Bourdieu in Translation Studies: The Socio-cultural Dynamics of Shakespeare Translation in Egypt

233 Pages·2016·2.3 MB·English

by  Sameh Hanna

Bourdieu in Translation Studies
This book explores the implications of Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology of cul-
tural production for the study of translation. Bourdieu’s work has continued
to inspire research on translation in the last few years, although without a
detailed, large-scale investigation that tests the viability of his conceptual
tools and methodological assumptions. With a focus on the Arabic transla-
tions of Shakespeare’s tragedies in Egypt, this book offers a detailed analysis
of the theory of ‘fields of cultural production’ with the purpose of providing
a fresh perspective on the genesis and development of drama translation in
Arabic.
The different cases of the Arabic translations of Hamlet, Macbeth, King
Lear and Othello lend themselves to sociological analysis due to the complex
socio-cultural dynamics which conditioned the translation decisions made
by translators, theatre directors, actors/actresses and publishers. In challen-
ging the mainstream history of Shakespeare translation into Arabic, which is
mainly premised on the linguistic proximity between source and target texts,
this book attempts a ‘social history’ of the ‘Arabic Shakespeare’ which takes
as its foundational assumption the fact that translation is a socially situ-
ated phenomenon that is only fully appreciated in its socio-cultural milieu.
Through a detailed discussion of the production, dissemination and con-
sumption of the Arabic translations of Shakespeare’s tragedies, this book
marks a significant contribution to both sociology of translation and the
cultural history of modern Egypt.
Sameh Hanna is a lecturer in Arabic literature and translation at the Uni-
versity of Leeds. His research interests include sociology of translation and
Shakespeare translation into Arabic on which he published a number of
peer-reviewed articles and chapters in edited volumes. He also published a
new edition of the first Arabic translation of Hamlet, with an introduction.
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14 Bourdieu in Translation Studies
The Socio-cultural Dynamics of Shakespeare Translation in Egypt
Sameh Hanna
Bourdieu in Translation
Studies
The Socio-cultural Dynamics of
Shakespeare Translation in Egypt
Sameh Hanna
First published 2016
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hanna, Sameh, 1969– author.
Title: Bourdieu in translation studies : the socio-cultural dynamics of Shakespeare
translation in Egypt / by Sameh Hanna.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2016. | Series: Routledge advances in translation
and interpreting studies ; 14 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015044959 | ISBN 9781138803626 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616—Translations into Arabic—
History and criticism. | Bourdieu, Pierre, 1903–2002—Criticism and interpretation. |
Translating and interpreting—Egypt—History. | English drama—Translations into
Arabic—History and criticism. | Egypt—Civilization—English influences.
Classification: LCC PR2971.E39 H36 2016 | DDC 822.3/3—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015044959
ISBN: 978-1-138-80362-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-75359-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
For Amanie and Ann
يِليَل امَ هِ ِب ئيضتسي ناجَ ارَ سِ
،ةيدبلأا ىلإ يتلحرِ يف يَّ عَ ارَ ذِ ناطَبأتت ناتحَ رَفو
.يتلآا نِ مزلا ىلع كُ حضأ امهعمو رضاحلا ينمز ةرَّ سَ مَ امَ هِ ِب
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Contents
List of Figures viii
Acknowledgements ix
Note on Translation and Transliteration xi
1 The ‘Social Turn’ in Translation Studies, Bourdieu’s
Sociology and Shakespeare in Arabic 1
2 Bourdieu’s Sociology of Cultural Production:
What Is in a Translation ‘Field’? 15
3 Genesis of the Field of Drama Translation in Egypt:
The First Arabic Hamlet 72
4 Translators’ Agency and New Translation Products:
De-commercializing the ‘Arabic Shakespeare’ 99
5 Explaining Retranslation: The Dialectic of ‘Ageing’ and
‘Distinction’ 128
6 ‘Breaking the Silence of Doxa’: Iconoclastic Translations 166
7 Towards a Methodology for a Sociology of Translation 200
Bibliography 207
Index 219
Figures
2.1 Front cover of Sāmī al-Juraydīnī’s Arabic translation of
Henry V (1936) 29
2.2 Front cover of the second edition of Ṭanyūs ‘Abdu’s
translation of Hamlet (first edition was published in 1902) 30
2.3 Front cover of Muḥammad ‘Iffat al-Qāḍī’s translation of
Macbeth (1911) 31
2.4 An inside picture in Muḥammad Ḥamdī’s translation
of Julius Caesar (1912) 35
2.5 Snapshot of the dedication to President Jamāl ‘Abd al-Nāṣir
in Biḥīrī’s translation of Macbeth in Arabic verse (1966) 36
2.6 Bourdieu’s schematization of the two realms of ‘doxa’ and
‘opinion’ (1977: 168) 47
2.7 Homology in the field of drama translation 58
4.1 Front cover of Muḥammad ‘Iffat’s Arabic translation of
The Tempest (1909) on which he flags his social and
cultural capital as an ex-judge in the Egyptian civil courts 112
5.1 Front cover of Ramzī’s translation of King Lear in
which he notes that it was translated from English 143
5.2 Front cover of Faṭima Mūsa’s translation of King
Lear (1997) 156
5.3 Front cover of Muḥammad Enāni’s translation of King
Lear (1996a) 161
Acknowledgements
This book is the outcome of years of scholarship in different institutions
and many friendships. My work at the Academy of Arts in Egypt and Cairo
International Festival for Experimental Theatre (CIFET) as a researcher and
translator of theatre and theatre studies was inspirational and opened up
a world of questions around theatre-making and theatre translation. My
thanks go to Fawzi Fahmi, the then president of the Academy and the pres-
ident of CIFET for his kind support. I am very grateful to the generous
academic support of Mona Baker, an inspiring mentor, a colleague and a
dear friend who read extensive parts of this book in its original form and
provided detailed feedback, which was crucial in giving the book its current
shape. I am extremely indebted to Ken Baker who believed in the project
and first commissioned it to St. Jerome Publishing.
The year I spent at UCL between 2006 and 2007 as an Andrew Mel-
lon post-doctoral fellow in the humanities provided me with the time and
research facilities that helped refine my understanding of Bourdieu’s work.
My thanks go to the whole staff of the UCL Mellon programme, especially
Michael Worton, the director of the programme, for their kind and gener-
ous support. I am grateful for the kind support Theo Hermans extended as
a research mentor at UCL and for his extensive feedback on the online mod-
ule I created for the Translation Research Summer School (now Advancing
Research in Translation and Interpreting Studies, ARTIS) on ‘Translation
as a Social Practice’. Many thanks are due to all colleagues and friends
who read the book in its original form as a PhD thesis or as sections for
publication in journals and edited volumes and made constructive com-
ments, including Michael Cronin, Anastasia Vlassopoulos, Moira Inghil-
leri, Samah Selim, Şehnaz Tahir Gürçağlar, Margaret Litvin, Hazem Azmy,
Shaden Tageldin and Gisella Vorderobermeier. The work of Annie Brisset
and Michaela Wolf and the discussions we had on different occasions on
the social implications of translation and translatorial habitus cast a fresh
light on a number of issues in my research. I have also enjoyed working with
Andrew Weckenmann and Elysse Preposi at Routledge, whose support facil-
itated the processing of the manuscript and final production of the book.