The reception of Arabic-language works translated into English and published in the U.S. before and after September 11.

摘要

The current study aims to investigate the reception of Arabic language works translated into English and published in The U.S. before and after September 11 as reflected in paratexts. This study seeks to explicitly answer these questions: 1) What are the socio-cultural factors that shaped the production and reception of Arabic language works translated into English and published in The U.S. both before and after 9/11? 2) What is the role of human agents, specifically publishers, translators, and authors, in the production and reception of Arabic-language works translated into English and published in The U.S. both before and after 9/11? 3) To what extent can paratexts affect and reveal aspects of Arabic-language works translated into English and published in The U.S. before and after 9/11? and 4) What is the role of 9/11 in shaping the process of production and reception?;In order to form a comprehensive image of the reception of these works, both cultural and social frameworks are examined. The cultural framework involves major concepts from polysystem theory, namely, Tourys preliminary norms and Even-Zohars justifications for importing and translating a literary work from one culture into another. The analysis covers only paratextual material.;The social framework involves in-depth analysis of the role of the main human agents (stakeholders) involved in the process of reception, such as translators, authors, and publishers. This analysis is carried out by building on some of Bourdieus main concepts such as: field, habitus, and forms of capital (cultural, social, economic, and symbolic). Moreover, the analysis focuses particularly on the role of publishers, which is investigated by drawing on publishing theory. As for the periodization of the study, the entire study is classified into two periods, pre- and post-September 11, 2001.;The results of the study show that paratexts can be used to identify the norms that govern translation from Arabic into English, i.e., Tourys preliminary norms. Moreover, the results show that the reasons behind selecting certain genres, authors, and themes to be translated and published are not merely literary reasons (Said 1977). Finally, the results of the study show that the 9/11 attacks impacted both the process of translation and the publishing of Arabic language works.