A Critical Evaluation of Fatemeh Jafari’s Translation of Al-Itirafat Novel by Rabee Jaber Based on Antoine Berman’s “Deforming Tendencies”

Translation of a literary text is the most difficult type of translation and faces special challenges which makes it even more difficult. This type of translation requires theoretical approaches to provide strategies for a better translation and success for the translators. Antoine Berman is a translator, theorist, philosopher and historian of translation whom under the influence of philosophy took a new look towards translation studies. As a translator and theorist, Berman paid a particular attention to the original text and believed in the loyalty of the translator in translation. This study which is conducted using a descriptive-analytical method, examines the translation of Rabee Jabir’s work, Al-Itirafat,  by Fatemeh Jafari according to Berman’s seven deforming tendencies: rationalization, expansion, ennoblement, qualitative and quantitative impoverishments, destruction of rhythm and destruction of expressions and idioms. The result of the study shows that destruction of rhythm and expansion are the most recurring factors of text distortion in Fatemeh Jafari’s translation. These tendencies in turn influenced the expansion tendency and in some instances there was an increase of expansion in Jafari’s translation. In terms of transferring the structure and content, she was loyal to the original text and in terms of rationalization, qualitative and quantitative impoverishment and the destruction of expressions and idioms she had the least deviation from the original text. The frequency of each deforming tendency in translation of Al-Itirafat novel is shown using a bar chart.