Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions. If you have discovered material in AURA which is unlawful e.g. breaches copyright, (either yours or that of a third party) or any other law, including but not limited to those relating to patent, trademark, confidentiality, data protection, obscenity, defamation, libel, then please read our Takedown Policy and contact the service immediately The Role of Social Agents in the Translation into English of the Novels of Naguib Mahfouz Vol. 1/2 Linda Ahed Alkhawaja Doctor of Philosophy ASTON UNIVERSITY April, 2014 ©Linda Ahed Alkhawaja, 2014 This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. Thesis Summary Aston University The Role of Social Agents in the Translation into English of the Novels of Naguib Mahfouz Linda Ahed Alkhawaja Doctor of Philosophy (by Research) April, 2014 This research investigates the field of translation in an Egyptain context around the work of the Egyptian writer and Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz by adopting Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological framework. Bourdieu’s framework is used to examine the relationship between the field of cultural production and its social agents. The thesis includes investigation in two areas: first, the role of social agents in structuring and restructuring the field of translation, taking Mahfouz’s works as a case study; their role in the production and reception of translations and their practices in the field; and second, the way the field, with its political and socio-cultural factors, has influenced translators’ behaviour and structured their practices. In this research, it is argued that there are important social agents who have contributed significantly to the structure of the field and its boundaries. These are key social agents in the field namely; the main English language publisher in Egypt, the American University in Cairo Press (AUCP); the translators: Denys Johnson-Davies, Roger Allen and Trevor Le Gassick; and the author, Naguib Mahfouz. Their roles and contributions are examined and discussed through the lens of Bourdieu’s sociology. Particular focus is given to the author Mahfouz and his award of the Nobel Prize, and how this award has influenced the field of cultural production and its social agents. Also, it is argued that socio-cultural factors in the field, in the period between 1960s and 2000s, affected the translators’ practices in terms of modes of production of Mahfouz’s works. To investigate the influence of these factors on translators’ practices in the field, empirical examination is conducted, at the textual level, on a corpus of six translated novels written by the same author, Mahfouz. It is shown that the translators have an increased tendency, over time, towards applying a foreignising approach in their translations of culture-specific items. The translators’ behaviour, which is a result of their habitus, is correlated to political and socio- cultural factors in the field of translation. That is, based on interviews conducted with the translators, it has been found that there are particular factors influenced their translational habitus and, thus, their practices during the production process of the translations. Literary Translation, Pierre Bourdieu, Social Agents, Culture-Specific Items (CSIs), Naguib Mahfouz Acknowledgment I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Beverly Adab, for her greatly appreciated help and support. Her knowledge and experience have been of great value for me. Also, without her the unflinching encouragement and support she has provided, this thesis would never have been completed. Her careful reading of my drafts and detailed feedback have given invaluable assistance that has made it possible for this dissertation to appear in its current form. Any remaining errors are, of course, the responsibility of the author. Sincere thanks are due to Professor Theo Hermans, Dr. Hélène Buzelin, and Professor Andrew Chesterman, who offered advice on the research in its early design. Also, I would like to thank Professor Michaela Wolf and Professor Jean-Marc Gouanvic for their valuable advice. My gratitude is due to Amman Al-Ahliyyah University which