Derrida, Deconstruction, and Translation: Revisiting the Debate on Hafez in English

مقالات آماده انتشار

نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی

نویسنده

Assistant Professor, English Language Department, Faculty of Humanities, Damghan University, Damghan, Iran

چکیده

This article critically examines the discourse surrounding translation plurality through the lens of Jacques Derrida's deconstructive philosophy, with particular attention to the reception of English translations of Hafez. Rather than analyzing specific translations in detail, the study interrogates the evaluative frameworks that have shaped their dismissal, especially those grounded in ideals of authenticity, fidelity, and cultural equivalence. Drawing on Derrida's concepts,, the article argues that translation is not a secondary act of meaning transfer but a constitutive process that generates new contexts and meanings through repetition and transformation. Revisiting the persistent critique of Hafez translations as failures, the article exposes the logocentric assumptions underpinning such judgments. It further critiques the essentialist untranslatability thesis advanced by Shafiʿi-Kadkani and the historicist response of Aria Fani, arguing that both remain entrapped within metaphysical hierarchies of presence and purity. In doing so, the article calls for a reconfiguration of translation studies grounded in openness to difference and the irreducible alterity of the text.

کلیدواژه‌ها

موضوعات

عنوان مقاله [English]

Derrida, Deconstruction, and Translation: Revisiting the Debate on Hafez in English

نویسنده [English]

  • Marziyeh Malekshahi
Assistant Professor, English Language Department, Faculty of Humanities, Damghan University, Damghan, Iran.
چکیده [English]

This article critically examines the discourse surrounding translation plurality through the lens of Jacques Derrida's deconstructive philosophy, with particular attention to the reception of English translations of Hafez. Rather than analyzing specific translations in detail, the study interrogates the evaluative frameworks that have shaped their dismissal, especially those grounded in ideals of authenticity, fidelity, and cultural equivalence. Drawing on Derrida's concepts,, the article argues that translation is not a secondary act of meaning transfer but a constitutive process that generates new contexts and meanings through repetition and transformation. Revisiting the persistent critique of Hafez translations as failures, the article exposes the logocentric assumptions underpinning such judgments. It further critiques the essentialist untranslatability thesis advanced by Shafiʿi-Kadkani and the historicist response of Aria Fani, arguing that both remain entrapped within metaphysical hierarchies of presence and purity. In doing so, the article calls for a reconfiguration of translation studies grounded in openness to difference and the irreducible alterity of the text.

کلیدواژه‌ها [English]

  • Deconstruction
  • Jacques Derrida
  • Logocentrism
  • Untranslatability
  • Hafez

مراجع

Benjamin, W. (2021). The translator's task (S. Rendall, Trans.). In L. Venuti (Ed.), The translation studies reader (pp. 89-97). Routledge.
Derrida, J. (1976). Of grammatology (G. C. Spivak, Trans.). Johns Hopkins University Press. (Original work published 1967)
Derrida, J. (1978). Structure, sign, and play in the discourse of the human sciences. In Writing and difference (A. Bass, Trans., pp. 278–294). University of Chicago Press. (Original work presented 1966)
Derrida, J. (1981). Positions (A. Bass, Trans.). University of Chicago Press.
Derrida, J. (1982). Différance. In Margins of philosophy (A. Bass, Trans., pp. 1–28). University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1968)
Derrida, J. (1985). Des Tours de Babel. In J. F. Graham (Ed. & Trans.), Difference in translation (pp. 165–207). Cornell University Press.
Derrida, J. (1988). Limited Inc (S. Weber, Trans.). Northwestern University Press.
Derrida, J. (1995). The gift of death (D. Wills, Trans.). University of Chicago Press.
Derrida, J. (2000). Of hospitality (R. Bowlby, Trans.). Stanford University Press.
Derrida, J. (2021). What is a "relevant" translation? (L. Venuti, Trans.). In L. Venuti (Ed.), The translation studies reader (pp. 365–393). Routledge.
Fani, A. (2021). The allure of untranslatability: Shafiʿi-Kadkani and (not) translating Persian poetry. Iranian Studies, 54(1-2), 95–125. https://doi.org/10.1080/00210862.2020.1748495
Gentzler, E. (2001). Contemporary translation theories. Multilingual Matters.
Hassani, G., & Malekshahi, M. (in press). Taghyirat-e microscopi va ta'sirat-e macroscopi: Elm-e pichidegi va tarjomeh [Microscopic changes and macroscopic effects: Complexity science and translation]. Journal of Linguistic Studies: Theory and Practice. https://doi.org/10.22034/jls.2025.142725.1198
Loloi, P. (2002, December 15). Hafez x. Translations of Hafez in English. Encyclopaedia Iranica, 11(5), 498–500. https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/hafez-x/
Mikics, D. (2009). Who was Jacques Derrida?: An intellectual biography. Yale University Press.
Munday, J., Pinto, S. R., & Blakesley, J. (2022). Introducing translation studies: Theories and applications (5th ed.). Routledge.
PACTE. (2005). Investigating translation competence: Conceptual and methodological issues. Meta, 50(2), 609–619. https://doi.org/10.7202/011004ar
Sajadi, B., & Babaei, P. (2024). A semiotic study of story in terms of the concepts of readerly and writerly in Roland Barthes's theory: A case study of Jamalzadeh's "Persian is Sugar" and Hedayat's "S.G.L.L". Journal of Linguistic Studies: Theory and Practice, 3(4), 57–78. https://doi.org/10.22034/jls.2024.141008.1092
Saussure, F. de. (2011). Course in general linguistics (W. Baskin, Trans.). Columbia University Press.
Shafiʿi-Kadkani, M. R. (2011, April–May). Dar tarjomeh napaziri-ye sher [On the untranslatability of poetry]. Bukhara, 80, 82–88.
Venuti, L. (2013). Translation changes everything: Theory and practice. Routledge.
Venuti, L. (2017). The translator's invisibility: A history of translation. Routledge.
 
 
پژوهش‌های زبان‌شناسی: نظریه و کاربرد

مقالات آماده انتشار، پذیرفته شده
انتشار آنلاین از تاریخ 23 مهر 1404

فایل ها

سابقه مقاله

  • تاریخ دریافت: 06 خرداد 1404
  • تاریخ بازنگری: 18 شهریور 1404
  • تاریخ پذیرش: 23 مهر 1404

هم رسانی

ارجاع به این مقاله

آمار