of the processes associated with them:

Sentence No Actor Process

1 nurse came back

2a nurse unclasped
b nurse dropped

188
3 nurse started tweaking
4 doctor was unlocking
5a doctor dragged out
b doctor rolled
6 nurse started swabbing
7a nurse leaned over to reach
b nurse's body part muffled
8 nurse's body contingency emanated
9a n.a. n.a.
b nurse grinned
10 n.a. n.a.
11a persona tried to smile
b persona's body part had gone stiff
12 doctor was fitting
13a doctor buckled
b doctor's equipment dented
c doctor gave…to bite
14 persona shut
15 - was
16a something (electricity) bent … and took hold
b something (electricity) shook
17a something (electricity) shrilled
b electricity part drubbed
c persona thought
d persona body part would break
e persona body part fly out
18a persona wondered
b - was
c persona had done

This simple analysis gives a clear picture of who does what to whom and when. On
paper, as Actor, the nurse: 8 times; the doctor and his equipment: 7; electricity: 4; and
persona (i.e. the patient) and her body parts: 7. However, in reality the persona does
not do anything, and everybody and everything else have done everything to her. She
is quite powerless and does not act on anybody or anything; she is only acted on by a
succession of Actors.

The analysis can be taken a step further by charting the types of processes involved in
this passage:

1 nurse came back = material action-intention

2a nurse unclasped = material-intention
b nurse dropped = material-action-intention
3 nurse stated tweaking = material-action-intention
4 doctor was unlocking = material-action-intention
5a doctor dragged out = material-action-intention

189
 b doctor rolled = material-action-intention
6 nurse started swabbing = material-action-intention
7a nurse leaned over to reach = material-action-intention
b nurse's body part muffled = material-action-supervention
8 nurse's body contingency emanated = material-event
9a n.a.
b nurse grinned = material-action-intention
10 n.a.
11a persona tried to smile = material-action-intention
b persona's body part had stiff = material-event
12 doctor was fitting = material-action-intention
13a doctor buckled = material-action-intention
b doctor's equipment dented = material-action-supervention
c doctor gave…to bite = material-action-intention
14 persona shut = material-action-intention
15 -was = relational
16a something took hold = material-action-intention
b something shook = material-action-intention
17a something shrilled = material-action-intention
b something drubbed = material-action-intention
c persona thought = mental-cognition
d person's body part would break = material-action-supervention
e persona's body part fly out = material-action-supervention
18a persona wondered=mental-cognition
b- was = relational
c persona had done = material-action-intention

The process sequencing, material-action-intention is domineering (20 out of 30

clauses). All the nurse's actions are material-action-intention processes, even her
body is an Actor and has the effect of deliberate determinate actions on the
persona / patient, producing contingent, accidental, yet influential effects on her
world of thought. The same applies to the Doctor's actions which are material-
action-intention processes, and to his equipment - by analogy to the nurse's body
– which also produces tangent effects on the persona's world. Even electricity has
the same sequence of material-action-intention process effects. These are the
three major Actor-participants that are to the poor persona in control of all events
that occur in her world. They are to her the constructors of the reality she
perceives, feels and expresses. All these are cogent reasons for any translator to
attend to these stylistic implications of passivity here.

Further reasons are provided by the next analysis which isolates who or what is
affected by each process:

1 nurse affects Ø by intention process

2a nurse affects persona's possession by intention process
b nurse affects persona's possession by intention process

190
 3 nurse affects persona's possession by intention process
4 doctor affects equipment by intention process
5a doctor affects equipment by intention process
b doctor affects equipment by intention process
6 nurse affects persona's body pert by intention process
7a nurse affects persona's body part by intention process
b nurse's body part affects persona's body part by intention process
8 nurse's body contingency affects Ø by event process
9a n.a.
b nurse affects persona by intention process
10 n.a.
11a persona affects Ø by intention process
b persona's body part affects Ø by event process
12 doctor affects equipment by intention process
13a doctor affects equipment by intention process
b doctor affects persona and equipment by intention process
14 persona affects persona's body part by intention process
15 Ø affects the environment by relational process
16a something affects persona by intention process
b something affects persona by intention process
17a something affects Ø by intention process
b something affects persona by intention process
c persona affects persona's body part by cognition process
d persona's body part affects Ø by supervention process
e person's body part affects Ø by supervention process
18a persona affects Ø by cognition process
b Ø affects Ø by relation process
c persona affects Ø by intention process (hypothetical)

This third analysis provides more solid grounds for the abstract reality of the patient's
world. The nurse has the greater share of exercising impact on the patient's
possessions and body part (2a, 2b, 3, 6, 7, 8), feelings and the whole of her (9b). Then,
in the second place comes the doctor and his equipment. As to electricity, it
continually affects the whole patient (16a, b, 17a, b). The patient, on the other hand,
affects nothing at all even though she has the intentions and behaves as an Actor (17a,
17b, 18a and 18c).

The three stages of analysis confirm that our understanding of stylistic choices in terms
of power relations and processes of a narrative text like this one plays a crucial part in
our interpretation and, hence, translation of it. Therefore, the target translation has
constructed these relations and processes as much as possible. This has been done
through preserving the transitivity roles and relations displayed by the source text's
style, as the following juxtaposition of the choices of the two texts may demonstrate:

Sentence No Actor Process

191
1 nurse came back )‫(رجعت‬
2a nurse unclasped )‫(نزعت‬
b nurse dropped )‫(أسقطت‬
3 nurse started tweaking )‫(بدأت تنزع‬
4 doctor was unlocking )‫(كاف يفتح قفؿ‬
5a doctor dragged out )‫(جر‬
b doctor rolled )‫(دس‬
ّ
6 nurse started swabbing )‫( بدأت تمسح‬
7a nurse leaned over to reach )‫(انحنت لكي تصؿ‬
b nurse's body part muffled )‫(كـ‬
8 nurse's body contingency emanated )‫(انبعثت‬
9a n.a. n.a.
b nurse grinned )‫(كشرت في وجيي مبتسمة‬
10 n.a. n.a.
11a persona tried to smile )‫(حاولت جاىدة أف أبتسـ‬
b persona's body part had gone stiff )‫(تيبس‬
12 doctor was fitting )‫(كاف ُي َرأكب‬
13a doctor buckled ))‫(شد (برباط‬
b doctor's equipment dented ))‫(بعج (رأسي‬
c doctor gave…to bite )‫ ألعض عميو‬...‫(أعطاني‬
14 persona shut )‫عيني‬
ّ ‫(أغمضت‬
ُ
15 - was )‫(كانت‬
16c something (electricity) bent … and took hold)ً‫(انحنى وقبض قبضا‬
b something (electricity) shook)‫(ىز ىزة‬
17a something (electricity) shrilled )‫(أصدر صوتاً مدوياً ًا‬
b electricity part drubbed )‫(صفعتني صفعة قوية‬
c persona thought )‫ت‬
ُ ‫(خْم‬
d persona body part would break)‫(تتكسر‬
e persona body part fly out )‫(يتطاير‬
18a persona wondered )‫(سألت نفسي‬
b - was )‫(كاف (ذنبي‬
c persona had done )‫(اقترفتو‬

Obviously, the patient is a remarkably poor, defenseless scapegoat who came to be in

this unfortunate aggressive environment. Her thought world is invaded brutally by

192
three undesirably urgent powers, the nurse, the doctor and the electricity. She has no
alternative but to succumb by force to these merciless powers. These crucial
transitivity meanings of style have to be observed closely, and taken account of by the
translator. Therefore, the choice of verbs in particular, and words and expressions in
general have been elaborately made to construct the mental attitudes and ideologies
of the characters and objects involved. These choices have been more expressive,
more emphatic, sharper, harsher, more direct, more prejudiced, more exaggerative,
more provocative and of more pejorative connotations when necessary. The following
two lists show that, while the first on the left is the actual choices made in the
translation, the second is the probable normal unmarked choices that can otherwise
be used in different circumstances and context:

-came back )‫( (رجعت‬more depressive to patient) → (cf. ‫)عادت‬

-unclasped )‫( (نزعت‬more violent) → (cf. ‫)فكت‬
-dropped )‫( (أسقطت‬suspicious and violent)→ (cf. ‫ألقت‬/‫(وضعت‬
-started tweaking )‫( (بدأت تنزع‬more violent)→ (cf. ‫تزيؿ‬/‫)بدأت تفؾ‬
-was unlocking ))‫( (كاف يفتح ِقف َؿ (الخزانة‬insinuating patient's chains→ (cf. )‫)كاف يفتح (الخزانة‬
-dragged out )‫( (جر‬more violent) → (cf. ‫)سحب‬
-rolled )‫(دس‬
ّ (more violent, secretive and reminiscent of ‫( دس السـ‬foist poison)→(cf. ‫)لؼ‬
ّ
-started swabbing )‫ ( بدأت تمسح‬not necessarily very clean) → (cf. ‫)بدأت تنظؼ‬
-muffled )‫( (كـ‬more expressive and pejorative) → (cf. ‫)غطى‬
-emanated )‫( (انبعثت‬negative, connoting bad smell) (cf. ‫( )فاحت‬connoting nice smell)
-grinned )‫( (كشرت في وجيي مبتسمة‬pejorative and passive) → (cf. ‫(ابتسمت في وجيي‬
-tried to smile )‫( (حاولت جاىدة أف أبتسـ‬more emphatic)→ (cf. ‫)حاولت أف أبتسـ‬
-had gone stiff )‫(تيبس‬
ّ (stiffer)→ (cf. ‫)قسا‬
-was fitting )‫( (كاف ُي َرأكب‬as if working on a machine, not on a human)→ (cf. ‫(كاف يضع‬
-buckled ))‫( (شد (برباط‬harder and harsher)→ (cf. ‫شبؾ‬/‫(ثبت‬
-dented ))‫( (بعج (رأسي‬more exaggerative and serious)→ (cf. ‫خدش‬/‫(جرح‬
-gave…to bite )‫ ألعض عميو‬...‫( (أعطاني‬less polite for human)→(cf. ‫ألشد عميو بأسناني‬...‫)أعطاني‬
-shut )‫عيني‬
ّ ‫(أطبقت‬
ُ (more emphatic and artificial)→ (cf. ‫عيني‬
ّ ‫(أغمضت‬
-bent down and took hold )ً‫( (انحنػى وقبضػني قبضػا‬hasher and more emphatic→(cf. ‫انحنػى‬
‫)وأمسؾ بي‬
-shook)‫( (ىز ىزة‬more emphatic)→ (cf. ‫اىتز‬/‫)ىز‬
-shrilled )‫( (أصدر صوتاً مدوياً ًا‬more exaggerative and emphatic) → (cf. ً‫)أعطى صوتاً قويا‬
-drubbed )‫( (صفعتني صفعة قوية‬more exaggerative and pejorative)→ (cf. ‫)ضربتني بقوة‬
-thought )‫(خمت‬
ُ (more formal and emphatic) → (cf. ‫)ظننت‬
-would break)‫( (تتكسر‬more expressive)→ (cf. ‫(تنكسر‬

193
-fly out)‫( (يتطاير‬more serious and sarcastically rhythmical with ‫( →يتكسر‬cf. ‫يتدفؽ‬/‫)يدفؽ‬
-wondered )‫( (سألت نفسي‬more formal and collocational) → (cf. ‫(تساءلت‬
-had done )‫( (اقترفتو‬more emphatic, formal and sarcastic→ (cf. ‫)عمْمتُو‬
َ

A common denominator among these choices is their provocative implications and

connotations. Readers are provoked against the oppressive powers, the nurse, the
doctor and the electricity. They are indirectly moved to take an aggressive attitude
against these powers. At the same time, they feel so sympathetic with the victim, the
poor patient. This provocative attitude is underpinned by other choices of some words
and expressions – which are eventually literary choices - including:

-(1) 'white-eyed' is translated into ‫فػػي عينيػػا بيػػاض‬, instead of ‫ف ػي عينيػػا حػػور‬, for it is
pejorative whereas the latter is quite positive in Arabic.

-(7) 'fat breast' is translated into the pejorative ‫ ثػدياىا السػمينتاف‬rather than into the non-
pejorative‫صدرىا البديف‬.
-(8)'vague stench' is translated into the strong and sarcastic phrase ‫رائحػة كرييػة ال يُع َػرؼ‬
‫ ُك ْنيُيا‬, not into less pejorative, non-sarcastic ‫رائحة غير زكية غريبة‬
-(8) 'her flesh' is translated into the insulting ‫ لحميػػا‬instead of the non-insulting
‫جسميا‬/‫جسدىا‬.
-(10) 'scared to death', a serious psychological blunder to suggest the nurse's ruthless
carelessness, is translated into the equally strong expression ‫ ترتعػد فرائصػو‬rather than
into a normal expression like ‫ يخاؼ‬/ ‫يشعر بالخوؼ‬.
-(18) 'what a terrible thing it was' is translated into the simultaneously effective,
exaggerative, religious and sarcastic phrase ‫مػػا ىػػذا الػذنب العظػػيـ‬, instead of the rather
normal, less effective ‫الجمؿ‬/‫ما ىذا األمر الخطير‬.
-(18) "‫فعػؿ‬
َ ‫فعػؿ بػي مػا ُي‬
َ ‫ ( ُلي‬literally: to be done with me what is being done) is added by way
of illustrating and reinforcing the hugely emotional, impressive, literary, effective and
persuasive collocational concluding statement by the wretched patient.

This complicated, but very rich and highly sophisticated analysis urges us to be extra
careful at translating the text, as the first version above suggests. Therefore, a careless
(careless to transitivity style), less serious translation like the one provided below is
not highlyadvisable:

(Ordinary Translation)
‫) ثػػـ بػػدأت ترفػػع‬3( .‫) فكػػت سػػاعتي ووضػػعتيا فػػي جيبيػػا‬2( .‫) رجعػػت الممرضػػة ممَ ػؾ الرحمػػة جاحظػػة العنػػيف‬1("
.‫دبابيس المؼ مف شعري‬

194
‫(‪ )4‬كػػاف الػػدكتور جػػوردوف يفػػتح قفػػؿ الخ ازنػػة‪ )5( .‬جػػر طاولػػة عمػػى عجػػبلت وعمييػػا آلػػة‪ ،‬ثػػـ وضػػعيا خمػػؼ رأس‬
‫صدغ ّي بدىف رائحتو غير زكية‪.‬‬ ‫َ‬ ‫السرير‪ )6( .‬بدأت الممرضة تمسح‬
‫ػت لكػػي تصػػؿ إلػػى الجيػػة األخػػرى مػػف أرسػػي مػػف جيػػة الحػػائط‪ ،‬جػػاء صػػدرىا السػػميف عمػػى وجيػػي‬
‫(‪ )7‬حينمػػا انحنػ ْ‬
‫كغيمة أو وسادة‪ )8( .،‬شممت رائحة دواء غير طيبة غير مميزة مف جسميا‪.‬‬
‫(‪ )9‬ابتسمت الممرضة في وجيي بفتور وقالت‪’ :‬اطمئني‘‪’ )10( .‬ففي أوؿ مرة يقمؽ كؿ المرضى‘‪.‬‬
‫(‪ )11‬حاولت أف أبتسـ‪ ،‬لكف جمدي أصبح قاسياً‪.‬‬
‫(‪ )12‬كػػاف ال ػدكتور يرأكػػب صػػفيحتيف معػػدنيتيف عمػػى جيتػػي أرسػػي ‪ )13( .‬ثبتيمػػا فػػي مكانيمػػا بربػػاط خػػدش أرسػػي‪،‬‬
‫وأعطاني سمكاً ألكز عميو‪.‬‬
‫عيني‪.‬‬
‫ّ‬ ‫أغمضت‬
‫ُ‬ ‫(‪)14‬‬
‫(‪ )15‬كاف ىناؾ الصمت لبرىة‪ ،‬وبدا كشييؽ‪.‬‬
‫(‪ )16‬بعدئذ أحسست بأف شيئاً أمسؾ بي وىزني بقوة‪.‬‬
‫(‪ )17‬أصدر صوتاً قويػاً فػي اليػواء وىػو يصػدر نػو اًر أزرؽ‪ ،.‬ومػع كػؿ إضػاءة صػدمني بقػوة حتػى ظننػت أف عظػامي‬
‫تتكسر ودمي يسيؿ مف األوعية الدموية بغ ازرة‪.‬‬
‫(‪ )18‬سألت نفسي ما ىذا الذنب العظيـ الذي عممتو حتى يعامموني بيذه الطريقة‪".‬‬

‫‪This version has discharged the original of its expressivity of the words and phrases‬‬
‫‪describing the patient's suffering, inactivity, submissiveness and defenselessness, on‬‬
‫‪the one hand, and the doctor, nurse and electric machine's aggressiveness,‬‬
‫‪oppression, suppression and subjection of the her, on the other. This can be traced‬‬
‫‪through the underlined words and expressions which – compared to their counterparts‬‬
‫‪in the first version – have converted the original into an ordinary text that features of‬‬
‫‪transitivity and intransitivity have been ignored, or distorted. For example, the use of a‬‬
‫‪ (literally: the angel of mercy) to describe a horrible‬ممَػؾ الرحمػة ‪very positive phrase like‬‬
‫‪nurse is paradoxical with her inhumane behavior. Further, many other words and‬‬
‫وي ي ي ي ي ‪phrases have been alleviated, undertoned, made normal or omitted (e.g.‬‬
‫‪), as the following table of juxtaposition of the two versions would demonstrate:‬ي‬

‫‪Undertoned words and phrases‬‬ ‫‪Aggressive words and phrases‬‬

‫‪-‬ممؾ الرحمة‬ ‫‪-‬الممرضة‬
‫‪-‬جاحظة العنيف‪.‬‬ ‫‪-‬في عينيا بياض‬
‫‪-‬فكت ساعتي‬ ‫عت ساعتي‬‫‪-‬نز ْ‬
‫‪-‬وضعتيا في جيبيا‪.‬‬ ‫‪-‬أسقطَتيا في جيبيا‬
‫‪-‬ترفع الدبابيس‬ ‫‪-‬تنزع دبابيس المؼ‬
‫‪-‬ثـ وضعيا‬ ‫‪-‬ثـ دسيا‬
‫‪-‬رائحتو غير زكية‪.‬‬ ‫‪-‬بدىف كريو الرائحة‪.‬‬
‫انحنت لكي تصؿ إلى‬
‫ْ‬ ‫‪-‬‬ ‫انحنت فوقي لكي تصؿ إلى‬
‫ْ‬ ‫‪-‬‬
‫‪-‬جاء صدرىا السميف عمى وجيي‬ ‫‪َ -‬كـ ثدياىا السميناف وجيي‬

‫‪195‬‬
 ً‫فغطياه تماما‬-
‫رائحة دواء غير طيبة غير مميزة‬-
.‫مف جسميا‬-
‫ابتسمت الممرضة في وجيي بفتور‬-
‫وقالت اطمئني‬-
.‫يقمؽ كؿ المرضى‬-
‫ثبتيما في مكانيما‬-
ً‫ لكف جمدي أصبح قاسيا‬-
،‫برباط خدش رأسي‬-
.‫وأعطاني سمكاً ألكز عميو‬-
‫كاف ىناؾ الصمت لبرىة‬-
.‫وبدا كشييؽ‬-
‫بعدئذ أحسست بأف شيئاً أمسؾ بي‬-
.‫وىزني بقوة‬-
ً‫؟) أصدر صوتاً قويا‬...(-
‫وىو يصدر نو اًر أزرؽ‬-
‫ومع كؿ إضاءة صدمني بقوة‬-
.‫دمي يسيؿ مف األوعية الدموية بغ ازرة‬-
‫الذنب الذي عممتو‬-
‫حتى يعامموني بيذه الطريقة‬-
‫كغيمة أو وسادة‬-
‫انبعثت رائحة دواء نتنة ال ُيعرؼ كنييا‬-
.‫مف لحميا‬-
‫كشرت الممرضة في وجيي مبتسمة‬-
‫وقالت ال تقمقي‬-
‫ترتعد فرائص كؿ المرضى‬-
‫شدىما في مكانيما‬-
‫لكف جمدي تيبس‬-
‫برباط بعج رأسي‬-
‫وأعطاني سمكاً ألعض عميو‬-
،‫خيـ الصمت لبرىة‬-
‫وكأنو نفس شييؽ‬-
ً‫بعدئذ انحنى شيء فقبضني قبضا‬-
.‫قبضت روحي‬
ْ ‫وىزني ىزة بدت وكأنيا‬-
ً‫ أصدر صوتاً صاعقا‬.‫وي ي ي ي ي ي‬-
.‫وىو يفرقع وميض نور أزرؽ‬-
‫ومع كؿ ومضة صفعني صفعة قوية‬-
... ‫دمي مف أوعيتي يتطػاير كمػا يتطػاير مػاء الحيػاة‬-
.‫أوعية نبتة منفمقة‬-
‫الذنب العظيـ الذي اقترفتو‬-
‫فعؿ‬
َ ‫فعؿ بي ما ُي‬
َ ‫ ُلي‬-

Hence, clearly the style of transitivity is crucial to the interpretation of narrative texts
that may exhibit relational powers and political attitudes and ideologies. And since
these issues are the gist of style as mind, transitivity has been occupying a leading
position in contemporary cognitive stylistic studies, and, naturally, in cognitive stylistic
translation. The task of attending to the style of transitivity in translation is daunting,
yet quite rewarding and worthwhile, for it endeavors to unearth the untrodden depths
of literariness of the style meaning of literary texts, especially narrative texts.

5.7 Romantic Literary Style of Romantic Past Memories

The Bond
("Those places look as they did then, but they are not the same: and as for the others, I
have the feeling that they still exist but in some other town that I left long ago and
have never been back to. Even the memory of things that happened after the
Occupation, some still recent, walks for instance, and certain moments spent, seem to
transpose themselves into that other time and place, recognizable yet different.

196
Is it because I have since lived less intensely than I did then? Or because I feel that there
has been less incident in my life, and this latter time, its pace so palpably accelerated,
following the sheltered and favored days when I was young, has seemed to me one of
monotony without substance, unmarked by any notable event? But finally, perhaps, it
is because I underwent my first passionate experiences in Occupied Paris, and the
climate, the extreme isolation of passion, remains linked for me with the images that
were then imprinted on my mind, in which I see myself bent over a glowing face or
hurrying alone past the closed stalls of the booksellers, myself unchanging and fixed in
a sort of eternity with those pictures of which I am part.")
(Jacques Borel, Translation by Norman Denny, in Newmark, 1988)

This text is Romanic in the full sense of the word. It is a recollection of dear, happy and
sad memories of affection and heydays love. A good translation is perhaps the one
that sounds equally Romantic in Arabic, as suggested in the next version:

(Literary / Romantic Translation)

‫الوثاق‬
)‫)بقمـ جاؾ بوريؿ‬
‫ فينتابني شعور أنيا ما تزاؿ حية‬،‫ بيد أنيا ليست ىاتيؾ نفسيا؛ أما عف أخراىا‬،‫("تبدو تمؾ األماكف كما كانت آنئذ‬
‫ حتى أف ذكرى‬.‫ إنما في مدينة أخرى كنت قد غادرتيا منذ زمف بعيد وما عدت إلييا أبدًا‬،‫ترزؽ حتى المحظة‬
‫ ولحظات معينة مضت‬،ً‫ مشاوير الحب والغراـ مثبل‬،‫ بعضيا ما يزاؿ حديث العيد‬،‫األشياء التي حدثت بعد االحتبلؿ‬
‫ زماناف لئف كاف المحاؽ‬،‫ تبدو كميا وكأنيا تمقي بنفسيا في أحضاف ذاؾ الزماف اآلخر وذاؾ المكاف اآلخر‬،‫وانقضت‬
.‫ فإنيما زماناف متبايناف‬،ً‫بيما ممكنا‬
‫ىؿ ىذا ألنني منذئذ عشت أياماً عاطفية أقؿ صخباً مما كنت عميو أياـ زماف؟ أـ ألنني أحس أنو لـ يمر في حياتي‬
ِ ‫اآلخر‬
‫ والذي أعقب تمؾ‬،‫آخر زمف بسرعتو الفائقة المحسوسة الممموسة‬ َ ‫ وىذا الزماف‬.‫مف األحداث إال النزر اليسير‬
‫ ال يميزه أي‬،‫ بدا لي ىذا الزماف زماف الرتابة دونما جوىر‬،‫األياـ الدافئة المحببة وقت أف كنت غضاً طرياً يافع ًا‬
‫ والعزلة‬،‫ والمناخ‬،‫ ربما ألنني خضت مغامرتي العاطفية األولى في باريس المحتمة‬،‫حدث ذي باؿ؟ لكف في النياية‬
‫ حيث أرى فييا نفسي وقت انحنيت بوجو وىاج ميروالً لوحدي خمؼ‬،‫العاطفية الرىيبة آنذاؾ محفورة في ذىني‬
‫ وأنا ثابت القمب والقدـ ال أتغير وال أتبدؿ في سرمدية أعيش مع تمؾ الصور التي ىي مني‬،‫دكاكيف بائعي الكتب‬
)".‫وأنا منيا‬

In this version, the romantic touches of the original have been constructed in Arabic
through the following stylistic feature of literary style:

(1) Emotion-loaded words and expressions: (e.g. ‫مشاوير الحب ;فينتابني شعور ;ىاتيؾ ;آنئذ‬
‫وقت ;محفورة في ذىني ;مغامرتي العاطفية ;األياـ الدافئة المحببة ;أحس ;أياـ زماف ;منذئذ ;والغراـ‬
‫)سرمدية ;دكاكيف بائعي الكتب ;ميروالً ;انحنيت‬
(2) Hyperbolic Expressive phrases (e.g. ‫;مشاوير الحب والغراـ ;حية ترزؽ ;فينتابني شعور‬

197
 ‫ما عدت ;أما عف أخراىا ‪) (e.g.‬الزماف( ‪(3) Poetic structures, especially the phrases of time‬‬
‫وىذا الزماف اآلخر آخر زمف زماناف لئف كاف المحاؽ بيما ;ذاؾ الزماف اآلخر وذاؾ المكاف ;إلييا أبدًا‬
‫وقت أف كنت ;ممكناً‬
‫ثابت القمب ;ىي مني وأنا منيا ;خمؼ دكاكيف بائعي الكتب ‪(4) Classic heart-felt expressions (e.g.‬‬
‫(غضاً طرياً يافعاً ;والقدـ‬
‫;ذي باؿ ;النزر اليسير ;أياـ زماف ;منذ زمف بعيد ;حي يرزؽ ‪(5) Formal, expressive collocations:‬‬
‫)األياـ الدافئة ;ثابت القمب والقدـ ;مغامرة عاطفية‬
‫المحسوسة ;غضاً طرياً يافعا ;الحب والغراـ ‪(6) Emotional collocational synonyms (e.g.‬‬
‫(مضت وانقضت ;خضت مغامرة ;الممموسة‬
‫)ىذا الزماف زماف الرتابة ;ذاؾ الزماف اآلخر وذاؾ المكاف اآلخر ‪(7) Elaborate repetitions (e.g.‬‬
‫;أياـ دافئة ;محفورة في ذىني ;تمقي بنفسيا في أحضاف ذاؾ الزماف اآلخر ‪(8) Loving imagery (e.g.‬‬
‫)والعزلة العاطفية الرىيبة ;أياـ عاطفية‬
‫‪).‬ال أتغير وال أتبدؿ ‪(9) Emphatic variations (e.g.‬‬
‫‪(10) Overwhelming prose rhyme and rhythm all-embracing the whole translation,‬‬
‫‪mostly marked by punctuation pauses at reading it slowly and aloud‬‬

‫‪To make the point sharper, an ordinary, non-romantic version is proposed below, thus,‬‬
‫‪providing an opportunity to draw a comparison between it and the literary one above:‬‬
‫)‪(Ordinary / Literal Translation‬‬
‫("تبدو تمؾ األماكف كما كانت في ذاؾ الوقت‪ ،‬إال أنيا ليست ىي نفسيا؛ أما بالنسبة لؤلخرى‪ ،‬فأشعر أنيا ما زالت‬
‫موجودة حتى اآلف‪ ،‬لكف في مدينة أخرى تركتيا مف زماف ولـ أعد إلييا بعد ذلؾ مطمقاً‪ .‬حتى أف ذكرى األشياء‬
‫التي حدثت بعد االحتبلؿ الذي ما زاؿ بعضيا حديثاً‪ ،‬المشاوير مثبلً‪ ،‬ولحظات معينة أصبحت مف الماضي‪ ،‬يبدو‬
‫اآلخريف‪ ،‬إدراكيما ممكف لكنيما مختمفاف‪.‬‬
‫َ‬ ‫أف جميعيا تحولت إلى ذاؾ الزماف والمكاف‬
‫ىؿ ىذا ألنني منذ ذلؾ الحيف عشت بشكؿ أقؿ حدة مما كنت عميو في الماضي؟ أو ألنني أشعر أنو لـ يمر في‬
‫حياتي مف األحداث إال القميؿ منيا؟ وىذا الزماف المتأخر بسرعتو الفائقة المحسوسة‪ ،‬والذي تبع تمؾ األياـ المختبئة‬
‫المفضمة حينما كنت شاباً‪ ،‬ظير لي ىذا الزماف ممبلً ًا مف غير جوىر‪ ،‬ال يميزه أي حدث ميـ‪ .‬لكف أخي اًر‪ ،‬ربما‬
‫ألنني مررت بتجاربي العاطفية األولى في باريس المحتمة‪ ،‬والمناخ‪ ،‬والعزلة العاطفية الشديدة في ذلؾ الوقت في‬
‫ذىني‪ ،‬حيث أرى فييا نفسي منحنياً عمى وجو متوىج مسرعاً بمفردي خمؼ محبلت الكتب‪ ،‬وأنا ال أتغير وثابت‬
‫بشيء مف األبدية مع تمؾ الصور التي أُعتبر أنا جزءاً منيا‪)".‬‬

‫‪An ordinary, non-romantic translation of a literary text like this has dismantled it of its‬‬
‫‪essence of literary implications of expressivity, Romanticism, emotionality and, hence,‬‬
‫‪touches of literariness, which is not quite appropriate or recommended under any‬‬
‫‪circumstances. Following is an illustrative juxtaposed table of the major differences‬‬
‫‪between the two versions put forward:‬‬

‫‪Romantic English‬‬ ‫‪Romantic Arabic‬‬ ‫‪Ordinary Arabic‬‬

‫‪198‬‬
‫‪-Those places look as‬‬
‫‪they did then‬‬
‫‪-but they are not the‬‬
‫‪same‬‬
‫‪-and as for the others‬‬
‫‪-‬تبدو تمؾ األماكف كما كانت‬ ‫‪-‬تبدو تمؾ األماكف كما كانت في‬
‫آنئذ‪،‬‬ ‫ذاؾ الوقت‬
‫‪-‬بيد أنيا ليست ىاتيؾ نفسيا؛‬ ‫‪-‬إال أنيا ليست ىي نفسيا‬
‫‪-‬أما عف أخراىا‪،‬‬

‫‪-I have the feeling that‬‬ ‫‪-‬فينتابني شعور أنيا ما تزاؿ حية‬ ‫‪-‬أما بالنسبة لؤلخرى‬
‫‪they still exist‬‬ ‫ترزؽ حتى المحظة‬ ‫‪-‬فأشعر أنيا ما زالت موجودة‬
‫حتى اآلف‬

‫‪-but in some other town‬‬ ‫‪-‬إنما في مدينة أخرى كنت قد‬ ‫‪-‬لكف في مدينة أخرى تركتيا مف‬
‫‪that I left long ago‬‬ ‫غادرتيا منذ زمف بعيد‬ ‫زماف‬
‫‪-and have never been‬‬ ‫‪-‬وما عدت إلييا أبداً‪.‬‬ ‫‪-‬ولـ أعد إلييا بعد ذلؾ مطمقاً‪.‬‬
‫‪back to‬‬
‫‪-Even the memory of‬‬ ‫‪-‬حتى أف ذكرى األشياء التي‬ ‫‪-‬حتى أف ذكرى األشياء التي‬
‫‪things that happened‬‬ ‫حدثت بعد االحتبلؿ‪،‬‬ ‫حدثت بعد االحتبلؿ‬
‫‪after the Occupation,‬‬
‫‪-‬بعضيا ما يزاؿ حديث العيد‪- ،‬‬ ‫‪-‬الذي ما زاؿ بعضيا حديثاً‪،‬‬
‫‪-some still recent,‬‬
‫‪-walks for instance,‬‬ ‫مشاوير الحب والغراـ مثبلً‪،‬‬ ‫‪-‬المشاوير مثبلً‬
‫مضت‬ ‫معينة‬ ‫‪-‬ولحظات‬ ‫‪-‬ولحظات معينة أصبحت مف‬
‫‪-and certain moments‬‬
‫وانقضت‪،‬‬ ‫الماضي‬
‫‪spent,‬‬
‫‪-seem‬‬ ‫‪to‬‬ ‫‪transpose‬‬ ‫‪-‬تبدو كميا وكأنيا تمقي بنفسيا‬ ‫‪-‬يبدو أف جميعيا تحولت إلى‬
‫‪themselves into that‬‬ ‫في أحضاف ذاؾ الزماف اآلخر‬ ‫ذاؾ الزماف والمكاف اآلخريف‪،‬‬
‫‪other time and place,‬‬
‫وذاؾ المكاف اآلخر‬
‫‪-recognizable‬‬ ‫‪yet‬‬ ‫‪-‬زماناف لئف كاف المحاؽ بيما‬ ‫‪-‬إدراكيما ممكف لكنيما مختمفاف‪.‬‬
‫‪different.‬‬ ‫ممكناً‪ ،‬فإنيما زماناف متبايناف‪.‬‬

‫‪-Is it because I have since‬‬
‫‪lived less intensely than I‬‬
‫?‪did then‬‬
‫‪-Or because I feel that‬‬
‫‪there has been less‬‬
‫‪incident in my life,‬‬
‫‪-and this latter time, its‬‬
‫‪pace‬‬ ‫‪so‬‬ ‫‪palpably‬‬
‫‪accelerated,‬‬
‫‪-following the sheltered‬‬
‫‪and favored days when I‬‬
‫‪was young,‬‬
‫‪-has seemed to me one‬‬
‫‪-‬ىؿ ىذا ألنني منذئذ عشت أيام ًا‬
‫عاطفية أقؿ صخب ًا مما كنت عميو‬
‫أياـ زماف؟‬
‫‪-‬أـ ألنني أحس أنو لـ يمر في‬
‫حياتي مف األحداث إال النزر‬
‫اليسير‪.‬‬
‫‪-‬وىذا الزماف اآلخر آخر زماف‬
‫المحسوسة‬ ‫الفائقة‬
‫الممموسة‬
‫‪-‬والذي أعقب تمؾ األياـ الدافئة‬
‫المحببة وقت أف كنت غضاً‬
‫طرياً‪،‬‬
‫‪-‬بدا لي ىذا الزماف زماف الرتابة‬
‫‪-‬ىؿ ىذا ألنني منذ ذلؾ الحيف‬
‫عشت بشكؿ أقؿ حدة مما كنت‬
‫عميو في الماضي‪،‬‬
‫‪-‬أو ألنني أشعر أنو لـ يمر في‬
‫حياتي مف األحداث إال القميؿ‬
‫منيا‪.‬‬
‫‪-‬وىذا الزماف المتأخر بسرعتو‬
‫بسرعتو‬ ‫الفائقة المحسوسة‪،‬‬
‫‪-‬والذي تبع تمؾ األياـ المختبئة‬
‫المفضمة حينما كنت شاباً‬
‫‪-‬ظير لي ىذا الزماف ممبلً ًا مف‬

‫‪199‬‬
 of monotony without ،‫دونما جوىر‬ ‫غير جوىر‬
substance,
.‫ال يميزه أي حدث ذي باؿ‬- .‫ال يميزه أي حدث ميـ‬-
-unmarked by any
notable event?
‫ ربما ألنني‬،‫لكف في النياية‬- ‫ ربما ألنني مررت‬،‫لكف أخي اًر‬-
-But finally, perhaps, it is
because I underwent my ‫خضت مغامرتي العاطفية األولى‬ ‫بتجاربي العاطفية األولى في‬
first passionate ،‫في باريس المحتمة‬ ‫باريس المحتمة‬
experiences in Occupied
Paris,

-and the climate, the
extreme isolation of
passion, remains linked
for me with the images
that were then imprinted
on my mind, in which
-I see myself bent over a
glowing face or hurrying
alone past the closed
stalls of the booksellers,
-myself unchanging and
fixed in a sort of eternity
with those pictures of
which I am part.
‫ومناخ العزلة العاطفية الرىيبة‬-
‫آنذاؾ يبقى لي معمقاً بصور‬
،‫محفورة في ذىني‬
‫حيث أرى فييا نفسي وقت‬-
ً‫انحنيت عمى وجو وىاج ميروال‬
‫بائعي‬ ‫دكاكيف‬ ‫خمؼ‬ ‫لوحدي‬
،‫الكتب‬
‫وأنا ثابت القمب والقدـ ال أتغير‬-
‫وال أتبدؿ في سرمدية أعيش مع‬
‫تمؾ الصور التي ىي مني وأنا‬
.‫منيا‬
‫ومناخ العزلة العاطفية الشديدة‬-
‫في ذلؾ الوقت في ذىني‬
ً‫حيث أرى فييا نفسي منحنيا‬-
‫عمى وجو متوىج مسرعاً بمفردي‬
،‫خمؼ محبلت الكتب‬
‫وأنا ال أتغير وثابت بشيء مف‬-
‫األبدية مع تمؾ الصور التي‬
.‫أُعتبر أنا جزءاً منيا‬

5.8 Translating the Literary Implications of Lexical Repetition

(“Rain, rain all day, all evening, all night, pouring rain. Out in the country, over
field and fen and moorland, sweet-smelling rain, borne on the wind. Rain in London,
rolling along gutters, gurgling down drains. Street lamps blurred by rain. A Policeman
walking by in a cape, rain gleaming silver on its shoulders. Rain bouncing on roofs and
pavements, soft rain falling secretly in woodland and on dark heath. Rain on London’s
river, and slanting among the sheds, wharves and quays. Rain on suburban gardens,
dense with laurel and rhododendron. Rain from north to south and from east to west,
as though it had never rained until now, and now might never stop.
Rain on all the silent streets and squares, alleys and courts, gardens and
churchyards … and nooks and crannies of the city.
Rain. London. The back end of the year.")
(Hill, The Mist in the Mirror, 1993: 9)

In this passage, referentially speaking, the context tells us the following message: "Rain
is falling heavily in an unprecedented way in London." However, is that, one may ask,
what the text and its writer, Susan Hill, would like to say? I guess not, as many readers

200
may also do. It is naïve to think that the author wants to send this message through to
us and provide accurate account of the whole scene in London while heavy rain is
pouring. The surface meaning of words in context is, therefore, not aimed at in a
literary text like this. We go beyond it to answer stylistic questions like: "why is this
painting of heavy, incessant rain fall is given in full, very delicate details? Why is 'the
word 'rain' pouring down on our ears unstoppably in the text like those incessant
showers of rain? Perhaps the writer would convey a message about the miseries,
mysteries, darkness, harshness and cruelty of not only London, but the whole
community of the corrupt Victorian Era, the time of writing the novel and what the
novel is about.

