میلاد میرکی

In the domain of Persian literature, the Holy Qur’an has consistently played an influential subtextual role in shaping the formal and semantic aesthetics of literary works. The present study, aiming to analyze intertextual relations, investigates Saleh Hosseini’s utilization of Quranic terms and concepts in his translations of English literary works. To this end, based on Kristeva’s (1966) theory of intertextuality and Genette’s (1982) taxonomy, selected examples from seven translated works were analyzed. Following the examination and analysis of the data, a comprehensive interview with the translator was conducted to triangulate the findings. The results indicate that the translator employed two main strategies—explicit intertextuality (direct use of Quranic terms and verses) and paratextuality (using footnotes and appendices)—to create complex references in translations. This approach, while maintaining fidelity to the source semantic networks, reconstructed the text within the cultural context of the target language, providing a multilayered and polyvocal experience for the target readers. In light of the analysis of the collected textual data and the translator’s responses in the interview, it can be concluded that literary translation, far beyond the mere transfer of words, is a creative, interpretive, and intertextual process that facilitates deep cultural and discursive interaction among various texts.

Drawing upon the notion of ‘paratextual agency’ (Paloposki, “Limits of Freedom” 191), the current study investigated the agency of the Iranian fansubbers. To do so, a corpus of 20 Persian fansubs of Hollywood movies released during the last decade was selected randomly. The study was carried out in two steps. Firstly, translators’ notes were categorized based on their content, frequency, and percentage of each category. Secondly, these notes were analyzed to scrutinize the agency of the Iranian fansubbers. The findings of the study reveal that notes added on the part of the Iranian fansubbers can be categorized into narrative-related notes, locations, famous figures, organizations, medical information, allusions, and transliteration. The study illustrates that by providing such notes to the audience, Iranian fansubbers move beyond the conventional role of subtitler and a mere linguistic conveyor of the movies and take the responsibility of teachers, researchers, cultural representatives, and intermediary agents. The study concludes that fansubbing in Iran is concerned with elucidating culture-bound items of the movies to make them more understandable for the audience. The conclusions of this study can open up prospective avenues for the sociologically-oriented approaches to audiovisual translation, with an eye on the agency and status of fansubbers