ALRJournal. 2018; 2(2): 49-63 | DOI: 10.14744/alrj.2018.30502

The Impact of Ideological Orientations on the Persian Translations of Virginia Woolf’s Feminist Book-length Essay “A Room of One’s Own”

Mehrnoosh Pirhayati¹, Farzaneh Haratyan^2
1M.A. Student of English Language Translation, Department of English Language, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
²Assistant Professor. Department of Foreign Languages, Islamic Azad University, Garmsar Branch, Garmsar, Iran.

Recently the role of ideology and the impact of a translator’s point of view on the process of translation have significantly been considered in Translation Studies. In this regard, this study applied the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to analyze Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own and its three Persian translations translated after the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979. This research was conducted based on Farahzad’s (2011) three-dimensional CDA model: Textual, para-textual, and semiotic levels. In this regard, the feminist book-length essay “A Room of One’s Own” along with its three Persian translated versions (Mehrshadi, 2017; Noor Bakhsh, 2013; & Sajedi, 2005) were critically analyzed and examined at textual and para-textual levels in a qualitative approach in order to reveal the impacts of ideological orientations on the Persian translations of this feminist book. The result of the study indicated although Persian translators tried to convey the author’s feminist ideology, there were some differences at textual and para-textual levels, since socio-political background knowledge, religious beliefs, and cultural behaviors influenced the translations. The findings of this research seem to be important for students of Translation Studies and teachers in the area of pedagogy, since it can give them fruitful information about the critical-thinking, comparative study, and practical evaluation of translation as a target oriented production.

Keywords: A Room of One’s Own, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Farahzad’s CDA Model, Feminist Discourse, Ideology

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