Moreover, the downpour of the word 'rain' in such a short passage fifteen times
relentlessly and assertively makes a kind of refrain that turns it into a sweeping power
of paralysis and frustration of everything: life, people, plants, everything. Or,
alternatively, it may mark the end of a terrible epoch of life that has come up to a
climax of hopelessness and gloominess, after which a new era of hope and a fresh,
new day is about to start. After all, such repetition and lexical and syntactic
symmetries of weather conditions in both countryside and every nook and cranny of
the Victorian Metropolis mirror the miserable conditions of the Victorian Society and
values.

The striking repetition in Hill's text above is that of the key word 'RAIN'. It is the most
important word in the text, and is, therefore, repeated fifteen times. All are nouns,
only one is in verb form, 'rained'. Obviously, it is a remarkable, pouring lexical
repetition that sweeps the whole text. It is a downpour of repetition of (heavy) rain
that diverts attention and interpretation from description of London in the rain to the
effects and implications (or the aftereffects) of the unusual, functional repetition of
'rain'. Rain has overwhelmed everything and everybody, London and its countryside,
everywhere from north to south and from east to west. Even the dead (churchyards)
are not excluded from rain. Rain has soaked, soiled and polluted not only London and
the countryside, but by implication the whole Victorian Community. It resembles a
kind of plague that has stricken the whole world, not only the animate but also the
inanimate. Further, the heaviness of rain ('pouring Autumn rain'; 'rain rolling along
gutters'; 'gurgling down drains'; 'rain bouncing on roofs and pavements'; 'rain …
dense'; 'rain from south … west'; 'as though it had never rained until now'; 'might
never stop'; 'rain on all … streets'… .) may suggest harshness and hardships of Victorian
life. Only twice in the text rain is described occasionally as sweet-smelling and soft. But
this does not change the deteriorating condition of rain, and, hence, the Victorian
Society.

Another structural dimension of this type of context is the absence of finite main verbs
completely, and the abundant use of the continuous non-finite '-ing' form of verbs.
This suggests a marginalization of any action other than rain fall, on the one hand, and
the unstoppable, inescapable state of heavy rain and, hence, misery that cannot be
brought to end, on the other.

201
To this effect, grammar has been undermined and broken down to be in the service of
the repetition of 'rain'. For example, all sentences are without main verbs. The first
sentence has two subjects (rain, rain); the second has the subject and main verb
dropped. In the last line, 'rain' and 'London' are assigned one sentence each, and the
noun phrase 'the back end of the year' is an independent sentence, with the subject
and main verb left out (or perhaps it is the subject of the sentence which has no verb
or object/complement). So, formal grammar is sacrificed, as it were, for the sake of
'rain'. Nothing is important but rain. Thus, this repetition of 'rain' which penetrates
every fraction of the text, in the same way as pollution penetrates everything in the
Victorian Age is not monotonous. Quite the reverse, it is really interesting and
shrouded with stylistic implications that are enlightening to the interpretation, and,
hence, the translation of the text.

Hence, it is unacceptable to read such a literary text as if it were a weather-forecast

image, or accurate account of the City of London’s scene when heavy rain is pouring. In
fact, we aim to consider carefully the literary functions and implications of the style of
this text, which can be crucial to its essences of literariness. More significantly, the text
may convey a message about the miseries, mysteries, darkness, harshness and
relentlessness of not only London, but the whole society of the corrupt Victorian age,
being the time of writing the novel and its content.

Therefore, a translation into Arabic is assumed to take all these implications into
account in the process of constructing the text’s meaning in the target text, as the
following version of literary translation might suggest:

(Literary Translation)
‫ عمى‬،‫ عمى المستنقعات‬،‫ فوؽ الحقوؿ‬،‫ بعيداً في الريؼ‬.‫ مطر منيمر‬،‫ طواؿ الميؿ‬،‫طواؿ اليوـ‬...‫مطر‬...‫)"مطر‬
‫ يخرخر في‬،‫ يتدحرج في الميازيب‬،‫ مطر في لندف‬.‫ محموؿ مع الريح‬،‫ مطر ذكي الرائحة‬،‫أرض اهلل الواسعة‬
‫ يممع المطر عمى كتفييا‬،‫ شرطي يمر مف ىناؾ مرتدياً سترتو الواقية‬.‫ مصابيح الشوارع غشاىا المطر‬.‫المصاريؼ‬
‫ مطر خفيؼ ييطؿ عمى استحياء في الغابات وعمى‬،ً‫ مطر يصب عمى السقوؼ واألرصفة صبا‬.‫ببريؽ الفضة‬
‫ ويتمايؿ بيف األكواخ وضفاؼ السفف وأرصفة‬،‫ نير التايمز‬،‫ مطر منيمر عمى نير لندف‬.‫األرض البراح الظمماء‬
‫ مطر مف الشماؿ إلى الجنوب ومف الشرؽ‬.‫ مطر عمى حدائؽ الضواحي المميئة بالغار واألزىار الجرسية‬. ‫الموان‬
.‫ واآلف ربما لف تتوقؼ أبدًا‬،‫ وكأف السماء لـ تمطر مف قبؿ أبدًا حتى اآلف‬،‫إلى الغرب‬
‫ والحدائؽ والمقابر والدرجات الحجرية والزوايا‬،‫ األزقة والمبلعب‬،‫ الشوارع والساحات‬،‫مطر عمى البقاع الصامتة‬
".‫والخبايا في مدينة لندف‬
)".‫ آخر أياـ السنة‬.‫ لندف‬.‫مطر‬

The key word ‘rain’ is preserved with its downpour fifteen times in the target text. The
first interesting point is the translation of ‘rain’ into ‫مطػر‬, not into ‫ غيػث‬for, unlike the
latter which connotes ‘good’ )‫(الخيػر‬, it is rather connotative of ‘punishment’, or ‘bad
omen’, exactly as that of the source text. This use is confirmed in the Holy Koran,

202
where ‫ مطػر‬is used in these two negative senses only, especially as a severe punishment
befalling the infidels (e.g. )173 :‫( وأمطرنػا عمػييـ مطػ اًر فسػاء مطػر المنػ َذريف (الشػعراء‬And we rained
down upon them a rain, an evil rain was of those who were warned: Chapter of The
Poets: 173)); ‫فمما رأوه عارضاً مستقبِؿ أوديتيـ قالوا ىذا عارض ممطرنا بؿ ىو ما استعجمتـ بو ريػح فييػا عػذاب‬
)24 :‫( ألػيـ (األحقػاؼ‬Then when they saw it as a dense cloud coming towards their valleys,
they said: ‘This is a cloud that will give us rain’. But it is that which you did seek to
hasten, a wind wherein is a painful torment...: The Curved Sand Hills: 24).
’‫‘غيػث‬, on the other hand, is used as a good omen and good tidings (e.g. ‫إف اهلل عنػده عمػـ‬
)34 :‫'( السػاعة وينػزؿ الغيػث ويعمػـ مػا فػي األرحػاـ (لقمػاف‬Verily God only has the knowledge of the
Doomsday, and He sends down rain, and He knows what is in the wombs': Luqman:
34)); )28 :‫( وىػو الػذي ينػزؿ الغيػث مػف بعػد مػا قنطػوا وينشػر رحمتػو (الشػورى‬And God only is Who sends
down rain after they have despaired, And He outspreads His Mercy: The Consultation:
28)).

This good sense is echoed in the Prophet’s traditions of supplication (e.g. ‫الميػـ أنػزؿ عمينػا‬
‫'( الغيػث وال تجعمنػا مػف القػانطيف‬Our God, we ask You to send down rain upon us, and do not
count us among the despaired people')). ‫( مػاء‬water) is a third option, but it has been
excluded for it is now restricted to the Holy Koran, and, like ‫غيث‬, it connotes good.
Another good reason for preferring ‫ مطػػر‬is its onomatopoeic effect which partly
resembles the sound of heavy rain. Similarly, the choice of the words ‫منيمػر؛ ينيمػر؛ ييطػؿ‬
is deliberately chosen for onomatopoeic as well as emphatic reasons (related to this
onomatopoeic effect is the translation of ‘gurgle’ into ‫يخرخػر‬, which is reflexive of the
sound of running water). As to ً‫ يصػب صػبا‬an equally recommended phrase is ‫يسػيؿ أوديػة‬
(borrowed from the Holy Koran’s part of verse )17 :‫( فسػالت أوديػة بقػدرىا (الرعػد‬the valleys
flow according to measure)) is preferred over ‫ ييطػؿ بغػ ازرة‬/ ‫ يتسػاقط‬/ ‫ ينػزؿ‬for it is more
assertive.

On the other hand, the word ‫ مطػػر‬in Arabic is left indefinite in Arabic in most
occurrences for it is the centre around which everything else in the text rotates and,
therefore, requires no definition. It also suggests that it is everywhere, realized and
experienced by everybody and everything. Its realization and experiencing can be
taken cognitively and connotatively as a form of miserable life and paralyzed world. A
further function for the indefinite ‫ مطػر‬is to aid reading fluently, emotively and at ease,
which charges the word with greater effect that grows gradually with every new
repetition of it.

An alternative translation which aims at avoiding repetition may take up variation as a

better, less boring style. Here is a suggestion (variations on ‫ مطر‬are underlined):

203
‫ عمػى المسػتنقعات’ عمػى أرض‬،‫ فػوؽ الحقػوؿ‬،‫ بعيػداً فػي الريػؼ‬.‫ ماء منيمػر‬،‫ طواؿ الميؿ‬،‫غيث طواؿ اليوـ‬...‫("مطر‬
‫ يخرخ ػػر ف ػػي‬،‫ يت ػػدحرج ف ػػي الميازي ػػب‬،‫ م ػػاء الس ػػماء ف ػػي لن ػػدف‬.‫ محم ػػوؿ م ػػع الػ ػريح‬،‫حي ػػا ذك ػػي الرائح ػػة‬
َ ،‫اهلل الواس ػػعة‬
‫ تممػػع نعمػػة السػػماء عمػػى‬،‫ شػػرطي يمػػر مػػف ىنػػاؾ مرتػػدياً سػػترتو الواقيػػة‬.‫ مصػػابيح الش ػوارع غشػػاىا المػػاء‬.‫المصػػاريؼ‬
‫ رذاذ خفيػػؼ ييطػػؿ عمػػى اسػػتحياء فػػي الغابػػات‬،ً‫ وابػػؿ يصػػب عمػػى السػػقوؼ واألرصػػفة صػػبا‬. .‫كتفييػػا ببريػػؽ الفضػػة‬
‫ ويتمايػػؿ بػػيف األك ػواخ وضػػفاؼ السػػفف‬،‫ نيػػر التػػايمز‬،‫ خيػػر منيمػػر عمػػى نيػػر لنػػدف‬.‫وعمػػى األرض الب ػراح الظممػػاء‬
‫ َن ػ ْػوء متس ػػاقط عم ػػى ني ػػر‬.‫ م ػػاء منيم ػػر عم ػػى ح ػػدائؽ الضػ ػواحي المميئ ػػة بالغ ػػار واألزى ػػار الجرس ػػية‬. ‫وأرص ػػفة المػ ػوان‬
‫ وكػػأف السػػماء لػػـ تمطػػر مػػف قبػػؿ أبػػداً حتػػى‬،‫ورزؽ مػػف الشػػرؽ إلػػى الغػػرب‬ ِ ،‫ طَ ْفػػؿ مػػف الشػػماؿ إلػػى الجنػػوب‬....‫لنػػدف‬
.ً‫ واآلف ربما لف تتوقؼ أبدا‬،‫اآلف‬
‫ والزوايػػا والخبايػػا فػػي مدينػػة‬...‫ والحػػدائؽ والمقػػابر‬،‫ األزقػػة والمبلعػػب‬،‫ الش ػوارع والسػػاحات‬،‫ودؽ عمػػى البقػػاع الصػػامتة‬
ْ
.‫لندف‬
)".‫ آخر أياـ السنة‬.‫ لندف‬.‫مطر‬

Due to the richness of Arabic Language with synonyms, variations on rain (‫ )مطػر‬are
numerous and have substituted for the many repetitions of the word comfortably. Yet,
the replacement of these repetitions of ‫ مطػر‬with its variations has caused serious
damage to the target text. It has disrupted the source text’s meanings and has affected
it drastically. The reader’s focus has completely shifted onto these variations’
referential meanings and connotations in comparison to rain. The whole text is
minimized to a mere search for the differences among these synonyms, turning
translation and interpretation into a dictionary-activity of looking words up in
dictionaries and references. In effect, the pivotal implications and connotations of the
repetitions of ‫ مطػػر‬pointed out above have subsided. This has serious effects and
aftereffects on such a literary text and its translation into Arabic. Further, variation is
an artificial technique that, although less boring, it is destructive and has serious
consequences on the original, which looks like a completely different text. Artificiality
is reflected by the chaotic choice of the words used as variations on ‫مطػر‬. Some of them
have sharp differences and are problematic in more than one respect, as the following
list demonstrates:

‫( غيث‬of good connotation and referentially is ‘rain 12 miles wide’).

)‫( ماء (منيمر‬3) general and Koranic, especially when collocating with ‫)منيمر‬.
‫( حيا‬positive and formal, but obsolete and unknown in this sense).
‫( ماء السماء‬Koranic and favorable).
‫( نعمة اهلل‬Koranic and quite agreeable)
‫( قَطر‬formal and obsolete).
‫( طَ ّؿ‬gentle rain).

204
‫( وابؿ‬heavy rain).
‫( رذاذ‬drizzle).
‫( َنوء‬formal and known to readers in a different sense of ‘climate’).
‫( طَ ْفؿ‬obsolete and completely strange to target readers).
‫(( رزؽ‬subsistence) positive, optimistic but so general and cannot be confined to ‘rain’).
‫ودؽ‬
ْ (formal and Koranic).

Obviously, these synonyms are incongruent, misused or disused in this artificial

translation. Certainly, the stylistic effects and implications are conceptualized quite
differently that the whole translation has dismally corrupted the meaning of the
original. Thus, a translation like the first one, which preserves and constructs the
stylistic/lexical and stylistic/structural repetitions of the key word ‘rain’ )‫ (مطػر‬is highly
recommended, if the translation is intended to be a genuine literary translation of the
source text.

By extension to the foregoing argument of lexical repetition, and in a literary stylistic

context of intertextuality, the literary style of parody which is relevant to Hill's text is
investigated and translated (see also Ghazala, 2011: ch. 5).

5.9 Translating Literary Stylization and Parody

One of the newly developed types of narrative stylistic context is that of

Intertextuality. It is defined broadly as to situate a text within a number of similar texts
that belong in a certain genre, and affect and interact with one another by way of
imitation or simulation. The writer recalls the style of a text of the same type written
by another writer. He/she tries to imitate it and write a text similar to it on a different
topic. There are cases of intertextuality in which one text recalls another by way of
imitating in general the kind of style of the same genre to achieve similar effects in
relevance to the new topic of the new text. There are two types of intertextuality:
'stylization' and 'parody'. While the latter implies borrowing another author's style of
discourse but turning it to a purpose opposite to the original, stylization is when a
writer borrows another writer's style but uses it for his/her purposes which are
congruous with the general intention of the original. Here we are concerned with the
first type of intertextuality, 'Stylization', more than the second, parody, which involves
some kind of irony. Stylization is one way in which literary language is created (see
Nash, 1985, Bakhtin, 1963/1984 and Verdonk, 1995).

Hill imitates Charles Dickens's style of repetition of the frightening opening pages of
Bleak House (in ibid.). Dickens takes us into a sinister, corrupt and polluted world,
simulated by November London fog, penetrating everywhere and soiling everything, as

205
the powers of corruption and evil pervade and infect the public establishments of
Victorian Society and people:

("Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog
down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping, and the waterside
pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. Fog on the Essex Marshes, fog on the Kentish
heights. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the Yards and
hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and
small boats. Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by
the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of the afternoon pipe of the
wrathful skipper, down in his close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his
shivering little 'prentice boy on deck'. Chance people on the bridges peeping over the
parapets into a nether sky of fog, with fog all round them, as if they were up in a
balloon, and hanging in the misty clouds.")
(Dickens. 1853/1971: 49, in Nash, 1985: 99-100 and Simpson, 2004: 29)).

In the same way, Hill tries to reflect a similar image of ghost story and horror also set
in Victorian London - however, with one exception of describing rain as 'sweet-smelt'.
Relating the context of Hill's text to that of a text of the same genre by Dickens is as
significant and relevant to the stylistic interpretation of Hill's novel, the hero of which
enters the scene on a rainy, dark night at 'the back end of the year'. From then on, his
life is shrouded in a mist of mystery and misery.

Regarding translating Dickens' text, the original of Hill's style of lexical repetition, it is
exceptionally significant to retain this highly sophisticated and well-calculated literary
style for the same reasons claimed above. Focus in Arabic is entirely on constructing a
version of translation that reflects the centrality of the repetition of 'fog' thirteen times
('misty' is included) to the overall meaning of the text:

(Literary Translation)
‫ حيػػث ينسػػاب بػػيف البقػػع الخض ػراء والمػػروج؛‬،‫ نيػػر التػػايمز فػػي لنػػدف‬،‫ ضػػباب فػػوؽ النيػػر‬.‫("ضػػباب فػػي كػػؿ مكػػاف‬
‫ ونفايػات التمػوث المتراميػة‬،‫ حيث يترنح متمايبلً بيف الشعاب مموثاً مدنساً بػيف أرتػاؿ السػفف‬،‫ضباب عمى منحدر النير‬
‫ ضػػباب عمػػى‬،‫ ضػػباب عمػػى مسػػتنقعات مقاطعػػة إيسػػيكس اإلنجميزيػػة‬.)‫عمػػى ضػػفاؼ الميػػاه فػػي مدينػػة عظيمػػة (قػػذرة‬
‫ ضباب يزحؼ إلى مطابخ سجوف سػفف نقػؿ عمػاؿ المنػاجـ؛ ضػباب يتمدمػد‬.ً‫مرتفعات مقاطعة كينت اإلنجميزية أيضا‬
‫عمػػى أح ػواض السػػفف ويحػػوـ حػػوؿ حبػػاؿ السػػفف ال ارسػػيات فػػي البحػػر كػػاألعبلـ؛ ضػػباب يرخػػي سػػدولو عمػػى ح ػواؼ‬
‫ويئنػوف وىػـ يتحمقػوف‬
ّ ‫يعنػوف‬
ّ ،‫ ضباب في عيوف متقاعدي مدينة غرينتش القػدامى ونحػورىـ‬.‫البوارج والمراكب الصغيرة‬
‫ متسػػمبلً إلػػى داخػػؿ مقصػػورتو؛ ضػػباب‬،‫حػػوؿ المواقػػد فػػي أجنحػػتيـ؛ ضػػباب متغمغػػؿ فػػي ثنايػػا غميػػوف الربػػاف الغاضػػب‬
‫ المػػارة العػػابروف‬.‫يقػرص بوحشػػية أنامػؿ ولػػده ’المبتػدئ عمػػى ظيػر السػػفينة‘ وأصػابع قدميػػو الصػغيرة الغضػػة المرتجفػة‬
‫ وكػأنيـ فػي منطػاد معمقػيف‬،‫ والضػباب يحػيط بيػـ مػف كػؿ مكػاف‬،‫لمجسر يختمسوف النظر إلى سماء دنيػا مػف الضػباب‬
)".‫بيف السماء واألرض في الغيوـ الضبابية‬

206
The repetition of the central word and concept, 'fog' thirteen times is retained in full in
Arabic due to its exceptional significance to the literary and functional implications of
the style of the whole text. The literariness is also reinforced by other key stylistic
features of expressivity and effectiveness, as shown in the next table:

Literary features of the translation Illustrative Arabic examples

1. Lexical repetition of 'fog'. )13( ... ‫ ضباب‬.‫ ضباب في كؿ مكاف‬.1
2. Aysendetic repetition.
،‫ نير التايمز في لندف‬،‫ فوؽ النير‬.2
3. Literary-loaded words. ‫ حيث ينساب‬.3
4. Connotative translation ‫ بيف البقع الخضراء والمروج‬.4

5. Expressive phrases ‫ يترنح متمايبلً بيف الشعاب‬.5

6.Emphatic asyndetic synonyms ...‫ مموثاً مدنساً أرتاؿ‬.6
7. Formal and expressive vocabulary ...‫ ونفايات التموث المترامية‬.7

8. Onomatopoeic rhythmical words ‫ يتمدمد عمى أحواض السفف‬.8

9.Insinuative words and phrases ‫ ويحوـ حوؿ‬.9
10.Classical/religious expressive words.
‫حباؿ السفف الراسيات في البحر كاألعبلـ‬.10
11.Classical literary metaphors. ‫ ونحورىـ‬... ‫يرخي سدولو‬.11
12.Hyperbolic rhymed synonyms. ‫ويئنوف‬
ّ ‫يعنوف‬
ّ .12
13.Formal hyperbolic collocations.
‫يتحمقوف حوؿ المواقد‬.13
14.Crisp, expressive words. ،‫متغمغؿ في ثنايا غميوف الرباف الغاضب‬.14
15.Rhythmical and insinuative words. ‫متسمبلً إلى داخؿ مقصورتو‬.15
16.Exaggerative words.
‫يقرص بوحشية‬.16
17.Expressive soft words. ‫ الغضة‬...‫أنامؿ ولده‬.17
18.Insinuative classical combinations. ‫يختمسوف النظر‬.18

19.Classical, religious phrases. ‫ يحيط بيـ مف كؿ مكاف‬... ‫سماء دنيا‬.19

20.Hyperbolic classical religious phrases. ‫منطاد معمقيف بيف السماء واألرض‬.20

Thus, as also the case with 'rain' of the previous text, 'fog' is not recommended to
minimize, or replace with a variety of synonyms. The latter being applied with respect
to Hill's text earlier, it is possible to suggest here an alternative version that minimizes
the number of the occurrences of 'fog', using the translation procedure of deletion,
and the grammatical technique of merging together sentences, clauses and phrases by
means of using pro-forms, especially personal pronoun reference:

(Ordinary Translation)
‫ حيػػث‬،‫الجزيػرات الصػػغيرة والمػػروج؛ وعمػػى طػػوؿ مسػػار النيػػر‬ ُ ‫ حيػػث يجػػري بػيف‬،‫ فػػوؽ النيػػر‬،‫)"ضػباب فػػي كػػؿ مكػػاف‬
‫ وعم ػػى‬،)‫ والمػ ػواد المموثػػة المتجمع ػػة عم ػػى ضػػفاؼ المي ػػاه فػػي مدين ػػة عظيمػػة (ق ػػذرة‬،‫يتػػدحرج مموثػ ػاً بػػيف أرت ػػاؿ السػػفف‬
‫ ويمتػد عمػى أحػواض‬،‫ يزحؼ إلى مطابخ سجوف سػفف نقػؿ عمػاؿ المنػاجـ‬،‫ وعمى مرتفعات كينت‬،‫مستنقعات إيسيكس‬

207
‫ وفػػي عيػػوف متقاعػػدي‬،‫ ويتػػدلى عمػػى ح ػواؼ الب ػوارج والم اركػػب الصػػغيرة‬،‫السػػفف ويحمػػؽ فػػوؽ حبػػاؿ السػػفف الضػػخمة‬
‫ وىػو متغمغػؿ فػي سػاؽ غميػوف الربػاف الغاضػب‬،‫ يئزوف وىـ يحيطوف بالمواقد في أجنحػتيـ‬،‫غرينتش القدامى وأعناقيـ‬
.‫ ثـ إلى داخؿ مقصورتو؛ ويقرص بقسوة أصابع اليػديف والقػدميف لولػده ’المبتػدئ عمػى ظيػر السػفينة‘ المرتجفػة‬،‫وقعره‬
‫ وكػأنيـ فػي منطػاد معمقػيف‬،‫ وىو يحيط بيـ مف كؿ الجيات‬،‫المارة العابروف لمجسر ينظروف خفية إلى سماء دنيا منو‬
)".‫تحت السماء في الغيوـ الضبابية‬

The thirteen times of repeating 'fog' have been reduced to one at the beginning of the
text and an adjective at the end, hence, avoiding the allegedly boring style of
repetition like that. It is true that the repetition of 'fog' has been eliminated, but it has
caused serious harm to the serious literary stylistic implications of its repetition several
times in the text, as pointed out earlier. Further, the text has turned ambiguous at the
cohesive level of pronoun reference. Many pronouns have been confused and
confusing as which refers to which. Consequently, the reference of other pronouns has
been more confusing and complicated. On the other hand, and as a consequence of
joining all the sentences, clauses and phrases of the text into one whole sentence,
comprehension of the text has become more complicated and, more importantly, the
emphasis laid on each separate unit of the original has disappeared. In sum, a good
number of literary effects and touches of the original were distorted in this version.

Adding to the ordinariness of this version is the replacement of literary word choices
with ordinary, literal choices, as demonstrated in the following contrastive table:

Ordinary word choice Literary word choice

‫ضباب في كؿ مكاف‬-
،‫فوؽ النير‬-
‫حيث يجري‬-
‫الج َزيرات الصغيرة والمروج‬
ُ ‫بيف‬-
‫والى أسفؿ مسار النير‬-
‫يتدحرج مموثاً بيف أرتاؿ السفف‬-
... ‫والمواد المموثة المتجمعة‬-
،‫إيسيكس وكينت‬-
‫ويمتد عمى أحواض السفف‬-
‫ويحمؽ فوؽ‬-
‫حباؿ السفف الضخمة‬-
‫ وأعناقيـ‬... ‫ويتدلى عمى‬-
‫يئزوف‬-
... ‫يحيطوف بالمواقد‬-
‫ ضباب‬.‫ضباب في كؿ مكاف‬-
،‫ نير التايمز في لندف‬،‫فوؽ النير‬-
‫حيث ينساب‬-
‫بيف البقع الخضراء والمروج‬-
‫عمى منحدر النير‬-
...‫يترنح متمايبلً بيف الشعاب مموثاً مدنساً أرتاؿ‬-
...‫ونفايات التموث المترامية‬-
‫كينت اإلنجميزية‬...‫مقاطعة إيسيكس اإلنجميزية‬-
‫يتمدمد عمى أحواض السفف‬-
‫ويحوـ حوؿ‬-
‫حباؿ السفف الراسيات في البحر كاألعبلـ‬-
‫ ونحورىـ‬... ‫يرخي سدولو‬-
‫ويئنوف‬
ّ ‫يعنوف‬
ّ -
‫يتحمقوف حوؿ المواقد‬-

208
 ‫متغمغؿ في ساؽ غميوف الرباف الغاضب وقعره‬-
‫ثـ إلى داخؿ مقصورتو‬-
- .‫يقرص بقسوة أصػابع اليػديف والقػدميف الصػغيرتيف‬-
‫ينظروف خفية‬-
‫سماء سفمية‬-
‫وىو يحيط بيـ مف كؿ الجيات‬-
‫منطاد معمقيف تحت السماء‬-
،‫متغمغؿ في ثنايا غميوف الرباف الغاضب‬-
‫متسمبلً إلى داخؿ مقصورتو‬-
‫ الغضة‬...‫يقرص بوحشية أنامؿ يدي ولده‬-
‫يختمسوف النظر‬-
،‫سماء دنيا مف الضباب‬-
،‫يحيط بيـ مف كؿ مكاف‬-
‫منطاد معمقيف بيف السماء واألرض‬-

In conclusion, unlike this translation which is quite poor in its literary touches and
effects, the first one responds largely to the requirements of appropriate literary
translation.

5.10 Reminiscence of Sad Romantic Memories

Pale Anna
("It wasn’t until spring 1950 that I came back from the war, and I found there was
nobody I knew left in the town. Luckily my parents had left me some money. I rented a
room in the town, lay there on the bed, smoked and waited, and didn’t know what I
was waiting for. I didn’t want to work. I gave my land-lady money and she bought me
everything and cooked my food. Every time she brought coffee or a meal to my room,
she stayed there longer than I liked. Her son had been killed at a place called Kalinovka,
and when she had come in she would put the tray on the table and come over to the
dim corner where my bed stood. There I dozed and vegetated, stubbed the cigarettes
out against the wall, and so all over the wall by my bed there
were black marks. My landlady was pale and thin, and when her face paused over my
bed in the half-light, I was afraid of her. At first I thought she was mad, for her eyes
were very bright and large, and again and again she asked me about her son. “Are you
certain you didn’t know him? The place was called Kalinovka-didn’t you ever go there?”
But I’d never heard of the place called Kalinovka, and each time I turned to the wall
and said: “No, really I didn’t, I can’t remember.”
My landlady wasn’t mad, she was a very decent woman, and it hurt me when she
asked me. she asked me very often. several times a day, and if I went to her in the
kitchen I had to look at her son’s picture a coloured photograph which hung over the
sofa. He’d been a laughing, fair-haired boy, and in the coloured photograph he wore an
infantryman’s walking-out uniform.")
(Heinrich Boll: Translation by Christopher Middleton, in Newmark, 1988)

The text is a romantic account of an old lady's memories about her dear son who died
at war, but he never died in her mind, heart and sad memories. His picture never
leaves her eyes and mind. So, the language has been literary, romantic, emotional,
expressive and sad in tone. This entails that a good literary translation has to take this
romantic, sentimental and sad, as suggested below:

209
 ‫آنا الشاحبة‬
‫("لـ يتسف لي العودة مف الحرب قبؿ ربيع ‪ ،1950‬ألجد كؿ مف عرفتيـ في البمدة قد رحموا‪ .‬ولحسف حظي ترؾ لي‬
‫الدي بعض النقود‪ .‬فاستأجرت غرفة في البمدة‪ ،‬وتمدم دت عمى السرير ىناؾ‪ ،‬ودخنت وانتظرت‪ ،‬وما كنت أعرؼ‬
‫و ّ‬
‫ماذا كنت أنتظر‪ .‬لـ أشأ أف أعمؿ‪ .‬أعطيت صاحبة المنزؿ نقوداً حيث اشترت لي كؿ شيء وطيت لي طعامي‪.‬‬
‫مكثت مدة أطوؿ مما أردت‪ .‬كاف ابنيا قد قتؿ في مكاف يدعى كالينوفكا‪ ،‬وعندما‬
‫ْ‬ ‫وكمما أحضرت لي قيوة أو وجبة‬
‫كانت تدخؿ كانت تضع الصينية عمى الطاولة وتتوجو صوب الزاوية المعتمة حيث كاف يقبع سريري‪ ،‬وحيث كاف‬
‫أعقاب السجائر عمى الجدار‪ ،‬حيث تناثرت البقع السوداء عمى شتى أنحاء‬ ‫يغمب عمي النعاس وأسترخي‪ ،‬وأطف‬
‫الجدار مف حوؿ السرير‪ .‬كانت صاحبة منزلي شاحبة ونحيفة‪ ،‬وحينما كاف وجييا يتسمر عمى سريري في ما بيف‬
‫النور والظممة ‪ ،‬كنت أحس بالخوؼ منيا‪ .‬في أوؿ األمر خمت أف بيا مساً‪ ،‬ألف عينييا كانتا واسعتيف براقتيف‪ ،‬وما‬
‫فتئت تسألني عف ولد ىا‪" .‬ىؿ أنت عمى يقيف مف أنؾ لـ تعرفو! كاف اسـ المكاف كالينوفكا‪-‬ألـ تذىب إلى ىناؾ‬
‫أبدا"‪.‬‬
‫لكنني لـ أسمع أبداً بمكاف يدعى كالينوفكا‪ ،‬وفي كؿ مرة كنت أشيح بوجيي إلى الجدار وأقوؿ‪" :‬ال‪ ،‬الحقيقة لـ أسمع‬
‫ولـ أذىب‪ ،‬ال أستطيع أف أتذكر"‪.‬‬
‫لـ تكف صاحبة منزلي بيا مس‪ .‬لقد كانت امرأة عفيفة‪ ،‬وآذاني سؤاليا لي‪ .‬كررت السؤاؿ عمي مرات ومرات في‬
‫اليوـ واذا ما ذىبت إلييا في المطبخ‪ ،‬كاف عمي أف أنظر إلى صورة ابنيا‪ ،‬صورة ممونة كانت معمقة فوؽ األريكة‪.‬‬
‫قد كاف صبي ًا ضحوكاً أشقر الشعر‪ ،‬وكاف في الصورة يرتدي بزة خروج لممشاة‪)".‬‬
‫)‪(Adopted partly from Ghazala. 2004/2006‬‬

‫‪The romantic, sad and literary tone of this translation is constructed through the‬‬
‫‪following stylistic features:‬‬

‫;مكثت ;األريكة ;وما فتئت ;خمت أنيا ;أحس بالخوؼ ;يتسنى ‪(1) Formal-literary words (e.g.‬‬
‫ْ‬ ‫يتسمر‬
‫)‪ etc.‬والظممة ;المعتمة ;‬
‫وما ;عمى شتى أنحاء الجدار ;وتتوجو صوب;وما كنت أعرؼ ‪(2) Syntactic literary forms (e.g.‬‬
‫حيث كاف يقبع سريري;وحيث كاف يغمب عمي النعاس وأسترخي ;لـ أشأ أف أعمؿ ;فتئت تسألني‬ ‫في ما‬
‫)‪; etc.‬بيف النور والظممة‬
‫;وتمدمدت عمى السرير ;تناثرت البقع السواء ;قد رحموا ‪(3) Emotional-romantic expressions (e.g.‬‬
‫)‪; etc.‬آذاني ;أبداً ;أحس بالخوؼ‬
‫شاحبة ونحيفة ;أشيح بوجيي ‪(4) Sadness-tinted combinations (e.g.‬‬
‫(صبياً ضحوكاً ;امرأة عفيفة ‪(5) Impressive-expressive combinations (e.g.‬‬
‫وحيث كاف يغمب عمي ;حيث كاف يقبع سريري‪(6) Syntactic parallelisms and repetitions (e.g.‬‬
‫)لـ أسمع ولـ أذىب ;حيث تناثرت البقع السوداء;النعاس وأسترخي‬
‫)صورة ابنيا‪ ،‬صورة ممونة ;مرات ومرات ‪(7) Hyperbolic repetitions (e.g.‬‬

‫‪210‬‬
 ‫وتمدمدت عمى السرير ىناؾ‪(8) Syndetic and Polysyndetic words and expressions (e.g. ،‬‬
‫)لـ أسمع ولـ أذىب ;شاحبة ونحيفة ;ودخنت وانتظرت‬
‫)‪ ; etc.‬صبي ًا ضحوكاً أشقر الشعر;واسعتيف براقتيف ‪(9) Asyndetic phrases (e.g.‬‬
‫ألف ;في أوؿ األمر خمت أف بيا مساً ‪(10) Assertive backgrounding and foregrounding (e.g.‬‬
‫)عينييا كانتا واسعتيف براقتيف‬

‫‪Thus, this Arabic literary version constructs a good number of romantic and expressive‬‬
‫‪features of literariness of the English original that any undertoning of them would‬‬
‫‪underestimate its literary and artistic values. The next ordinary translation is suggested‬‬
‫‪as a possible alternative that underlines the general sense and, at the same time,‬‬
‫‪undermines the literary essence of the original (the ordinary equivalents are provided‬‬
‫‪in brackets and the literary originals are crossed for convenience of instant‬‬
‫‪comparison):‬‬

‫)‪(Ordinary / Literal translation‬‬

‫آنا الشاحبة‬
‫(لـ يتسف لي (أستطع) العودة مف الحرب قبؿ ربيع ‪ ،1950‬ألجد كؿ مف عرفتيـ في البمدة قد رحموا (غادروا)‪.‬‬
‫الدي بعض النقود‪ .‬فاستأجرت غرفة في البمدة‪ ،‬وتمدمدت (واضطجعت) عمى السرير ىناؾ‪،‬‬
‫ولحسف حظي ترؾ لي و ّ‬
‫ودخنت وانتظرت‪ ،‬وما كنت (ولـ أكف) أعرؼ ماذا كنت أنتظر‪ .‬لـ أشأ (لـ أرغب في) أف أعمؿ‪ .‬أعطيت صاحبة‬
‫المنزؿ نقوداً حيث اشترت لي كؿ شيء وطيت لي طعامي‪ .‬وكمما أحضرت لي قيوة أو وجبة مكثت (بقيت) مدة‬
‫أطوؿ مما أردت‪ .‬كاف ابنيا قد قتؿ في مكاف يدعى كالينوفكا‪ ،‬وعندما كانت تدخؿ كانت تضع الصينية عمى‬
‫الطاولة وتتوجو صوب (إلى) الزاوية المعتمة (القاتمة) حيث كاف يقبع (‪ )---‬سريري‪ ،‬وحيث كاف يغمب عمي‬
‫النعاس (كنت أنعس) وأسترخي‪ ،‬وأطف أعقاب السجائر عمى الجدار‪ ،‬حيث كانت البقع السوداء عمى شتى أنحاء‬
‫(منتشرة عمى كؿ) الجدار مف حوؿ السرير‪ .‬كانت صاحبة منزلي شاحبة (الوجو) ونحيفة‪ ،‬وحينما كاف وجييا يتسمر‬
‫(يركز) عمى سريري في ما (‪ )---‬بيف النور والظممة (والظبلـ)‪ ،‬كنت أحس بالخوؼ منيا (كنت أخاؼ منيا)‪ .‬في‬
‫مساً (أنيا مجنونة)‪ ،‬ألف عينييا كانتا واسعتيف براقتيف (وىذا يعود إلى‬
‫أوؿ األمر خمت (في البداية ظننت) أف بيا ّ‬
‫عينييا الواسعتيف المحدقتيف)‪ ،‬وما فتئت تسألني (ولـ تتوقؼ عف سؤالي) عف ولدىا‪" .‬ىؿ أنت عمى يقيف (متأكد)‬
‫مف أنؾ لـ تعرفو! كاف اسـ المكاف كالينوفكا‪-‬ألـ تذىب إلى ىناؾ أبداً (مطمقاً)؟"‪.‬‬
‫لكنني لـ أسمع أبداً (إطبلقاً) بمكاف يدعى كالينوفكا‪ ،‬وفي كؿ مرة كنت أشيح بوجيي (ألتفت) إلى الجدار‬
‫وأقوؿ‪" :‬ال‪ ،‬الحقيقة لـ أسمع ولـ أذىب‪ ،‬ال أستطيع أف أتذكر"‪.‬‬
‫لـ تكف صاحبة منزلي بيا مس (مجنونة)‪ .‬لقد كانت امرأة عفيفة (شريفة)‪ ،‬وآذاني (وأزعجني) سؤاليا لي‪ .‬كررت‬
‫السؤاؿ عمي مرات ومرات (عدة مرات) في اليوـ‪ ،‬واذا ما (واذا) ذىبت إلييا في المطبخ‪ ،‬كاف عمي أف أنظر إلى‬
‫صورة ابنيا (الممونة)‪ ،‬صورة ممونة كانت معمقة (والمعمقة) فوؽ األريكة (الصوفا)‪ .‬قد كاف (كاف) صبياً ضحوكاً‬
‫أشقر الشعر (وشعره أشقر)‪ ،‬وكاف في الصورة يرتدي بزة (يمبس بدلة) خروج لممشاة‪).‬‬

‫‪211‬‬
A translation like this is not recommended for a text shrouded in literary-romantic,
literary-emotional, literary-expressive and literary-touching features and implications.
At all events, it is eventually left to readers to have their word about it.

