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Bourdieu and Genette in : How Counts in Linguistic Reasoning Hisham M. Ali1a

Abstract

ARTICLE : While Bourdieu’s theory of practice provides an ensemble of conceptual tools which analyze patterns of social life that Received April 2018 are irreducible to the limiting view of individuals as free- Received in revised form June 2018 acting agents, Genette’s paratextual theory offers the Accepted July 2018 metalanguage necessary to account for the microcosm of Available online July 2018 paratext as a linguistic space. This study takes issue with

unidirectional approaches to researching in terms of linguistic or sociological accounts, and argues for a bidirectional understanding of paratext to unearth the interplay between structure and agency. Drawing on Genette’s paratextual features and Bourdieu’s sociology, KEYWORDS: this interactive approach is explored in a series of analyses of paratexts enveloping two Arabic of Gibran’s Bourdieu The Earth Gods. Through a discussion of the linguistic Genette manifestations and the socio-historical backdrops of Gibran paratexts, the paper argues that the preface with its attendant Paratext micro features has the potential to exhibit the Translation illusio which epistemologically foregrounds the stakes and

investments that motivate the production of translation.

© 2018 IJSCL. All reserved.

1 MA, Email: [email protected] Tel: +974-33-410552 a Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar

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1. Introduction diverse habitus and species of capital can occupy.

ranslation history sources show the dominance of process-oriented theories The infusion of the social of paratext since as early as the first century BCE with historical analysis would bring to the fore when Cicero (1949) described his the power structures at and the T sense-for-sense translation method as heterogeneous of paratexts as orator-oriented rather than interpreter- exemplars of varying sociocultural and oriented. The sweeping obsession with fluency political conditions that exceed or possibly and idiomaticity perpetuated a disregard for with the translator’s own interests and paratexts as potential sites of self-reflexivity agendas. As such, the present study by no where the dualism of structure and agency can means aims to depict translators as be reconciled. This research examines the “calculating persons acting only for their own underlying sociological and linguistic interest”, a notion entirely rejected by parameters of paratexts in relation to the early Bourdieu in his sociological view of agents Arabic translations of Gibran’s , with a (Buzelin, 2005, p. 200). The article offers a particular focus on The Earth Gods and its first sketch of recent and past research on paratext, published translation (1932) by the a detailed discussion of a particular case, and Archimandrite Anthony Bashir and a further a conclusion that delineates the linguistic one (1965) by the late Egyptian Minister of contours of the translation illusio, namely “the Culture Tharwat Okasha. The study is originating adherence to the literary premised on an understanding of paratexts as which grounds the in the importance or sociocultural products which typify the social interest of literary ” (Bourdieu, 1995, p. trajectories of translators and their subjectivity 333; emphasis in original). I have found in seeking to cater for the needs of their real or Bourdieu’s sociology and Genette’s paratextual hypothetical target readers. It follows that I theory to be a robust, interconnected will utilize various theoretical tools from , useful for researching Bourdieu’s conceptual canon. and teaching the macro and micro features of paratext which exemplify the coaction of structure and agency. Before looking more Bourdieu’s reflexive sociology in general, and closely at the case study, it would help in this genetic in particular, has marked context to first synthesize scholarly views that a significant contribution not only to social proliferate in the literature on paratext. Then, I theory and cultural studies but also to will argue for a new reading of the paratextual . In genetic sociology, apparatus of both translations, drawing on Bourdieu considers the analysis of objective Genette’s paratextual features (1997) and structures to be “inseparable from the analysis Bourdieu’s sociology (1977). of genesis, within biological individuals, of mental structures which are to some extent the product of the incorporation of social 2. Paratext in Translation Studies and structures” (1990, p. 14). For him, sociocultural Beyond practices converge at what he describes as “history in things” and “history in bodies” Paratextual framing seems to be deeply rooted (1993, p. 46). Or to put this in Hanna’s terms, in the history of translation as a profession. the former signals “the history inscribed in Commenting upon the 1740 edition of Droit de institutional practices, social, economic and la nature et des gens ( of Nature and political structures”, whereas the latter points People), Päivärinne (2008, p. 7) notes that “in to “the history hidden in people’s heads and the 18th century French translations of which disposes them to specific physical and academic writings, translators often combined intellectual behavior” (2005, p. 168). the role of translating and that of commentating Bourdieu’s relational model with its the text”. From the nineteenth century onward, predominant focus on balancing the social and multiple paratextual devices dominated the historical considerations provides the tools for several English translations of the Arabian researching the strategic of the various Nights by Lane (1841), Burton (1885), paratextual positions that translators with their

