Ricœurian hermeneutic examination of some mystical terms of Mantiq at-Tayr in Leili Anvar’s French translation

Manṭiq-uṭ-Ṭayr, of ‘Attâr, with a sublime literary structure, rich in metaphors and allegories, presents with relevance the state of mind of one who is in search of Transcendence. The depth of meaning, and the symbolism of the images make this work difficult to translate. Leili Anvar, however, made a French translation, which is quite rhythmic, of this work, whose choice of equivalents is to be discussed, because these equivalents sometimes refer to symbols which are by nature polysemous, and according to Ricœur, their transmission implies the hermeneutics. The ricœurian hermeneutical way, in addition to interpretation, searches for a philosophical enterprise for understanding of oneself and of one's state of being in the world. This research shows that the untranslatable nature of symbols, and the lack of an adequate equivalent, results necessarily in a kind of translation that is rather out of sync with the original. These advocates borrowing and resorting to new hermeneutical readings, especially that of Ricœur.