5.11 Summary

In this Chapter, the argument for the credibility of literary translation from a narrative
literary stylistic perspective has been developed further at the level of the Novel. It has
been claimed by the writer of this book that the translation of the novel is more
difficult, sensitive, satisfying, reliable and well-based in data than the short story, due
to the comprehensiveness and wide-ranging borderlines of the former, and limitations
of the latter. The argument has also a special concern with literary style to be in the
background of the translator as obviously the source of creativity, literary excellence
and high levels of aesthetic accomplishments of literal translation, means to go beyond
words and find out about the stylistic meanings and implications of the style of the text
translated. This is achieved in terms of distinctive literary stylistic, emotive, expressive,
impressive, feeling-oriented and heart-felt language features and functions of the
literary text concerned.

The technique of juxtaposing two contrastive versions of translation, literary and

ordinary, has continued in this Chapter in a way similar to that of the previous Chapter,
though in terms of the likely major literary stylistic features of each of the ten texts
introduced (from both Languages, Arabic and English) that may affect and reflect
meaning. This technique has aimed at sharpening the argument yet further through a
direct juxtaposition of the (literary) features of the first, with the (ordinary) features of
the second. The ultimate objective of such strategy of juxtaposition is biplanar: (a) to
make explicit and concrete the minute details and features of the argument in favor of
the literary version compared with the less appropriate ordinary one.; and (b) to
provide confirmed evidence for the essence of the argument put forward in the book
throughout.
Recently developed approaches, strategies and models of analysis and interpretation
of narrative discourse in general, and the Novel in particular, have been outlined and
exemplified throughout with variation. These include narrative stylistics, transitivity,
modality, point of view and conceptualization in particular. Special attention has been
given to transitivity for its special importance in narrative discourse and contemporary
stylistic approaches to the interpretation and, hence, translation of literary discourse
including the novel.

More developments of the line of argument suggested above about translating the
novel are introduced throughout the exercises.

212
‫‪Exercises‬‬

‫‪1.‬‬ ‫‪Check the translation into English of the following excerpt from a short story‬‬
‫‪by an Arab novelist in terms of accuracy of word choice and cultural‬‬
‫‪equivalence for terms like Umm Muhammad, Umm Kawthar, etc. Is it‬‬
‫‪literary or ordinary translation? Why?.‬‬

‫("الساعة الثامنة مساء اليوـ‪ ،‬األربعاء‪ ،‬ساعةٌ حاسمةٌ بالنسبة لعاطؼ األعزب‪ ،‬الموظؼ بالييئة العامة لزراعة‬
‫ات وصالة بالطابؽ‬ ‫الساك ُف بمفرده في شقة؛ ثبلث حجر ٍ‬
‫ِ‬ ‫الخضروات‪ ،‬خريج الحقوؽ‪ ،‬الجامعي الوحيد بالزعفراني‪.‬‬
‫ٍ‬
‫ساكنة‪،‬‬ ‫الث‪ ،‬منزؿ رقـ ‪ ،6‬أو كما يعرفو األىالي بيت أـ محمد مع أنيا ليست مالكتو‪ ،‬نسب إلييا ألنيا أقدـ‬ ‫الثّ ِ‬
‫ِ‬
‫المنزؿ فيي أـ‬ ‫ِ‬
‫النساء‪ .‬أما صاحبةُ‬ ‫الدائـ أماـ بابو ترى الضوء‪ ،‬تشـ اليواء‪ ،‬أحياناً تتبادؿ الحديث مع‬ ‫ِ‬
‫ولجموسيا ِ‬
‫كوثر اإلسكندرانية المقيمة بحارة بير جواف‪ ،‬ال تجيء إال مرة واحدة في الخامس مف أ‬
‫كؿ شير لتحصيؿ اإليجار‪)" .‬‬
‫(جماؿ الغيطاني‪ ،‬ار عناني‪)72 :1997 ،‬‬

‫‪Incidents in Za'farani Alley‬‬

‫‪213‬‬
("It is 8.00 p.m., Wednesday, a crucial moment for Atif, the bachelor, An employee in
the National Association for Vegetable produce, graduate of Law School, he is the only
university graduate in Za'frani Alley. He lives alone in a three-room apartment with
entree, on the third floor, of house number 6, or, as neighbours refer to it, Umm
Muhammad's House. She does not own it, but it is associated with her because she is
the oldest tenant and because she is always sitting at the front door to take in the
sunlight and the fresh air. Sometimes she engages in conversation with the other
women. As for the owner of the building, it is Umm Kawthar, the Alexandrian lady who
lives in Bir Gowan Alley. She only comes to the alley once a month, on the fifth, to
collect the rent.")
(Translated by Peter O' Daniel, in Anani, 1997: 71-72)

2. The following text is a passage from an American novel. Its characters

belong to different cultures and use many colloquial words and expressions.
Two Arabic translations are provided for the text below: One informal;
another formal (partly adopted from Ghazala, 2011:Ch.5). Which of them is
more appropriate in Arabic, and why? Which one can be described as
literary and why? Underline the cultural terms and, finally, translate into
Arabic the last lines in bold type which are left untranslated on purpose.

"The baker dug me in the ribs. 'I come from Salamanca,' he screeched. 'Is like a
bullfight, no?'
Someone else shouted, 'The Boongs are fighting', although they weren't fighting – yet.
But the drinkers, jeering and cheering, began shifting down the bar to get a look.
Gently, almost with a caress, the Aboriginal man tipped the boy's glass from his hand,
and it fell and shattered on the floor. The boy stooped, picked up the broken base and
held it like a dagger in his palm.
The truckie on the next stool poured out the contents of his own glass, smashed its rim
against the lip of the counter, and shoved it in the older man's hand. 'Go on,' he said,
encouragingly, 'Give it 'im'.
The boy lunged forward with his glass, but the man parried him with a flick of the wrist.
Both had drawn blood.
'Ole`!' shouted the Spanish baker, his face contorted into grimace. 'Ole`! Ole`!'

The bouncer vaulted over the bar and dragged the two Aboriginals on to the
sidewalk, across the tarmac, to an island in the highway where they lay, side by side,
bleeding beneath the pink oleanders while the road-trains from Darwin rumbled by.
I walked away but the Spaniard followed me.
'They are best friends', he said. 'No?'.
(Chatwin, The Songlines, in Birch, 1995)

)1(
‫إيػو؟ صػاح‬/‫ والّ ال‬،‫ تبدو(العركػة) كمصػارعة الثيػراف‬.‫ أنا مػف سػبلمنكا‬:ً‫("نحرني الخباز نحرة في خاصرتي وزعؽ قائبل‬
‫ لكػػف السػػكرانيف بػػدؤوا يخرجػػوف مػػف الخمػػارة‬.‫ لكػػف مػػا بػ َػدوا بعػػد‬.‫ عمقػػت (عركػػة) بػػيف أىػػؿ أسػػتراليا األصػػمييف‬:‫آخػػر‬
.‫ليتفرجوا عمى العركة وىـ يصيحوف ويييصوف‬

214
‫برفؽ‪ ،‬ومداعبة تقريباً‪ ،‬نقر الزنجي األصمي كأس الصبي مف يديو‪ ،‬فسػقط عمػى األرض وتنػاثر قطعػاً‪ .‬انحنػى الصػبي‬
‫وتناوؿ قاعدة الكأس المكسػورة وأمسػؾ بيػا كخنجػر فػي ارحػة كفػو‪ .‬قػاـ سػائؽ الشػاحنة األسػترالي الجػالس عمػى المقعػد‬
‫الطويؿ المجاور وأفرغ كأسو مف العرؽ‪ ،‬وىشـ حرفو عمى حػرؼ الكػاونتر‪ ،‬ووضػعيا فػي يػد الرجػؿ األكبػر سػناً‪ ،‬وقػاؿ‬
‫لػػو وىػػو يحمسػػو‪ :‬ىيػػا ناولػػو بيػػا‪ .‬انػػدفع الصػػبي إلػػى األمػػاـ بكأسػػو‪ ،‬لكػػف الرجػػؿ منعػػو بنح ػرة مػػف رسػػغو‪ .‬سػػالت دمػػاء‬
‫االثنيف‪.‬‬
‫ولي‪ ،‬وقد انقبض وجيو مذعو اًر وكأف حية قرصتو‪)".‬‬
‫صاح الخباز اإلسباني‪ :‬يا ويمي‪ّ ،‬‬

‫(‪)2‬‬
‫("وكزني الخباز اإلسباني وكزة في خاصرتي وصاح بأعمى صوتو‪" :‬أنا إسػباني مػف سػبلمنكا‪ .‬أت ارىػا مصػارعة الثيػراف‬
‫كما في بمدي في الخارج‪ ،‬أـ ال؟" صاح آخر‪" :‬األستراليوف األصميوف يتقاتموف"‪ .‬لكنيـ لػـ يكونػوا يتقػاتموف بعػد‪ .‬فكيػؼ‬
‫عرؼ ذلؾ؟ بدأ الزبائف ينسمّوف مف البار وىـ يصيحوف وييتفوف ليتفرجوا عمى المعركة‪.‬‬
‫بكؿ رفؽ مشوب بمداعبة ومبلطفة نقر األسترالي األصمي كػأس الصػبي نقػرة خفيفػة مػف بػيف يديػو فوقػع عمػى األرض‬
‫وتناثرت قطعو‪ .‬انحنى الصبي والتقط قاعدة الكأس المكسورة وأمسؾ بيا كخنجر في راحة كفو‪.‬‬
‫ىب لنجدتو واحد مف بني جنسػو وىػو سػائؽ الشػاحنة األسػترالي األصػمي الجػالس عمػى المقعػد الطويػؿ المجػاور وأفػرغ‬
‫محتويات كأسو مػف الشػراب‪ ،‬وىشػـ حافتػو عمػى حػرؼ منصػة البػار‪ ،‬ودسػيا فػي يػد الرجػؿ األكبػر سػناً‪ ،‬وقػاؿ لػو وىػو‬
‫يحثػػو عمػػى القتػػاؿ‪ :‬ىيػػا اضػربو بيػػا‪ .‬انػػدفع الصػػبي إلػػى األمػػاـ بكأسػػو‪ ،‬لكػػف الرجػػؿ وكػزه وكػزة برسػػغو فمنعػػو‪ .‬كبلىمػػا‬
‫ساؿ دمو‪.‬‬
‫صاح الخباز اإلسباني‪" :‬يا لميوؿ!"‪ ،‬وقد انقبضت قسمات وجيو وارتعدت فرائصو مف شدة الذعر والتقزز‪)".‬‬

‫‪3.‬‬ ‫‪The next literary text is a translation from French by Peter Newmark‬‬
‫‪(1988).It is translated twice into Arabic by Ghazala (2004). Which one is‬‬
‫‪close to literary translation, and why? And which is rather ordinary‬‬
‫?‪translation, and why‬‬

‫‪"I was in one of those periods of youth, that are lacking a particular love, that are‬‬
‫‪vacant, where everywhere - as a lover the women he is in love with - one desires, one‬‬
‫‪seeks, one sees Beauty. Let just one real feature- the little that one can distinguish of a‬‬
‫‪woman seen from afar, or from behind - allow us to project Beauty before us, and we‬‬
‫‪imagine that we have recognized her, our heart beats, we hurry on, and we shall‬‬
‫‪remain always half-convinced that she was the one, provided the woman has‬‬
‫"‪disappeared, only if we can overtake her do we understand our mistake.‬‬
‫(‪)1‬‬
‫(" كنت في إحدى مراحؿ الشباب‪ ،‬والتي تفتقر إلى حب معيف والتي كانت فارغة‪ ،‬حيث في كؿ مكاف‪ -‬كمحب المرأة‬
‫وقع في غراميا ‪ -‬يرغب المرء ويرى المرء‪ ،‬ويبحث المرء عف الجماؿ‪ .‬دع سمة حقيقية واحدة فقط‪ -‬السمة الصغيرة‬
‫التي يميزىا المرأة تُرى عف ُبعد‪ ،‬أو مف الخمؼ‪ -‬تسمح لنا بإبراز الجماؿ أمامنا‪ ،‬ونتخيؿ أننا أدركناىا‪ ،‬قموبنا تخفؽ‬
‫ونسرع الخطى‪ ،‬وسوؼ نبقى دائماً شبو مقتنعيف أنيا كانت ىي‪ ،‬عمى أف تكوف المرأة قد اختفت‪ .‬ولو استطعنا‬
‫المحاؽ بيا‪ ،‬حينئذ فقط نفيـ غمطتنا‪)".‬‬

‫‪215‬‬
 )2(
‫ ىنا نرغب ونرى‬.‫ وكاف يقتمنا الفراغ‬،‫("بالنسبة لي كاف ردحاً مف زمف الشباب حينما كنا مف دوف حب خاص‬
‫ كؿ ما عمينا فعمو‬.‫ كأولئؾ العاشقيف الباحثيف عف النسوة البلئي وقعوا في حبيف‬، ‫ونبحث عف الجماؿ في كؿ مكاف‬
‫ تظير لنا‬-‫ لنقؿ أقؿ ما يمكف أف نتصوره عف امرأة تُرى عف ُبعد أو مف الخمؼ‬-‫ىو أف ندع سمة حقيقية واحدة‬
‫ نسرع الخطى وسوؼ نبقى دائماً شبو مقتنعيف أننا رأينا‬،‫ وبقموب خافقة‬.‫صورة الجماؿ لتجعمنا نظف أننا تعرفنا عمييا‬
‫ حينما نمحؽ‬،‫ حالما تكوف قد توارت عف أنظارنا؛ بإمكاننا أف نفيـ غمطتنا في حالة واحدة وحسب‬،‫آية الجماؿ بعينيا‬
)".‫بيا‬
4. Parody is one of the significant literary styles discussed earlier in the
Chapter in connection with Charles Dickens' 'Fog' and Hill's 'Rain' (see 5.8
and 5.9). Following is a compositional text written in parody to Dickens' text
by way of creating a sense of humor. Translate the text into Arabic,
retaining the style of parody and lexical repetition in the same we done with
'Fog' and 'Rain' above. Then translate it into another version that drops the
repetition of 'milkmen', and compare the two versions of translation in
terms of stylistic effects and implications of parody.

"Milkmen everywhere, Milkmen up the Avenue; Milkmen down the Grove. Milkmen on
the High St, where it winds between banks of shops stacked with plastic footwear and
cutprice washing machines; milkmen in the alleys that meander past the dirty
backyards of dormant pubs. Milkmen rattling their bottles in areas and basements;
milkmen wheedling incorrect sums from harassed housewives; milkmen with dejected
horses; milkmen with electric floats, stuck at the traffic lights where the main road
forks left past the grim grey majesty of the multi-storey car park." (Nash, 1985: 99)

5. The following passage is another part of the narrative text translated and
discussed in 5.10 above. Check its Arabic translation and point out its
literary features of style in the same way done throughout the Chapter:

Pale Anna (Cont.)

"He was a conductor,. ‘my landlady said, ‘in a tram. A hard-working boy.’ And then she
took, each time, the box of photographs which stood on her sewing-table between
patches and tangles of thread. And always she pressed lots of pictures, on each of
which one boy sat in the middle of the front row with a slate between his knees, and on
the slate there was a 6, a 7, finally an 8. In a separate bundle, held together by a red
rubber band, were the Communion pictures: a smiling child in a black suit like a dress
suit, with a giant candle in his hand, that was how he stood, in front of a diaphane on
which a gold chalice was painted. Then came pictures which showed him as a
locksmith’s apprentice at a lathe, with smudges on his face and his hands gripping a
file.
‘That wasn’t the job for him,’ my landlady said, ‘the work was too heavy.’ And she
showed me the last picture of him, before he became a soldier: there he stood, in a
tram-conductor’s uniform, beside a number 9 tram at the terminus, where the tracks

216
curve round the circle, and I recognized the refreshment stand at which I’d so often
bought cigarettes, when there had still been no war; I recognized the poplars, which
are still there today, saw the villa with the golden lions at the gate, which aren’t there
any more, and I remembered the girl whom I’d often thought of during the war: she’d
been pretty, pale, with slit eyes, and she’d always boarded the tram at the number 9
terminus. (Boll: Translation by Christopher Middleton, in Newmark, 1988)

‫ ثـ كانت تأخذ في كؿ مرة‬."‫لي في قطار النقؿ الداخمي؛ "شاباً مجداً في عممو‬

ٌ ‫ قالت صاحبة منز‬،"ً‫("لقد كاف جابيا‬
‫ كانت دائماً تكبس في يدي سيبلً مف‬،‫عمبة الصور التي كانت عمى طاولة آلة خياطتيا بيف الرقعات وبكرات الخيوط‬
‫ كتب‬،‫ في كؿ منيا جمس صبي في وسط الصؼ األوؿ ولوح كتابة بيف ركبتيو‬،‫ مجموعات مدرسية‬:‫صور ولدىا‬
‫ طفؿ مبتسـ ببذلة‬:‫ كانت صور لمقداس‬،‫ يمفيا رباط مطاطي أحمر‬،‫ في حزمة منفصمة‬.8 ‫ وأخي اًر‬7 ‫ و‬6 ‫عميو‬
‫ بعدىا‬.‫ ىكذا كاف يقؼ أماـ راية رسـ عمييا كأسا قرباف ذىبيتاف‬،‫ وشمعة كبيرة في يده‬،‫سوداء وكأنيا بذلة رسمية‬
.‫أتت صور أظيرتو رفقة صبي صانع أقفاؿ عند المخرطة ويداه تقبضاف عمى مبرد‬
.‫ قالت صاحبة منزلي‬،"‫"لـ يكف ذاؾ ىو العمؿ المناسب لو‬
،‫ ببزة جابي قطار‬،ً‫ ىنالؾ كاف منتصبا‬:ً‫ قبؿ أف يصبح جنديا‬،‫ وأرتني صورتو األخيرة‬."‫"كاف العمؿ صعباً لمغاية‬
‫ وتعرفت عمى مقصورة‬،‫ حيث تنعطؼ السكؾ حوؿ الدائرة‬،‫ وىو يقؼ في المحطة‬9 ‫بمحاذاة القطار الداخمي رقـ‬
‫ كما تعرفت عمى أشجار الحور‬،‫ حينما لـ تكف الحرب قد نشبت بعد‬،‫المرطبات التي غالباً ما اشتريت منيا السجائر‬
‫ وتذكرت البنت التي‬،‫ والتي ال أثر ليا اآلف‬،‫ ورأيت الفيمبل بالسباع الذىبية عمى بوابتييا‬،‫التي ما تزاؿ باقية ىناؾ‬
‫ وكانت دائماً تركب في قطار الرصيؼ‬،‫ عيناىا لوزيتاف‬،‫ شاحبة‬،‫ لقد كانت فاتنة‬:،‫كنت غالباً ما أفكر بيا أثناء الحرب‬
)".9 ‫رقـ‬
CHAPTER SIX

TRANSLATING POETRY
6.0 Introduction: Sound Features

Although sounds are the constituents of words in language, they are not always
significant, nor can they be individually important. Only when they combine together
more homogeneously than heterogeneously in different forms of patterning, can they
be described as important sound (or prosodic) patterns, or features. Most of these
features are recurrent in poetry in particular. Here are the most prominent of them:

1. Rhyme (a kind of phonetic echo or matching found in verse in

particular at the end of the words and lines of verse in poetry in
particular).
2. Rhythm (regular and parallel stressed and unstressed syllables in
poetry. In general terms, it is a kind of melody in language that might
include mainly meter and foot, and generally all the phonological
features which contribute to the musical arrangement of language).

217
3. Alliteration (a kind of initial rhyme that involves the repetition of the
same consonant sound at the beginning of two or more usually
consecutive words in English (e.g. your footsteps feel from grass to
granite.
4. Assonance: (a half alliteration that occurs when the same vowel sound
is repeated in the middle of two or more usually consecutive words (
e.g. rose and sole/soul)).
5. Consonance (a half-rhyme realized by using the same consonant
sound at the end of two or more usually successive words, preceded
by different vowels (e.g. round and find)).
6. Chiming (two or more words similar in spelling and close in
sound/pronunciation, with a kind of alliteration common between
them, taken to be identical in meaning, but in reality they are not (e.g.
men and mice).
7. Onomatopoeia (conformity of sound to meaning in both languages
(e.g. bang, quack, cuckoo, etc.).
8. Prosody (the study of the art of versification regarding sound features
in poetry in general).
9. Meter (rhythmic arrangement of syllables in poetry according to the
number and kind of foot in the line of verse).
10. Foot (a line unit of a line of verse that contains stressed and
unstressed syllables).
11. Beat (the basic rhythmic unit, or the stressed syllable in a foot).
12. Off-beat (an unstressed syllable in a foot).
13. Scansion/scanning (analysis of the metrical structure of verse)
14. Tone/stress/pitch (describe sound/voice and its layers).
15. Modulation (transition from one beat to another) )‫(الزحاف‬

In support for the importance of sounds, Lawson stresses the fact that “much more
meaning is conveyed by rhythm and stress than we recognize…” (1979, in Duff, 1981:
97). More surprisingly, sound effects can be more important to readers than meaning,
not only in poetry, but also in ordinary language and realistic narrative, as this
example demonstrates (see Newmark, 1988: 58), which is translated from German:

“Shells, gas clouds and flotillas of tanks-shattering, corroding

death, scolding, choking death”:

The English translator has extended the sound of the original because its effect is
more important than meaning.

The discussion of sound effects is a discussion of the aesthetic function of language,

which is mainly to please the senses. Yet, and as we have just suggested, it can be not
only as important as, but perhaps more important than meaning. This is quite clear in
literary language in general, and in poetry in particular, where the presence of sound
features is essential, or else the whole poem would be simply unattractive for

218
readers. In other words, jeopardizing these features would endanger not only
meaning but also the whole text.

6.1 Sound Patterning

In literary discourse in particular, the patterning of sounds plays a pivotal role in a

written form. A question about whether a style of a text 'reads well' does not imply
that it is agreeable to the eye, but it enables readers to imagine a fluent sequence of
sounds. Naturally in written style there is always a phonetic component whose
function is mainly aesthetic. The aesthetic features of sounds are extensively employed
in poetry in the main. The consequential stylistic effects are interpreted in terms of the
rules governing the distribution and sequencing of sounds in language.

In poetry, sounds have more than one important function. Primary among those
functions is the musical/rhythmical value. Another function of sounds in verse is they
decorate the poem. More importantly, they help to organize it, acting as emphatic
markers of phrases, lines and stanzas. Rhyme, for example, in addition to being a
pleasant variation of sonorous chimes, is a kind of an acoustic punctuation, a
designator of boundaries of verse-form and grammatical form (more functions are
pointed out below). Alliteration, on the other hand, occurs as a device which achieves
the balancing halves of a line, and assigns emphasis to the grammatical shape of
clauses and phrases (see more about alliteration later in this chapter).

The idea of patterning of sounds is of special significance here to a very significant

function of poetry, sound-symbolism, or phonetic imagery / metaphor. Although
linguistically speaking it is not a hard-and-fast rule that sounds be representative or
mimetic of particular experiences, it is possible to conclude from a certain patterning
of sounds some stylistic implications and interpretations. A good example is
onomatopoeia (the correspondence of sound to meaning) which has a special power
as a motive in linguistic creativity (see also below).

With respect to vowels, they involve shaping the air stream in their passage. Manner
of articulation (degree of obstruction of the air stream) of vowels involves voicing, lip
rounding or spreading, length, and degree of muscular tension. For the place of vowel
articulation, it involves gross generalizations in relation to the front and back of the
mouth, and tongue and jaw height relative to the roof of the mouth. We speak of high,
mid, and low vowels. On the other hand, there is a tendency to assign to the
contrasting sonorities of vowels' distinctive physical correlates of color, light intensity,
weight, temperature or distance. Front vowels are usually perceived as 'bright', 'thin',
'light', 'cool'; back vowels as 'dark', 'full', 'heavy', 'warm'. These intersensorial analogies
are a part of the phenomena of perception.

As to the manner of articulation of consonants, it involves the presence or absence of

voicing, nasality and degree of obstruction. Therefore, consonants can be labeled in
juxtaposed pairs as follows: 'Voiced versus voiceless sounds'; 'nasal versus nonnasal
sounds'; 'fricatives and affricates'; liquids and glides'; and 'stopped sounds/stops'.

219
Consonants have acoustic properties suggestive of specific sensory phenomena. The
major articulatory contrast between voiced and voiceless sounds is manipulated by
writers many a time in poetry, perhaps to evoke shifts from sound to silence, sonority
to sibilance, loudness to softness: e.g.

"Till an unusual stop of sudden silence

Gave respite to the drowsie frighted steeds
That drew the litter of close-curtain'd sleep.
At last a soft and solemn breathing sound
Rose like steam of rich distill'd Perfumes,
And stole upon the Air, that even Silence
Was took e're she was ware …"
(John Milton, Camu, in Carter and Nash, 1991: 121).

Due to their density in this stanza, the voiceless consonants, especially /s/, are
designed to correlate with the interlinking themes of silence and soft sound. Words
that demonstrate this include 'hiss, hush, whisper, titter'. Other words like 'fizz, sizzle,
whimper, snigger', that mingle voiced and voiceless sounds might suggest a vacillating
sound-state, half-way towards the full sonorities of words like 'babble, rumble, burble,
murmur, buzz', with their voiced consonants (see also ibid.; and Traugott and Pratt,
1980 for more discussion and argument).

6.1.1 Onomatopoeia: Stylistic Investigation

The last group of words of the previous paragraph is reminiscent of onomatopoeia. In

its literal sense, onomatopoeia refers to a purely mimetic power of language and its
ability to imitate sounds. Simply, it is a sound enacting sense. It is two kinds: (i) 'non-
lexical' (referring to clusters of sounds which echo the mimicking of the sound of
something, say, a car revving up, involving a series of non-lexical approximations, such
as 'vroom vroom', or 'brrrrrm brrrrrrm'); and (ii) 'lexical' which is our major concern
here. The latter is based on the following principles (see Leech, 1969; Carter and Nash,
1990; and Simpson, 2004 for further details):

(a) Vowels are of mimetic contrasts of sonority, the mechanisms of which are
illustrated in everyday language by some playful compounds and turns of
phrase: e.g. 'tit for tat, Tom, Dick and Harry, see-saw, ping-pong' and words
like 'telltale, screech' which are affective variants on a semantic theme
(represented by 'shout'). The length of vowels is sometimes a pivotal
characteristic of onomatopoeia, e.g. short vowels in words like 'whip, clip,
thrash, slash, cuff, slap. Thus, the sensory analogy of the short vowel is with
phenomena characterized by sudden onset, rapidity, brief duration and
frequent repetition.
(b) Consonants have principally the distinctive features of voice and
voicelessness, and are divisible into types distinguished by articulation: 'stops,
fricatives, nasals, approximants'. These types correlate with perceptions of
striking (e.g. the stops: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/), with rubbing, hissing or

220
 scratching (e.g. fricatives and sibilants: /f/, /v/, /∫/, /s/, /z/, /h/, etc. and
affricates) with flowing, rippling or humming (e.g. approximants /l/, /r/, and
the nasals /m/, /n/, etc.). These correlations can be encapsulated in broad
terms as percussiveness, friction, continuity. Leech suggests a scale of
increasing hardness for English consonants as follows: (i) liquids and nasals
(e.g. 'thing'); (ii) fricatives and aspirates (as in 'there'); (iii) affricates (as in
'church', and 'judge'); and (iv) plosives: /b/, /d/, /g/, /p/, /t/, /k/ (1969: 98).
(c) Vowels and consonants enter into complex patterns, proposing a complex
perception of any external event that stimulates the onomatopoeia: e.g. 'clip-
clop'.
(d) The process of onomatopoeia is arbitrary in its linguistic consequences, but
consistent in poetic principle. The onomatopoeic type expressed by the word
'crunch' involves the abrupt impact of something compact and hard striking
on something that yields; a yielding surface that is hard, but brittle; and a
harsh or strident sound of brief duration. 'Crunch' as a whole can be
perceived as a kind of acoustic properties of certain consonantal and vocalic
speech sounds.
(e) Onomatopoeic effects are, hence, based on the general 'color' of sounds on
such dimensions as 'hardness', 'softness', 'thinness' and 'sonority'.
(f) Onomatopoeia can also be demonstrated by a mimetic use of meter which
might suggest sluggish movement, rapidity; abruptness, galloping, etc.

In poetry, there are two types of onomatopoeic activity, the first of which, less
important, is represented in the relatively frequent occurrence of familiar mimetic
items: e.g. 'scratch, clash, howl, yell, roar, crunch, etc.'. The second type, the more
important, is composed of a patterning, or texture, or combinative design of sounds
presented to the reader in conjunction with a theme or an image. Generally, the
'onomatopoeic argument' reinforces the poem's lexicon, and designates the structure
of the poem. Indeed, we discover the most intense onomatopoeic activity in the
episodes of psychological tension and the emotional crises of the poem. Sounds here
have not merely an ornamental stylistic significance, but are integral to the poem's
aesthetic and affective structure, and to the meanings implied in it.

Thus, onomatopoeia is a major feature of sound patterning that forms a bridge

between style and meaning. The role played by lexical onomatopoeia in the stylistic
texture of poetry is an area worthy of stylistic investigation. Words, that is, can be
employed for their imitative potentials. Henceforth, various stylistic functions and
effects may be produced: consonant/vowel harmony/disharmony, reflection of
content/meaning (softness/lightness, hardness/harshness of sound and meaning, etc.),
disruption of consonant/vowel recurrence for specific contextual reasons, and so on.
But is there in phonetics a 'dry' consonant or a 'flying' vowel? Further, can there be a
direct connection between sound patterning and meaning as an established, non-
impressionistic interpretative practice, the so-called 'phonaesthetic fallacy?'. It is
shunned by most writers in the field as inappropriate (see Attridge, 1988; Nash (1986);
Simpson (2004) and others).

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We presuppose that a specific text (a poem, or a part of a poem, for example) is made
mimetic on purpose. Sound symbolism here is intended by the writer. Moreover, a
mimetic sound feature should be understood within a cluster of other stylistic
features, lexical or syntactic/grammatical – the context or 'co-text' - that might
underpin its interpretation. This means that all features of style, grammatical, lexical
and phonological, can be intertwined as interdependent in many instances. Their
separation from one another in analysis, therefore, is done for reasons of illustration.
Furthermore, there are conventions for reading sound symbolism (or sound imagery),
which allow for interpreting certain types of sound in certain ways. After all,
onomatopoeia relies heavily on the reader's prior knowledge of, and familiarity with it
in its certain context in certain collocability of habitual occurrence of word
combination. In other words, the readers' expectations of specific onomatopoeic
occurrences are a prerequisite for interpreting it in connection with content.

That said, the connection of sound patterning and sound symbolism is an old-new
stylistic practice that seems to be indispensable in stylistic analyses, for the linguistic
system does not represent the real world in a straightforward way. Rather, meanings
and implications of style in specific are signaled only indirectly. Therefore, one of the
guiding principles of stylistic analysis is to be cautious about treating any feature of
language as if it bears an inherent relationship with a presupposed or felt experience.
(see also Simpson, ibid.).

Questions of different kinds should be raised when undertaking a stylistic analysis of

sound patterns, by way of accomplishing more solid and convincing stylistic
investigation and interpretation. Among these questions are the following (some were
also posed by Simpson, ibid.):
(i) What about the general patterns of grammar in a literary text?
(ii) What about the foregrounded patterns of grammar in the text?
(iii) To what extent are grammatical structures disrupted for the sake of
achieving sound patterns, especially rhyme, rhythm and meter?
(iv) How many concessions are conceded by grammar and lexis for the sake
of sound patterns?
(v) How about rhyme and rhythm in the text?
(vi) What can we say about alliterative words and expressions in the text?
(vii) Are there good examples of lexical onomatopoeia in the text?
(viii) What kind of relationship that might occur between rhyme, rhythm,
onomatopoeia and alliteration that the text demonstrates?
(ix) Is there anything significant about the graphology of the text?
(x) What about word structuring in the text? How relevant is it to sound
patterning?
(xi) Could we suggest other ways of rewriting the text in terms of its basic
stylistic organization at different levels of language, especially sound
patterning?
(xii) In what way(s) can we confirm our stylistic interpretation of the text's
sound patterns?
(xiii) Can we establish the bases on which sound effects might be justified?