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Haddawy (1990), and Lyons (2008). And engage in a direct dialogue with the critical indeed, the various translators used paratexts establishment. not only to critically engage with previous translations, but also as a tool for self-reflection In prefaces, translators hedge their positions on the text, the standing of translation, and the against potential criticism, fault the diction of overall condition of their own discipline previous translations, and disclose interpretative (Shamma, in press). Thus conceived, paratext choices conditioned by existing linguistic enacts an ideological critique of the foreign text norms and literary canons. Referring to this, and earlier translations, and enables translators Hartama-Heinonen (1995, p. 34) points out that to question the conditions of their own work in prefaces are requisite to “forestall relation to various developments, social and criticism or to explain why the translator is not cultural, national and international. Additionally, fully satisfied with his assignment”. Viewed paratextual material serves a wide range of from this perspective, paratextual elements take extratextual functions that determine the on an added importance in the context of production, circulation, and reception of texts. intercultural encounters, on the grounds that paratext, as Watts (2000, p. 32) observes, Paratextual intervention affects the reception of “evokes the work’s difference while rendering literary works in multiple fashions, a view that difference familiar or knowable”. The which finds expression in Alvstad’s (2012) literature presented thus far indicates that account of paratext as an influential means of paratext makes more explicit the role of promoting literary products. Alvstad (2012, p. translation as a composite of overlapping 78) notes that “when publishers present their linguistic and sociocultural determinants. The lists, books and authors on websites, capacity to explore these determinants requires advertisements, book covers, forewords, and so an interactive approach (both linguistic- forth, these paratextual framings influence sociocultural and sociocultural-linguistic). To reception”. Such frames, particularly prefaces, illustrate the modes of interaction between are instrumental to not only market a given these domains, this paper develops a two-fold translation, but also to highlight the translator’s theoretical framework combining insights from possessed capital. Investigating the reception of Genette’s paratextual theory (1997) and Nemirovsky’s Suite Francaise in Britain, Bourdieu’s sociology (1977). Kershaw (2010, p. 1) points out that “an analysis of the reception of the translated text in 3. Mapping out the Paratextual Sites the target culture should pay attention to paratextual elements”. The value of paratexts through Genette’s Five Features can be ascribed to the that they contribute to historically and culturally contextualizing Genette (1997) suggests five features that can translation vis-à-vis the (ST), thus be individually or collectively utilized in lending the reader a hand in decoding its investigating the characteristics of paratext. cultural significance and otherness. Echoing These are “the spatial, temporal, substantial, this view, Kovala (1996, p. 120) relates the pragmatic, and functional characteristics” importance of paratext to the assumption that (Genette, 1997, p. 4). The temporal situation of “for translation the need for mediation is a paratext refers to the date of the text’s naturally much more urgent than in the case of appearance whereas the spatial representation is an original literature, because the work is often mapped onto two categories: a peritext (located far from its recipient historically and within the text) or an epitext (related material culturally”. Moreover, paratextual material located outside the text such as ‘authorial’ plays a pivotal role in the survival of reviews) (Genette, 1997). For the benefit of this translations across ages, a conviction supported paper, the definition of ‘spatial’ extends to by Newmark (1991, p. 41) who postulates that include the spatial conditions of the ST “a translated without a translator’s production. preface ought to be a thing of the past”. Of all the paratextual elements, preface seems to be The substantial status of a particular paratextual the most influential site in which translators can message could be “iconic (illustration), material (for example, that

