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Tamám : trace, reinterpretation and the periphery of poetic translation

Tamám : trace, reinterpretation and the periphery of poetic translation. Simon P. Everett. Colchester, Essex University, 2019. Thesis (Ph.D).

Summary

This thesis consists of two parts: my main creative project, Tamám; four translations of the Chinese T’ang poet Yu Xuanji; and an accompanying critical commentary. Tamám is a present-day reimagining of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám consisting of one-hundred-and-one quatrains. It frames translation as a creative process informed by philosopher Jacques Derrida’s la trace (trace): that source texts and other sources defer their meaning to one another, simultaneously absent and present in the genesis of new writing. These sources tangentially influence and “mark” the content and meaning of a new text. The main translational elements of Tamám are the Persian source text of The Rubáiyát; Edward FitzGerald’s 19th century translation of The Rubáiyát; the case of the Somerton Man; the sociopolitical climate of 21st century south-east England; translation theory and deconstruction theory.

The Effect of Ideology on the Form …

The Effect of Ideology on the Form and Content of Edward FitzGerald’s Translation of Khayyam’s Rubaiyat. Mana Aleahmad.
In: LingLit Journal: Scientific Journal for Linguistics and Literature, vol. 2, nr. 2 (2021), p. 75-82.

Summary

The present study attempted to examine Edward FitzGerald’s interest in Persian poetry. Translation deals with power and authority and most of the time the ideology of source text changes in favor of the dominant ideology of target text. Victorian people‘s scornful outlook toward the East led to ideological manipulation of source texts by translators such as Fitzgerald. His strange reduction in his translations, especially in Khayyam’s Rubaiyat results in the necessity of investigating his translation from ideological point of view. Surprisingly the translation of Khayyam’s Rubaiyat has never been studied from ideological perspective and is unknown for many literary scholars. Victorian issues had a strong effect on FitzGerald‘s selection of some of Khayyam’s Rubaiyat.