222
All these points are considered with a view to their relevance to meaning in the
translation of poetry in particular. More on other basic sound (or prosodic) features
and their effects are discussed in the next point due.

6.1.2 Rhyme, Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance and Chiming

Rhyme, to start with, is the most prominent sound pattern of poetry in particular. A
rhyme occurs when two or more words have identical last vowel and consonant
sounds. It is of different types: end rhyme; perfect rhyme, imperfect rhyme, eye-
rhyme, true rhyme, half rhyme; internal rhyme; masculine rhyme; feminine rhyme;
nursery/children rhyme; slant rhyme/apophony; rhyme royal; reverse rhyme; double
rhyme, and pararhyme. The most recurrent type is naturally the first, 'end rhyme'.
These types are not the point of focus here in our stylistic investigation; suffice it to
point out that rhyme is a basic component of versification. It is taken as a
correspondence between rhythmic measures rather than syllables (see Leech, 1969:
91). What is crucially relevant to us is the investigation of the stylistic implications and
interpretations of manipulating, or absenteeing rhyme in verse in specific, and the
effect of that on meaning, or the reader's inclination to read a piece of poetry in the
first place. Here are three examples, one end-rhymed as normal, another half-rhymed
and a third unrhymed:

Lucy (Part ii)

She dwelt among th’untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love.
A violet by a mossy stone
Half-hidden from the eye!
Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.

She lived unknown, and few could know

When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and oh,
The difference to me!
(William Wordsworth)

Rhyme here is perfect and well-organized by Wordsworth. The first reason is mainly
historical in the sense that at the time of Wordsworth the conventions of verse writing
used to require poetry to be rhymed perfectly. Secondly, to make a poem readable in
the first place, it must have a regular rhyme. Further, rhyme has to be present in any
poem regardless of its theme or main topic. This last reason leads us to a central issue
in such stylistic argument concerning the validity or not of relating, whether directly or
indirectly, the symbolic sound pattern of rhyme to meaning in a way that should not

223
be described as impressionistic. We may take each rhymed pairs together and check
what kind of semantic relationship they might have:

ways/praise
Dove/love

Stone/one
Eye/sky

Know/oh
Be/me

The sound identification of the end rhyme between the two words of each pair is quite
obvious. However, to attempt to look for a semantic relationship between the two
words of each of these pairs would by purely artificial, for certainly there is no
established rule in language that might confirm that. The only possible way to find
some kind of semantic relationship between the members of each pair is to view them
in their word combinations in context. For example, 'untrodden ways' can be related
to 'none to praise'; 'beside … Dove' to 'few to love'; 'mossy stone' to 'only one'; and
'hidden from the eye' to 'shining in the sky'. While the last pair has a lexical
relationship of paradox (hidden vs. shining), the other three pairs demonstrate
relationships of synonymy, or variation of some kind in broad terms. That is,
'untrodden ways' is as negative as 'none to praise'; The springs of the river 'Dove'
might recall among other things 'love'; and a 'mossy stone' might connote the only-
ness and one-ness of 'only one'. Hence, perhaps a better stylistic context for a rhyme
is to be viewed within the surrounding combination of words.

Other sound features that relate to rhyme scheme such as alliteration, assonance and
consonance can interestingly be sought for in a similar way in poetic texts. The
following poem provides good examples for such sound patterns.

SONG V

‘O where are you going’ ? Said reader to rider

‘That valley is fatal when furnaces burn,
Yonder’s the midden whose odors will madden,
‘That gap is the grave where the tall return’.

‘O do you imagine’, said fearer to farer,

‘That dusk will delay on your path to the pass,
That diligent looking discover the lacking
Your footsteps feel from granite to grass?

‘O what was that bird’, said horror to hearer,

‘Did you see that shape in the twisted trees?
Behind you swiftly the figure comes softly,

224
 The spot on your skin is a shocking disease’.

‘Out of this house’-said rider to reader,

‘Yours never will’-said farer to fearer,
‘They’re looking for you’-said hearer to horror,
As he left them there, as he left them there.
(W.H. Auden.)
The poem is hosted with alliterative, consonantal and assonantal pairs at line level
suchlike:

-'reader…rider' (alliteration, assonance and consonance) (1)

-'fatal…furnaces' (alliteration) (2)
-'furnaces burn' (assonance and 'n' motif) (2)
-'midden…madden' (alliteration, assonance, rhyme and consonance) (3)
-Yonder…odour (assonance and consonance/rhyme) (3)
-'gap…grave' (alliteration) (4)
-'fearer…farer' (alliteration, assonance and consonance) (5)
-'dusk…delay' (alliteration) (6)
-'path…pass' (alliteration, assonance and half-consonance) (6)
-'diligent…discover' (alliteration) (7)
-'looking…lacking' (alliteration, assonance and consonance) (7)
-'footsteps feel' (alliteration and assonance) (8)
-'granite…grass' (alliteration and assonance) (8)
-'what was' (alliteration and assonance) (9)
-'horror…hearer' (alliteration, assonance and consonance) (9)
-'twisted trees' (alliteration) (10)
-'swiftly…softly' (alliteration, assonance and consonance) (11)
-'swiftly…figure…softly' ('f' motif) (11)
-'spot…skin' (alliteration) (12)
-'is…disease' (assonance and consonance) (12)
-'out…house' (assonance) (13)
-'rider…reader' (alliteration, assonance and consonance) (13)
-'farer…fearer' (alliteration, assonance and consonance) (14)
-'hearer…horror' (alliteration, assonance consonance and chiming) (15)
-'as...as/ he…he/ left…left/ them…them/ there…there' (perfect repetition and
identification) (16)

Obviously sound patterns here are redundantly and abundantly elaborate. They are
strongly present in every single line with no exception. The best way to appreciate
them, therefore, would be to treat them as a collaborative intricate network of sound
patterns that shape the form and meaning of the poem. It is true that the relationship
between the four dialogists, the reader, the rider, the fearer/horror and the farer, is
the central point, yet the inevitable effect of the way sound patterns are organized
and distributed throughout the poem. These patterns suggest an atmosphere of
interaction rather than of contention among protagonists. They have to live and
converse with one another more tolerably than intolerably. The last line confirms that

225
semantically (he left them there still arguing with one another), lexically (the full
repetition of every lexical item) and phonologically (the alliterative repetition and
identification of words twice each).

The impact of sound patterning and effects can be more sharply felt and perceived by
conceiving an alternative version for the poem that is dismantled of sound features
and patterns. The whole poem would in effect be disrupted and dispirited, which
might render it of little value and meager attraction to readers to read. It might be
claimed that the pivotal role aimed at by rhyme, alongside other relevant sound
features of alliteration, assonance and consonance, is mainly musico-rhythmical
before anything else. Considering rhyme-less lines of verse by T.S. Eliot in the following
example would unleash more illuminations about sound patterning:

Burial of the Dead (lines 19-30)

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

Apart from one or two examples in the whole stanza (i.e. 'stony…son' (2);
'stone…sound' (6); 'red rock' (7), all are alliterative), sound patterns are not taken care
of by Eliot. Yet, this piece of writing is blank verse and obviously poetic, that it is too
famous to be questioned. The reason is perhaps its complete symbolism that it begs no
assistance from sound patterns of any kind to embroider it. It may be meant to be
natural, talking for itself, that the use of sound features may artificialize it, as it were.
Or, probably the musico-aesthetic characteristics of sound patterns are left out for the
occasion presented by the title, 'Burial of the Dead', which is an occasion of mourning,
not music. However, such interpretation might be counterfeited by many who may
raise the objection that there is music for all occasions. Whichever way we may go,
Eliot has wonderfully succeeded in proving the critical point about the claim that the
language of poetry is so special that ordinary language cannot be poetic – which is not
invalid, especially in Arabic poetry, as argued below. Here and in other instances, he
demonstrates through his poetry that ordinary language may be as poetic as any other
type, when well-elaborated and well-patterned, semantically / lexically, syntactically /
grammatically and phonologically (that is, some sound patterns at least are taken care
of).

226
The fact remains that sound patterns are of special importance to poetic language, be
it relevant to meaning in a straightforward way or not. Their aesthetic values are
hugely weighty in the style of poetry in general. Perhaps the real value of poetry draws
heavily upon these aesthetic considerations. It is still valid to wonder how poetry can
still be called poetry if sound patterns are ignored.

On the other hand, sound patterns are stylistic features of phonological choices made
by the author. They strongly influence his/her choices of words as much as the sound
composition of the words available in the language lexicon to choose from. It has to be
admitted that sound patterns might allow – not to say impose - certain words that
might rhyme well with one another, but are less accurate in sense, and disallow other
words that might not rhyme well with others, but are more accurate in sense. This
implies two concessions, the first is the superiority of sound over meaning; a part of
the latter might be sacrificed perhaps with the purpose of achieving a high rate of
readability; the second is that consequently accuracy might not be achieved. In such
case, our interpretation of the writer's stylistic choices would be affected, however
partially. Here are alternative lexical choices for some alliterative and rhymed words
(capitalized) of the second stanza of Hopkins' poem. 'Song V' (see above):

‘O do you imagine’, said FEARER to FARER,

‘That dusk will DELAY on your PATH to the pass,
That DILIGENT LOOKING DISCOVER the lacking
Your FOOTSTEPS feel from granite to GRASS?

FEARER: frightened, fearful, afraid of, apprehensive, etc.

FARER: traveler, wayfarer, journeyer, trekker, tourer, voyager, adventurer, pathfinder,
etc.
DELAY: stop, stay, stand in the way, obstruct, block, block up, hamper, impede,
constrict, etc.
PATH: way, course, route, track, trail, pathway, walkway, road, shortcut, cut-through,
etc.
DILIGENT: industrious, assiduous, sedulous, laborious, unremitting, zealous, fervent,
etc.
LOOKING: view, gaze, glance, stare, glare, cast, glimpse, look, etc.
DISCOVER: find, find out, trace down, track down, explore, detect, distinguish, identify,
etc.
FOOTSTEPS: paces, steps, footfalls, footprints, footmarks, etc.
GRASS: lawn, range, pasture, swale, prairie, pampa, veld, etc.

As the list shows, the poet has several options to choose from, but he goes for one
option only. Why he has opted for that choice is a good question to pose. A likely
reason is to achieve matching sound patterns, parallelisms and rhythm that otherwise
cannot be achieved. Another reason might be the poet has special sociocultural,
ideological and cognitive reasons behind that, that readers are required to find out
about in the context of the poem. That said, this choice is what we build on in the
poem, whatever our own preference might be. Many of us might not think of

227
alternatives in this way, for what the poet goes for is what we go for too. Alternative
choices can be considered in the way suggested here for two main reasons, one
concerns the poet's failure or success in saying what he exactly wants to say; another
is to demonstrate how the poet's choice has specific cognitive implications. The
significance of the poet's choice of words to achieve the major sound pattern of rhyme
varies from one topic to another. Political poetry, for example, is quite delicate in
word choice of rhyme. Here is an example:

On Irish Members of Parliament

Let them, when they once get in,
Sell the nation for a pin;
While they sit picking straws,
Let them rave at making laws,
While they never hold their tongue,
Let them form a grand committee,
How to plague and starve the city;
Let them stare, and storm, and frown,
When they see a clergy gown;
Let them with, e'er they crack a louse,
Call for th'orders of the house;
Let them with their gosling quills
Scribble senseless heads of bills.
We may, while they strain their throats,
Wipe our a…s with their votes. …
(Jonathan Swift, from The Legion Club, in Baker, 1980)

Critical words like 'pin', 'straws', (hold) 'tongue', 'dung', 'frown', 'louse' 'quills' and
'throats' are chosen on purpose with their combinations: 'sell the nation for a pin';
'they sit picking straws'; 'never hold their tongue'; 'they stare, and storm, and frown';
'they crack a louse'; 'their gosling quills', and 'they strain their throats'. Possibly the
best rhyme and other sound patterns are those which run smoothly, naturally and
unconsciously at reading, as is the case with this poem. That is why many readers
would not question the rhymed words chosen by the poet. However, this can be done
only for purposes of analysis and elucidation. For example, 'pin' can be substituted by
words like 'needle / nothing / penny, etc.', but none would match the original either in
terms of meaning or in sound features, or effects. In a similar way, 'tongue' might be
replaced by 'gun / stick / stone, flag, etc.', any of which would change meaning,
context of situation and, in effect, stylistic implications.

Hence, the original remains unmatchable, regardless whether or not any other
suggested choice is better or worse. We have to consider the writer's original choices
of words and sound patterns, and how effective they might be in their original
context. We do not fabricate a parallel version for each text we investigate but only to
confirm or illustrate a point about the original choices made by the writer. One more
reason that would disallow rewriting individual word choice of sound patterns as a
basic interpretive strategy is that the change of words might lead to the change of its

228
combination. This means to change a proportional part of the original, which
hypothesizes a different text. 'Tongue', for example, collocates with 'hold', but not
with 'stick' in the same context. They may never hold their tongue, but 'they cannot
hold their sticks'. 'They sit picking straws', but 'they cannot pick hay' in the same
sense. By analogy, 'they dabble in their dung', but cannot 'idle in their dung', and so
on.

The other two major sound patterns which are of huge importance in the stylistics of
sounds are Meter and Rhythm. They are interrelated patterns, so they can be
investigated under the same point.

6.1.3 Meter and Rhythm

Meter, to embark on first, is a type of regularity both in the number of syllables and in
the number of stresses. It is a patterning of stressed and unstressed syllables in a
poetic line. It is a rhythmic parallelism, a patterning of a succession of stressed and
unstressed syllables. One type of metrical parallelism consists of a strict alternation of
stressed syllables (or beats) and unstressed syllables (or off-beats). Leech resembles
English verse to a hierarchical edifice of parallelism, of which parallel segments of
rhythm are building bricks (1969: 111). The patterns of rhythm are organized into
lines, the lines into further patterns of parallelism: couplets, quatrains, stanzas, etc.

A meter is a number of feet. A foot is a unit of line of verse that contains at least one
stressed syllable. More specifically, it is the unit or span of stressed and unstressed
syllables which is repeated to form a metrical pattern. Here is an example of how a
meter can be scanned (a=/: stressed syllable; b=x: unstressed syllable; feet are the
underlined syllables):

a a a b a a b (a b a b a a b)/ a a a b a a b/ a a a b a a b
/ / / X / / X (/ X / X / / X) / / / X / / X / / / X / / X

This should not be mistaken for an English meter, since five, six, seven or eight-feet
meter (pentameter, hexameter, heptameter and octameter respectively) are odd and
quite rare in English prosody in the first place (see ibid.). The most popular English feet
and, hence, meters are (from the most to the least popular):
1. Iamb / iambic ( a foot of two syllables, unstressed and stressed);
2. Trochee (a two-syllable foot, stressed and unstressed);
3. Anapest (a three-syllable foot, two unstressed and one stressed);
4. Dactyl (a three-syllable foot, one stressed and two unstressed);
5. Spondee (a two-syllable foot, both stressed); and
6. Pyrrhic (a two-syllable foot, both unstressed).

To aid memory, the famous Romantic poet, S.T. Coleridge devised a verse of six
lines about these meters / feet (from 1-5), entitled ‘Metrical Feet’ (see also ibid.,
and Thornborrow and Wareing, 1998):

229
 ‫‪Metrical Feet‬‬
‫‪Trochee trips from long to short.‬‬
‫‪From long to long in solemn sort‬‬
‫‪Slow spondee stalks; strong foot yet ill able‬‬
‫‪Ever to come up with the dactyl trisyllable.‬‬
‫‪Iambs march from short to long.‬‬
‫‪With a leap and a bound the swift anapests throng.‬‬

‫التروكي ينحدر مف الطويؿ إلى القصير‬

‫ومف الطويؿ إلى القصير بشكؿ وقور‬
‫والسبوندي البطيء يتخطى‪ ،‬وساقو قوية‪ ،‬لكنيا ال تستطيع‬
‫أف تضاىي الداكتيؿ ذا المقاطع الثبلثة‬
‫واأليامبي يسير قُدماً مف القصير إلى الطويؿ‪،‬‬
‫وبالقفز والنط يمضي األنابيست السريع‬
‫بمقطعيو القصيريف وقد توسطيما مقطع طويؿ‪.‬‬
‫)‪(Khulusi, 2000: 211‬‬

‫‪Following is a list in verse with the Arabic meters of poetry alongside their key feet‬‬
‫‪( (see Ateeq, 1987: 131-133):‬مفاتيح البحور)‬

‫‪-1‬الطويؿ )‪(The Long‬‬

‫فعولف مفاعيمف فعولف مفاعمف‬
‫فاعبلتف فاعمف فاعبلتف‬
‫مستفعمف فاعمف مستفعمف ِ‬
‫فعمف‬
‫مفاعمتف مفاعمتف فعولف‬
‫متفاعمف متفاعمف متفاعمف‬
‫مفاعميف‬ ‫مفاعميف‬
‫مستفعمف مستفعمف مستفعمف‬
‫طويؿ لو دوف البحور فضائ ُؿ‬
‫‪-2‬المديد‪(The Extended) :‬‬
‫صفات‬
‫ُ‬ ‫لمديد الشعر عندي‬
‫‪-3‬البسيط‪(The Outspread) :‬‬
‫بسط األم ُؿ‬
‫إف البسيط لديو ُي َ‬
‫‪-4‬الوافر‪(The Exuberant) :‬‬
‫بحور الشعر وافرىا جمي ٌؿ‬
‫‪-5‬الكامؿ‪(The Perfect) :‬‬
‫كمؿ الجما ُؿ مف البحور الكام ُؿ‬
‫َ‬
‫‪-6‬اليزج‪(The Trilling).:‬‬
‫عمى األىزاج تسييؿ‬
‫‪-7‬الرجز‪(The Trembling) :‬‬
‫في أبحر األرجاز بحر يسي ُؿ‬
‫‪-8‬الرمؿ‪(The Running) :‬‬

‫‪230‬‬
 ‫فاعبلتف فاعبلتف فاعبلتف‬ ‫قات‬ ِ ‫رمؿ األبحر يرويو‬
ُ ‫الث ِا ّا‬ َ
(The Swift) :‫السريع‬-9
‫مستفعمف مستفعمف فاعمف‬ ‫بحر سريعٌ ما لو ساح ُؿ‬
ٌ
(The Flowing( :‫المنسرح‬-10
‫ممفعبلت مفتعمف‬
ُ ‫مستفعمف‬ ‫منسرٌح فيو يُضرب المث ُؿ‬
)The Light/Nimble( :‫الخفيؼ‬-11
‫فاعبلتف مستفع لف فاعبلتف‬ ‫يا خفيفاً خفت بو الحركات‬
(The Similar) :‫المضارع‬-12
‫التف‬ ‫فاع‬ ‫مفاعي ُؿ‬ ُ ‫تُ َع اد المضار‬
‫عات‬
(The Lopped/Curtailed) :‫المقتضب‬
ْ -13
‫مفتعمف‬ ‫مفعبلت‬
ُ ‫كما سألوا‬
‫اقتضب‬
ْ
(The Docked/Amputated) :‫المجتث‬-14
‫مستفع لف فاعبلتف‬ ‫الحركات‬
ُ ‫إف ُجث ِت‬
(The Tripping (taking short steps)( :‫المتقارب‬-15
‫فعولف فعولف فعولف فعولف‬ ‫عف المتقارب قاؿ الخمي ُؿ‬
)‫ث‬
ُ ‫( (ويقاؿ لو أيضاً الخبب واْل ُم ْح َد‬The Continuous) :‫المتدارؾ‬َ -16
‫فعمف فعمف فعمف فعمف‬ ‫حركات المحدث تنتق ُؿ‬

Wright goes further and suggests parallel meters in Arabic prosody for each of the
English meters as follows (in Khulusi, 2000: 223-224):

1. Trochee: equivalent to the Trembling, the Swift, the Perfect and the
Exuberant (‫الر َجز‬,
َ ‫السريع‬, ‫الكامؿ‬, and ‫ الوافر‬respectively).
2. Antispastic: equivalent to the Trilling (‫)اليزج‬.
3. Amphibrachic: equivalent to the Tripping (taking short steps), the Long, the
Similar (to the Docked) (‫المتقارب‬,
َ ‫الطويؿ‬, and ‫ المضارع‬in a row).
4. Anapestic: equivalent to the Continuous, the Outspread, the Flowing and the
Lopped/Curtailed (‫المتدارؾ‬, ‫البسيط‬, ‫المنسرح‬, and ‫ المقتضب‬consecutively).
5. Ionic: equivalent to the Running, the Extended, the Light/Nimble and the
Docked/Amputated (‫الرمؿ‬,
َ ‫المديد‬,‫ الخفيؼ‬and ‫ المجتث‬successively).

This is a brave attempt but hardly applicable. Anani rightly says that it is
impossible and futile to claim that there can be correspondence between English
and Arabic meters, due to modulation (transition from one beat to another
abruptly) caused by a change of emotion, attitude, tone, and psychological state
of the character(s) involved (1997:98-99). Both views imply that paramount
significance is assigned to the milestone of any poetic translation, meter, rhyme
and rhythm.

231
 Rhythm is a product of meter, but a text does not have to be metrical in order to
be rhythmic. Free verse, blank verse and prose are a case in point (see below).
Nevertheless, rhythm is usually interconnected with, and concomitant to meter
and rhyme. It is a kind of regular periodic beat that is related to the term
'isochronism' (or equal duration). In phonetics and prosody, rhythm is a pattern of
stressed and unstressed syllables in language. It is a regularity of sounds that is not
unique to poetry, but can be found in speech, advertising and other literary
genres, especially prose. Here are two examples, the first of which is from Dickens'
Dumpey and Son, where he suggests the regularity of movement which matches
the sound of a speeding train (see also Wales, 1989: 410):

"Through the hollow, on the height, by the heath, by the orchard, by the park,
by the garden, over the canal, across the river, where the sheep are feeding,
where the mill is going, where the barge is floating, where the dead are lying,
where the factory is smoking, where the stream is running…"

Whereas rhythm is clear-cut, presupposed and meter-related in verse, in

prose it is based on syntactic-lexical phrase and word groupings, marked in
speech by pauses and in writing by punctuation marks (see also Traugott and
Pratt, 1980). A useful way to feel the rhythm of a passage like this is to rewrite
it in a poetic form as follows:

Through the hollow,

On the height,
By the heath,
By the orchard,
By the park,
By the garden,
Over the canal,
Across the river,

Where the sheep are feeding,

Where the mill is going,
Where the barge is floating,
Where the dead are lying,
Where the factory is smoking,
Where the stream is running

Had it been originally laid out in this form, perhaps nobody would have mistaken it for
poetry. Apart from the difference in the number of lines, the extract can be divided
into two stanzas that have perfect rhythm, a perfect rhyme in the second, and a partial
rhyme in the first. Rhythm is demonstrated by parallelism of consecutive prepositional
phrases in the first stanza, and of relative clauses of place in the second. This kind of
rhythmical description of the traveling of the sound of the speeding train would

232
suggest more than one interpretation. The sound of the train overwhelms, penetrates
and travels through everything, equally and proportionally. Further, the rhythmical
structures are a reflection of the regularity of the movement and bursts of the train
and its sound. A third interpretation is usually suggested by using rhythm and other
sound patterns, that is, the production of aesthetic effect, a function that is not the
least less significant than any other stylistic or semantic function brought about in the
text. Perhaps we like to read such a beautiful, well-patterned and elaborated type of
language, for it pleases our eyes as much as our ears.

Supporting all that is the underlying concept of continuity and permanency suggested
by the use of a rhymed set of continuous tenses, the concept of everywhere-ness
indicated by the prepositions of place of different directions: 'on, by, over, across', and
the concept of profundity demonstrated especially by 'where the dead are lying'.
Semantically speaking, this last evidence of profundity can be an indication of irony
and severe criticism that even the dead are not left alone by the living. After all, the
dead cannot hear anything, anyway!

6.1.4 The Paramountcy of Sound Patterns and Effects

It has been admitted earlier in the discussion of some stylistic effects, implications and
interpretations of major sound patterns that they are interlocked with other syntactic
and semantic features of the style of the text under investigation. After all, sound
patterns cannot be studied on their own separately from other language features.
Indeed, sound patterns and effects have a special caliber in certain texts, literary texts
in general, and poetry in particular. The presence of at least some of the sound
patterns of different types in a poetic text is the prerequisite for such text to be
described as 'poem'. The presence of other features of literary discourse (such as those
pointed out in Chapter Two earlier including rhetorical figures of all kinds, syntactic
and lexical deviations and parallelisms of all types, the manipulation of all language
intricacies and elaborations at different levels of language, and the possibility of
reading at more than one level) is indispensable to a poem, but none is a precondition
for calling it a poem. I want to say that no matter how rhetorical, elaborate, deviant, or
special the language of a poetic text might be, what matters most is the strong,
creative presence and use of sound patterns of different types, however, partially.
Indeed, and as argued throughout this Chapter, translators find poetry as the most
difficult type of text to translate primarily because of the difficulty to render sound
patterns and effects.

In his elaboration of the writer's creative use of language, Leech restricts creativity to
linguistic creativity only. He suggests two conditions to achieve it: (i) if he makes
original use of the established potentials of language; and (ii) if he really goes beyond
these possibilities in the sense that he creates new communicative possibilities which
are not already in language. In either sense, creativity is termed 'inventiveness', or
'originality'. He declares that it is the property of all varieties which have liberal
inclinations, and supremely of poetic language(1969: 24). I would add a third condition
for creativity in poetic writing, that is, the elaborate manipulation of sound patterns of

233
different kinds by poets who may not have a claim for creativity unless this 'sound
patterning condition' is attended to carefully. I suggest this condition for its unparallel
function in poetry. More emphatically, if this condition is not met by writers, their
poetry may not be viewed as poetic in the first place, and, hence, may not be read at
all. I do not mean the absence of rhyme only, but also the disregard of sound patterns
in general, in which case one wonders whether a piece of writing like this can be
labeled in any sense as poetic. Suppose this piece of writing is rich with the most
effective meanings, implications and figures of rhetoric that one can imagine, but the
reader is not interested to look into in principle for the absence of sound patterns. So,
one may ask, 'what is the use of those big meanings, implications and figures of
rhetoric?

I do not mean to say that sound patterns are just a means to an end, a threshold to
poetic texts that once it has achieved its goal, it has exhausted its usefulness. Rather,
sound patterns are representative of the aesthetic constituents, the music of these
texts through isochronic structural parallelisms, measures, feet and beats, without
which they perhaps cease to be poetic. Aesthetics has 'the domino effect' in poetry,
that, in combination with other language components pointed out earlier, it makes up
what is commonly known as poetry. (For illustrative examples, see the rewritings
proposed above for Hopkins' poem, Song V)

As to sound effects, they are the product of sound patterns that are employed by
writers in an intricate, delicate and effective way. It has to be admitted that the
question of what and how sound patterns communicate meaning(s) is one of the
mysterious aspects of literary appreciation (see also Leech, 1969: 95 and Simpson,
2004). Leech points out two sound patterns that can be related directly to meaning:
'Chiming' (e.g. 'mice' and 'men'; 'foul' and 'fair') which is a kind of alliteration that
connects two words by similarity of sound in such a way that we are made to think of
their similitude and interrelationship; and 'Onomatopoeia' which suggests a
resemblance between what a word sounds like, and what it means (see above) (ibid.).

Sound patterns can be said to have some effects that are common to all of them:
aesthetic pleasure similar to that of music (see also Thornborrow and Wareing, 1998:
43); enjoyment of reading and appreciating poetic texts; marking creativity; achieving
macro-contextual cohesion of texts (see also Traugott and Pratt, 1980: 69); opening
the way for collaborative interpretation as a result of interdependence of sound
patterns and another (or other) feature(s) of language of the text; relating sound to
meaning either directly or indirectly in specific contexts; emphasizing a word, a phrase
or a topic; contrasting an idea; juxtaposing two words, concepts, etc.; reflecting a
certain implication of a word, a phrase, or a concept; conformity of words; concepts,
rhetorical figures, etc.; and building up the structure of a poem in an organization of
some kind, to name some.

As to specific sound effects of sound patterns, they can be considered on individual

bases, each in its specific text and context, taken in connection with other stylistic
features of language. That said, the first, and most prominent and significant sound

234
effect, the aesthetic effect, is self-sufficient to provide a strong justification for the
indispensability of sound patterns in poetry in particular that after all mark its
poeticity. Hence, I stress that the absence of any other language feature, other than
those of sound might be tolerated in such text.

6.2 Translating Poetry

It has been said that due to its far-fetched sound / prosodic patterns, poetry is
untranslatable. It has also been claimed that only a poet can translate poetry ((see
Khulusi, 2000). This echoes Dryden's view that a poet cannot be translated but by a
poet (in Schulte, et al, 1992). Further, in an answer to the question, "Can one translate
a poem", Bonnefoy says "of course not" (in ibid.). This view is also held by Jackobson
who says: "Poetry by definition [is] untranslatable" (1959). Likewise, Dante echoes the
same stance for any translation of it would destroy its consistency and charm (in
Khulusi, 2000: 34). This is perhaps due to the speciality of poetry in terms of:

1. Subtlety of language elaboration

2. Subtlety of the spirit of meaning;
3. Charm of style and topic;
4. Aestheticity;
5. Musicality;
6. Prosodic features (of rhyme, rhythm, meter, foot, etc. See above);
7. Syntactic complexity;
8. Semantic intricacies;
9. Special diction;
10.Stylistic patterning;
11.Symbolism;
12.Pragmatic implications;
13.Cultural-specificity;
14.Over-occurrence of figurative language;
15.Far-fetched imagery;
16.Deviation from ordinary language (syntactic, semantic, stylistic and
phonological);
17. Special conventions of reading poetry;
18. Sublimity;
19. Special features of literariness; and
20. Hypersensitivity of romanticism, sentimentalism, emotionalism, passion and
touchiness.
(see also ibid., Denham, in Schulte et al (1992: 20) and Raffel, 1988 & 1994).

The ideal translator of poetry or otherwise according to Al-Jahez should be as follows:

‫ وينبغي أف يكػوف أعم َػـ النػاس‬،‫نفس المعرفة‬ ِ ‫وزف عممو في‬ ْ ‫ في‬،‫ماف مف أف يكوف بيانوُ في نفس الترجمة‬ َ ‫لمترج‬
ُ ‫"وال بد‬
‫ عممنػػا أنػػو قػػد‬،‫ ومتػػى وجػػدناه أيضػاً قػػد تكمّػػـ بمسػػانيف‬،‫اء وغايػػة‬ ِ ِ
ً ‫ حتػػى يكػػوف فييمػػا سػو‬،‫بالمغػػة المنقولػػة والمنقػػوؿ إلييػػا‬
‫ػوف تم اكػ ُػف‬ ٍ
ُ ‫ وكيػػؼ يك‬،‫ وتعتػػرض عمييػا‬،‫ ألف كػؿ واحػػدة مػف المغتػػيف تجػذب األخػػرى وتأخػذ منيػا‬،‫ػيـ عمييمػػا‬ َ ‫أدخػ َؿ الض‬

235
ُ‫ت تمػؾ القػوة‬ْ ‫ػإف تكمّ َػـ بمغ ٍػة واحػدة اسػتُ ْف ِرَغ‬
ْ َ‫ ف‬،‫ وانمػا لػو قػوةٌ واحػدة‬،‫ كتم اكنِو إذا انفرد بالواحػدة‬،‫المساف منيما مجتمعيف فيو‬
‫ػاب مػػف‬ ِ
ُ ‫ػاف البػ‬
َ ‫ وكممػػا كػ‬،‫ وعمػػى حسػػاب ذلػػؾ تكػػوف الترجمػةُ لجميػػع المغػػات‬،‫ػأكثر مػ ْػف لغتػػيف‬ َ ‫إف تكمػػـ بػ‬
ْ ‫ وكػػذلؾ‬،‫عمييمػػا‬
‫ ولػف تجػد البتػةَ مترجمػاً ِيفػي‬،‫ػدر أف يخطػ فيػو‬ ِ
َ ‫ وأج‬،‫ كػاف أشػد عمػى المتػرجـ‬،‫ػاء بػو أقػؿ‬ ُ ‫ والعمم‬،‫العمػـ أعس َػر وأضػيؽ‬
".‫احد مف ىؤالء العمماء‬ ٍ ‫بو‬

It is true that the best translator of poetry is a poet translator, this attitude is idealistic
and Platonic, but neither practical nor realistic. Poetry has been and is being translated
satisfactorily even by non-poets.

Therefore, I suggest modifying these claims as follows:

"Poetry is probably the most difficult type of text to translate, yet it is translatable not
solely by a poet, but also by a good translator provided he/she has a good grip of both
English and Arabic languages and essentials of prosody. A good translation of a poem
is not necessarily perfect translation, exactly like the translation of any other type of
text."

As usual, at translating poetry, precedence is given to rhyme and rhythm in particular,

then to foot and meter over other prosodic features for they are the cornerstone of
verse. Consequently, a poem with no rhyme and rhythm in particular would be
considered in effect poor, because what sets poetry aside from ordinary language is
chiefly its aesthetic, prosodic features, on top of which are rhyme and rhythm. This is
the case - especially in Arabic - for the norms of writing, reading, perceiving and,
hence, translating poetry are to be rhymed and rhythmical. Otherwise, perhaps it is
not worthy of interest in the eyes of the public in general. This view is confirmed by
the criticism of ‘blank verse’ in Arabic in the forties-sixties of the Twentieth Century,
which is a kind of modern poetry with no concern with rhyme and rhythm. It is closer
to prose, rather. Hence its notorious nickname, ‘prosaic poetry’, which insinuates its
semi-poetic identity. Yet, some accept it as a good solution at times to the translation
of some poems (see Khulusi, 2000: 35-36). This type of poetry should not be confused
with the well-established and fully recognized ‘free verse’, which is based on stanzaic
rhyme, rhythm, foot and meter, the basics of classical poetry (or Qasidah), with some
differences between the two types concerning the layout and number of rhymes in
the same poem, though (see also Bassnet-McGuire et al, 1995; Lefeveré, 1975 &
1992).

I distinguish between the two terms, 'poetic' as really poetic, and 'poetical', as poorly
poetic, or pseudo-poetic. Therefore, the following texts suggested for discussion
below are translated mainly into poetic (i.e. literary) and poetical (ordinary) versions
of translation. While the latter is based on translating sense regardless of any concern
with sound features, the former is based on constructing the source texts in the Target
Language in poetic terms of sound / prosodic features, giving precedence to the major
sound patterns of rhyme, rhythm, foot and meter of some kind in particular for the
reasons just pointed out:

236
6.3 SONG V

‘O where are you going’ ? Said reader to rider

‘That valley is fatal when furnaces burn,
Yonder’s the midden whose odors will madden,
‘That gap is the grave where the tall return’.

‘O do you imagine’, said fearer to farer,

‘That dusk will delay on your path to the pass,
That diligent looking discover the lacking
Your footsteps feel from granite to grass?

‘O what was that bird’, said horror to hearer,

‘Did you see that shape in the twisted trees?
Behind you swiftly the figure comes softly,
The spot on your skin is a shocking disease’.

‘Out of this house’-said rider to reader,

‘Yours never will’-said farer to fearer,
‘They’re looking for you’-said hearer to horror,
As he left them there, as he left them there.
(W.H. Auden. From Carter, 1982)
(Semi-poetic Translation 1)
‫لمفارس‬
ْ ‫أيف ذىابؾ يا ىذا؟ قاؿ القارئ‬
‫ذاؾ الوادي مميت حينما تشتعؿ األفراف‬
‫بجنوف‬ ٍ
‫منتنة‬ ‫ائح‬
ْ َ ‫ىنالؾ مزبمة برو‬
‫الجباروف‬
ْ ‫تمؾ اليوة قبر حيث يعود‬

‫لمسائر‬
ْ ‫ىؿ تتخيؿ يا ىذا؟ قاؿ الخائؼ‬
ِ
‫لميرب‬ ‫أف الغسؽ يعيؽ سبيمؾ‬
ِ ‫والنظرة جداً ثاقبةٌ في كشؼ‬
‫العَي ِب‬
ِ
‫العشب؟‬ ‫في وقع خطاؾ عمى الصمب والى‬

‫يسمع‬
ْ ‫ قاؿ اليمع لمف‬،‫"ما ذاؾ الطائر" يا ىذا‬
‫أرأيت إلى ذاؾ الشب ِح بيف األشجار الممتويو؟‬
‫بروي ْو‬
ّ ‫الشبح‬ ‫عجمو يأتيؾ‬
ْ ِ ‫ِمف‬
‫خمفؾ في‬
ُ
‫جمديو‬
ْ ٍ
‫طفحات‬ ‫ومرضؾ رىيب في‬

،‫ئ‬
ْ ‫البيت"قاؿ الفارس لمقار‬
ْ ‫"خارج ىذا‬
‫لمخائؼ‬
ْ ‫"خطواتؾ أبداً لف تثمر" قاؿ السائر‬

237
 ،‫ قاؿ السامع لميم ِع‬-"‫ماضوف‬
ْ ‫"إذ في إثْرؾ ىـ‬
.‫ حيف ىنالؾ خمّفيـ‬... ‫حيف ىنالؾ خمفيـ‬

The Arabic version is described as semi-poetic due to the lack of perfect rhyme. It
is based on the following:

1. Achieving rhyme as much as possible.

2. Creating as much rhythm as possible and by any possible means in the
context of the poem.
3. Playing as much as struggling with synonyms, near or close, to realize ‘1’ and
‘2’ to a maximum degree possible.
4. Feeling free at changing the grammatical/stylistic structure, in regard to word
order (i.e. foregrounding, backgrounding and deviation from language norms)
and word classes (i.e. using nouns instead of adjectives, verbs instead of
nouns, plural for singular, etc.) in particular. This is done primarily to achieve
rhyme and rhythm, and better collocability among words (i.e. which word
goes with which word), mainly for aesthetic reasons, alongside precision of
meaning whenever possible.
5. Employing lexical and grammatical gaps (i.e. syntactic structures and words
left out of the poem but implied within).