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originates in the sometimes very significant (intellectual qualifications), objectivized typographical choices that go into the making (material objects such as books), and of a book), or purely factual” (Genette, 1997, p. institutionalized capital (formalized academic 7). As for the pragmatic aspect, it deals with qualifications such as certificates). Symbolic “the nature of the sender and addressee, the capital is the aggregate of all the preceding sender’s degree of authority and responsibility, categories. That is, it exemplifies the resources [and] the illocutionary force of the sender’s possessed by agents by dint of prestige or message” (Genette, 1997, p. 8). Lastly, the recognition. The agents with their diverse functions of paratexts include “designating or species of capital in accordance with the identifying; of the work (content field doxa—namely, the confines of social and genre); connotative value; [and] mobility inside a given social field—and the temptation” (Genette, 1997, p. 12). Guided by of experience that organize practices this model and Bourdieu’s conceptual tools within a specific field (nomos) (Bourdieu, (1977), I will unpack the paratexts, with an eye 1977). By habitus, Bourdieu refers to a system on showing the extent to which paratexts have of dispositions that produces “practices in branded the reception of both translations. accordance with the schemes engendered by While it is possible, as we have seen, to history” (Bourdieu, 1977, p. 79). theoretically conceptualize the features of paratexts from a linguistic standpoint, considering the structure-agency problematic The of habitus explains our tendency to takes us into the major issues of the sociological act the same in diverse situations. It is habitus underpinnings of paratexts which will be dealt that constructs our understanding of the field’s with in light of Bourdieu’s theory of practice illusio, that is, “the value of the stakes of the (1977). game and the practical mastery of its rules” (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992, p. 117). By way of illustration, the habitus “assures the 4. Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice belief in the social game (illusio) and that actors act in accordance with their position As a premise, the use of Bourdieu’s theory of on the field (doxa), which depends on their practice (1977) as a conceptual framework has relative amount and structure of economic, increasingly gained wide currency in a range of cultural, and social capital” (Walther, 2014, p. research areas such as medicine, psychology, 12). In the case of my study, the laid-out and . The theory of practice can be conceptual framework will be utilized in viewed as an abstract, grand conceptual tool investigating the social complexities surrounding whose main pillars are field, habitus, and the genesis of paratext in Bashir’s earlier capital. Bourdieu (1990, p. 87) conceives of translations (e.g., Gibran, 1923). This includes fields as “historically constituted areas of throwing light on the interaction between the activity with their specific and laws translators’ agency and social structures in of functioning”. In other words, social fields are which they are embedded. spaces where agents and institutions are embedded and interact with each other in 5. The Genesis of Paratext in Bashir’s with fields-specific rules. It is worth Earlier Translations observing that Bourdieu does not blind the fact that fields are not completely autonomous, but rather a locus of competition and struggles Considering the Archimandrite’s social among agents over relative positions and trajectory and the historical context that diverse forms of capital, namely economic, motivated the genesis of paratext in his earlier cultural, social, and symbolic capital. translations (e.g., Gibran, 1918, 1923), it should not be surprising that paratextual material played a minimal part in his translation Alihat Economic capital points to a person’s revenues Al-ard. With his symbolic capital and physical and financial resources; it can be proximity to Gibran as his friend and translator, institutionalized in the form of property rights Bashir “took the lead in relocating Gibran’s (Bourdieu, 1986). Cultural capital exists in English writings to his native language three non-financial forms: embodied readership” (Qubaisi, 2015, para. 10). Bashir’s

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symbolic capital resides in the habitus of a This statement ostensibly indicates the extent to metropolitan and was acquired through which Gibran was sensitive to the differing an active member of his society; so much so modes of reception in view of the doxic that the late Fr. Alexander Schmemann once practices deeply rooted in target societies and called him “the founding father of the American of the unequal power relations among the Church” (as cited in Samore, n.d, para. 1). various fields. Likewise, his symbolic capital as a translator can be attributed to “his ability to mimic For Gibran, it is the task of the translator to Gibran’s biblical language” (Qubaisi, 2015, evaluate the target sociocultural context, a view para. 10). Suffice it to quote Gibran’s words in explicitly translated in vesting Bashir with the reply to Mikhael Naimy when the latter sought authority to include or exclude the drawings his opinion about Bashir’s translation, “let him from the Arabic version of The Prophet, write the way he thinks fit […] However his intended to be published in Egypt (El-Hage, translation might be, my will be in it” (as 2005). Gibran made clear that he could not cited in Qubaisi, 2015, para. 10). In fact, Bashir decide on whether or not the drawings should was highly visible as a translator in his society, be incorporated in the target text (TT) because partly because Gibran entrusted him with the he does not “know anything about the Egyptian Arabic translation of his main English works mentality”, referring to the German and (Boosahda, 2003). Norwegian translations that had come out without drawings (El-Hage, 2005, p, 177). The label which states that this is ‘the Further can be found in another letter only translation approved by Gibran’ adorns the to Bashir in which Gibran hailed the French covers of some of Bashir’s translations such as translation of The Prophet as “a rare The Forerunner and The Madman. Besides his masterpiece”, and pointed out that the social trajectory and substantial amount of ambassador of Mexico to Chile “had already capital, the for the absence of translated the book into Spanish and that the paratexts in Alihat Al-ard is historically book will be published shortly with a long plausible, and much evidence supports it. introduction” (El-Hage, 2005, pp. 172- 173). Bashir did not feel called upon to justify the Understanding Bashir’s position toward need for an inaugural translation of The Earth paratexts is only possible in relation to this Gods, and the writer had long been the driving historical backdrop and his social position vis- force behind the inclusion of paratexts into à-vis the writer. Both were physically situated Bashir’s earlier translations. Gibran seemed in the source society, with Gibran being more loath to let his translated works travel from the concerned about the nomos of each target field of production to the field of reception society, which probably implies an intent on without a paratextual carrier. In a letter yielding both symbolic and economic capital addressed to Bashir before publishing the among his native language readership. Arabic version of The Prophet, Gibran states: Gibran as a binational writer was fully As far as I am concerned, the most cognizant of the competition and mutual deserving of all people to write the restraint among such fields as politics, introduction is you because he who literature, and within target contexts. spends days translating a book from one The tension between fields in the social space language to another is certainly the most places a on translators to act in knowledgeable of all people about the conformity with their position on the field merits and shortcomings of that book. (doxa) and their inside of the checks This is my opinion. However, I ask that and balances as well as power structures within you please do what you wish concerning target , hence adapting their habitus in the introduction and the excerpts from the such a way that would tie in with the nomos and American newspapers. (El-Hage, 2005, expectations of these contexts. Herein lies the pp. 175–176) power of paratext in facilitating intercultural encounters in milieus marked by different nomos and unbalanced power relations where, for example, the religious field might

