Bourdieu Pierre - Bourdieu in translation studies: the socio-cultural dynamics of Shakespeare translation in Egypt

This book explores the implications of Pierre Bourdieus sociology of cultural production for the study of translation. Bourdieus work has continued to inspire research on translation in the last few years, although without a detailed, large-scale investigation that tests the viability of his conceptual tools and methodological assumptions. With a focus on the Arabic translations of Shakespeares tragedies in Egypt, this book offers a detailed analysis of the theory of fields of cultural production with the purpose of providing a fresh perspective on the genesis and development of drama translation in Arabic.

The different cases of the Arabic translations of Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear and Othello lend themselves to sociological analysis due to the complex socio-cultural dynamics which conditioned the translation decisions made by translators, theatre directors, actors/actresses and publishers. In challenging the mainstream history of Shakespeare translation into Arabic, which is mainly premised on the linguistic proximity between source and target texts, this book attempts a social history of the Arabic Shakespeare which takes as its foundational assumption the fact that translation is a socially situated phenomenon that is only fully appreciated in its socio-cultural milieu. Through a detailed discussion of the production, dissemination and consumption of the Arabic translations of Shakespeares tragedies, this book marks a significant contribution to both sociology of translation and the cultural history of modern Egypt.

Sameh Hanna is a lecturer in Arabic literature and translation at the University of Leeds. His research interests include sociology of translation and Shakespeare translation into Arabic on which he published a number of peer-reviewed articles and chapters in edited volumes. He also published a new edition of the first Arabic translation of Hamlet, with an introduction.

For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com

6Translation and Localisation in Video Games

Making Entertainment Software Global

Miguel . Bernal-Merino

7Translation and Linguistic Hybridity

Constructing World-View

Susanne Klinger

8The Dao of Translation

An East-West Dialogue

Douglas Robinson

9Translating Feminism in China

Gender, Sexuality and Censorship

Zhongli Yu

10Multiple Translation Communities in Contemporary Japan

Edited by Beverley Curran, Nana Sato-Rossberg, and Kikuko Tanabe

11Translating Culture Specific References on Television

The Case of Dubbing

Irene Ranzato

12The Pushing-Hands of Translation and its Theory

In memoriam Martha Cheung, 19532013

Edited by Douglas Robinson

13Cultural Politics of Translation

East Africa in a Global Context

Alamin M. Mazrui

14Bourdieu in Translation Studies

The Socio-cultural Dynamics of Shakespeare Translation in Egypt

Sameh Hanna

Sameh Hanna

First published 2016
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2016 Taylor & Francis

The right of Sameh Hanna to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Hanna, Sameh, 1969 author.

Title: Bourdieu in translation studies : the socio-cultural dynamics of Shakespeare translation in Egypt / by Sameh Hanna.

Description: New York : Routledge, 2016. | Series: Routledge advances in translation and interpreting studies ; 14 | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015044959 | ISBN 9781138803626 (hardback : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Shakespeare, William, 15641616Translations into ArabicHistory and criticism. | Bourdieu, Pierre, 19032002Criticism and interpretation. | Translating and interpretingEgyptHistory. | English dramaTranslations into ArabicHistory and criticism. | EgyptCivilizationEnglish influences.

Classification: LCC PR2971.E39 H36 2016 | DDC 822.3/3dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015044959

ISBN: 978-1-138-80362-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-75359-1 (ebk)

Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC

For Amanie and Ann

This book is the outcome of years of scholarship in different institutions and many friendships. My work at the Academy of Arts in Egypt and Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre (CIFET) as a researcher and translator of theatre and theatre studies was inspirational and opened up a world of questions around theatre-making and theatre translation. My thanks go to Fawzi Fahmi, the then president of the Academy and the president of CIFET for his kind support. I am very grateful to the generous academic support of Mona Baker, an inspiring mentor, a colleague and a dear friend who read extensive parts of this book in its original form and provided detailed feedback, which was crucial in giving the book its current shape. I am extremely indebted to Ken Baker who believed in the project and first commissioned it to St. Jerome Publishing.

The year I spent at UCL between 2006 and 2007 as an Andrew Mellon post-doctoral fellow in the humanities provided me with the time and research facilities that helped refine my understanding of Bourdieus work. My thanks go to the whole staff of the UCL Mellon programme, especially Michael Worton, the director of the programme, for their kind and generous support. I am grateful for the kind support Theo Hermans extended as a research mentor at UCL and for his extensive feedback on the online module I created for the Translation Research Summer School (now Advancing Research in Translation and Interpreting Studies, ARTIS) on Translation as a Social Practice. Many thanks are due to all colleagues and friends who read the book in its original form as a PhD thesis or as sections for publication in journals and edited volumes and made constructive comments, including Michael Cronin, Anastasia Vlassopoulos, Moira Inghilleri, Samah Selim, ehnaz Tahir Gralar, Margaret Litvin, Hazem Azmy, Shaden Tageldin and Gisella Vorderobermeier. The work of Annie Brisset and Michaela Wolf and the discussions we had on different occasions on the social implications of translation and translatorial habitus cast a fresh light on a number of issues in my research. I have also enjoyed working with Andrew Weckenmann and Elysse Preposi at Routledge, whose support facilitated the processing of the manuscript and final production of the book.