The English original does not rhyme perfectly, which puts it on equal footing with the
Arabic translation which is not perfectly rhymed too. Take for example, the first line of
each stanza which does not rhyme with the rest of the lines of the stanza (see ،‫للفيارس‬
‫ للقييار‬،‫ للسييامل‬،‫)للسييائر‬. However, they are made to achieve a semi-rhyme with one
another by virtue of the long )‫ (آ‬/æ/, which is a common motif (or main feature)
among them, and their strong end-stop )‫(سيكون‬. Also, )‫ (أفيران‬half-rhymes with ،‫(بجنيون‬
)‫ الجبيارون‬. The last stanza (or quatrain) has no end-rhyme at all. Yet meter and foot
compensate for that somehow.

Rhythm, on the other hand, is perfectly achieved in Arabic in terms of meter

)‫اليوزن‬/‫ (البحر‬and foot )‫ (التفعٌلية‬in accordance with Arabic prosody. A careful, prosodic
reading of the whole poem may confirm that.

As to synonymy, it plays a critical role in the realization of rhyme and rhythm. Many
words are chosen among large lexical sets from which translators can feel free to
some extent to select the closest word(s) - especially key words - to achieve both
features, and then accuracy of meaning, sometimes closely, sometimes loosely. In any
case, the selected synonym is a kind of concept that has to be within the range of the
semantic dimension of the original word of the SL poem. This is how it is done in
practice (see also Ghazala, 2008/2012c):

6.3.1 A Sample Example

238
Take, for example, the title word, ‘song’. We start looking for the commonest Arabic
word for it. It is of course, )‫(أغنيػة‬. Then we check some of its synonyms like ،‫ نشػيد‬،‫(أنشػودة‬
)‫ طقطوقػة‬،‫ موشػح‬،‫أُرجػوزة‬. Perhaps we need a reference of some kind to help us in our
search, say, a dictionary of synonyms in both languages. Luckily they are available in
English, but unfortunately they are not many in Arabic (but see Al-Askari, 1990, a
unique reference on synonyms, and Ghaleb, 2003). However, good bilingual
dictionaries are at readers' disposal, and can be quite useful. Having collected some
good synonyms, we can now compare them to one another to choose the most
appropriate in this certain context, bearing in mind sense, rhyme and rhythm. The best
choice is the one that meets the conditions of the three together, then rhyme and
rhythm, then meaning only. In other types of text, however, priority is given to
meaning.

On the other hand, the title allows for more space for freedom of choice that may go
beyond its direct meaning to a metaphorical meaning of similar sense. The election of
)‫ (أنشػودة‬brings to mind a world and a concept that is different from that of the most
popular, ‘‫’أغنيػة‬. It is culturally, socially and ideologically more serious, formal, poetic,
emotive and respectful than the latter which is less serious, formal, lighter and usually
connotes popular love poetry unless modified )as in ‫وطنيػة‬/‫( (أغنيػة دينية‬religious/national
song). )‫(نشػيد‬, on the other hand, is confined to certain ideological and political concepts
of nationalism, religion and occasionally social topics (cf. ‘the National Anthem’ ‫(النشػيد‬
)‫الػوطني‬. So it may not be the best choice here. The remaining three terms are of
narrowly specific reference to certain types of cultural traditional Arabic popular songs
and ballads. Therefore, they are left out.

More difficult and confusing than that is the decision to select the proper word among
a host of choices available in language for some key words in the poem, which are
after all representative of diverse concepts of varying degrees. At the same time, a
wide choice like this would facilitate the process. A good example might be the key
word, ‘horror’: the list of synonyms (or concepts of various degrees of similarity) is
long, including the following:(‫ رىبػػة‬،‫ خشػية‬،‫ جػزع‬،‫ وجػػؿ‬،‫ (فػزع‬،‫ ىمػع‬،‫ رعػػب‬،‫ خػوؼ شػديد‬،‫خػػوؼ‬. The
choice of )‫ (ىمػع‬is based on two criteria: (1) the degree of the feeling of fear in ‘horror’,
which is the highest (see 2.2. earlier); and (2) rhyme and rhythm, as )‫ (ىمػع‬rhymes
partially with )‫(سػامع‬, and at the same time meets the requirements of meter and foot
(i.e. rhythm) in Arabic. Nevertheless, not all words of the poem are of equal
importance, or have a wide range of synonyms (e.g. ‘reader, going, looking, discover,
madden, trees, hearer and the greater part of words). However, this limits the
freedom of choice, which in turn might affect rhyme and rhythm in particular.
The change of word order is invested to a maximum in Arabic for its flexibility much
more than the English word order. Further, the stylistic technique of deviation from
the normal word order is always licensed and justified in Arabic poetry. Hence the

239
well-known statements: )‫( (يجػوز لمشػاعر مػا ال يجػوز لغيػره‬Lit. ‘What is permissible for the
poet is not permissible for others’); and (‫ ضػرورة الشػعر‬/ ‫( )الضػرورة الشػعرية‬poetic license).
e.g.

(a) )‫ (النظرة جداً ثاقبة‬instead of )ً‫(النظرة ثاقبة جدا‬

(b) )‫عجمو يأتيؾ الشبح‬
ْ ‫ (مف خمفؾ في‬rather than )... ‫(يأتيؾ الشبح مف خمفؾ‬
(c) )‫ (خطواتؾ أبداً لف تثمر‬in the place of )ً‫(لف تثمر خطواتؾ أبدا‬
(d) )‫ (إذ في إثرؾ ىـ ماضوف‬instead of )‫(إذ ىـ ماضوف في إثرؾ‬
(e) )‫(حيف ىنالؾ خمّفيـ‬, replacing )‫(حيف خمفيـ ىنالؾ‬

The disruption of the word order of these phrases is primarily for achieving rhyme and
rhythm. However, this is vitally significant for the poem and its approval by readers.

As regards the alteration of the grammatical classes of words, it is another tool used in
the translation of poetry to accomplish rhyme and rhythm again. e.g.

(a) (going(v.)) → )‫( (ذىاب‬n.)

(b) (madden(v.)) → )‫( (بجنوف‬adv./prepositional phrase)
(c) (pass)(n.)) → )‫( (لميرب‬prep. phrase)
(d) (shocking disease(adj.+n.)) → )‫( (في طفحات‬prep. phrase)
(e) (looking for(v.)) → )‫( (في إثر‬prep. phrase)
(f) (discover(v.)) → )‫( (في كشؼ‬prep. phrase)
(g) (hearer(n.)) → )‫( (مف يسمع‬relative clause: relat.pron.+v.)
(h) (lacking(singular)) ِ (plural)
→ )‫(العَي ِب‬

(f) is quite interesting for it involves changing not only the word class, but also
changing it into a prepositional phrase, which is quite rare in language varieties other
than poetry. But the most interesting example is the last one which is an employment
of ‘poetic license’. That is, in Arabic, the plural of )‫(ع ْيػب‬ ِ
َ is )‫ (عيػوب‬not )‫ (عَيػب‬which is a
deviant form used here as a poetic license for reasons of rhyme and rhythm.

The final procedure employed in the translation of this poem is the so-called ‘lexical
and grammatical gaps’ )‫( (الفُػ َػرُج المفظيػػة والقواعديػػة‬see Newmark, 1988: ch. 12; and its
translation, Ghazala, 2004/2006). They refer to grammatical features and words that
are missing from the original text, but implied in it and understood from context. Here
are illustrative examples from the poem:

(1) )‫ (الصمب‬implies )‫األرض‬/‫( (الصخر‬i.e. ‫األرض الصمبة‬/‫)الصخر الصمب‬

(2) )‫ (في طفَحات‬with ))‫ (يظير (في شكؿ‬missing, but implied.

240
 (3) )‫ (ىـ في إثرؾ‬implies the omitted )‫ماضوف في إثرؾ‬/‫آتوف‬/‫(قادموف‬
(4) )‫ (يا ىذا‬used once in every stanza, to stand for an implied
vocative in the original.

These gaps are frequent in language, especially the Holy Koran, poetry and
conversation. They are missing words or grammatical structures and categories for
reasons of rhetoric, rhyme and rhythm, clarity of meaning and/or conciseness. All
these reasons are employed in poetry whenever necessary. Here, they are generally
used for convenience of rhyme and rhythm in the main. The last example goes in the
opposite direction, used to fill in a lexical gap of vocative )‫ (النػداء‬in Arabic, but not in
English, for there is no style of vocative case in English grammar as is known in Arabic.
As to grammatical gaps, they are not exemplified in Arabic for many of them -like the
subject, object, and topic and comment in particular- are common and used
sometimes unconsciously in almost any piece of Arabic language, whether written or
spoken. They are tacit )‫ (مسػتترة‬or implicit )‫مضػمرة‬/‫(مقَدرة‬
ُ . Therefore, examples would be
redundant and unnecessary.

Now, another Arabic version for the last three stanzas of Auden’s poem is suggested
below. It is completely free and made to conform perfectly to the classical Arabic
poetry (i.e. Qasidah (i.e. ‫ القصػيدة‬/ ‫ )الشػعر العمػودي‬in terms of layout, rhyme and rhythm
(see also Lefeveré, 1992: ch. 6). Only the spirit of the message of the original is
retained, as the following version may demonstrate:

(Poetic Translation)

‫وعب ار‬
ّ ‫الرعب قاؿ‬ ‫طير ما جرى‬
ُ ‫ما الخطب‬
‫أشباح رعب قد ترى‬ ‫المعتؿ في أحشائو‬
ّ ‫لمسامع‬
‫مف خمفؾ الرعب سرى‬ ٍ
‫أشجار لوت‬ ‫في جوؼ‬
‫فوؽ الثرى تحت الثرى‬ ٍ
‫بنعومة‬ ٍ
‫بعجالة‬
‫جمد تبقع واىت ار‬
ٌ ‫يا مبتمى ىذا الوبا‬
‫ومغادر مف بيتنا‬ ‫يا قارئاً أنا فارس‬
‫ماتت خطاؾ فسر بنا‬ ‫يا خائفاً أنا سائر‬
‫في إثرؾ أشباحنا‬ ‫يا رعبنا أنا سامع‬
‫في مأمف عنا ىنا‬ ‫حيف نأى عنيـ ىناؾ‬

The poem’s meter is the popular )‫( (البحػػر الكامػػؿ‬Lit.: ‘The Perfect meter’), which is
two/three long feet for each hemistich(i.e. ‫ )شطر‬of the line of verse, as follows:

0//0/// 0//0/// 0//0///

)‫متفاعمف‬ ‫متَفاعمف‬ ‫(مت ْافاعمف‬
َ

241
The more important point to focus on is the drastic changes made on the English
original in the Arabic version. Although the general sense is retained, many things
have been sacrificed for the sake of producing a classical Arabic poem with perfect
rhyme and rhythm. It might sound like any well-written Arabic poem with all its
aesthetic, prosodic features and poetic atmosphere. At first sight, the poem looks
completely new, but a careful consideration will confirm that it is derived directly from
the English poem, apparently by retaining key words like ،‫ سػائر‬،‫ خػائؼ‬،‫ سػامع‬، ‫ رعػب‬،‫(طيػر‬
)... ‫ أشػػجار‬،‫ جمػػد‬and the ongoing dialogue among the characters of the original in
particular. This dialogue which is made use of here turns the poem into a dialogic
poetic discourse that the characters, or participants, are engaged in a kind of
ideological argument that ends up with a kind of defiance of 'horror' by other
interlocutors, which implies a courageous attitude toward destructive powers on
earth.

It must be admitted, though, that the process is quite hard to go through safely and
properly. It is extremely difficult to convert an English poem into an Arabic poem the
way exemplified for here, for translators are not thought of as poets. After all, to
translate poetry satisfactorily, we are not required to be poets. Rather, we can have a
bash at translating poetry with sense, first, and rhyme and rhythm, second, in case we
cannot achieve both, as demonstrated below in practice. Certainly such a translation
would be much poorer than the original, but it manages to get the message through at
least with little enjoyment, though, which is the minimum requirement.

The fact remains that producing a perfectly rhymed, metered and footed Arabic poem
like the one suggested in the second version of the last two poems, is not impossible.
Good knowledge of both English and Arabic, familiarity with Arabic prosody and rules
of rhyme and rhythm, and accumulated experience can guarantee good translation
and careful manipulation of the possible stylistic choices available at all levels of
language. The process of translating poetry should be carefully pursued with regards
to lexical, structural and phonological choices of style and their connotations,
implications and effects.

6.4 Poem (1): Lucy (II)

She dwelt among th’untrodden ways

Beside the springs of Dove,
A maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love.

A violet by a mossy stone

Half-hidden from the eye!
Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.

242
 She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and oh,
The difference to me!
(William Wordsworth. From Carter and Brumfit (eds.), 1986: 135)

(Poetical Translation)
‫لوسي‬
‫سكنت بيف الطرؽ التي لـ يطأىا أحد‬
‫بجانب ينابيع نير دوؼ اإلنجميزي‬
‫عذراء لـ يوجد أحد يمتدحيا‬
.‫وقمة مف الناس يحبونيا‬

‫بنفسجة بجوار حجرة طحمبية‬

!‫نصؼ متخفية عف العيوف‬
‫ حينما إحداىا‬،‫جميمة كنجمة‬
.‫تتؤلأل في السماء‬

‫ وقمة تسنى ليـ أف يعرفوا‬،‫عاشت غير معروفة‬

‫متى توقفت لوسي عف الحياة‬
،‫ ويا إليي‬،‫لكنيا في قبرىا‬
!‫كـ الفرؽ شاسع عندي‬

This version is a literal, direct and close translation of the sense of the original, paying
no heed to aesthetic, or prosodic features of rhyme, rhythm and meter. Therefore, it is
poetic in form, layout and literal meaning only, but poetical in language and spirit.
Perhaps a poetic version may illustrate the point more sharply :

(Poetic Translation 1)
‫ييمو‬
ْ ‫قد عاشت بيف الطرقات الب‬
‫القديمو‬
ْ ‫عند منابع النير‬
‫بكممو‬
ْ ‫عذراء ما أحد مدحيا‬
‫شرذمو‬
ْ ‫وما أحبيا إال‬

‫طحمبي ْو‬
ّ ‫حجرْه‬
ْ ‫بنفسجو بجوار‬
ْ
!‫متخفيو‬
ْ ‫عف العيوف‬
‫لؤلؤيو‬
ْ ‫جميمة كنجمة‬

243
 ‫متجمي ْو‬
ّ ‫وحدىا في السماء‬

‫فت‬ْ ‫ وقمةٌ عر‬،‫مجيولةً عاشت‬

‫انطفأت‬
ْ ‫حيف اختفت لوسي وحياتيا‬
‫ يا ويمتي‬،‫لكنيا في قبرىا‬
ِ
!‫شتاف ما بيف حياتيا والموت‬

(See also Ghazala, 2008/2012). The Arabic Translation gives priority to constructing a
poetic form based on rhyme and rhythm, but usually not at the expense of meaning,
though. Sacrifices have been brought to minimum. To achieve that, three main
procedures have been employed freely, one grammatical/linguistic, another lexical,
and a third translational:

1. Transposition: The change of normal word order:

‫عف العيوف متخفية‬ instead of ‫متخفية عف العيوف‬
‫في السماء متجمية‬ instead of ‫متجمية في السماء‬
‫مجيولة عاشت‬ rather than ‫عاشت مجيولة‬
‫قمة عرفت‬ instead of ‫عرفت قمة‬
‫ حياتيا انطفأت‬instead of ‫انطفأت حياتيا‬
2. Synonymy: e.g.
‫ بييمة‬rather than ‫ مجيولة‬/‫ال رجعة منيا‬/‫المولود فييا مفقود‬
‫ شرذمة‬instead of ‫مجموعة‬/‫حفنة‬/‫قمة قميمة‬
‫ متخفية‬instead of ‫خفية‬/‫مختفية‬/‫مختبئة‬/
‫ لؤلؤية‬not )‫ (متؤللئة‬for instance
‫ متجمية‬preferred to ‫ساطعة‬/‫المعة‬
3. Expansion: This procedure means the translation of one word into two or
more words in Arabic:
‘Praise’ )‫يمتدح‬/‫ (يمدح‬is translated into )‫(لـ يمتدحيا أحد‬
‘The difference to me’)‫(شتاف ما بيف حياتيا والموت) (الفرؽ كبير لي‬

The type of rhyme of the English poem (which is here a-b-a-b) is usually ignored in
favor of a type of rhyme of Arabic Modern poetry, which is a stanzaic rhyme (i.e.
each stanza has one rhyme). This is one more concession made to the target
readership. All in all, focus has been on creating an elaborate poetic style that
may combine all the intricacies of that of the original, especially sound intricacies.
Behind all this is a cognitive conceptualization of the source text's phonological
features of style in a rhythmical, rhymed, alliterative and consequently aesthetic
target translation, mainly based on the following:

1. Achieving rhyme as perfectly as possible.

244
 2. Creating as much rhythm as possible and by any possible means in the
context of the poem.
3. Playing as much as struggling with synonyms, near or close, to realize ‘1’ and
‘2’ to a maximum degree possible.
4. Feeling free at changing the grammatical/stylistic structure, in regard to word
order (i.e. foregrounding, backgrounding and deviation from language norms)
and word classes (i.e. using nouns instead of adjectives, verbs instead of
nouns, plural for singular, etc.) in particular. This is done primarily to achieve
rhyme and rhythm, and better collocability among words (i.e. which word
goes with which word), mainly for aesthetic reasons, alongside precision of
meaning whenever possible.
5. Employing lexical and grammatical gaps (i.e. syntactic structures and words
left out of the poem but implied within).

Here is another possible poetic translation which is based mainly on rhythm, foot and
partly meter, suggested by Anani:

(Poetic Translation 2)
‫عاشت بعيداً حيث ال تخطو قدـ‬
‫عند الينابيع بأعمى النير‬
‫لكف ما تغنى ُحسنيا‬
ْ ‫حسناء‬
ُ
!‫وال ىواىا عاشؽ مف بشر‬

‫ىي كالبنفسج عند صخر معشب‬

‫يخفى عف العيف بياه‬
‫ ىي مثؿ نجـ ساطع‬... ‫ىي فتنة‬
‫يبدو وحيداً في سماه‬

‫يعرؼ‬
ْ ‫عاشت بمعزليا ولـ‬
‫قضت‬
ْ ‫إال القميؿ متى‬
‫لكنيا في قبرىا يا ويمتا‬
!‫واحر قمبي إذ مضت‬
(Anani, 2004: 162-163)

Both of the previous two versions share the major features of poetic translation
outlined above. It is left to readers to decide as for which one they go.

245
6.5 Poem (2): The Sick Rose (William Blake)

O Rose, thou art sick!

The invisible worm
That flies in the night
In the howling storm:

Has found out thy bed

Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does the life destroy!
(William Blake, Songs of Experience. In Anani, ibid.: 163-4)

(Poetical Translation)
‫عميمة يا وردتي‬
‫فالدودةُ الخفية التي‬
‫تحوـ في الميالي حيف تعوي العاصفة‬
‫قد عثرت عمى فراشؾ الذي‬
‫تحوطو أفراحو الوردية‬
‫لكف عشقيا الدفيف والعميؽ‬
‫يمتص مف كيانؾ الرحيؽ‬
!‫ويرشؼ الحياة مف حبؿ الوريد‬
(Anani, ibid.)

This version is poetical not in the bad sense, but in the sense that it has sacrificed
rhyme and rhythm to some extent in favor of what the translator describes as the
syntactic continuum among lines, for the poem is one organic sentence whose
meaning cannot be understood before the last word – although he has broken down
his commitment to that by adding ‫ كٌاني الرح حٌيق‬oddly just for achieving rhyme! It is a
united whole that should not be sacrificed for prosodic and aesthetic features. Anani
claims that the translator's commitment to the monotonous (?) rhyme and rhythm
here disrupts the dramatic psychological and sentimental state of the poem.
Therefore, Anani continues, it is recommended either to go for a shade of rhythm that
may not distract the reader's / listener's concentration on meaning and dramatic
imagery, or disregard rhythm completely.

Anani here calls by implication for the precedence of subject matter and feelings over
prosody and aesthetics in the translation of poetry for no good reasons. First, the
follow-up of sentence structure cannot be broken down by rhyme and rhythm, as the
English original confirms. Further, all evidence from English and Arabic literature of
poetry as well as the Holy Koran confirms that rhyme and rhythm do not interrupt the

246
flow and connectivity of the parts of meaning and emotions of long syntactic
stretches. Here are examples, starting with the Holy Koran:

‫بِ ْسِـ الم ِو الر ْح َم ِف الر ِح ِيـ‬

ِ ‫) والػ ِػذيف ُىػػـ لِمزَكػ‬3( ‫) والػ ِػذيف ُىػػـ عػ ِػف الم ْغػ ِػو مع ِرضػػوف‬2( ‫اشػػعوف‬ ِ ِ ِ ِ
‫ػاة‬ ْ َ َ َ ُ ُْ َ ْ َ َ َ ُ ‫صػ َػبلت ِي ْـ َخ‬
َ ‫يف ُىػ ْػـ فػػي‬ َ ‫) الػػذ‬1( ‫ػوف‬ َ ‫ػح اْل ُم ْؤ ِم ُنػ‬
َ ‫قَػ ْػد أَ ْفمَػ‬
ْ ‫) إِال َعمَػػى أ َْزَوا ِج ِيػ ْػـ أ َْو َمػػا َممَ َكػ‬5( ‫وف‬ ِ ِ ِ ِ
َ ‫ػت أ َْي َمػػانُيُ ْـ فَػِإنيُ ْـ َغ ْيػ ُػر َممُػػو ِم‬
‫) فَ َمػ ِػف‬6( ‫يف‬ َ ُ‫يف ُىػ ْػـ لفُػ ُػرو ِج ِي ْـ َحػػافظ‬َ ‫) َوالػػذ‬4( ‫وف‬ َ ُ‫فَػػاعم‬
ِ ِ ِ ِِ ِ ‫) وال ِذيف ُىـ ِأل‬7( ‫ادوف‬ َ ِ‫ؾ فَأُولَئ‬َ ِ‫اء َذل‬
َ ُ‫صػمَ َوات ِي ْـ يُ َحػافظ‬
‫وف‬ َ ‫يف ُى ْـ َعمَػى‬ َ ‫) َوالذ‬8( ‫وف‬ َ ‫اع‬ ُ ‫َم َانات ِي ْـ َو َع ْيدى ْـ َر‬ َ ْ َ َ َ ُ ‫ؾ ُى ُـ اْل َع‬ َ ‫ْابتَ َغى َوَر‬
.)9(

Grammatically speaking, these verses are one sentence long that can be rewritten as
follows:

‫ والػذيف‬،‫ والػذيف ىػـ لمزكػاة فػاعموف‬،‫ والذيف ىـ عف المغو معرضوف‬،‫قد أفمح المؤمنوف الذيف ىـ في صبلتيـ خاشعوف‬
‫ فمػف ابتغػى وراء ذلػؾ فأولئػؾ ىػـ‬،‫ إال عمى أزواجيـ أو ما ممكت أيمػانيـ فػإنيـ غيػر ممػوميف‬- ‫ىـ لفروجيـ حافظوف‬
.‫ والذيف ىـ عمى صمواتيـ يحافظوف‬،‫ والذيف ىـ ألماناتيـ وعيدىـ راعوف‬- ‫العادوف‬

The first verse is the main clause, followed by eight subordinate clauses, six relative
clauses and two interruptive clauses (5 and six). Notably, the flow of the sentence and
its complete meaning has not been interrupted, or disrupted. More significantly,
rhyme has not turned the sentence nor meaning monotonous, quite the reverse,
monotony has been broken down and the verses – as clauses - assigned further
emphatic force both semantically and emotionally.

)10( ‫اف َي ْو َمئٍِذ أ َْي َف اْل َمفَار‬ ِْ ‫) َيقُو ُؿ‬9( ‫) و ُج ِمع الش ْم ُس واْلقَم ُر‬8( ‫ؼ اْلقَم ُر‬
ُ ‫اإل ْن َس‬ َ َ َ َ َ َ ‫) َو َخ َس‬7( ‫ص ُر‬
َ ‫ؽ اْلَب‬ َ ‫فَِإ َذا َب ِر‬
Syntactically speaking, these verses compose one conditional sentence that has two
conditional parts as follows:
.‫اف َي ْو َمئٍِذ أ َْي َف اْل َمفَار‬ ِْ ‫ َيقُو ُؿ‬/ ‫ و ُج ِمع الش ْم ُس واْلقَم ُر‬،‫ؼ اْلقَم ُر‬
ُ ‫اإل ْن َس‬ َ َ َ َ َ َ ‫ َو َخ َس‬،‫ص ُر‬ َ ‫ؽ ا ْلَب‬َ ‫َافِإ َذا َب ِر‬

I wonder if any monotony or flow of meaning is felt because of rhyme and rhythm
here.
‫كخرز جمعف في نظاـ‬ ‫حتى إذا كانوا مف التئاـ‬
‫وابف أبي طالب الضرغاـ‬ ‫رماىـ بحمزة اليماـ‬
‫ذي الفضؿ والمجد الرفيع السامي‬ ‫الباتر الميند الصمصاـ‬
‫وأحكموا بأقبح اإلحكاـ‬ ‫فأولموا بأوجع اإليبلـ‬
‫بخير ما كيؿ وما غبلـ‬ ‫وأصبحت خطرة االقتساـ‬
)2009 ،‫ ار بديوي وآخروف‬.‫(أبو بكر الصديؽ رضي اهلل عنو‬
The whole lines are one sentence long. They have perfect rhyme, rhythm, meter and
all prosodic and aesthetic features of the traditional Arabic poetry, yet, we feel no
monotony, distortion or break-up of meaning. The literary stylistic effects are those of
more attraction, attention and assertion.

247
Here is an example (quoted partly on p. 111 earlier for another point) where the main
verb occurs so late in the poem, at the beginning of the fourth stanza (underlined) :

Here
"Swerving east, from rich industrial shadows
And traffic all night north; swerving through fields
Too thin and thistled to be called meadows,
And now and then a harsh-named that, that shields
Workmen at dawn; swerving to solitude
Of skies and scarecrows, haystacks, hares and pheasants,
And the widening river's slow presence.
The piled gold clouds, the shining gull-marked mud,

Gathers to the surprise of a large town:

Here domes and statues, spires and cranes cluster
Beside grain-scattered streets, barge-crowded water,
And residents from raw estates, brought down
The dead straight miles by stealing flat-faced trolleys,
Push through plate-glass swing doors to their desires -
Cheap suits, red kitchen-ware, sharp shoes, iced lollies,
Electric mixers, toasters, washer, driers -
A cut-price crowd, urban yet simple, dwelling
Where only salesmen and relations come
Within a terminate and fishy-smelling
Pastoral of ships up streets, the slave museum,
Tattoo-shops, consulates, grim head-scarfed wives;
And out beyond its mortgaged half-built edges
Fast-shadowed wheat fields, running high as hedges,
Isolate villages, where removed lives

Loneliness clarifies. …"

(Philip Larkin, Here, in Toolan, 1998: 1-2).

Clearly, Larkin's poem is well rhymed and rhythmical in accordance to the standard
rules of traditional English poetry. Yet it has not come at odds with a very long and
complex sentence structure of primarily noun phrases.

Hence, although we admit a strong link between the stylistic features of sounds to
meaning, Anani's argument is not valid for other better alternatives are available to
the translator. One of them is to look for a meter whose units of rhyme and rhythm,
feet and beats, correspond to the emotional and psychological state of the poem (e.g.
'The long )‫(الطوٌل‬, the Outspread )‫(البسٌط‬, for example, may fit a sad condition, whereas
the Perfect )‫(الكامل‬, the Swift )‫ (السرٌل‬embrace light, brisk and happy state, etc.).
However, I do not think that this is quite practical. Another alternative that can work
well in practice is to make some kind of attunement, a reconciliation between subject

248
matter and sound patterning by retaining a good proportion of rhyme, rhythm and
meter alongside insistence on the topic and psychological and sentiments of the poem
through appropriate syntactic and semantic choices throughout. A third alternative,
which is my own preference, is to focus first and foremost on constructing a poetic
translation of the best possible sound patterns of rhyme, rhythm and meter possible
even at the expense of meaning, but only to a limited extent. My argument is based on
the fact that poetry - especially Arabic poetry – is not favored tasted, or even read in
the first place unless rhymed and metered even though it tackles the most delicate of
topics. So, precedence should be given to prosody in order that a translation of poetry
sounds like poetry.

After all, the English original is not exactly a continuum, for a colon is used twice in
between – but they are dropped in Anani's version, and the pronoun of 'her love'
should be corrected as 'his love'. Therefore, Anani's translation of the two stanzas of
the original into one stanza in Arabic is not justified for the reasons claimed above. To
confirm these claims, I suggest the following translation of Blake's poem with regular
rhyme and rhythm:

(Poetic Translation)
‫ٌا روز ٌا زهرتً الشجٌة‬
‫الدودة الخفٌة‬
‫فً جولة لٌلٌة‬
:‫فً العاصفة العتٌة‬

‫عثرت على فراش الوثٌر‬

:‫قوامه األفراح والعبٌر‬
‫لكن حبه الدفٌن الغزٌر‬
.‫لرحٌل المحتوم بالناٌر‬

This version is constructed with a view to achieving a maximum degree possible of

rhyme, rhythm and meter in accordance with the individual foot of 'free verse'. I guess
it sounds more poetic now, with no interruption of the syntactic sequence, sense or
emotional power of the original. On the contrary, the rhyme of the first stanza reflects
the implicit emotions of sighing and moaning, whereas the stop consonant /r/ is
possibly reflexive of the stop of Rose's life. There has been no diversion from the
meaning of the original because of rhyme except in ‫( الشجٌة‬grieved) as a translation of
one implication of 'sick'. As usual, the reader's judgment is crucial to distinguish the
poetic from the poetical version of translation.

6.6 Poem (3): Virgil's The Aeneid (BK. II, P.B.36)

Who can express the slaughter of that night

249
 Or tell the number of the corpses slain?
Or can in tears bewail them worthily?
The ancient famous city falleth down
That many years did hold such signiory
With senseless bodies every street is spread,
Each palace and sacred porch of the gods.
(Surrey, The Aeneid, BK. II, P.B.36. In Anani, 1997: 1918-19))

This stanza is representative of 'epic poetry' )‫(الشػعر الممحمػي‬, which is close to what is
described in Arabic traditional literature 'Fortitude poetry )‫(شػعر الحماسػة؛ الحماسػات‬. To
those who are interested in the literal sense of these lines, a poetical version can be
suggested as follows:

(Poetical translation)
‫مف يستطيع أف يعبر عف المذبحة في تمؾ الميمة‬
‫أو يخبرنا عف عدد الجثث المذبوحة؟‬
‫أو يستطيع أف يذرؼ الدموع وينتحب عمييا باستحقاؽ؟‬
‫تسقط المدينة القديمة الشييرة‬
‫التي تشبثت لسنيف طويمة بالسيادة‬
‫بأجساد فقدت إحساسيا انتشرت في كؿ شارع‬
.‫وكؿ قصر ورواؽ مقدس لآللية‬

Clearly, there is no concern with prosodic features of any kind, only literal sense,
which suggests that the translation is senseless and emotionless. I wonder if such
translation can be of interest to many readers, for its devastating demolition of the
essence of the original. It turns it into spiritless, lifeless, demeaning and fatal sense,
style, sounds and impact. Hence, a good and sensible poetic translation is urgently in
demand. Following are three poetic versions of translation of the stanza, the first two
of which are suggested successfully by Arani; the third is an alternative put forward by
the author:

(Poetic Translation 1)
‫مف ذا الذي يقوى عمى وصؼ الدـ الميراؽ ليمتيا إذف؟‬
‫الجثث‬
ُ ‫مف ذا الذي يحصي لنا القتمى وأعداد الضحايا و‬
‫اليتوف ليرثي الماضيف حؽ رثائِيـ؟‬
َ ‫يذرؼ الدمع‬
ُ ‫أو‬
!‫العز والصي ِت التميد‬
‫سقطت صرو ُح البمدة الشماء ذات أ‬
ِ ‫األمجاد و‬
!‫الجاه العريض‬ ِ ‫بعد الصمود عمى مدى األعواـ و‬
‫أجساد مف ال يسمعوف وال َي َرْوف بك أؿ شارع‬
ُ ‫وتناثرت‬
!‫وبكؿ قصر شامخ وبكؿ أقداس اليياكؿ في المعابد‬

250
(Poetic Translation 2)
‫مف ذا يعبر عف مدى سفؾ ال أدماء بميميا؟‬
‫مف ذا الذي يدري بأعداد الضحايا والجثث‬
‫أو يذرؼ الدمع الجدير بنعييـ؟‬
‫ىوت العريقة والشييرة في المدف‬
‫بعد الصمود طواؿ أعواـ وبعد المنعة‬
‫وتناثرت أجساد مف ال يشعروف بكؿ شارع‬
ٍ
!‫قصر َب ْؿ وكؿ ىياكؿ األرباب فييا‬ ‫وبكؿ‬
(Anani, 1997: 118-119)

The two translations are of the same Arabic meter, 'the Perfect' )‫(الكامػؿ‬, with variations
in the number of feet and modulations. Although they are not rhymed, they are
described as poetic due to their: remarkable metrical rhythm, poetic / literary
syntactic elaborations (e.g. ‫وبكػؿ قصػر شػامخ َ;ب ْػؿ وكػؿ ىياكػؿ ;مػف ذا يعبػر ;مػف ذا الػذي‬, ‫ىػوت العريقػة‬
‫والشييرة في المدف‬, etc.), syntactic parallelisms (‫ بعػد المنعػة ;وبكػؿ قص ٍػر َب ْػؿ وكػؿ ىياكػؿ‬... ‫;بعػد الصػمود‬
etc.); metrical modulations (e.g. ‫ػاد‬
ُ ‫( وتنػاثرت أجس‬instead of the normal ‫ػاد‬ ٌ ‫وتنػاثرت أجس‬, etc.).
ِ ‫ػاد والج‬
semantic density (e.g. ‫ػاه العػريض‬ ِ ‫ىػوت العريقػػة ;وبكػؿ أقػداس اليياكػؿ ;عمػى مػدى األعػواـ واألمج‬
‫والشػييرة‬, etc.). Yet, the major reason for their poetic nature is rhythm and meter. A third
poetic version with perfect rhyme and the same Perfect Meter is proposed below:

(Poetic Translation 3)

‫مف ذا الذي يقوى عمى وصؼ المذابح ليميا‬

‫يعطي األعداد لمجثث التي أدمت حناياىا؟‬
َ ‫أو‬
‫يذرؼ الدمع السخي مضرجاً برثائيا؟‬
ُ ‫أو‬
‫ىوت المدينة مف قديـ قد سرت شيراتيا‬
‫األزؿ ماض تميد خمد أمجادىا‬
ْ ‫كاف ليا منذ‬
‫أجساد ناس في أزقتيا تنادييا تََوقؼ نبضيا‬
.‫في كؿ قصر قد أشيد ومعبد قد ىيك َؿ أرجاءىا‬

This version is claimed to be an improvement on the previous two versions in regard

to poetic features of prosody and aesthetics, especially perfect rhyme. Further
enforcement is provided by stylistic, syntactic and semantic intricacies and
elaborations including: literary syntactic structures (e.g. ‫قػد ;)فػي تمػؾ الميمػة( ليميػا ;مػف ذا الػذي‬
‫أشػيد ومعبػد قػد ىيكػؿ أرجاءىػا‬, etc.); syntactic deviations (e.g. ‫( شػيراتيا‬which is normally not a
part of Arabic grammar for ‫ شػيرة‬is a mass noun)); semantic elaborations and images