provided all-important financial support to enable me to undertake this research. I would also like to express my appreciation to Dan Thomson, the LSS postgraduate officer at Aston University, for his help at all times throughout my thesis. I am very grateful to all the people who have contributed to this research: the Associate director of the American University in Cairo Press (AUCP), Neil Hewison; Special Sales and Marketing Manager at AUCP, Atef El-Hoteiby; General Manager of the Publishing Department at the Ministry of Culture in Egypt, Sobhy Mosa. I am also extremely grateful to the translators who kindly shared their expertise and explained their professional approaches: Catherine Cobham, Humphrey Davies, Roger Allen, Trevor Le Gassick, William Hutchins, Nancy Roberts, Jonathan Wright, Denys Johnson-Davies and Rasheed El-Enany. Last but not least, my deep gratitude is due to my parents whose encouragement and unlimited support made it possible for me to complete this study and to my husband for his assistance, understanding and patience. My thanks go also to my brother and sisters for their moral support. III Table of Contents Thesis Summary ii Acknowledgment iii List of Tables iv List of Figures v Arabic Transcription System vi Chapter One: 1 Introduction 1.1. Overview 1 1.2. Research Problem 4 1.3. Research Motivation 4 1.4. Aims of the Study 6 1.5. Research Questions 6 1.6. Notes on Terminology 9 1.7. Original Contribution of the Findings to Existing Literature in the Field of TS 13 1.8. Limitations of the Study 14 1.9. Organisation of the Thesis 15 Chapter Two: 18 Theoretical Framework: Moving Towards a Sociology of Translation 2.1. Introduction 18 2.2. Linguistic Approaches to Translation Studies 19 2.3. System Oriented Approaches 21 2.3.1. Descriptivist Approaches: Polysystem Theory and Norms Theory 22 2.3.1.1. The Polysystem Theory 22 2.3.1.1.1 Debate Surrounding the Polysystem Theory 26 2.3.1.2. Norms Theory 28 2.3.1.2.1. Debate Surrounding Norms Theory 32 2.3.2. Functionalist Approaches to Translation Studies 34 2.3.3. The Cultural Turn 36 2.3.3.1. Literary Translation and Culture 39 2.2.3.1.1. Culture-specific Items 40 2.3.3.1.2. Studies on Culture-Specific Items 43 2.4. Conclusion 48 Chapter Three: 51 A Sociological Perspective on the Study of Translation 3.1. Introduction 51 3.2. Luhmann’s sociology: Social System Theory (SST) 53 3.3. Latour’s sociology: Actor Network Theory (ANT) 57 3.4. Bourdieu’s Sociology 62 3.4.1. Bourdieu and the Subjectivism/Objectivism Dichotomy 62 3.4.2. A Theory of Social Practice 65 3.4.2.1. Field 67 3.4.2.2. Positions in the field 68 3.4.2.3. Capitals 72 3.4.2.4. Habitus 79 3.4.3. Applying Bourdieu in Translation Research 83 3.4.4. Critical Reflections on Bourdieu’s Framework 99 3.5. Conclusion 103 IV Chapter Four: 105 Research Methodology 4.1. Introduction 105 4.2. Selection of Research Methods 109 4.2.1. Case study: The Egyptian Novelist Naguib Mahfouz 109 4.2.2. Researching Secondary Data as a Research Method 113 4.2.2.1. Selection Criteria for the Main Social Agents in the Field of 115 Translation, for the Purpose of this Study 4.3. Interviews 123 4.3.1. Interviews with the Translators 130 4.3.2. Interviews with the Other Agents in the Field of Translation 132 4.3.3. Ethical Issues in the Use of Interviews 133 4.3.4. Transcribing interviews 133 4.3.5. Analysing and Interpreting Interviews 134 4.4. Textual Analysis 135 4.4.1. Corpus-based Translation Studies (CTS) 139 4.4.2. Corpus Selection Criteria 140 4.4.3. Methods of Obtaining and Categorising the Data (CSIs) 141 5. Conclusion 142 Chapter Five: 143 A Macro-Structural Study of the Literary Field 5.1. Introduction 143 5.2. The Literary Field of the Novel in Egypt 146 5.2.1. Naguib Mahfouz: A Case Study 147 5.2.1.1. Mahfouz’s Works in the Source Literary Field 150 5.2.1.2. Mahfouz’s Works in English Translation 155 5.2.1.3. Mahfouz’s Impact on the Field 159 5.3. Conclusion 162 Chapter Six: 164 A Macro-Structural Study of the Translational Field: The works of Naguib Mahfouz 6.1. Introduction 164 6.2. An examination of the Field of Translation 164 6.3. The Field of Cultural Production 169 6.3.1. Homology in the Field of Cultural Production 173 6.3.2. The Field of