Criticism of Theoretical Framework of Two Textbooks in Literary Translation Teaching in Iran

Despite all the valuable efforts made in the field of translation studies in Iran, there are still quite a few tangible gaps. The academic literature, usually consisting of a theoretical and a practical part, instead of establishing the role and responsibility of a translator as an agent who is in continuous interaction with the society, often tends to approach language as a non-social and abstract matter. As a result, translators trained in this educational system have an abstract perception of themselves and of the translation process. This article analyzes the theoretical part of the books “A Prologue to the Bases and Techniques of Translation” by Kazem Lotfipour Saedi and “Literary Translation” by Ali Akbar Aghili Ashtiani as two of the books in translation teaching that are used as academic references in Iranian universities, and studies the concordance of the theoretical part of the named books with contemporary approaches in teaching translation.