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overpower the literary one or versa. features (1997) and Bourdieu’s theory of Bourdieu goes much further than Gibran in practice (1977). writing prefaces to the translated versions of his books to throw light on the pitfalls of cultural 6. Preface: Foregrounding the Illusio exchanges. As Bourdieu (Bourdieu, 1999, p. 221) notes, “many misunderstandings in international communication are a result of the It is not hard to see that the preface, which fact that texts do not bring their context with constitutes almost 15% of the entire book, them”. occupies a prominent position in the translation. Okasha with his symbolic capital attempted to orient the reader to his own hermeneutic paths The absence of paratext in Bashir’s translation and his own view of Gibran as well as The indicates a less acknowledgement of the stakes Earth Gods. Discussing the spatio-temporal of the field and a less willingness to acquire the aspects of the ST, Okasha indicates that the interests and investments embedded in the field. book was Gibran’s last work and quotes the Thus, the illusio with its corresponding author’s friend Barbara Young as saying that elements of motivation and interest become two thirds of the book were completed between crucial, particularly where players enter the 1914 and 1915 in New York (Gibran, 2009, p. playing field from unequal positions of power 5). Young, notes the translator, encouraged in the form of varying types and volume of Gibran to finish writing the book after he had capital (Inghilleri, 2005, p. 136). Without the put it aside for ten years. The translator then usual quality label, Alihat Al-ard was published introduces the other expounded by a year after Gibran’s demise. It only features a Gibran’s friends, including Mikhael Naimy table of contents which is intended to help the who that Gibran commenced writing reader navigate through the poem and the this book only after completing Jesus the Son of multiple chapters of The Forerunner. Bashir, it Man. Therefore, Okasha adequately discusses seems, was more concerned with vivifying the chronotope of the ST production, and Gibran’s biblical language and thoughts than provides his hypothetical readers with the mediating the reception of the inaugural germane historical and social context. translation of The Earth Gods or illuminating the socio-historical context, as opposed to the translations which followed upon Bashir’s. Indeed, many publishers and online book retailers quoted this socio-historical context to market not only Okasha’s translation but also In his retranslation (Arbab Al-ard – ‘the lords that of Bashir (see Amazon, Goodreads, Google of the earth’), Okasha was deeply sensitive to books, Katara , Abjad, and Albookar). the complex conditions of reception and the Therefore, it can be posited here that demands of his hypothetical readership, thematizing the spatio-temporal dimensions in infusing the translation with massive the preface contribute to drawing a dividing line paratextual elements. His paratexts include a between the ST as a socially situated activity preface, illustrations with captions, critics’ and that of the TT. At several points, the reviews, and a bibliography of his own pragmatic elements can be gauged from the translations and publications. The paratextual translator’s symbolic capital as a writer and material makes up 55% of Okasha’s fifth translator which manifests itself in the edition (Gibran, 2009), which is 53 pages in influence he exercises, as a commentator and a length. The preface warrants eight pages in its critic, on readers and even on the writer by own right. More importantly, the first edition hinting that the ST seems to have been inspired presents both English and Arabic in a parallel by William Blake’s Vala (Gibran, 2009). And format, which adds another visibility dimension moreover, he inscribes the preface with subtle and turns translation into a teaching material. allusions to his hypothetical target readership. His translation has, thus, become a rich source of learning and comparative analysis for translation researchers and students. In what In the preface, the translator identifies his target follows, I will look at the macro and micro indirectly by raising two questions features of the preface in light of Genette’s toward the end of the introduction, wondering if Gibran intended this work to be a reference

