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Article published In: FORUM
Vol. 22:1 (2024) ► pp.26–48

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The ghostliness of translation

Jabra’s and Mutran’s translations of Shakespeare’s Hamlet

 | An-Najah National University
 | An-Najah National University
Published online: 25 April 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/forum.00034.ham
Abstract
Drawing on Venuti’s foreignization and domestication and Derrida’s concepts of iteration, supplementarity, différance and ghostliness, this article suggests that Khalil Mutran’s and Jabra Jabra’s translations are not duplications of Shakespeare’s Hamlet but they appear as apparitions of an apparition. This study adopts a descriptive analytical approach that presents the collected data from Shakespeare’s Hamlet (. (1599) 1992. Hamlet, prince of Denmark. Edited by Cedric Watts. Wordsworth.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), Jabra’s translation (Shakespeare, William. (1960) 1979. هاملت [orig. The tragedy of Hamlet, prince of Denmark]. Translated by Jabra Jabra. Beirut: Arab Institute for Research & Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and Mutran’s (. (1918) 2012. هملت [orig. The tragedy of Hamlet, prince of Denmark]. Translated by Khalil Mutran. Cairo: Hindawi Foundation for Education and Culture.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), respectively. Through the analysis of the chosen examples, we contend that intertextuality, translation and ghosts are deconstructive of temporality, ontology and meaning as they entail ‘repetition’ and ‘différance’.
Résumé
Le présent article se propose d’explorer la traduction de l’œuvre Hamlet de Shakespeare à travers le prisme des théories de la traduction, en particulier celles de l’étrangéisation et de la domestication élaborées par Venuti, ainsi que les concepts de Derrida tels que l’itération, la supplémentarité, la différance et la spectralité. L’étude postule que les traductions réalisées par Khalil Mutran et Jabra Jabra ne constituent pas de simples répliques du texte shakespearien, mais se manifestent plutôt comme des manifestations spectrales d’une spectre/Hamlet.
Adoptant une méthodologie descriptive et analytique, cette recherche présente et compare les données extraites de la version originale d’Hamlet de . (1599) 1992. Hamlet, prince of Denmark. Edited by Cedric Watts. Wordsworth.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar avec celles issues des traductions de Jabra (Shakespeare, William. (1960) 1979. هاملت [orig. The tragedy of Hamlet, prince of Denmark]. Translated by Jabra Jabra. Beirut: Arab Institute for Research & Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) et de . (1918) 2012. هملت [orig. The tragedy of Hamlet, prince of Denmark]. Translated by Khalil Mutran. Cairo: Hindawi Foundation for Education and Culture.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar. À travers une analyse minutieuse d’exemples soigneusement sélectionnés, cet article défend l’idée que l’intertextualité, la traduction, et les phénomènes spectraux participent à une déconstruction de la temporalité, de l’ontologie, et de la signification. Cette démarche se caractérise par une mise en œuvre de la ‘répétition’ et de la ‘différance’ au sens derridien, interrogeant ainsi les processus de signification et d’existence au sein des textes étudiés.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Mutran’s and Jabra’s translations of Shakespeare’s Hamlet
    • 1.2The ghost in Jabra’s Christian-oriented translation and Mutran’s Islamic-pagan-oriented translation
    • 1.3Intertextuality and translation
  • 2.Theoretical framework
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Data analysis
    • Jabra’s and Mutran’s ghostly translations of Shakespeare’s Hamlet
    • 4.1Visibility
    • 4.2Movement
    • 4.3Designations
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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