Ideological Manipulations: The Persian Translation of The Gadfly

Abstract

This paper discusses the lexical choices made by the translator of a novel. The novel, The Gadfly, has a political significance for the pre-revolutionary Iran. Lexical choices were discussed in light of the methodology provided by Leuven-Zwart who introduces three taxonomies of modulation, modification and mutation for translation shifts. This is supplemented with Venuti’s metonymic intertextuality in which the translation text is linked to the dominant discourses of time. The research revealed that the translator has made a novel more political by opting for more ideological lexical items in Persian.