The Art of the Impossible: A Stylistic Study of Translating Poetry with a Special Reference to the Famous Iraqi Poet Mothaffer Alnawab, Some Selected Poems

Abstract

This paper discusses the possibility of translating poetry in both slang (Via Iraqi slang Language) and standard Arabic language. It tackles the Iraqi poet Mothaffer Alnawab’s six selected poems (Three poems are written in Iraqi slang language, whereas the other three are written in Standard Arabic Language). The researcher takes into consideration two types of equivalences hypothesize by Nida and Venuti; for, they – the researcher- think that these two linguists can summarize many functions of translation particularly translating poetry as a different literary style. These two famous linguists theories of translation focus on the process of exposing the target reader to the original text by Foreignizing it, which is the goal of the study. Thus, Nida in his Formal and Dynamic Equivalence deals with the possibility of translating the source text into the target text either by using a reader-oriented method or a text –author oriented method. On the other hand, Venuti discuses the possibility of translation through Foreignizing the original text or Domesticating it. As a translator, the researcher depends on these two theories while translating six poems written by Mothaffer Alnawab in both slang and standard languages.

Keywords: Art of the Impossible; Translation; Translating Poetry; Famous Iraqi Poet Mothaffer Alnawab