Cultural Production and the Field of Power 174 6.4. The Role of Social Agents in Structuring a Field of Translation 176 6.4.1. Publishers 177 6.4.2. Translators 183 6.4.2.1. Translators’ Role in Structuring a Field of Translation 183 6.4.3. The Author: Naguib Mahfouz as a Social Agent 187 6.4.3.1. The field of Cultural Production Before the Nobel Prize 187 6.4.3.2. Naguib Mahfouz and the Nobel Prize 190 6.4.3.3. The Impact of the Nobel Prize on the Field of Cultural Production 192 6.5. Conclusion 194 Chapter Seven: 196 Translators’ behaviour at the textual level 7.1. Introduction 196 7.2. Factors Affecting the Field of Translation: Mahfouz’s Nobel Prize, the Event 196 of September 11, 2001 and Globalisation 7.2.1. Mahfouz’s Nobel Prize 196 7.2.2. The Event of September 11, 2001 198 V 7.2.3. Globalisation 201 7.3. A parallel Corpus study of Mahfouz’s Novels in Translation 204 7.3.1. Culture-specific Items 204 7.3.1.1. Ivir’s Strategies 205 7.3.1.2. Venuti’s Model 211 7.3.2. Corpus Analysis and Results 213 7.4. Explaining Translators’ Translational Habitus: Interviews’ Analysis and 233 Results 7.5. Conclusion 245 Chapter Eight: 246 Conclusion 8.1. Synopsis 246 8.2. Research Questions Revisited 249 8.3. Contribution to Knowledge 251 8.4. Recommended Future Studies 253 Bibliography 256 Appendices 1/ vol.2 VI List of Tables Table’s Title Page Number number 4.1 Arabic Literature Output per Publisher 1990-2010 116 4.2 Translators Output in Terms of Translations and Books 121 5.1 Readers of Mahfouz’s Novels: Arabic Novels and their English 160 Translations 5.2 Readers of Mahfouz’s Arabic Novels and their Translations in 161 Different Languages 7.1 Students’ Enrolment in Bachelor Degree in Arabic Language 206 and Literature at US Educational Institutions 7.2 Frequency and Percentage of the Strategies Applied to the 222 Translation of Midaq Alley 7.3 Examples Extracted from Midaq Alley 223 7.4 Frequency and Percentage of the Strategies Applied to the 225 Translation of The Thief and the Dogs 7.5 Examples Extracted from The Thief and the Dogs 226 7.6 Frequency and Percentage of the Strategies Applied to the 227 Translation of Respected Sir 7.7 Examples Extracted from Respected Sir 227 7.8 Frequency and Percentage of the Strategies Applied to the 230 Translation of Arabian Nights and Days 7.9 Examples Extracted from Arabian Nights and Days 231 7.10 Frequency and Percentage of the Strategies Applied to the 233 Translation of The Day the Leader was Killed 7.11 Examples Extracted from The Day the Leader was Killed 234 7.12 Frequency and Percentage of the Strategies Applied to the 235 Translation of Khan al- Khalili 7.13 Examples Extracted from Khan al-Khalili 236 7.14 Summary of Analysis Result: The Percentage of Foreignisation 237 7.15 Summary of Translators’ Responses at the Interviews 240 7.16 Summary of Translators’ Responses at the Interviews 244 VII List of Figures Figure’s Title Page Number number 3.1 Arabic Literature Translated into English per Category 71 4.1 Research Purpose - Exploratory and Explanatory 108 5.1 Different Fields in the Social Space 145 6.1 Arabic Literature - the Most Translated Authors 1990-2010 191 7.1 Translation Strategies Used by the Translator Trevor Le Gassick 224 7.2 Translation Strategies Used by the Translators Trevor Le 226 Gassick and M. Badawi 7.3 Translation Strategies Used by the Translator Rasheed El-Enany 229 7.4 Translation Strategies Used by the Translator Denys Johnson- 232 Davies 7.5 Translation Strategies Used by the Translator Malak Hashem 234 7.6 Translation Strategies Used by the Translator Roger Allen 236 7.7 A graphical Representation of the Trend in the Data 238 VIII Arabic Transcription System This study has followed the transcription system used by The International Journal of Middle East Studies in transliterating the Arabic names of authors, translators and their works. The same spelling of some of the Arabic names of authors, translators and works were kept as they were used in their publications. The symbols used to transliterate Arabic letters are as follows: Constants Letter Arabic Transcription alif ā bā b tā t thā th jīm j ḥā ḥ khā kh dāl d dhāl dh rā r zāy z sīn s shīn sh ṣād ṣ ḍād ḍ ṭā ṭ ẓā ẓ ʿayn ʿ ghayn gh fā f qāf q IX