251
‫;))‪ is used with blood rather than with eulogy‬مضػرجاً( يػذرؼ الػدمع السػخي مضػرجاً برثائيػا ‪(e.g.‬‬
‫‪, etc.), etc.‬لمجثث التي أدمت حناياىا ;ىوت المدينة مف قديـ‬

‫‪Amidst the manslaughters, atrocities and massacres of the brutal and despotic Syrian‬‬
‫‪Assad regime and forces over two years 211-2012 of the New Millennium, this epic‬‬
‫‪poem, The Aeneid, which marks the fall of Troy a long time ago in Ancient Rome, has‬‬
‫‪inspired me with similar scenes of slaughters recalled by this stanza. So, I suggest the‬‬
‫‪following version of translation, which is stylization, rather. The meter is also The‬‬
‫‪( to symbolize the Perfect Crime committed unprecedentedly by the‬الكامػؿ) ‪Perfect‬‬
‫‪harrowing Assad and his howling beasts who uprooted the well-established fact that‬‬
‫‪'perfect crime does not exist'. They prove to exist in the terrible sense of the term:‬‬

‫من مذابح طروادتيم إلى مذابح شآمنا‬

‫ومذابح اإلغريق في طروادة عندنا‬
‫ىا قد مضى ألف وألفان عمى ِ‬
‫ألفيتنا‬
‫عمى يد الوحش الجبان المستبد بشامنا‬
‫وجنوده األنذال من فئراننا‬
‫الجثث في حمصنا‬
‫ْ‬ ‫سحموا‬
‫ٍ‬
‫عمرو دشنوا ذباحنا‬ ‫في باب‬
‫وتناثرت في الحولة أشالؤنا‬
‫بدم أطفالنا‬
‫وتضرجت درعا ْ‬
‫ريمسو الغضب بحماتنا‬
‫ْ‬ ‫ومجازر تْ‬
‫وجرت أزقتنا وسالت وادياً بدمائنا‬
‫وجنود إبميس امتطوا دبابة داسوا بيا أجسادنا‬
‫حفروا الحفر ردموا بيا أحياءنا‬
‫الولد وأوغموا في ذبحنا‬‫ذلوا الشيوخ والنساء و ْ‬
‫حمب في ريفنا في َك ْف ِرنا في ديرنا‬
‫إدلب في َ‬‫في َ‬
‫وداريا في كل كل شامنا‬ ‫ِ‬
‫الغوطة‬
‫في دوم َة و‬
‫َ‬
‫إنيادة العصر تحل بدارنا‬
‫الوحش‪ ،‬ذباحنا‪ ،‬أنجاسنا‬
‫ْ‬ ‫بيت‬
‫وعمى يديو تمطخوا بدمائنا‬
‫فعموا المجازر‪...‬مثموا برفاتنا‬
‫نحروا الحرائر والرضيع بحينا‬
‫ٍ‬
‫أسود متخضب بدمائنا‬ ‫تاريخ إجرام فريد‬
‫يا خزي آل الوحش يا من سطروا بدمائنا أمجادنا‪.‬‬
‫عيداً عمينا قد قطعنا لربنا‬

‫‪252‬‬
 ‫عشت بعد اليوم يا َذ ّباحنا‬
َ ‫ما‬

This is an association of ideas triggered by the slaughter of thousands of people at

ancient Greek City of Troy over the Trojan War in 13the Century B.C., represented
dramatically in The Aeneid. Over Three thousand four hundred years later, in 2011 and
2012, similar slaughters took place in Syria, perhaps the oldest Country in the world, at
the hands of a ruthless dictator, Bashar Assad, and his bloody militias: the very idea of
slaughtering people and their bodies in the street is

5. Poem (5): Calm ‫السكون‬

Calm is the morn without a sound,

Calm as to suit a calmer grief,
And only through the faded leaf
The chestnut pattering to the ground
[…]
Calm on the seas, and silver sleep,
And waves that sway themselves in rest,
And dead calm in that noble breast
Which heaves but with the heaving deep.
(Alfred Tennyson, in Carter and Long: 1987)
(Semi-Poetic Translation)
‫ضجيج‬
ْ ‫السكوف صبح دوف‬
‫الشديد‬
ْ ‫سكوف يوازي الحزف‬
‫ذابمو‬
ْ ‫مف خبلؿ ورقة‬
‫اليابسو‬
ْ ‫تَْرُبت الكستناء عمى‬
]...[
‫ والنوـ الفضي‬،‫سكوف عمى البحار‬
‫أمواج تؤرجح نفسيا بارتياح شجي‬
‫وىدوء ميت ناـ في ذاؾ الصدر النقي‬
‫يتنيد التنيد العميؽ القوي‬

(Poetic Translation)
‫الصخب‬
ْ ‫إف السكوف صبيحة دوف‬
‫لمعجب‬
ْ ‫ما مثمو إال األسى يا‬
‫وحسب‬
ْ ‫ذوت منيا‬
ْ ‫مف بيف أوراؽ‬
‫بضرب‬
ْ ‫الكستناء عمى الثرى انيالت‬
]...[
ِ‫الي اـ ىادي والكرى مف فضة‬

253
 ِ ‫والموج مرتاح شجي الر‬
‫قصة‬
‫وسكينة أبدية في ذلؾ الصدر الفتِي‬
‫وتنيد ّأناتُو في حسرِة‬
ٌ

6.8 Poem (6): Lycidas

Eulogy on a Friend Drowned in the Irish Channel

Yet once more, O ye Laurels, and once more

Ye Myrtles brown, with Ivy never-sear,
I com to pluck your Berries harsh and crude,
And with forc'd fingers rude,
Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year.
Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear,
Compels me to disturb your season due:
For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime,
Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer:
Who would not sing for Lycidas? he knew
Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.
He must not flote upon his watry bear
Unwept, and welter to the parching wind,
Without the meed of som melodious tear.
(John Milton, in Khulusi, 2000: 36)
(com = come; forc'd = forced; ere = before; bear = bier; flote = float; meed = reward;
som = some)

Lycidas is a famous Miltonic monody in lament of his learned friend and schoolmate at
Cambridge University, Edward King, who drowned when his ship sank off the coast of
Wales in August, 1637. Khulusi, suggests the following translation which he describes
as a prosaic translation. Hence, it is non-poetic translation:

(Poetical Translation)
‫مرثاة صديق مات غرقاً في البحر اإليرلندي‬
‫ مرة أخرى‬،‫جئت مرة أخرى يا شجيرات الغار‬
‫أيتيا الرياحيف المربدة[؟] والمببلب الذي ال يذبؿ‬
‫جئت ألقطؼ ثمرؾ الني الفج‬
‫وألبدد بأصابع قوية مندفعة بعنؼ‬
‫أوراقؾ قبؿ حموؿ العاـ‬
‫غير أف الضرورة الممحة والذكرى العزيزة الحزينة‬
‫ترغمانني عمى أف أقمؽ فصمؾ قبؿ أوانو‬

254
 ‫ مات قبؿ عنفوانو‬،‫ألف لسيداس قد مات‬
‫لسيداس الفتى الذي رحؿ دوف أف يخمؼ نظي اًر‬
‫فمنذا الذي ال يرتؿ الشعر مف أجؿ لسيداس؟‬
‫فقد كاف يحسف انشاد الشعر ويعرؼ كيؼ يسمو بقوافيو‬
‫فينبغي أال يطفو فوؽ نعش مف ماء‬
‫ تعبث بو الريح المحرقة‬،‫غير مبكى عميو‬
‫دوف أف يكافأ بدمعة شجية‬

I do not mean by poetical translation a bad translation, but a translation that has no
concern with prosody and aesthetics. Instead, the focus has turned to rendering sense
in a normal prosaic language, and it can be described in a way as not a bad translation
of sense. However, to demonstrate more differences between a prosaic ordinary
translation and a poetic translation, I suggest the following version, followed by a
comparison between the two:

(Poetic Translation)
‫صديقي الحميم ليسيداس‬
‫أتيت‬
ْ ‫أتيت يا أييا الغار‬
ْ ‫مرة أخرى‬
‫أبيت‬
ْ ‫يا أييا الريحاف والمببلب قد‬
،‫أف تذبؿ قد جئت أقطؼ الثمرات النيئات القاسيات‬
‫اندفعت‬
ْ ‫بأصابع مف قوة و‬
ٍ ‫وأبدد‬
‫خمت‬
ْ ‫أوراقؾ قبؿ حموؿ العاـ أو سنة‬
‫ات‬
ْ ‫فالضرورات إذاً والذكريات الحزينات العزيز‬
:‫ات‬
ْ ‫فصمؾ قبؿ األواف كمحظور‬
َ ‫ُقمقؾ في‬
ْ ‫قد قضت أف أ‬
‫مات‬
ْ ‫ قبؿ األواف‬،‫إذ مات ليسيداس‬
‫ولدت‬
ْ ‫رحؿ الفتى ما مثمو أي امر ْأه قد‬
‫الحياة؟‬
ْ ‫ نور‬،‫مف ذا الذي ال ينشد مف أجمؾ يا ليسيداس‬
‫بالقافيات‬
ْ ‫قد كاف أحسف في النشيد وقد سما‬
‫ما كاف لممفقود أف يطفو عمى نعش بماء البحيرات‬
‫عبثت‬
ْ ‫ بو الرياح العاتية قد‬،‫لـ يذرؼ الناس عميو دمعة‬
.‫بت‬ ِ ‫ما دمعةٌ ُذرفت عميو شجيةٌ أو أ‬
ْ ‫ُسك‬

The translation is meant to be a poem in Arabic per se. Once an Arab reader reads it,
he / she may not feel it as a translation, except perhaps for the foreign name, Lycidas,
representing the poet's drowned friend. The focus is entirely on meter, rhyme, rhythm
and aesthetics in Arabic, so that a poetic piece of writing is constructed on purpose.
Here are the details:

255
(1) The meter is generally the Perfect )‫(الكامؿ‬, the author's personal preference.
(2) The Perfect is an Arabic meter that can fit happy as well as sad occasions,
depending on the tone and tune of the reader.
(3) The rhythm of feet is achieved satisfactorily.
(4) Rhyme is near to perfect.
(5) Rhyme is intended to be the voiceless stop sound, /t/ )‫ (ت‬to imply the
breathlessness of the drowned man of the poem.
(6) Modulations (e.g.‫ ما مثمو‬to be read prosodically as follows: ‫ النسا ;ما مثميو‬is normally
‫النساء‬, but the last sound is dropped for reasons of foot and rhythm
ْ ِ‫ أُقم‬which is normally ‫قؾ‬
(7) Deviations are used on a large scale (e.g. ‫قؾ‬ َ ِ‫أُقم‬, is modulated
for reasons of foot; ‫ امر ْأه‬is grammatically ٌ‫امرأة‬, but modulated for the same reason
as the former, etc. (check vocalization )‫)(التشكيؿ‬.
(8) The literary / poetic features of language and style are overwhelming throughout.

The former version, on the other hand, is primarily ordinary language, used frequently
in non-literary types of text. Examples include:(e.g. ‫قبؿ حموؿ ;مندفعة بعنؼ ;الضرورة الممحة‬
‫ ;دوف أف يكافأ ;فينبغي ;العاـ‬etc.). Also, and more importantly, rhyme and meter are absent,
yet rhythm is occasionally used. These and the features of the latter translation can be
exemplified and sharpened by juxtaposing the two versions, and comparing them to
one another in the following table:

Poetic Language Less Poetic Language

‫مرة أخرى أتيت يا أييا الغار أتيت‬-
‫يا أييا الريحاف والمببلب قد أبيت‬-
،‫أف تذبؿ قد جئت أقطؼ الثمرات النيئات القاسيات‬-
‫وأبدد بأصاب ٍع مف قوة واندفَ َعت‬-
‫أوراقؾ قبؿ حموؿ العاـ أو سنة خمت‬-
‫لكف كؿ الضرورات والذكريات الحزينات العزيزات‬-
‫فصمؾ قبؿ األواف‬
َ ‫قد قضت أف أُقمقَ ْؾ في‬-
:‫كمحظورات‬
‫ قبؿ األواف مات‬،‫إذ مات ليسيداس‬-
‫رحؿ الفتى ما مثمو أي امرأة قد ولدت‬-
‫نور‬
َ ،‫مف ذا الذي ال ينشد مف أجمؾ يا ليسيداس‬-
‫الحياة؟‬
.‫قد كاف أحسف في النشيد وقد سما بالقافيات‬-
‫ مرة أخرى‬،‫جئت مرة أخرى يا شجيرات الغار‬-
‫أيتيا الرياحيف المربدة والمببلب الذي ال يذبؿ‬-
‫جئت ألقطؼ ثمرؾ الني الفج‬-
‫وألبدد بأصابع قوية مندفعة بعنؼ‬-
‫أوراقؾ‬-
‫غير أف الضرورة الممحة والذكرى العزيزة الحزينة‬-
‫ترغمانني عمى أف أقمؽ فصمؾ قبؿ أوانو‬-
‫ مات قبؿ عنفوانو‬،‫ألف لسيداس قد مات‬-
‫لسيداس الفتى الذي رحؿ دوف أف يخمؼ نظي اًر‬-
‫فمنذا الذي ال يرتؿ الشعر مف أجؿ لسيداس؟‬-
‫فقد كاف يحسف إنشاد الشعر ويعرؼ كيؼ يسمو‬-
‫بقوافيو‬

256
 ‫ما كاف لممفقود أف يطفو عمى نعش بماء‬- ‫فينبغي أال يطفو فوؽ نعش مف ماء‬-
‫ َالريح عاتية بو قد‬،‫لـ يذرؼ الناس عميو دمع ًة‬- ‫ تعبث بو الريح المحرقة‬،‫غير مبكي عميو‬-
‫عبثت‬
.‫بت‬ ِ ْ َ‫ما دمعةٌ ُذ ِرف‬-
ْ ‫ت عميو شجيةٌ أو أُسك‬ .‫دوف أف يكافأ بدمعة شجية‬-
It is left to readers to draw their own judgment about which version is poetic, and
which is poetical, with prejudice implied.

6.9 Poem (6): Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
(William Shakespeare)
This notoriously famous Shakespearean Sonnet has been excessively quoted in
translation books and by translators, particularly for the cultural difference between
Arabian Summer and English Summer. However, here it is cited by way of exemplifying
for more than one possible poetic translation of it, three of which are done by three
translators, the fourth is suggested by the author. These versions are meant to
represent four valid approaches to poetic translation given in an ascending order,
starting with the less poetic up to the most poetic (the first two are very close, while
the third and the fourth are close in prosodic terms):

(Poetic Translation 1: mainly rhythmical and partly rhymed):

‫(ىبل أقوؿ بأف فتونؾ أشبو شيء بصيؼ جميؿ؟‬

‫لطيؼ اعتداؿ‬
ُ ‫ ويزداف فيؾ‬،ً‫فأنت تفوقينو فتنة‬
‫تيز الرياح زىور الربيع‬
‫ولمصيؼ ضيؼ قصير المقاـ‬
‫وحينا تحرؽ عيف السماء‬
‫وتشجب حيناً كأىؿ السقاـ‬
‫وال بد يوماً لكؿ بياء وداع البياء‬

257
 ‫فإف لـ يكف َع َرضاً موتو‪ ،‬فشوط الحياة أسير الفناء‬
‫عمى أف صيفؾ لف يذببل‪ ،‬فذلؾ ُخم َد ال لمبمى‬
‫وما فيؾ مف رونؽ ممكو‪ ،‬إليو انتيى ال لكي يفصبل‬
‫ولف يفخر الموت أف قد رآؾ تجريف خطوؾ في ظمو‬
‫فأنت قصيدي الذي لف يزوؿ‬
‫فما داـ في الكوف خمؽ يروف ويسري بيـ نفس مف حياة‬
‫فذلؾ يحيا وتسري لنفسؾ منو الحياة‪).‬‬
‫(حسيف دباغ‪ :‬ار عناني‪)154 :2004 ،‬‬

‫‪Poetically speaking, this translation has no perfect rhyme, yet it is rich with rhythm,‬‬
‫‪rhetorical figures and several literary semantic and syntactic elaborations, as‬‬
‫‪illustrated below:‬‬

‫لطيؼ اعتداؿ ;ىبل أقوؿ ‪(1) Rhythmical patterning (e.g.‬‬

‫ُ‬ ‫;تيز الرياح زىور الربيع ;ويزداف فيؾ‬
‫‪ ; etc.(the‬فشوط الحياة أسير الفناء ; وتشجب حيناً كأىؿ السقاـ ;ولمصيؼ ضيؼ قصير المقاـ‬
‫(المتقارب) ‪most part of the translation is metered to the Tripping‬‬
‫َ‬ ‫‪of the‬‬
‫‪, etc.).‬فعولف فعولف فعولف فعولف ‪following rhythmical‬‬
‫فشوط ;وداع البياء ;تحرؽ عيف السماء ;ولمصيؼ ضيؼ قصير المقاـ ‪(2) Figurative language (e.g.‬‬
‫‪, etc.).‬رآؾ (الموت) تجريف ; يفخر الموت ;صيفؾ لف يذببل ;الحياة أسير الفناء‬
‫‪, etc.).‬بمى ‪ /‬يفصبل ;بياء ‪ /‬فناء ;مقاـ ‪ /‬سقاـ ‪(3) Occasional perfect end-rhyme (e.g.‬‬
‫‪).‬اعتداؿ ‪ /‬جميؿ ‪(4) Occasional semi end-rhyme (e.g.‬‬
‫‪,etc.).‬يذببل ‪ /‬البمى ;أقوؿ ‪ /‬جميؿ ‪(5) Internal rhyme (e.g.‬‬
‫‪(6) Syntactic elaboration: disruption of normal word order for prosodic and‬‬
‫فإف لـ يكف ;)وال بد لكؿ بياء يوماً ‪ (c.f.‬وال بد يوماً لكؿ بياء ‪rhetorical reasons, etc. (e.g.‬‬
‫;ع َرضاً موتو‬
‫‪), etc.).‬فإف لـ يكف موتو عرضاً ‪َ (c.f.‬‬
‫‪( of noun-adjective order in Arabic‬القمب) ‪(7) Syntactic elaboration: modulation‬‬
‫‪), etc.‬اعتداؿ لطيؼ ‪ (instead of the normal‬لطيؼ اعتداؿ ‪(e.g.‬‬
‫‪etc.‬‬

‫‪A little improvement on the prosodic features can be done, as demonstrated by the‬‬
‫‪following version by Anani:‬‬

‫)‪(Poetic Translation 2: regular meter and occasional rhyme‬‬

‫(أال تشبييف صفاء المصيؼ‬
‫بمى أنت أحمى وأصفى سماء‬
‫ففي الصيؼ تعصؼ ريح الذبوؿ‬
‫وتعبث في برعمات الربيع‬

‫‪258‬‬
 ‫وال يمبث الصيؼ حتى تزوؿ‬
‫وفي الصيؼ تسطع عيف السماء‬
‫ويحتدـ القيظ مثؿ األتوف‬
‫وفي الصيؼ يحجب عنا السحاب‬
‫ضياء السما وجماؿ ُذكاء‬
ً‫وما مف جميؿ يظؿ جميبل‬
‫فشيمة كؿ البرايا الفناء‬
‫ولكف صيفؾ ذا لف يغيب‬
‫ولف تفقدي فيو نور الجماؿ‬
‫ولف يتباىى الفناء الرىيب‬
‫بأنؾ تمشيف بيف الظبلؿ‬
‫إذا صغت منؾ قصيد األبد‬
‫فما داـ في األرض ناس تعيش‬
‫وما داـ فييا عيوف ترى‬
‫فسوؼ يرأدد شعري الزماف‬
).‫وفيو تعيشيف بيف الورى‬
)155-154 ،2004 :‫(عناني‬

This is a fairly good poetic translation, also based on the perfect rhythm of the feet of
the Tripping Meter )‫ػارب‬ َ ‫ (المتق‬of the following rhythmical ‫ فعػولف فعػولف فعػولف فعػولف‬meter
)‫(المتقػارب‬, however with no perfect rhyme, only partially. Another disadvantage, which
is also admitted by the translator himself, is the line number of the translation which
unnecessarily outnumbers those of the original. Presumably, it goes without saying
that the same number of line is expected. However, the translation of two lines might
be occasionally interceptive, but they do not become three lines in the TL translation.
That said, this has not blocked the rhythmical flow of the translation, quite the
reverse, the tempo of the poem has become faster, which is not necessarily required
by the theme of the English original.

Still a further improvement can be done on this version, by having a more regular
meter, rhyme and rhythm, as the third version below by a poet may suggest:

(Poetic Translation 3: regular meter, rhyme and rhythm):

‫(مف ذا يقارف حسنؾ المغري بصيؼ قد تجمى‬

‫وفتوف سحرؾ قد بدت في ناظري أسمى وأغمى‬
‫تجني الرياح العاتيات عمى البراعـ وىي جذلى‬

259
 ‫والصيؼ يمضي مسرعاً إذا عقده المحدود ولى‬
‫كـ أشرقت عيف السماء بحرىا تتميب‬
‫ولكـ خبا في وجييا الذىبي نور يغرب‬
‫ال بد لمحسف البيي عف الجميؿ سيذىب‬
‫فالدىر تغيير وأطوار الطبيعة قمّب‬
‫لكف صيفؾ سرمدي ما اعتراه ذبوؿ‬
‫لف يفقد الحسف الذي ُمم ْك ِت فيو بخيؿ‬
‫والموت لف يزىو بظمؾ في حماه يجوؿ‬
:‫ستعاصريف الدىر في شعري وفيؾ أقوؿ‬
‫ما دامت األنفاس تصعد والعيوف تحدؽ‬
).‫سيظؿ شعري خالداً وعميؾ عم اًر يغدؽ‬
)156-155 :2004 ،‫ ار عناني‬:‫(فضيمة النائب‬

We have here perfect metrical rhythm of the Perfect Meter )‫(البحر الكامؿ‬, with regular ,
but not perfect, rhyme, which is parallel to the English original. The poet has rightly
committed herself to the same number of lines. Although the translation is poetic in
the full sense of the word, it has been excessively free translation, as also Anani notes
(ibid.), but not too excessive, anyway (c.f. the literal commitment to some key terms
and expressions like 'summer' )‫ (صيؼ‬and 'the hot eye of heavens' )‫)(عيف الشمس الحارة‬.
The language of the poem is obviously imbued with rhetorical figures, aesthetic
features, internal rhymes and rhythms and several semantic and syntactic elaborations
of foregrounding, backgrounding, deviations and literary structures. Yet, I personally
do not believe it is much better than Anani's poem, except perhaps for using more
regular rhyme and more elaborate language than the latter.

A yet further improvement can be done on this version by having perfect rhyme from
beginning to end.

(Poetic Translation 4: Perfect meter and perfect rhyme):

ْ ‫(ما ِمثمُ ِؾ الشيَ ْد يا درة‬
‫البمد‬
‫أحد‬ ِ ‫الرقو والحناف ما‬
ْ ‫مثمؾ‬ ْ ‫في‬
‫مسد‬
ْ ‫ياح بحبؿ مف‬
ْ ‫بيع تيزىا الر‬
ْ ‫براعـ الر‬
‫األمد‬
ْ ‫والصيؼ صيفنا قصير في‬
‫اتقد‬
ْ ‫وشمس صيفنا أوارىا‬
‫خمد‬
ْ ‫شعاعيا المذىب في غالب‬
‫نفد‬
ْ ‫ورونؽ الجماؿ جمالو‬
‫األحد‬
ْ ‫فبل دواـ إال لمواحد‬
‫لؤلبد‬
ْ ‫ بياء‬،‫محاؿ‬
ْ ‫يا درة البمد ذبولؾ‬

260
 ‫بدد‬
ْ ‫بياؤؾ الذي مزدانة بو ُحزتيو ال‬
‫اعتضد‬
ْ ‫والموت لف يتيو بظمؾ‬
‫وجد‬
ْ ‫أبيات مف قصيد خمدتؾ فييا سبحاف مف‬
‫خمودؾ باؽ إذا األنفاس واألبصار لـ تَُب ْد‬
).‫بالمدد‬
ْ ‫خمود سرمدي يحييؾ‬

The point of departure of this translation from the previous three ones is its perfect
rhyme from beginning to end, according to the Trembling Meter )‫ (البحر الر َجز‬with full
manipulation of the variations and modulations on its original rhythmical feet( ‫مستفعمف‬
‫ )مستفعمف مستفعمف‬that are allowed in Arabic prosody. Like the previous versions,
rhetorical, aesthetic, literary stylistic, syntactic and semantic features and intricacies
are used deliberately, elaborately and extensively, to construct a good poetic
translation. Here are some of them:

(1) Figurative cultural equivalents (e.g. ‫( درة البمد ;مثؿ الشيد‬instead of the literal
translation into the English culture ‫ ; يوـ صيفي‬which is not acceptable in Arabic
culture for summer is generally hot in the Arab Countries).
(2) Figurative features (e.g. ‫بظمؾ ; والموت لف يتيو;بحبؿ مف مسد ;درة البمد ;ما مثمؾ الشيد‬
‫ ;اعتضد‬etc.).
(3) Extra Arabic / Islamic culture to translate terms and expressions related to
eternity and other concepts (e.g. ‫)سبحاف مف وجد ;فبل دواـ إال لمواحد األحد ;بحبؿ مف مسد‬.
(4) Literary / deviant combinations (e.g. ‫( أوار الشمس‬normally: ‫جماؿ ينفد;(أوار الحرب‬
(normally: ‫( تبيد األنفاس واألبصار ;)ماؿ ينفد‬normally: ‫)تبيد األجساد‬, etc.
(5) Literary tautology (e.g. ‫( خمود سرمدي‬the adjective is implied in the noun).
(6) Alliteration (e.g. ‫بمد‬...‫)واحد أحد ;شيد‬.
(7) Assertive repetition (e.g. ‫)جماؿ جمالو ;الصيؼ صيفنا‬
(8) Symbolism (e.g. the whole translation, especially: ‫( درة البمد‬a reference to the
poet's sweetheart).
etc.

All the previous suggested four poetic versions demonstrate the versatility of possible
poetic translation, depending on the translator's point of focus (i.e. (partial rhyme and
rhythm (1); perfect meter, rhythm with no rhyme (2); meter and partial rhyme (every
four lines) (3); and perfect meter and perfect rhyme (4). Hence, they can be viewed as
four possible choices available to the good translator of poetry, who may go for
whatever more convenient to him / her and the poem.

6.10 Poem (7): ‫أال ليت ريعان الشباب جديد‬

261
 ‫ودى ارً تولى يا بثيف يعود‬ ‫أال ليت ريعاف الشباب جديد‬
‫قريب واذ ما تبذليف زىيد‬ ‫فنبقى كما كنا نكوف وأنتـ‬
‫بوادي القرى إني إذاً لسعيد‬ ‫أال ليت شعري ىؿ أبيتف ليمة‬
‫تجود لنا مف وردنا ونجود‬ ‫وىؿ ألقيف فرداً بثينة مرة‬
‫إلى اليوـ ينمى حبيا ويزيد‬ ‫عمقت اليوى فييا وليداً فمـ يزؿ‬
‫وأفنيت عمري بانتظاري وعدىا وأبميت فييا الدىر وىو جديد‬
‫وال حبيا فيما يبيد يبيد‬ ‫فبل أنا مردود بما جئت طالبا‬
)‫(جميؿ بثينة‬

These lines are love poetry )‫ (شعر الغزؿ‬for a well-known classic poet, Jamil Buthaynah
)‫ (جميؿ بثينة‬courting his sweetheart, Buthaynah. They are unique poetry about unique
love described as ‫( الحب العذري‬chaste love), which is only spiritual. The poem is one of
the classics of Arabic classical poetry. Here is a non-poetic translation of the lines first:

(Poetical Translation)

Would that the prime of youth come back

And restore to us, Buthaynah, the past!
And we remain as we were and you are
Near us and what you give is so little!
Would it be that I stay for a whole night
At Al-Qira Valley and I will be so happy.
Shall I ever meet Buthayna alone again,
Each of us is full of love of one another
I loved her and I was so young and still.
Until today my love is growing yet greater
I have spent my life waiting for her to meet her promise
And I wasted all my life and I am still young;
I am neither denied of my proposal
Nor my love to her is dying with dying things!

This is a full literal translation of the direct meaning of these lines. However, it is
spiritless, unliterary and, hence, non-poetic. Poetic language cannot be ordinary, non-
prosodic, non-rhetorical, blind to cultural and connotative implications and
inconsiderate of stylistic-semantic and stylistic-syntactic intricacies and elaborations.
At least, partial rhyme and rhythm are recommended to be achieved to describe a
translation as poetic, or semi-poetic. I would argue that this is fairly good as a
precondition for the translation of Arabic poetry into English. Perhaps a fully poetic
translation is an ideal poetic translation that is aimed at as an ultimate objective for
good translators, as the following poetic version may demonstrate:

262
(Poetic Translation)
"Oh, might it flower anew, that youthful prime
And restore to us, Buthayna, the bygone time!
And might we again be blest as wont to be
When the folk were nigh and grudged what thou gavest me!
Shall I ever meet Buthayna alone again,
Each of us full of love as a cloud of rain?
Fast in her net was I when a lad, and till
This day my love is growing and waxing still.
I have spent my lifetime, waiting for her to speak
But the bloom of youth is faded from off my cheek;
But I will not suffer that she my suit deny
My love remains undying though all things die!"
(Translated by Nicholson, in Khulusi, 2000: 26)

Nicholson's translation meets the conditions of poeticity in English poetry. Rhyme is

perfectly regular, rhythmical feet, and several other prosodic, literary and figurative
features, as illustrated below:

(1) Perfect rhyme of the following pattern: a-a / b-b / c-c / d-d / e-e / f-f.
(2) Foot rhythm and rhythmical language, employed on a large scale in the
translation.
(3) Alliterative patterning: consonance (e.g. be blest; faded from, etc.).
(4) Alliterative patterning: assonance (e.g. alone again, etc.)
(5) Figurative / cultural expressions (e.g. full of love as a cloud of rain; fast in her
net; flower anew; the bloom of youth is faded from off my cheek, etc.)
(6) Rhetorical combinations (e.g. youthful prime; the bygone time; the bloom of
youth, etc.).
(7) Rhetorical paradox (e.g. bloom … faded; undying … die, etc.).
(8) Syntactic elaboration: disruption of word order for prosodic reasons (e.g. Fast
in her net was I (c.f. I was fast in her net); she my suit deny (c.f. she deny my
suit), etc.
(9) Syntactic elaboration: grammatical deviation (e.g. when a lad (c.f. when I was
a lad); she my suit deny (c.f. she may deny my suit); as wont to be (c.f. as we
want to be), etc.

There are one or two shortcomings to be pointed out in Nicholson's translation. One is
his use of obsolete words like ('blest' (blessed), 'gavest' (gave) and 'wont' (want), but
they are not difficult to understand, though. Another disadvantage is the absence of
the third line of the stanza from the translation, perhaps due to its absence from the
Arabic original translated by Nicholson. However, it has been translated in the first
non-poetic version above.

6.11 Poem (8): Description of Scenery and Spring

‫والماء بيف مصندؿ ومعنبَِر‬ ‫معصفَر ومجسد‬

ْ ‫الغيـ بيف‬

263
 ‫والورد بيف مدَرىَـ ومدن ِر‬ ‫والروض بيف مدممج ومتوج‬
ِ ‫أبيض في‬
‫أحمر‬ ٍ ٍ
‫أصفر في‬ ‫في‬ ٍ
‫أخضر‬ ‫واألرض قد برزت لنا في‬
‫في حسف منظرىا وطيب المَخبَِر‬ ٍ ‫لتروقنا ببدائ ٍع وطر‬
‫ائؼ‬
‫الخمؽ بيف المحشر‬
َ ‫وكذاؾ يحيي‬ ‫سبحاف محيي األرض بعد مماتيا‬
)228 :2009 :‫ الشكعة‬:‫(الثعالبي‬

Obviously, the layout of Arabic traditional poetry (i.e. Al-Qasidah) is different from that
of English poetry, old and modern. Therefore, the English translation has to conform to
the conventions of the latter. A poetic version is suggested first with perfect English
rhyme (i.e. a-a, b-b, c-c, etc.) (in Ghazala, 2010):

(Poetic Translation)
Clouds range between safflower and red in color;
Water ranges between sandalwood odor and amber;

Gardens are either bracelet-like or crowned;

Flowers are as bright as pennies or gold;

Land looked to us in green,

In yellow, white and red again;

To please us with splendors and wonders

Of its fascinating views and lovely odors;

Glorified is God Who revives earth after being dry,

And brings dead people back to life on Doomsday.
(Ath-Tha'alibi, in Ghazala, 2010: 130)

Certainly, a good translation of poetry is required to meet the prerequisites of rhyme,

rhythm and meter in the first place, as perhaps is the case with this first version of
poetic translation into English. Yet, and due to difficulties of meeting these
prerequisites by some translators, a normal version that renders sense can be a
second-best alternative to some people:

(Poetical Translation)
Clouds range between safflower and red color;
Water ranges between sandalwood and amber scent;
Gardens are either bracelet-like or crowned;
Flowers are as brilliant as dinars or gold;
Land looked to us green,
Yellow, white and red;
To please us with splendors and wonders
Of its fascinating views and lovely smell;
God is Glorified Who revives earth after being dry,

264
 And brings dead people back to life on the hereafter.

The key difference between this and the previous translation is in rhyme. That is, while
rhyme is regular in the first, it is not distinguishable in the second. Even the layout is
one stanza here, but it is in couplets in the first, conforming to good English poetry.
More attention has been given to literal sense, including cultural expressions like 'as
brilliant as dinars', which is SL-oriented, whereas in the poetic version it is TL-oriented
(i.e. 'as bright as a penny'). Hence, the first version is rather more fitting than the
second here.

6.12 Poem (9): Self-Eulogy

‫وت‬
ْ ُ‫وجئنا بوعظ ونحف صُم‬ ‫البيوت‬
ْ ‫بَعُدنا واف جاورتْنا‬
‫القنوت‬
ْ ُ‫كجير الصبلة تبله‬ ً‫وأنْفاسنا سكنت دفعة‬
‫قوت‬
ْ ‫قوت فيا نحف‬ُ َ‫وكنا ن‬ ً‫وكُنا عظاماً فصرنا عظاما‬
‫السموت‬
ْ ‫فناحت عمينا‬
ْ ‫غَ ُربْنا‬ ِ ‫وكنا شموس‬
‫سماء العبل‬ َ
‫خوت‬
ْ ُ‫وذو البخت كـ جَدلَتو الب‬ ‫فكـ جَدّلَت ذا الحساـ الظّبا‬
‫التخوت‬
ْ ُ‫مئت مف كُساه‬
ْ ُ‫فتى م‬ ‫وكـ ِسيؽ لمقبر في خر ٍقة‬
‫يفوت‬
ْ ‫ ومف ذا الذي ال‬،‫وفات‬ ‫ ذىب ابف الخطيب‬:‫فق ْؿ لمعدا‬
‫يموت‬
ْ ‫ يفرح اليوـَ مَف ال‬:‫ومف كاف يفرح منيـ لو فق ْؿ‬
)556 :2009 ،‫ الشكعة‬:‫(لسان الدٌن بن الخطٌب‬
These lines are in self-lamentation by the Andalusite famous man of letters, Lisanud-
Deen Bin Al-Khateeb. He bewails himself before he dies, just as several Arab classic
poets used to do. Obviously, and like any other piece of classic poetry, the lexicon is
really hard to understand without consulting a good Arabic Language Dictionary to
sort out the meanings of words, especially those of Classical Arabic. Following is a
poetical translation aimed at rendering sense in the first place, irrespective of prosodic
features, particularly regular rhyme:

(Poetical Translation)
We went far away from home though living amidst houses
We came with preaching while we were silent and dumb.
Our breaths were hushed and suppressed all at once,
Like loud recitation prayer followed by silent supplication.
We were great and now we have become bones,
We were food suppliers and now we are the food.
We were the suns of the highest heavens
When we set, all ways lamented us.
How often deer have brailed around sword holders!
And how often lucky men have been beaten by bad lucks!
How often youths have been driven to graves in a cloth
While their clothes bowls were full of garments to brim
So tell enemies: Ibn Al-Khateeb has gone away
And elapsed, and who of us will not pass away?

265
 And who of them rejoice for his death, tell them:
"Those who today rejoice are those who never die!".
(Ibn Al-Khateeb, in Ghazala, 2010: 311)

No doubt, this version has retained all nuances of the literal sense of the original as
closely as possible. This means that sound, prosodic and aesthetic features are
sacrificed. A better, more poetic translation that attends more carefully to major
sound features, especially rhyme, can be suggested now:

(Poetic Translation)
We went far away from home though living amidst them
And came up with preaching while we were silent and calm.

Our breaths were all at once suppressed and hushed,

Like loud recitation prayer by innermost supplication followed.

We were celebrities and now we are bone,

We were feeders, but, alas! we are now fed on.

We were the suns of the highest sky

Only roofs do lament us when we die.

