How does our view of contemporary Arabic literature change if we consider paratexts as sites of negotiation between translatability and untranslatability? Is our approach to and interaction with translation at large altered by considering how translation functions in the specific instance of paratexts, notably in the glossary? In reconsidering the role of the glossary and related paratextual forms, i.e. footnotes, authorial notes, etc., both in translated Arabic literature and in literature by Arab authors written in English, this talk posits the paratextual as a crucial site of translation in translation. Parallel to an analysis of paratexts, this talk will also elaborate on how digital modes of analysis restructure the research paradigms of Arabic literature. By harnessing the capacity of digitization to survey large quantities of textual data, Ayoub considers the question of what is gained and what is lost in approaching the study of paratexts quantitatively.
Paratext and Power in Arabic Literary Translation
Through an analysis of the trends, patterns, and habits of paratexts that permeate translations of Arabic literature, this talk engages digital modes of inquiry together with literary analytical practices in order to facilitate a concurrent process of close and distant readings.
Dima Ayoub (Ph.D. McGill University) is Assistant Professor of Arabic at Middlebury College and Director of the Middle East Studies Program. Her research focuses on the importance of paratexts in the literary development of modern Arabic literature in translation. Her book manuscript provisionally titled Paratext and Power: Modern Arabic Literature in Translation rewrites the current literary history of modern Arabic literature through the lens of the paratext. In addition to her specialization in translation studies, her work also focuses on feminist and queer theory as well as postcolonial studies. Ayoub is also at work on connecting the fields of Digital Humanities with studies of Arabic literature and is currently developing a digital archive of modern Arabic literature in English, French, and Spanish translation. She is joining the PalREAD ERC project for a short research stay this summer to collaborate on developing an Alexander von Humboldt research project.
The event was part of the Transregional Academy "Minor/Small Literature(s): Perspectives on World Literature from Elsewhere", organized by the Forum Transregionale Studien and the Max Weber Stiftung in cooperation with the Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung.