Generic Analysis of Literary Translation: A Case Study of Contemporary English Short Stories

Abstract

Translation of a literary text is a difficult task, for understanding literature requires knowledge of various linguistic levels of a literary text in addition to strategies and methods of translation. To this should still be added cognitive-based translation training which helps practitioners preserve the aesthetic aspects of a literary text. Focusing on short story as a genre with both oral and written literary features, the researchers have attempted here to clarify the position of a literary text on the one hand, and the intricacies of its translation on the second. The body of discussion generally captures five distinct levels of analysis, i.e. the linguistic level, the literary level, the symbols-in-art level, the cognitive level, and the level of analyz- ing the relationship between literary language, semiosis, cognition, and creativity (the art-symbol level), and the features pertaining to each level, which draw the route-map of translation. In addition, translation is also seen as a tool, among other factors, for introducing the short story genre into Persian literature.