How often gazelles have brailed around sword holders!

And how often men of luck were beaten by bad luck strikers!

How often a youth has been in a rag to graves driven

While clothes bowls were full of his garments and linen!

So tell enemies: Ibnu l-Khatib has gone away

And departed, and who of us will not pass away?

And those of them who hail his death, tell them, "Nay!
The only one to rejoice today is the one who'll never die!".

Thus, the distinguishing factor of this version is its English regular rhyme of the familiar
form: a-a, b-b, c-c, etc. One or two syntactic elaborations and deviations have
occurred here. For example, the normal word order is disrupted now and then to
achieve rhyme (e.g. "has been in a rag to graves driven" (normally: "has been driven to
graves in a rag), etc.). Unlike the poetical version which is laid out in one stanza, the
layout of this version is in couplets to be English poetry proper. On the other hand, the
latter version has not followed a specific English meter, but has great concern with
achieving as regular rhyme and rhythm as possible.

6.13 Poetic Translation: Procedures and Guidelines

266
The final stage of this Chapter is to suggest some guidelines and procedures that may
help students and translators come very close to achieving a good version of poetic
translation.

(1) Careful and close reading of the SL poem for several times to absorb meaning
properly by reading through the lines, and between the lines, before starting
translation. If lexical, stylistic or grammatical problems of translation arise, they
have to be resolved first, before going to the next step.
(2) Translating the English poetic text into sense in Arabic first, ignoring sound
features completely.
(3) Assigning a good time for considering the main phonological features of the
original, especially rhyme and rhythm, as a general umbrella for common prosodic
features of alliteration, consonance, assonance, foot and meter in particular.

(4) Concentrating on achieving a kind of rhyme, semi-rhyme or half rhyme, first, and
then rhythm of some kind by any, some or all means that follow hereafter.
Illustrative examples are sought for in the foregoing discussion.

(5) Investing the flexibility of Arabic word order to a maximum in particular to make
any changes necessary for accomplishing a regular rhyme or a near rhyme, and
then, rhythm of a sort, if possible, especially at translating into English.

(6) Looking for the widest possible range of synonyms for key words, rhyme words
and rhythmical, isochronic feet of meter in particular, be near or close synonyms,
individual words, or long expressions equivalent to the original lexical items that
may achieve the intended sound patterns. Synonyms close to standard Arabic, as
much as classical, very formal ones can be a potential stylistic choice, on the
condition that they derive from the type of text and context of the original.
(7) Employing the translation procedure of transposition, i.e. the changes of the
grammatical classes of words freely, using an adjective for a noun, an adverb for
an adjective, a verb for a noun in Arabic, etc., so that considerable space is made
available to help realize some key sound features.
(8) Making use of 'poetic license' in full in regard to stylistic, lexical and grammatical
deviations, abbreviations and short forms of words, and vocalization (in Arabic)
with the four vocal points: )‫ السكون‬،‫ الكسرة‬،‫ الضمة‬،‫ (الفتحة‬anywhere in the text.
(9) Adding extra words, or gap-fillers to fill in 'translation gaps', which are not readily
used in the original, but are derived from the context of the source text, including
implied words, syntactic structures sentence connectors and initial words,
whether obligatory, necessary or optional.
(10) Dropping unnecessary words, words implied in others, or understood from
context directly.
(11) Doing one's best to adopt a specific traditional meter in the translation of a poem,
especially in Arabic, and advisably in English, at least partly throughout.
(12) Finally, and most importantly, cognitive translators of poetry should be attentive
to the mental, ideological, attitudinal, cultural, social, religious and political
implications of stylistic choices at semantic / lexical, grammatical / syntactic and

267
 sound / phonological levels of language, with special attendance to the first level,
i.e. words and expressions of all types and their implicated connotations and
associations. In principle, any stylistic choice represents a concept, or a mental
conceptualization of language of some kind, therefore, the process of selection
should be governed by this principle, with some sacrifices and concessions for
achieving key prosodic patterns of rhyme, rhythm, meter and foot in particular.
These patterns might take precedence over conceptualization and message,
however not essentially. Any sacrifice for sound features can be done when the
poem's readability is in jeopardy, due to lack of interest in an unrhymed, un-
rhythmical and, hence, unaesthetic, uninteresting and boring poem.

6.14 Summary

This Chapter has started with providing a good background knowledge about a number
of key sound patterns. They have included four major patterns; 'Onomatopoeia';
'Rhyme' (including alliteration, assonance, consonance and chiming); 'Meter'; and
'Rhythm' in both Languages, English and Arabic. Then, the paramountcy of sound
patterns and their effects in contemporary translation of poetry is developed.

It has been argued throughout this Chapter that translating poetry is an extremely
difficult task. Therefore, translators are advised to try it later in their career after
having built up wide experience in translation. It has also been argued that a good
poetic translation is entirely based on prosodic and sound features to be constructed
with as much rhyme and rhythm as possible. The general argument goes for a
distinction and a division between two major types of translating poetry: (a) poetical
translation that renders the SLT sense (i.e. literal and direct meaning) with no concern
with prosody or sounds; (b) poetic translation, based entirely on prosodic and sound
features, especially regular rhyme, rhythm and preferably meter and foot. It has been
suggested that the latter is claimed to have several sub-types, given in an ascending
order of excellence (see in particular 6.7 above):

(1) Mainly rhythmical and partly rhymed;

(2) Perfect rhythmical feet and meter and occasional rhyme;
(3) Semi-poetic, involving perfect meter and rhythm with semi-rhyme;
(4) regular meter, rhyme and rhythm; and
(5) Perfect meter, rhyme and rhythm.

It has also been claimed that all these are acceptable poetic versions of translation of
poetry with variations, though. They are meant to demonstrate to translators of
poetry that they have a good range of variations to achieve a poetic translation of
some kind.

Throughout, a comparison is drawn between poetical and poetic versions of

translation of the same verses in terms of poetic / non-poetic and literary / unliterary
features, prosodic or otherwise. The goal of such comparison is to make the points of

268
departure between the two versions sharper, and, hence, the argument for poetic
translation more persuasive.

There has also been an exemplification in simple terms of how the process of
constructing poetic translation goes on in practice (see in particular 6.3.1 above),
giving a practical exercise for trainee translators and students of translation in
particular, and translators in general as how to proceed in steps in the translation of
poetry, and how to solve problems of prosodic features of rhyme, rhythm, meter and
foot in particular. The process is claimed to be applicable to both directions, English-
Arabic, and Arabic-English.

The Chapter has ended up with some procedures and guidelines for translating poetry
to help translators develop their skills of achieving a satisfactory version of poetic
translation gradually and systematically both ways, English-Arabic-English, and
simultaneously, practice how to solve problems of translating poetry.

Exercises

1. The following are two stanzas from ‘The Hunchback in the Park’ ‫(األحددب فدي‬
)‫الحديقدة‬, a poem by the Twentieth Century’s Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas. The
first stanza is translated with rhyme, rhythm and meter. Translate the
second stanza in as much similar way as possible, to look like a poetic
translation.

The Hunchback in The Park

The hunchback in the park
A solitary mister
Propped between trees and water
From the opening of the garden lock
That lets the trees and water enter
Until the Sunday somber bell at dark

Eating bread from a newspaper

Drinking water from the chained cup
That the children filled with gravel
In the fountain basin where I sailed my ship
Slept at night in a dog kennel
But nobody chained him up.

269
 (Dylan Thomas, in Cambridge Book of English Verse, 1976: 66-67)

‫أحدب‬
ُ ‫في الحديقة‬
‫يتعذب‬
ُ ‫سيد‬
ٌ
‫يتقمب‬ ‫الشجر‬ ِ
ُ ْ ‫بيف المياه و‬
‫تغضب‬
ُ ‫منذ افتتاح حديقة ال‬
‫تتعب‬
ُ ‫الشجر ال‬
ْ ‫تؤوي المياه و‬
... ‫يتقمب‬
ُ ‫األحد مف غفوه‬
ْ ‫جرس يوـ‬
ْ ‫حتى‬

2. Translate this poem with as much rhyme and rhythm as possible, alongside
with equal interest in meaning. Try to invest Arabic abstract expressions like
)‫( (أجسام البغال وأحالم العصدافير‬i.e. 'Mickle head, little wit')); )‫( (رأس ممديء بدالتبن‬Lit. a
head filled with straw/hay); )‫سد َخام‬
ُ ‫( (مدن الخدارج خدام ومدن الدداخل‬Lit.: neat outside,
and soot inside);)‫ ;(شكل من غير مضمون‬etc.

The Hollow Men

“We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together

Are quiet and meaningless

As wind in dry grass
Or ra ts’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

Those who have crossed

With direct eyes, to death's Kingdom
Remember us – if at all – not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men."
(T.S. Eliot, The Hollow Men, in Leech, 1969: 87)

3. The following poem by Robert Browning is a dramatic lyric called 'Meeting

at Night'. It is rich in sound features, on top of which is 'onomatopoeia'. In
each stanza there is a piece of 'onomatopoeic argument' that ends up with a
climax in the emotional plot, a moment of tension and excitement that
occurs in the last two lines of the first stanza. Translate the poem into

270
 Arabic, taking these sound and aesthetic features into account, with
concentration on constructing a regular rhyme (i.e. every two lines):

Meeting at Night
The grey sea and long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed I' the slushy sand.

Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;

Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each!
(In Carter and Nash, 1990: 123-4)

4. Identify the significant aspects of sound patterning in the following short

poem by Michael Longley. Find out whether the poem displays a dominant
metrical scheme, or is written in free verse, and how influential this may be
on your perception and readability of the poem. Then translate it into
Arabic using perfect rhyme, with or without meter and foot.

The Comber
A moment before the comber turns into
A breaker - sea-spray, raggedy rainbows -
Water and sunlight contain all the colours
And suspend between Inishbofin and me,
The otter, and thus we meet, without my scent
In her nostrils, the uproar of my presence ,
My unforgivable shadow on the sand –
Even if this is the only sound I make.
(Longley 2000, in Simpson, 2004: 112)

5. The following poem exhibits certain sound patterns more than others.
Alliteration, consonance, assonance and chiming are affluent. Point them
out and how effective and meaningful they are in the poem. Indicate how
their manipulation has contributed to the overall rhythm of the poem.
Translate into Arabic with an eye on sense (or literal meaning) and partial
rhyme:

Harry Ploughman
Hard as hurdle arms, with a broth of goldfish flue
Breathed round; the rack of ribs; the scooped flank; lank

271
 Rope-over thigh; knee-knave, and barreled shank –
Head and foot, shoulder and shank-
By a grey eye's head steered well, one crew, fall to;
Stand at stress. Each limb's barrowy brawn, his thew
That somewhere curded, onewhere sucked or sank –
Soared or sank –
Though as a beachbole firm, finds his, as at a roll-call, rank
And features, in flesh, what deed he each must do –
His sinew-service where do.
(Gerard Manley Hopkins, in Carter and Nash, 1990: 162-3)

6. Below are Arabic verses by a classical poet, translated by the English

Orientalist, Reynold Nicholson into English. Point out the poetic, prosodic
and aesthetic features of the translation. Does it meet the conditions of
poetic translation? How?

‫بصير بأدواء النساء طبيب‬ ‫فإف تسألوني عف النساء فإنني‬

‫فميس لو مف ودىف نصيب‬ ‫إذا شاب رأس المرء أو قؿ مالو‬
‫وشرخ الشباب عندىف عجيب‬ ‫يردف ثراء الماؿ حيث عممنو‬
)26 :2000 ،‫ خموصي‬:‫(عمقمة الفحؿ‬

Of women do you ask me? I can spy

Their ailments with a shrew physician's eye

The man whose head is grey or small his herds

No favor wins of them but mocking words

Are riches known, to riches they aspire

And youthful bloom is still their hearts' desire.

7. The following verses are by the classical Arab poetess, Taibah Al-Bahiliah
‫(طيبةة البالييةة‬, lamenting her dead husband. Check the difficult classical words
and figurative expressions and their translations into English. Do your best
to improve on the rhyme and rhythm of the following translation of the
verses into English, using the technique of synonymy:

‫حنياً عمى َخيِْر مَا تَنْمي لوُ الشّجَ ُر‬ ‫صنَي بَانٍَة سَمَتا‬ ْ ُ‫عشنا جميعاً كغ‬
ِ
ِ ْ‫وطَا َؿ ِقنْواىُما واستُن‬
‫ض َر الثّمَ ُر‬ ‫ت فُ ُروعُيُما‬ ْ ّ‫حَتّى إذا ِقي َؿ قَدْ عَم‬
ْ َ َ
‫ماف عَمى شيء وال يَ َذ ُر‬ ُ ‫يُبِْقي الز‬ ‫الزاّاّاّاَماف وال‬
ّ ‫ب‬ ُ ْ‫احدي َري‬ ِ ‫أخنَى عمى و‬
َ ْ
‫ت السّمْعُ والبَصَ ُر‬ َ ْ‫ت فأَن‬
َ ْ‫فَقَدْ َذىّب‬ ٍ
‫ب حَميداً عمى ما كاف مف حَدث‬ ْ َ‫فا ْذى‬
‫إالّ وأنت الذي في القوـ تُ ْشتَيَ ُر‬ ْ‫ؾ في قَ ْوٍـ أُسَار ِب ِيـ‬َ ُ‫َومَا َأرَيْت‬
‫القمر‬
ُ ‫يجمو ال ادجى فيوى مف بيِننا‬ ْ ‫قمر‬ ِ
ٌ ‫كنا كأنجُـ ليؿ بيننا‬

272
 )413 :2009 ،‫(الشكعة‬

We've all lived as two Ben tree boughs that grew

Face to face in cordiality in the best way trees grow.

So it was said that their twigs spread over

And their bunches stretched out and fruits ripened.

Time hit my sole man hard, and alas!

Time spares not, neither leaves alone!

Farewell, you go thankful for everything passed

You have gone and you are my eyes and heart.

I have never seen you amongst people I like

But you were singled out among the tribe.

We were like night stars amidst us was a moon

Lighting darkness, alas! Our moon fell down.
(Translated by Ghazala, 2010: 227)

CONCLUSIONS
This work has focused on translating literature in both directions, English-Arabic-
English. The main line of argument throughout has been in favor of translating
literature into literature in the Target Language. And all efforts were made to construct
a good version of literary translation on the basis of the features of literary style and
literariness.

The Introductory Chapter has set the scene for the whole book and its objectives. It
has provided definitions and details necessary for the students and readers to be
aware of before embarking on more specific arguments and discussions concerning
literary translation more in practice than in theory. Different definitions of literature
have been given. Then the polarization between literary language and non-literary
language has been investigated. The argument demonstrates in practical terms that
although such polarity is not advisable, it is a fact that we cannot deny especially at
tackling the translation of literature in particular. The next point has been about the
features of literariness in literature due to their key importance to literary translators,
including: semantic density, lexical and syntactic elaboration, medium dependence, re-
registration, polysemy, discourse patterning, the possibility of reading literature at more
than one level, symbolism, and tone: the involvement of human feelings, to name some.
Their huge significance is immeasurable to literary translators.

273
The fourth major point discussed has been literary translation, starting with providing
definitions for translation in general, followed by a detailed survey of literary
translation. A straightforward definition has been suggested to it as a special type of
translation that is specialized in translating literary genres and sub-genres into literary
pieces of work in the TL, having accounted for all features of literariness and style of
the original, especially those pointed out above. The point followed has been the
characteristics of the literary translator. Chief among these are honesty, mastery of the
SL and TL concerned, command of good knowledge of style, competence in tone,
humility, etc. They mean to demonstrate the tall order of becoming a literary
translator. The penultimate point raised has been methods of translation, literary and
otherwise. The major methods of translation in the field have been examined in some
detail with illustrative examples. They include semantic, communicative, literal, free,
pragmatic and other methods of translation.

The final point of the Chapter has been about a method of translation put forward
especially for translating literature: 'creative literary stylistic translation method'. It has
been claimed that this method can respond to the demanding requirement of
translating literature by singling out creativity and its source, style, to represent the
core of the literariness of literature.

Chapter Two is mainly theoretical. It has focused on two major interconnected topics,
style and creativity in relation to literary translation. It includes investigating relevant
points like the exquisite status of style in translation in literary translation in particular,
and its definition as a matter of choice in the first place; the major approaches to
stylistics, especially contemporary stylistics; introduced in brief and the notion of
creativity in literary translation in particular. Throughout it is claimed that the major
source of creativity in literary translation is literary style, i.e. the literary stylistic features
of literary texts, or features of literariness.

Chapter Three has set the theoretical bases for the next three practical Chapters that
concentrate on applications of literary translation taken from the three major literary
genres, the Short Story, the Novel and Poetry. It has investigated the sources of literary
rhetoric, diction and creativity of the stylistic features of literariness at translating
literature. Then, many stylistic features of literariness and creativity in both languages,
English and Arabic literary heritage are demonstrated. Among them are rhetorical
figures of metaphor, collocation, rhetorical repetition, periphrasis, expressivity,
foregrounding, backgrounding, etc. It has been argued throughout that all features of
literariness highlighted in this and other Chapters of the book are features of literary
style, the source of creativity in literary translation. Creativity is the point of departure
of literary translation from ordinary and other types of translation.

Chapter Four has tackled translating the Short Story. It has been all in all practical,
providing pairs of versions of translation of texts representative of ten short stories
from both Languages concerned. The ensuing discussion has suggested two main lines
of argument for the translation of Short Story: (a) Possible ordinary translations that
are committed solely to rendering meaning in a direct way into the TL; and (b) Literary

274
translations that are more appropriate in the TL, being creative and accounting for the
literary stylistic features of each SLT like metaphorical expressions, symbolisms, lexical
densities, rhetorical repetitions of all types, rhetorical figures (especially syndeton,
polysyndeton, asyndeton, chiasmus, hyperboles and periphrases), assertive features,
literary diction, literary structures, sound / prosodic features and effects, formality,
cultural expressions and implications and deviations (lexical and syntactic in
particular), etc. It has been claimed throughout that these features of literariness
unique to literary texts are the prerequisites of any version of translation to be
described as 'literary'. At the end, it is left to the reader to draw the final judgment
about the credibility of the literary versions in particular.

In Chapter Five, the argument for the credibility of literary translation from a narrative
literary stylistic perspective has been developed further at the level of the Novel. It has
been claimed that the translation of the novel is more difficult, sensitive, satisfying,
reliable and well-based in data than the short story, due to the comprehensiveness
and wide-ranging borderlines of the former, and limitations of the latter, with a special
concern in literary style, being the source of creativity, literary excellence and high
levels of aesthetic accomplishments. The technique of juxtaposing two contrastive
versions of translation, literary and ordinary, has continued in this Chapter in a way
similar to that of the previous Chapter, though in terms of the likely major literary
stylistic features of each of the narrative texts introduced in both Languages, Arabic
and English, to confirm in practice the theoretical argument approving the literary
version compared with the less appropriate ordinary one. Recently developed
approaches to the analysis and interpretation of narrative discourse in general, and the
Novel in particular, have been outlined and exemplified for with variation throughout.
Special attention has been given to transitivity for its special importance in narrative
discourse and contemporary stylistic approaches to the interpretation and, hence,
translation of literary discourse including the novel.

Finally, Chapter Six has handled the demanding task of translating POETRY. It has
started with providing a good background knowledge about a number of key sound
patterns, especially onomatopoeia, rhyme, meter, and rhythm. It has been argued in
this Chapter that a good poetic translation is entirely based on prosodic and sound
features to be constructed with rhyme and rhythm in particular. The general argument
goes for a distinction between two major types of translating poetry: (a) poetical
translation that renders the SLT sense (i.e. literal and direct meaning) with no concern
with prosody or sounds; (b) poetic translation, based entirely on prosodic and sound
features, especially regular rhyme, rhythm and preferably meter and foot. It has been
suggested that the latter has been claimed to have several sub-types attempted
throughout. It has also been maintained that all these are acceptable poetic versions
of translation of poetry with variations, though. They are meant to demonstrate to
translators of poetry that they have a good range of possibilities to achieve poetic
translation of some kind.

There has also been sample exemplification in simple terms as how the process of
constructing poetic translation goes on in practice. It gives a practical exercise for

275
trainee translators and students of translation in particular, and translators in general
as how to proceed gradually in the translation of poetry, and how to solve problems of
prosodic features of rhyme, rhythm, meter and foot in particular. The process is
presumed to be applicable to translation in both directions, English-Arabic-English. The
Chapter has rounded up with putting forward some procedures and guidelines for
translating poetry to help translators refine their skills of constructing a satisfactory
version of poetic translation gradually and systematically and, at the same time,
practice how to solve problems of translating poetry.

It is hoped that this book has achieved the objectives set for it in the Introductory
Chapter, and responded to some tricky questions about the possibility, validity and
credibility of constructing a creative literary translation, compared to ordinary
translation. It is claimed by the author that it has met substantial requirements for
constructing a good literary translation by a responsible translator for responsible
readership of literature and literary translations.

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www.ingdz.com/vb/archive/index

285
 GLOSSARY
absolute metaphor ‫استعارة مطمقة‬
abstract metaphor ‫استعارة مجردة‬
accuracy ‫استعارة دقيقة‬
activity ‫نشاط؛ فعؿ‬
activization ‫تفعيؿ‬
adages ‫أقواؿ مأثورة‬
adapted metaphor ‫استعارة مقتبسة‬
aesthetic ‫جمالي‬
aesthetics ‫عمـ الجماؿ؛ جماليات‬
affective stylistics ‫األسموبية التأثيرية؛ أسموبية التأثير عمى القارئ‬
allegory ‫مجاز‬
alliteration ‫سجع‬
alliterative pairs of prose rhyme ‫مسجعات النثر المقفى‬
ambiguity ‫لَْبس؛ غموض‬
American New Critics ‫النقاد األمريكاف الجدد‬

286
‫‪anadiplosis and climax‬‬ ‫تكرار تتابعي وتصاعد مطرد‬
‫‪anaphora‬‬ ‫تكرار الصدارة‬
‫‪antanaclasis ploce‬‬ ‫تكرار متغاير‬
‫‪anthology of texts‬‬ ‫مقتطفات مف نصوص‬
‫‪antonomasia‬‬ ‫كناية‬
‫‪antonymic collocations‬‬ ‫متبلزمات متناقضة‪/‬طباقية‬
‫‪antonymy‬‬ ‫طباؽ؛ تناقض؛ تعارض‬
‫‪apophony‬‬ ‫إبداؿ الصوائت‬
‫‪assonance‬‬ ‫سجع الصوائت؛ توافؽ حروؼ العمة‬
‫‪asyndeton‬‬ ‫عطؼ مرسؿ ؛ عبارات متتالية مف دوف حرؼ عطؼ‬
‫‪attitude‬‬ ‫موقؼ (متحامؿ)‬
‫‪attributes of the generous‬‬ ‫مناقب أىؿ الكرـ‬
‫‪automatized ordinary language‬‬ ‫المغة العادية التمقائية‬
‫‪background knowledge‬‬ ‫معرفة مسبقة‬
‫‪backgrounding‬‬ ‫تأخير؛ توكيد نيائي‬
‫‪ballad‬‬ ‫أغنية شعبية‬
‫‪beat‬‬ ‫تفعيمة مشددة‬
‫)‪behavioral processes (behaving‬‬ ‫عمميات سموكية (فعؿ السموؾ؛ التصرؼ)‬
‫‪biculturalness‬‬ ‫ثنائية ثقافية؛ اإللماـ بثقافتيف‬
‫‪binomials‬‬ ‫ثنائيات؛ ألفاظ ثنائية نسقية‬
‫سير‬ ‫ِ‬
‫‪biography books‬‬ ‫كتب التراجـ ‪ /‬ال َ‬
‫‪blending‬‬ ‫مزج؛ دمج‬
‫‪bound free translation‬‬ ‫ترجمة حرة محدودة‬
‫)‪captivation (of readers‬‬ ‫أسر (لب القراء)‬
‫‪central literary properties‬‬ ‫خصائص أدبية رئيسية‬
‫‪characters‬‬ ‫شخصيات‬
‫‪chiasmus / antimetabole‬‬ ‫قمب نحوي ‪ /‬تكرار متصالب‬
‫‪children's rhyme‬‬ ‫نشيد ‪ /‬أنشودة ‪ /‬أغنية أطفاؿ‬
‫‪chiming‬‬ ‫تناغـ الصوت والمعنى‬
‫‪classical / frozen formality‬‬ ‫قحة‬
‫فصاحة شديدة ‪ّ /‬‬
‫‪classical arabic‬‬ ‫المغة العربية التراثية ‪ /‬التقميدية‬
‫‪classical jurisprudence books‬‬ ‫كتب الفقو التراثية‬
‫‪classroom stylistics‬‬ ‫األسموبية التعميمة‬
‫‪cliché metaphor‬‬ ‫استعارة مبتذلة‬

‫‪287‬‬
‫‪climax‬‬ ‫عقدة‬
‫‪cognates‬‬ ‫المتجانسات؛ المشتقات المتشابية (مثؿ‪:‬يشرب مشروب ًا )‪((drink a drink‬‬
‫‪cognitive experience‬‬ ‫تجربة معرفية‪ ،‬ممارسة عقمية‬
‫‪cognitive metaphor‬‬ ‫استعارة معرفية ‪ /‬عقمية‬
‫‪cognitive process‬‬ ‫عممية معرفية ‪ /‬عقمية‬
‫‪cognitive stylistic creativity‬‬ ‫إبداع أسموبي معرفي‬
‫‪cognitive stylistics‬‬ ‫أسموبية معرفية ‪ /‬عقمية‬
‫‪collocation‬‬ ‫تبلزـ ‪ /‬توارد لفظي؛ متبلزـ لفظي؛ متبلزمة لفظية‬
‫)‪collocational similes (as … as‬‬ ‫تشبييات تبلزمية؛ تشبييات التفضيؿ‬
‫‪comedy‬‬ ‫ممياة؛ (مسرحية) ىزلية؛ كوميديا‬
‫‪command of conventions of reading‬‬ ‫إلماـ بأعراؼ القراءة‬
‫‪communicative clues‬‬ ‫حموؿ تخاطبية مفصمية‬
‫‪competence in tone‬‬ ‫قدرة خاصة في تمييز نغمة النص العاطفية‬
‫‪complexity‬‬ ‫تعقيد؛ تركيب معقد‬
‫‪compound / exemplary metaphor‬‬ ‫استعارة تمثيمية‬
‫‪computational stylistics‬‬ ‫أسموبية حسابية ‪ /‬إحصائية‬
‫‪concept of style‬‬ ‫مفيوـ األسموب‬
‫‪conceptual metaphor‬‬ ‫استعارة فكرية‬
‫‪concrete metaphor‬‬ ‫استعارة محسوسة‬
‫‪connotations‬‬ ‫مضاميف ‪ /‬مدلوالت ثقافية‬
‫‪consonance‬‬ ‫سجع الصوامت؛ توافؽ الحروؼ الساكنة‬
‫‪contemporary literary stylistics‬‬ ‫األسموبية األدبية المعاصرة‬
‫‪contrastive irony‬‬ ‫تيكـ متناقض‬
‫‪covert metaphor‬‬ ‫استعارة مكنية‬
‫‪creative collocability‬‬ ‫تبلزمية إبداعية‬
‫‪creative link‬‬ ‫حمقة وصؿ إبداعية‬
‫‪creative literary stylistic translation‬‬ ‫ترجمة أسموبية أدبية إبداعية‬
‫‪creative translation‬‬ ‫ترجمة إبداعية‬
‫‪creative translational stylistics‬‬ ‫أسموبية ترجمة إبداعية‬
‫‪creative‬‬ ‫إبداعي‬
‫‪creativity‬‬ ‫إبداع‬
‫‪cultural metaphor‬‬ ‫استعارة ثقافية‬
‫‪culture‬‬ ‫ثقافة‬
‫‪dead metaphor‬‬ ‫مستشعرة ‪ /‬ميتة‬
‫َ‬ ‫استعارة غير‬

‫‪288‬‬
‫‪defamiliarization of ordinary language‬‬ ‫تغريب المغة العادية؛ جعؿ المغة العادية غير مألوفة؛ انزياح‬
‫‪deixis‬‬ ‫منظومة اإلشارة؛ أسماء اإلشارة وأدواتيا‬
‫‪deliberate variation‬‬ ‫تنويع متعمد؛ ترادؼ ببلغي‬
‫‪derivative / supplementary metaphor‬‬ ‫استعارة تبعية‬
‫‪deviance / deviation‬‬ ‫انزياح (لغوي)؛ شذوذ عف القاعدة‬
‫‪deviant language‬‬ ‫لغة منزاحة ‪ /‬انزياحية‬
‫‪dichotomy‬‬ ‫فصؿ؛ تقسيـ‬
‫‪diegesis‬‬ ‫صرؼ‬‫إرواء ِ‬
‫‪discourse analysis‬‬ ‫تحميؿ الخطاب ‪ /‬الحوار‬
‫‪discourse patterning‬‬ ‫تركيب خطابي محكـ (لمنص)‬
‫‪discourse stylistics‬‬ ‫أسموبية الخطاب؛ أسموبية نصية‬
‫‪disguised irony / complex irony‬‬ ‫تيكـ مبطف؛ سخرية متنكرة ‪/‬ماكرة‬
‫‪displaced interaction‬‬ ‫تفاعؿ ‪ /‬تحاور غير محدد بمكاف (في النص األدبي)‬
‫‪double entendre irony‬‬ ‫تيكـ ذو وجييف‬
‫‪double rhyme‬‬ ‫قافية مضاعفة ‪ /‬مضعفة‬
‫‪double-decker / compromising metaphor‬‬ ‫استعارة وفاقية‬
‫‪drama‬‬ ‫مسرحية؛ مسرح‬
‫‪dramatic monologue‬‬ ‫مناجاة مسرحية؛ مناجاة النفس عمى المسرح‬
‫‪dualist style‬‬ ‫أسموب مثنى ‪ /‬ثنائي (يفصؿ بيف الشكؿ والمضموف)‬
‫‪dualists‬‬ ‫األسموبيوف الثنائيوف؛ معتنقو المفيوـ الثنائي لؤلسموب‬
‫‪dynamic equivalence‬‬ ‫تكافؤ متغير‬
‫‪effectiveness‬‬ ‫فاعمية؛ قوة تأثير‬
‫‪elaborate synonymy‬‬ ‫ترادؼ محكـ ‪ /‬ببلغي‬
‫‪elaboration of vocabulary‬‬ ‫حبؾ محكـ لممفردات‬
‫‪ellipsis‬‬ ‫حذؼ‬
‫‪elocution‬‬ ‫فصاحة؛ فف إلقاء الخطابة‬
‫‪emotional effects‬‬ ‫تأثيرات عاطفية‬
‫‪emotionality‬‬ ‫عاطفية‬
‫‪end rhyme‬‬ ‫قافية (ختامية)‬
‫‪epanalepsis‬‬ ‫رد العجز عمى الصدر؛ تكرار استيبللي‪-‬ختامي‬
‫‪epanorthesis‬‬ ‫استدراؾ ببلغي‬
‫‪epic poetry‬‬ ‫شعر ممحمي؛ شعر المبلحـ؛ شعر الحماسة‬
‫‪epic style‬‬ ‫أسموب الشعر الممحمي‬
‫‪epistrophe‬‬ ‫تكرار ختامي‬

‫‪289‬‬
epizeuxis ‫تكرار توكيدي‬
equivalence ‫تكافؤ؛ ترادؼ‬
essence ‫جوىر‬
estranged language ‫لغة مغربة؛ لغة شاذة عف المعيود‬
estrangement of ordinary language ‫تغريب المغة العادية؛ جعؿ المغة العادية منزاحة عف القاعدة‬
events )‫أحداث (في عمؿ أدبي‬
exaggeration ‫مبالغة‬
exaggerative expression ‫تعبير مبال فيو‬
existential processes (existing) )‫عمميات جارية (قائمة‬
expressive style ‫ مؤثر‬/ ‫أسموب تعبيري‬
expressiveness )‫ وما شابييا‬،‫تعبير (عف فكرة‬
expressivity ‫ تأثير‬/ ‫تعبيرية؛ قوة تعبير‬
eye-rhyme ‫ منظورة‬/ ‫قافية مرئية‬
faithfulness (in translation) )‫أمانة (في الترجمة‬
farce ‫ميزلة؛ مسرحية ىزلية الذعة‬
features of creativity in poetry ‫السمات اإلبداعية في الشعر‬
feminine rhyme ‫قافية ثنائية المقطع؛ مشددة ما قبؿ األواخر؛ قافية أنثوية‬
feminist stylistics )‫األسموبية السياسية؛ األسموبية التمييزية( ضد المرأة‬
figurative expressions ‫تعابير مجازية‬
figurative language ‫لغة مجازية‬
figurativeness ‫مجاز‬
flexibility ‫مرونة‬
foot ‫تفعيمة‬
foregrounding ‫تصدير؛ تقديـ توكيدي‬
formal collocability ‫تبلزمية فصحى‬
formal correspondence ‫تكافؤ مرادؼ‬
formal equivalence vs. dynamic translation ‫تكافؤ شكمي مقابؿ تكافؤ متغير‬
formal equivalence ‫ حرفي‬/ ‫تكافؤ شكمي‬
formal features of poetry ‫سمات الشعر الشكمية‬
formal style ‫أسموب فصيح‬
formalists ‫الشكبلنيوف‬
formality ‫فصاحة‬
free translation ‫ترجمة حرة‬
functional sentence perspective ‫رؤية وظيفية لمجممة‬

290
‫‪general stylistics‬‬ ‫األسموبية العامة؛ دراسة أساليب أماط المغة‬
‫‪good translator‬‬ ‫مترجـ ممتاز‬
‫‪grammatical sequence‬‬ ‫نسؽ نحوي ‪ /‬قواعدي‬
‫‪grand style‬‬ ‫أسموب راؽ ‪ /‬مييب‬
‫‪half rhyme‬‬ ‫نصؼ ‪ /‬شبو قافية؛ قافية غير كاممة‬
‫‪hendiadys‬‬ ‫توأمة مترادفات اسمية‬
‫‪human feelings‬‬ ‫مشاعر إنسانية‬
‫)‪humility (of the literary translator‬‬ ‫تواضع (مترجـ األدب)‬
‫‪hyperbolé‬‬ ‫مغاالة؛ غمو‬
‫‪icon‬‬ ‫أيقونة؛ صورة مثالية؛ رمز‬
‫‪iconicity‬‬ ‫مماثمة؛ أيقونية؛ مثالية‬
‫‪ideal/ perfect translato‬‬ ‫مترجـ كامؿ (األوصاؼ)‬
‫‪ideological factors‬‬ ‫عوامؿ فكرية ‪ /‬إيديولوجية‬
‫‪ideology‬‬ ‫فكر؛ منيج فكري ‪ /‬في التفكير؛ إيديولوجية؛ أدلجة‬
‫‪idioms‬‬ ‫تعابير اصطبلحية‪ /‬مجازية‬
‫‪imperfect rhyme‬‬ ‫قافية ناقصة ‪/‬غير كاممة‬
‫‪implicit reference‬‬ ‫إشارة ضمنية ‪ /‬مف طرؼ خفي‬
‫‪imposition of a new thesaurus entry‬‬ ‫فرض مداخؿ معجمية جديدة‬
‫‪impressive-expressive combinations‬‬ ‫تراكيب ‪ /‬متواردات معبرة مؤثرة‬
‫‪impressiveness‬‬ ‫وقع قوي؛ تعبيرية قوة‬
‫‪inborn inspired translator‬‬ ‫مترجـ ُمميـ بالوراثة‬
‫‪inferiority of non-literary language‬‬ ‫دونية المغة غير األدبية‬
‫‪informal style‬‬ ‫األسموب دوف الفصيح‪ /‬غير الفصيح ‪ /‬العامي‬
‫‪innuendo / strange irony‬‬ ‫مستغرب ‪ /‬غريب‬
‫َ‬ ‫تيكـ‬
‫‪inspired literary translator‬‬ ‫مترجـ أدب مميـ‬
‫‪institutionalized prejudices and ideologies‬‬ ‫توجيات فكرية ومواقؼ عدائية موجية‬
‫‪intentionalists‬‬ ‫اليدفيوف؛ المقصديوف؛ دعاة مقاصد المؤلؼ (في تأويؿ النص)‬
‫‪internal rhyme‬‬ ‫قافية بيف األبيات ‪ /‬داخمية‬
‫‪interpretive community‬‬ ‫مجتمع تأويمي‬
‫‪interrelation of effects‬‬ ‫تداخؿ التاثيرات (الضمنية لؤلسموب)‬
‫‪-intertextuality‬‬ ‫تناص؛ تقاطع النصوص (لممؤلؼ نفسو‪ ،‬وغيره)‬
‫ّ‬
‫‪Intransitivity‬‬ ‫الزمية (األفعاؿ)؛ جمود؛ خمود‬
‫‪inventiveness‬‬ ‫تجديد‬
‫‪involvement of human feelings‬‬ ‫إقحاـ المشاعر اإلنسانية‬

‫‪291‬‬
irony ‫تيكـ‬
isochronisms ‫تفعيبلت متزامنة؛ متوازيات؛ متزامنات‬
isocolon ‫تواز نحوي؛ قافية موزونة‬
juxtaposition ‫تقابؿ‬
language components ‫مكونات المغة‬
language of literature ‫لغة األدب‬
leitmotifs ‫ مشترؾ‬/ ‫عنصر فاعؿ‬
levels of language ‫مستويات المغة‬
lexical elaboration ‫حبؾ لفظي محكـ‬
lexical intricacies ‫تداخبلت لفظية‬
lexical relationships ‫ بيف األلفاظ‬/ ‫عبلقات لفظية‬
lexical repetition ‫ األلفاظ‬/ ‫تكرار لفظي‬
lexis ‫األلفاظ‬
line of verse ‫ مف الشعر‬/ ‫بيت شعر‬
linguistic criteria ‫ فياصؿ لغوية‬/ ‫معايير‬
linguistic features )‫سمات لغوية (مميزة‬
linguistic meaning ‫ مباشر‬/ ‫معنى لغوي‬
linguistic stylistics ‫أسموبية لغوية‬
literal translation of meaning ‫ الدقيقة لممعنى‬/ ‫الترجمة الحرفية‬
literal translation ‫ترجمة أدبية‬
literal vs. free translation ‫الترجمة الحرة مقابؿ الترجمة الحرفية‬
literariness ‫األدبية؛ السمات األدبية في لغة األدب‬
literary characteristics ‫خصائص أدبية‬
literary conventions ‫تقاليد قراءة األدب؛ أعراؼ أدبية‬
literary criteria ‫معايير أدبية‬
literary diction ‫مفردات خاصة باألدب‬
literary discourse ‫ نص أدبي‬/ ‫خطاب‬
literary features )‫سمات أدبية (متميزة‬
literary genres ‫أجناس أدبية‬
literary heritage ‫تراث أدبي‬
literary rhetoric ‫ببلغة أدبية‬
literary style ‫أسموب أدبي‬
literary stylistic interpretation ‫تأويؿ اسموبي أدبي؛ تأويؿ األدب بناء عمى األسموب‬
literary stylistics ‫األسموبية األدبية‬

292
literary text ‫نص أدبي‬
literary translation ‫ترجمة أدبية‬
literary translator as writer ‫مترجـ األدب بصفتو كاتب ًا‬
literary translator ‫مترجـ األدب‬
literary vs. ordinary translation ‫ترجمة أدبية مقابؿ ترجمة عادية‬
litotes \‫بخس؛ إقبلؿ مف شأف؛ امتياف‬
ْ
lofty literary style ‫أسموب أدبي رفيع‬
loose free translation ‫ترجمة حرة غير مقيدة‬
lyric poetry ‫شعر غنائي‬
making moral judgments ‫إطبلؽ أحكاـ قيمة‬
masculine rhyme ‫قافية أحاديةالمقطع؛ قافية مشددة األواخر‬
mastery of the two languages ‫إتقاف لغتيف‬
material processes (doing) )‫ عمؿ‬/ ‫عمميات مادية (فعؿ‬
meaning components ‫مكونات المعنى‬
meaning construction ‫تركيب المعنى‬
medium dependence ‫االعتماد عمى نص آخر‬
mental processes (sensing) )‫ حس‬/ ‫عمميات عقمية (إحساس‬
metalepsis )‫ استنتاجية‬/ ‫كناية (وصفية‬
metaphor r‫استعارة‬
meter )‫بحر (في الشعر‬
methods of translation ‫طرؽ الترجمة‬
metonym ‫كنايات‬
metonymy ‫تكنية؛ كناية‬
mimesis ‫محاكاة‬
mind style ‫أسموب العقؿ‬
mind stylistics ‫أسموبية العقؿ‬
mixed (conceptual-concrete) metaphor ‫حسية‬-‫استعارة فكرية‬
mixed (concrete-conceptual) metaphor ‫فكرية‬-‫استعارة حسية‬
models of analysis ‫مناىج تحميؿ‬/‫أنماط‬
monist style ‫ أسموب وحدة الشكؿ والمضموف‬.‫ توحيدي‬/ ‫أسموب أحادي‬
monists ‫دعاة وحدة المبنى والمعنى‬
monopolization of talents ‫احتكار المواىب‬
morality )‫أخبلؽ؛ قيمة (معنوية‬
MSA (Modern Standard Arabic) ‫المغة العربية الفصحى الحديثة‬

293
‫‪narrative discourse‬‬ ‫الخطاب ‪ /‬النص الروائي‬
‫‪negative attitude‬‬ ‫موقؼ سمبي‬
‫‪neologisms‬‬ ‫مستجدات‬
‫َ‬
‫‪nominalization‬‬ ‫اسمية؛ استعماؿ األسماء‬
‫‪non-creative vs. creative translation‬‬ ‫ترجمة إبداعية مقابؿ ترجمة غير إبداعية‬
‫‪non-idiomatic vs. idiomatic translation‬‬ ‫ترجمة اصطبلحية مقابؿ ترجمة غير اصطبلحية‬
‫‪non-pragmatic vs. pragmatic translation‬‬ ‫ترجمة مقصدية مقابؿ ترجمة غير مقصدية‬
‫‪novel‬‬ ‫رواية‬
‫‪nursery rhyme‬‬ ‫أنشودة ‪ /‬نشيد ‪ /‬أغنية أطفاؿ‬
‫‪objections‬‬ ‫اعتراضات‬
‫‪ode‬‬ ‫قصيدة (غنائية)‬
‫‪off beat‬‬ ‫تفعيمة مخففة‬
‫‪open-mindedness‬‬ ‫عقمية منفتحة‬
‫‪ordinary language‬‬ ‫لغة عادية‬
‫‪ordinary vs. literary translation‬‬ ‫ترجمة عادية مقابؿ ترجمة أدبية‬
‫‪original metaphor‬‬ ‫استعارة أصمية ‪ /‬مبتكرة‬
‫‪overstatement‬‬ ‫مغاالة؛ غمو؛ إفراط‬
‫‪overt metaphor‬‬ ‫استعارة تصريحية‬
‫‪oxymoron‬‬ ‫توافؽ المتناقضات‬
‫‪paradox‬‬ ‫مفارقة؛ تناقض‬
‫‪paradoxical‬‬ ‫تناقضي‬
‫‪parallelism‬‬ ‫تو ٍاز‬
‫‪paramountcy of sound patterns‬‬ ‫تفوؽ أنماط األصوات؛ عمو كعب العروض‬
‫‪pararhyme‬‬ ‫شبو قافية‬
‫‪parataxis‬‬ ‫إرداؼ مرسؿ‬
‫‪parison‬‬ ‫تواز؛ تناظر نحوي؛ تكافؤ عبارات‬
‫‪parody‬‬ ‫محاكاة ساخرة‬
‫‪passivity‬‬ ‫مجيولية؛ سمبية‬
‫‪passivization‬‬ ‫مجيولية؛ استعماؿ المبني لممجيوؿ‬
‫‪peculiar language‬‬ ‫لغة خاصة ‪ /‬خصوصة‬
‫‪pedagogical stylistics‬‬ ‫أسموبية تعميمية‬
‫‪perfect rhyme‬‬ ‫قافية تامة ‪ /‬كاممة‬
‫‪periphrasis‬‬ ‫تنوع ‪ /‬ترادؼ محكـ‬
‫‪personification‬‬ ‫تشخيص ‪ /‬أنسنة‬

‫‪294‬‬
‫‪phonaesthetic effects‬‬ ‫تأثيرات جمالية األصوات‬
‫‪plain style‬‬ ‫أسموب بسيط‬
‫‪ploce‬‬ ‫تكرار متغاير ‪ /‬متقطع‬
‫‪plot‬‬ ‫الحبكة؛ تسمسؿ أحداث الرواية‬
‫‪plotting of vocabulary‬‬ ‫حبؾ المفردات‬
‫‪pluralist style‬‬ ‫أسموب إجمالي ‪ /‬جمعي‬
‫‪poetic style‬‬ ‫اسموب شعري‬
‫‪poetic vs. non-poetic translation‬‬ ‫ترجمة شعرية مقابؿ ترجمة غير شعرية‬
‫‪poetics‬‬ ‫األسموبية؛ دراسة األسموبية الشعري‬
‫‪poetry‬‬ ‫شعر‬
‫‪polarization‬‬ ‫فصؿ؛ تمييز‬
‫‪polyptoton‬‬ ‫تكرار متنوع‬
‫‪polysemy‬‬ ‫تعدد المعنى؛ المشترؾ المفظي‬
‫‪polysyndeton‬‬ ‫تكرار متواؿ لحرؼ العطؼ‬
‫‪pomposity‬‬ ‫بيرجة؛ إطناب‬
‫‪popular fiction‬‬ ‫قصص شعبي‬
‫‪positive attitude‬‬ ‫موقؼ إيجابي‬
‫‪pragmatic meaning‬‬ ‫معنى مقصدي‬
‫‪pragmaticality‬‬ ‫مقصدية‬
‫‪pragmatics‬‬ ‫عمـ المقاصد؛ دراسة النوايا مف وراء الكبلـ‬
‫‪prejudice‬‬ ‫تحامؿ؛ موقؼ سمبي ‪ /‬عدائي‬
‫‪prose rhyme‬‬ ‫نثر مقفى؛ سجع نثري‬
‫‪prose‬‬ ‫نثر‬
‫‪prosody‬‬ ‫َعروض‬
‫‪proverbial expressions‬‬ ‫أقواؿ مأثورة؛ حكـ؛ أمثاؿ‬
‫‪proverbs‬‬ ‫حكـ؛ أمثاؿ‬
‫‪proverbs‬‬ ‫أمثاؿ‬
‫‪provocation‬‬ ‫استفزاز؛ تحريض؛ حث؛ إثارة‬
‫‪psychological aptitude‬‬ ‫قابمية نفسية؛ تقبؿ‪ /‬استعداد نفسي‬
‫‪pun‬‬ ‫تورية ؛ إيياـ‬
‫‪reactionary irony‬‬ ‫تيكـ انفعالي‬
‫‪readership‬‬ ‫قراء‬
‫جميور القراء؛ ّ‬
‫‪reading at more than one level‬‬ ‫قراءة (النص األدبي) عمى أكثر مف مستوى (مف المعنى)‬
‫‪realigning registers‬‬ ‫إعادة تصنيؼ المجاالت المغوية‬

‫‪295‬‬
recent metaphor ‫ حديثة‬/ ‫محدثة‬
َ ‫استعارة‬
recreation of subtext ‫ترجمة النص الباطني‬
registers ‫ أساليب المغة‬/ ‫مجاالت‬
relational processes (being) )‫ كائف‬/ ‫عمميات عبلقات (كوف‬
religious sensitivity ‫حساسية دينية‬
repetition vs. variation ‫التكرار مقابؿ التنويع‬
re-registration )‫انفتاح المغة األدبية (عمى كؿ األلفاظ‬
resonance ‫صدى؛ رنيف‬
reverse rhyme ‫ عكوسة‬/ ‫قافية معكوسة‬
rhetorical dialogue ‫حوار ببلغي‬
rhetorical figures ‫صور ببلغية‬
rhetoric ‫ببلغة‬
rhyme ‫قافية‬
rhyme royal )‫ خمس منيا مشددة‬،‫قافية ممكية (مف سبعة مقاطع‬
rhythm ‫إيقاع؛ وزف‬
rhythmical ‫إيقاعي‬
sadness-tinted combinations ‫متبلزمات مخضبة بالحزف‬
scansion )‫تقطيع (بيت الشعر‬
self-aggrandizement ‫تعظيـ المر لنفسو‬
semantic criteria ‫ فياصؿ داللية‬/ ‫معايير‬
semantic density ‫كثافة داللية؛ ثراء المعاني‬
semantic vs. communicative translation ‫ترجمة معنوية مقابؿ ترجمة تخاطبية‬
semi-rhyme ‫ شبو قافية‬/ ‫نصؼ‬
sense of dedication to literature ‫إحساس بتكريس النفس لؤلدب‬
sense ‫معنى مباشر‬
short story ‫القصة القصيرة‬
simile ‫تشبيو‬
simplicity ‫بساطة‬
since antiquity ‫منذ األزؿ‬
slant rhyme ‫قافية جناسية‬
sociolinguistic code ‫اجتماعي‬-‫عرؼ لغوي‬
sonnet ‫قصيدة غنائية قصيرة‬
sound patterns / features ‫سمات صوتية‬
speciality of literary language ‫خصوصية المغة األدبية‬

296
specific patterning of deixis ‫ ألسماء اإلشارة‬/ ‫حبؾ خاص لمنظومة اإلشارة‬
standard metaphor ‫استعارة معيارية‬
stock metaphor ‫ معيارية‬/ ‫استعارة معيودة‬
structural / structuralist stylistics ‫أسموبية بنيوية‬
style and stylistics ‫األسموب واألسموبية‬
style as a matter of choice ‫األسموب كمسألة اختيار‬
style-based method of translation ‫طريقة ترجمة أسموبية‬
stylistic analysis ‫تحميؿ أسموبي‬
stylistic domains ‫ فضاءات أسموبية‬/ ‫مجاالت‬
stylistic effects ‫تأثيرات أسموبية؛ معاني ضمنية لؤلسموب‬
stylistic features ‫سمات أسموبية‬
stylistic functions ‫ معاني أسموبية ضمنية‬،‫وظائؼ أسموبية‬
stylistic implications ‫مضاميف أسموبية‬
stylistic interpretation ‫تأويؿ أسموبي‬
stylistic markers ‫نقاط عبلّـ أسموبية‬
stylistic meanings ‫معاف أسموبية؛ معاف ضمنية لؤلسموب‬
stylistic value ‫قيمة أسموبية‬
stylisticians ‫عمماء األسموب؛ األسموبيوف‬
stylization ‫توأمة أسموبية؛ محاكاة أسموب الغير‬
sub-genres ‫أجناس (أدبية) فرعية‬
subtlety of procedure (e.g. irony) )‫دقة الحبؾ المغوي (كالتيكـ‬
superiority of literary language ‫تفوؽ المغة األدبية‬
symbolism ‫الرمزية‬
symploce ‫ختامي‬-‫تكرار مركب (ابتدائي‬
syndetic symmetry ‫تماثؿ عطفي‬
syndeton ‫عطؼ؛ ربط عطفي‬
synecdoche / anthimaria / hypallage ‫المجاز المرسؿ‬
synonyms ‫مرادفات‬
synonymy ‫ترادؼ‬
syntactic intricacies ‫ تعقيدات نحوية‬/ ‫تشابكات‬
syntactic stylistics ‫أسموبية نحوية‬
tale ‫حكاية؛ قصة قصيرة‬
textual equivalence ‫تكافؤ نصي‬
textual medium ‫قناة نصية‬

297
‫‪textual structure‬‬ ‫بنية نصية؛ تركيب نصي‬
‫‪textualist stylistics‬‬ ‫اسموبية نصية ‪ /‬لغوية‬
‫‪theoretical argument‬‬ ‫جداؿ نظري؛ حجة نظرية‬
‫‪tone‬‬ ‫نغمة عاطفية‬
‫‪tradition‬‬ ‫تراث؛ إرث؛ تقميد‬
‫‪tragedy‬‬ ‫مأساة؛ تراجيديا‬
‫‪transcendentalism‬‬ ‫سمو؛ رفعة‬
‫‪transcultural words‬‬ ‫كممات ثقافية دخيمة؛ ألفاظ ثقافية أجنبية (في الثقافة األـ)‬
‫‪transitivity‬‬ ‫تعدية؛ فعالية؛ مفعولية‬
‫‪translation methods‬‬ ‫طرؽ ترجمة‬
‫‪translation of literature‬‬ ‫ترجمة األدب‬
‫‪translation process‬‬ ‫عممية سير الترجمة‬
‫‪translation theory‬‬ ‫نظرية الترجمة‬
‫‪translational stylistics‬‬ ‫أسموبية ترجمية‬
‫‪triads‬‬ ‫ثبلثيات؛ عبارات عطؼ ثبلثية‬
‫‪trope‬‬ ‫مجاز‬
‫‪true rhyme‬‬ ‫قافية صحيحة‬
‫‪types of irony‬‬ ‫أنماط التيكـ‬
‫‪types of metaphor‬‬ ‫أنماط االستعارة‬
‫‪uncompromising single-sense metaphor‬‬ ‫استعارة عنادية‬
‫‪understatement‬‬ ‫تقميؿ مف شأف؛ تخفيؼ؛ إنقاص‬
‫‪values‬‬ ‫قيـ‬
‫‪varieties language‬‬ ‫أساليب أنماط المغة‬
‫)‪verbal processes (saying‬‬ ‫عمميات فعمية (القوؿ)‬
‫‪verbalization‬‬ ‫فعمية؛ استعماؿ األفعاؿ‬
‫‪verse‬‬ ‫شعر؛ بيت مف الشعر‬
‫‪word combinations‬‬ ‫متبلزمات؛ توارد الكممات؛ مركبات (لفظية)‬
‫‪word-for-word translation‬‬ ‫الترجمة كممة بكممة‬
‫‪zeugma / syllepsis‬‬ ‫التئاـ‬

‫‪298‬‬
Index American New Critics 3
anadiplosis 78
Anani 17, 19, 214, 247, 250-251,
230
Abdul-Raof 173, 175 anaphora 77
absolute metaphor 79 anguage components 14
abstract metaphor 79 animistic metaphor 81
abstracting the text’s implicit antanaclasis 77-78
concepts 48 anthimaria 77
Abu Bakr As-Siddeeq 248 Anthony Ferris 153, 164
adages and proverbs 59 anthropomorphic metaphors 80-81
adapted metaphors 80 antimetabole 78
Aeneid 250 antonomasia 77
affective stylistics 37 antonymic collocations 67
aggressive words and phrases 196 antonyms 69
Al-Absheehi 68 antonymy 63, 97
Al-Askari 239 apprehension and Precipitation 181
Al-Jahez 236 Arabic classics 60
alliteration 218-19, 223 Arabic meters of poetry
alliterative pairs 68 and their key feet 230
alliterative pairs of prose rhyme 68 Arabic prosody 239
Al-Qamah Al-Fahl 273 'as…as' collocational similes 69
ambiguity 48, 99

299
 Carter 36-39, 41, 73-74, 117, 127, 137,
168, 183, 237
Carter and Burton 38, 253
Ash-Shak'ah 162-163, 265-266, 274 Carter and McCarthy 91
aspects of creativity in the translation Carter and Nash 3, 6, 10, 33, 38,
of literature 48 121, 220-221, 272-273
Assad's massacres in Syria 252-53 Carter and Simpson 1, 39
assonance 218, 223 Cat in the Rain 121
asyndetic coordinate binomials 66 Catford 13, 22
asyndeton 77 Chamberlain 42
Ateeq 230 Chapman 3
Ath-Tha'alibi 266 characteristics of literary translator 19-
attributes of the generous 67 20
Attributes of the Prophet 69 characterization elements 166
Attridge 42, 222 Chatwin 215
Auden 237 Chaudhuri 49
Automatized 2 chiasmus 78
Backgrounding 54 children's rhyme 18
Baker 22, 44, 49, 99 chiming 69, 218, 223
Bakhtin 39, 206 Christopher Middleton 217
ballad 18 Classic Literature 60
Banfield 37 Classical / old Arabic 63, 71
Bassnett-McGuire et al 44, 236 Classical Jurisprudence Books 69
Bates 116 Classical vocabulary 67
beat 218, 229 Classroom Stylistics 38
Bedeiwi 248 cliché metaphors 80
Bell 13, 22 climax 78
Benson et al 73 close synonyms 69
Berry 168, 187 cognates 67
Beylard-Ozeroff 22 cognitive interpretive process 48
Biography Books 67 cognitive metaphor 82
Birch 215 cognitive process 43
Black 81 cognitive process of literary
Blake 246 translation 42
Boase Beier 3, 17, 27, 32, 36, 42, cognitive stylistic creativity in literary
48-50, 101 translation 45
Boll: 209 cognitive stylistic theory of meaning
Bonnefoy 235 and interpretation 48
Bound Free Translation 25 cognitive stylistic translation 48
Bradford 36-37, 39 cognitive stylistics 39, 41-43, 48, 50
Branch of language study 15 Cognitive Stylistics and the Translator
Brashi 72 27
Brumfit and Carter 1, 36, 38, 140 cognitive view of metaphor 82
Burton 37, 39, 168, 182 Coleridge 32, 230
Cambridge Book of English Verse 271 collocability 222
Camu 220 collocations 71

300
combinations 74 Crystal & Davy 38
comedy 18 Crystal 72
communicative act 45 cultural and ideological attitudes of
communicative clues 27 the translator 49
competence in tone 19 cultural implications 57
complementaries 97 cultural metaphors 80
components of language 33 Cummings and Simmons 38
compound / exemplary metaphor 80 dactyl 230
compound Metaphor 81 Dancygier 42
comprehensive definition of literature Dante 235
18 dead metaphors 80
computational stylistics 37 defamiliarization 2-3
concept of 'meaning' in language 16 defenseless scapegoat 193
onceptual metaphor 79 defining style 31
conclusions 275 defining stylistics
concrete metaphor 79 defining translation 12
the concretive metaphor 81 definition of the short story 116
conjunction 111 definitions of the novel 165
consonance 218, 223 deixis 111
contemporary cognitive literary Denham 236
translation 44 Derivative metaphor 78
contemporary literary stylistics 41 Dickens 103, 206, 232
contemporary stylistics 42 diegesis 1
contradiction 97 discourse patterning 11
contrastive irony 84 discourse stylistics 38
contrastive pairs 71 disguised irony: the complex irony 84
conventionality 1 displaced interaction 11
Cooper 81 disrupted word order 60
coordination vs. subordination 107 double entendre irony 84
couplets 229 double-decker compromising
covert metaphor 79 metaphor 79
creation 45 double-entendre 77
creative collocability 48 drama 18
creative constructor 50-51 dramatic monologue 18
creative link 31 Dryden 17, 32, 48, 235
creative literary stylistic translation 27 Dryden 32, 48
creative literary translator 48 dualist’ view of style 32
creative strategies 46 Dubois 13
creative translation 46-47 Duff 219
creative translation of literature 48 Dumpey and Son 232
creative translational stylistics 48 Durant and Fabb 41
creativity 17, 20, 45-46 Dylan Thomas 75-76, 271
creativity in translation 46 dynamic equivalence 48
crisp topic and comment binomials 66 Eagleton 1-2
critical words 229 elements of literariness in literary texts
Cruse 97 11

301
Eliot 272 Faulkner 183
Ellipsis 111-12 Firth 71-72
embedded metaphors 80 Fish 3, 39, 41
Emery 71-72, 153, 164 Fitzgerald 106
emphasis 59 foot 218, 229
emphatic repetition 54, 59 foregrounding 3, 48, 54
English meters 231 formal correspondence vs. textual
Enkvist 3 equivalence 22
epanalepsis 78 formal vs. dynamic equivalence 22
epanorthesis 78 formalists 2-4
epic poetry 18 fourth dimension 169
epistrophe 78 Fowler 2, 42
epizeuxis 78 free and literal methods of
Ernest Hemingway 121 translation 21
estrangement 2 Freeborn et al 38
everything counts, in the text and out Freeman 42
176 Garcia and Marco 32
explicit metaphors 80 Gavins 50
expressive features of literariness 211 Gavins and Steen 42
expressive vs. ordinary language 99 Gaza War 8
expressivity 48, 56 general stylistics 37-38
expressivity: literary and rhetorical 99 Ghaleb 239
extended metaphor 79-81 Ghazala 1, 4, 13-14, 22, 25, 27, 32, 38-
Fabb et al. 36 39, 41-44, 46, 60, 72-75, 88, 92, 97,
facts about stylistics 36-37 100, 168, 205, 210, 214, 239, 244,
factuality 1 265-267, 274,
Fahnestock 42 Ghazala's Translation 60
Fairclough 39, 42 Gibran 152, 163-164
Fairely 94, 177 Go Down, Moses 183
familiar collocation 74 grammatical conversion 55
farce 18 Gran 46, 48
features of creative literary translation Gutt 27, 42-43
28 Hall 39-40, 107, 109
features of literariness 10 Halliday & Hasan 110
features of literary rhetoric 71 hallmark of any translation of
feminist stylistics 39 literature 53
fictionality 1 hardness 221
figurative elaboration 57 Hatim & Mason 22, 44
figurative expressions 63 Heinrich Boll 217
figure 1: 14 hendiadys 78
figure 2: 15 Herman 39
figure 3: 103 Hill 89, 201, 206
figure 4: a model of narrative Hiraga 42
discourse 166 Hofmann 97
figure 5: Hallidayan transitivity (The) Hollow Men 272
processes 167 (The) Holy Koran 53, 88, 247

302
Hopkins 234, 273 level of language 15
humility 21 lexical analysis; lexicology 15
hypallage 77 lexical cohesion 111
hyperbolé: overstatement 84 lexical collocations 75
hyperboles 69 lexical opposites 97
hypersemanticization 11 lexical repetition vs. variation 204-205
iamb / iambic 230 linguistic / stylistic deviation 3
Ibn Al-Khateeb 267 linguistic stylistics 37
iconicity 48 literal vs. free translation 22
ideal or perfect translator 18 literariness in language 10-11
importance of style in literary literary and ordinary features of text
translation 31 1: 119-121
impossibility of translation 17 literary and ordinary features of text
impressive and emotional language 2: 123-124
117 literary and ordinary features of text
inactivity and submissiveness 187 3: 129
inborn inspired translator 21 literary and ordinary features of text
innuendo: the strange irony 85 4: 132
intertextuality 206 literary and ordinary features of text
intuitive response 41 5: 134
inventiveness 20 literary and ordinary features of text
irony 55 6: 139-140
irony 84 literary and ordinary features of text
isocolon 78 7: 142
Jakobson 17, 37, 48 literary and ordinary features of text
John Milton 220, 255 8: 145
Jon Udall 117 literary and ordinary features of text
Jonathan Swift 6 9: 149-150
Joyce 127, 131 literary and ordinary features of text
Khulusi 21, 230-231, 235, 237 10: 153-56
255, 264 literary diction 53
Koranic style's impressive impact on literary features of 5.1: 171-172
literature 53 literary features of 5.2: 174-175
Labov 39 literary features of 5.3: 177-179
Lakoff 81 literary features of 5.4: 182
Lakoff and Johnson 81 literary features of 5.5: 185
Lakoff and Turner 81 literary features of 5.6: 193-95
Landers 12, 17, 19, 21-22, 31 literary features of 5.7: 198
language of literature 2 literary features of 5.8: 205
Larkin 112 literary features of 5.9: 207-208
Lawrence 137, 160 literary features of 5.10: 211
Leech 3, 88, 97, 99, 221, literary language 2-3
229, 233, 272 literary language vs. non-literary
Leech and Short 3, 32-33, 36 language 2
Lefeveré 48, 237 literary style 40
letter writing 62 literary style of complexity 183

303
literary stylistic interpretation 41 model of narrative discourse 166
literary stylistics 40 model of stylistic analysis 165
literary texts 75 modulation 218
literary translation 12, 16-17, 28, 31, 42 monopoly of literary translation 21
literary translator 18-21 morphology 15
literary translator as writer 48 multilayeredness of literature 11
literature 1 multi-syntactic emphasis 58
litotes / understatement 84 Munday 12
Longley 273 narrative discourse 39, 165
loose free translation 25 narrative fiction 18
Lyons 97, 99 narrative stylistics 39, 84, 88, 92-93,
lyric poetry 18 140, 165, 168, 206, 217, 222
Mahfuz 145-146 need for creativity 47
main clause structure 106 Newmark 12, 18, 21-23, 31, 43-46, 48,
major literary genres 18 84, 101, 116-117, 144, 161, 165, 168,
major stylistic features of literariness 210, 217, 219
53 Nicholson 264
mapping (of metaphor) 83 Nida 46, 48
Margaret Bourne 161 Nida and Taber 13, 48
material process 109 non-creative translation 47
material-action-intention process non-creative vs. creative translation 22
effects sequence 191 non-fictional prose literature 62
meaning components 14 non-idiomatic vs. idiomatic translation
meaning construction 45 22
medium dependence 5, 11 non-literary language 3
mental process 109 non-pragmatic vs. pragmatic
metalepsis 77 translation 22
metaphor 48, 69, 71, 76 Nord 43
metaphorical collocations 80 norms 2
meter 218 O' Daniel 214
meter and rhythm 229 ode 18
methods of literary translation 21 Odour of the Chrysanthemums 137
metonymy 48, 77 off-beat 218, 229
metrical feet 230 Ohmann 32
metrical pattern 229 Old Mrs Grey 177
Middleton 210 omission of taboo words 50
Mills 39 onomatopoeia 218-19, 235
Miltonic monody 256 onomatopoeia: stylistic
mimesis 1 investigation 220
mind stylistics 42 onomatopoeic argument 222
Mist in the Mirror 201 onomatopoeic effects 221
mixed (conceptual-concrete) onomatopoeic occurrences 222
metaphor 79 operation and interrelation of effects
mixed (concrete-conceptual) 10
metaphor 79 oppositeness 97
mixed metaphor 80-81 ordinary vs. literary translation 23

304
original metaphor 78 Poetic Translation of Poem 5: 256-57
original metaphors 80 Poetic Translation 1 of Poem 6:259
overt metaphor 79 Poetic Translation 2 of Poem 6: 260
Oxford Collocations Dictionary 73 Poetic Translation 3 of Poem 6: 261
oxymoron 78 Poetic Translation 4 of Poem 6: 262
Palmer 97 Poetic Translation of Poem 7: 264
paradox 97 Poetic Translation of Poem 7: 264
parallel conditional verbalizations 66 Poetic Translation of Poem 8: 265
parallel meters in Arabic prosody 231 Poetic Translation of Poem 9: 267
parallel synonymous expressions 68 poetic translation: procedures and
parallelism 48, 55, 229 guidelines 268
paramountcy of sound patterns and poetical vs. poetic translation 23
effects 233 poetics 1
parison: 78 poetry 219
paronomasia 77 polarization 2
pathetic fallacy 80 polyptoton 78
Pearce 37 polysemy 11
pedagogical stylistics 38 polysyndeton 77
Pérez 39, 168 Pope 48
periphrasis: elaborate variation 92 popular fiction 18
personification 77 pragmatic and cognitive approach
Philip Larkin 249 to metaphor 81
phonaesthetic fallacy 222 pragmatics; discourse analysis 16
pitch 218 principles of lexical onomatopoeia 221
ploce 78 process of onomatopoeia 221
Poe 116 properties of the style 48
Poem (1): Lucy (II) 243 Prophet's Tradition 58
Poem (2): The Sick Rose 246 prose rhyme 63, 67
Poem (3): Virgil's The Aeneid 250 prosodic / sound features 113, 218
Poem (4): Calm 253 prosody 218
Poem (5): Lycidas 255 proverbial expressions 69
Poem (6): Shall I Compare Thee to a psychological aptitude 20
Summer's Day? 258 pun 77
Poem (7): ‫ أال ليت ريعاف الشباب جديد‬263 purest form of stylistics 37
Poem (8): Description of Scenery and Pym 45
Spring 265 Pyrrhic 230
Poem (9): Self-Eulogy 266 Qasidah 237
poetic language 69 Quatrains 229
poetic similes 71 questions about sound patterns
Poetic Translation 1 of "Lucy" 244 222-223
Poetic Translation of "Song V" 242 Quirk et al 109
Poetic translation of Poem 2: 250 Raffel 116, 165, 168, 236
Poetic Translation 2 of "Lucy" 246 reactionary irony 84
Poetic Translation 1 of Poem 3: 251 reader-response theory 50
Poetic Translation 3 of Poem 3: 252 reading literature at more than one
Poetic Translation of Poem 4: 254 level 11

305
recent metaphors 80 semantic vs. communicative
recreation of subtext 48 translation 22
reference 111 semantics 15
references 278 Semino 42
relational process 109 Semino and Culpeper 42
relationship of antonymy 97 semi-restricted collocation 74
relationship of synonymy 90 Shaheen 4
reminiscence of sad romantic Shak'ah 60
memories 209 Shakespeare 97, 258
repetition vs. variation 87 Short 36-39, 41
re-registration 11 Short et al 39
restricted collocation 74 significant features of Short Story 116
rhetorical collocation 60 simile 77
rhetoric: collocation 56 simple sentences 110
rhetorical combinations 63 Simpson 1, 3, 33, 36, 39, 42, 82, 109,
rhetorical conciseness 71 168, 187, 221-22, 273
rhetorical dialogue 64 Simpson and Hall 39
rhetorical figures 54 single-leveledness of linguistic stylistics
rhetorical questions 54 40
rhetorical redundant repetition 59 six basic units of narrative discourse
rhetorical repetition 63, 67 165-66
rhetorical, emphatic backgrounding 68 Snell-Hornby 13, 22, 44, 134
rhyme 48, 218-19 sociolinguistic code 166
rhyme and rhythm 5, 55 softness 221
rhythm 218-19, 223 Somerset Maugham 134
rhythm 48 sonority 221
rhythmical pairs 71 sound features 218
rhythmical synonymic superlatives 71 sound patterning 219
rhythmical trilateral nouns 71 sound patterns 229
Riffaterre 32 sound patterns of poetry 48
Robinson 44 sounds 15
Rojo 12, 17 source domain (of metaphor) 82
romantic literary style of romantic past sources of creativity in literary
memories 197 translation 53
ruthless dictator, Bashar Assad 253 sources of creativity in literature in
Saeed 97 Arabic Language 53
sample example 239 special features of poetry 235-36
satirical comedy and farce 84 specimen days 140
scanning 218 Sperber and Wilson 50
scansion 218 spirit of the text 48
Schogt 2, 10-11 spondee 230
Schulte et al 17, 48, 235 standard metaphors 80
semantic elaboration 63 Stanley Fish 37
semantic and communicative Stanzas 229
translation 21-22 Stockwell 42
semantic density 11, 56 Stork 13

306
St-Pierre and Kar 49 Taylor 37
stress 218 Tennyson 253
stressed syllable 218, 229 textual mediums 166
structural / structuralist stylistics 37 textualist stylistics 37
style 14-15 The Bell Jar 183
style and stylistics 31 The Inheritors 181
style as choice 32 The Pacific 134
style as the genius of the text 48 The Sisters 127
style of irony 85-86 The Songlines 215
style of suspense181 the speciality of literary language 4
stylistic contradictions under pressure the synaesthetic metaphor 81
173 thinness 221
stylistic domains of narrative discourse Thornborrow and Wareing 39, 76, 80,
165-66 98, 230, 235
stylistic features 34, 40 tone 12, 218
stylistic functions 35, 40 Toolan 36-37, 40, 110, 112, 249
stylistic implications 229 tragedy 18
stylistic implications of time markers transitivity 109, 166, 168
169 transitivity models 167
stylistic interpretation 42 transitivity processes 167
stylistic / linguistic features 2 translating literary stylization and
stylization 206-207 parody 206
sub-genres 18 translating literature 45
surgical operations 41 translating the literary implications of
Surrey 250 lexical repetition 201
syllepsis 78 translating the media and political
Sylvia Plath 183 idiom 6
symbolism 11 translating the narrative style of
symploce 78 transitivity 187
syndetic conditionals 71 translation of poetry 235
syndetic symmetry 68 translation writer 50
syndeton 77 translational stylistics 49
synecdoche 77 translative creativity 45
synonymic antonyms 71 translator as a WRITER 50
synonymic coordinate binomials 66 translator is a writer 51
synonyms 67 translator’s choices 44
synonymy 63 translator’s style 49
syntactic complexity 55 translator’s stylistic choices 49
syntactic density 183 translators are traitors 17
syntactic elaboration 57, 59, 63, 67
syntactic elaboration: foregrounding
and backgrounding 105
syntactic parallelism 63
syntactic stylistics 37
tale 18
target domain (of metaphor) 82

307
 Traugott and Pratt 33, 38, 232, 235
trochee 230
Two Gallants 131
types of irony
types of metaphor 78
Tytler 13
Ullmann 90
uncompromising single-sense
metaphor 79
undertoned words and phrases 196
uniqueness 17
universality of cognitive experience 48
unrestricted collocation 74
unstressed syllable 218,
229
Venuti 17, 48, 105
Verdonk 36, 206
Verdonk and Weber 36, 89, 94, 177
Virginia Woolf 94, 177
Wales 1, 32-33, 38, 40, 84, 92, 99
101, 110, 232
Walter Whitman 140
Weber 42
Wellek 1
Wells 169
Werth 50
Wetherill 32
what makes literature into
literature 10
Widdowson 3, 36, 110
William Golding 181
Williams 1
Winterson 82
word combination 71
Wright 231
Wright and Hope 36, 38, 106, 110, 112
Zakaria Tamer 171
zeugma 78

308

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