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for Sufis (mystics) or it was meant to be an own reading of the of power which errant dreamer’s involving code-locked governs most of Gibran’s works (Albou- secrets (Gibran, 2009). This suggests that his Omrani, 2015). The of power cannot be hypothetical target audience are either Sufis or understood independent of Gibran’s social readers interested in mystery-loaded literature. trajectory and the sociopolitical conditions Resultantly, Okasha would tinge his literary which determined the production of the TT. His habitus with Islamic orientation to produce a heterogeneous mysticism emerged from a full hybrid language with the aim of attending to the immersion into diverse philosophical schools habitus and social of his audience, pioneered by thinkers such as Nietzsche, Blake, intervening as an influential agent and Rousseu, and Renan (Günday, Kavak, & Şahin, conferring on the author and the ST a quantity 2015). Therefore, it could be argued that the of capital by submitting the poem “to the translator reinvents the Gibranian schema of of a target literary field and its mechanisms of power, the illusio of the ST, to reproduce a recognition” (Gouanvic, 2005, p. 162). In doing similar rebellion against the mainstream so, the translator foregrounds the illusio religious groups. Later in his life, Gibran surrounding the production of the TT. Put became overly inspired by Nietzsche and his succinctly, the translation came out at the superman-based insights, revolting against the Nasserist era (1950s and 1960s) in Egypt when doxic practices of religious authorities. The literature was largely subject to the dictates of following statement summarizes the differences politics; this can be subsumed under the then between Gibran and Nietzsche: nationalization of the cultural landscape (Gad, 2017). Gibran found in Nietzsche an ally who, like him, raged against the corruption of The nationalization resulted in the incarceration institutionalized religion and the of prominent literary figures such as Louis hypocritical control it exercised over Awad, a mishap which Okasha describes as “a society. However, unlike Nietzsche, who serious lesson that I learned five months after totally rejected religion, Gibran’s natural assuming the position of Minister of Culture: impulse was to attempt to reform it. the top officials only believes in the (Bushrui & Jenkins, 2008, p. 95) policemen’s reports” (as cited in Gad, 2017, para. 23). That Okasha targets Sufis can The general point to be made is that explicating probably be understood in the context of the Gibran’s schema of power ties in with the state’s endeavours to tighten the grip of Sufism political and social climate of the Nasserite era in its crackdown on the deeply rooted Islamic which pushed against Salafism and Muslim movements, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood and in favor of Sufism. Of all Brotherhood, being perceived at the as a Gibran’s English writings, Okasha selectively serious menace (Anan, 2017). The translated five mystically loaded works: The sociopolitical conditions probably pushed the Prophet, The Garden of The Prophet, The Earth translator outside his literary habitus to meet the Gods, Jesus The Son of Man, and Sand and demands of illusio—the underlying belief and Foam. Besides the pragmatic features, interest in the game’s sociopolitical stakes. The Genette’s four functions of paratexts (1997) macro illusio manifests itself in the micro find expression in Okasha’s detailed preface, illocutionary force of the preface. namely, identification, description of the work, connotative value, and temptation (Gibran, Indicative of the illocutionary force are the 2009, p. 5-12). Together with describing the copious details about the target readership and book genre as , the preface explores in the theme of power and conflict among the detail the journey of the three gods and decodes three gods. The references to the schema of the thrust of the poem that an average reader power assert the translator’s literary illusio. might grapple with. Thus conceived, Okasha Okasha holds in the preface that the book is dictates his reading of the ST. And herein lies steeped in gloominess and death meditation, the function of the connotative value assigned referring to the powers of Nature and the three to the preface. In doing so, Okasha “primed the gods as epitomes of our . In this way, the reader, who will about the first chapter with translator draws the reader’s attention to his a set of expectations controlled by or at least

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guided by” the explanation and justifications Overall, the preface enabled the translator to put forward in the preface (Pellatt, 2013, p. 3). build the socio-historical context of the ST production, justify his translational choices, Another aspect of the preface’s connotative explain the gist of the poem, identify his value can be glimpsed in his explanation of the hypothetical target audience, and provide meaning of by reminding the reader that it further insights into the which the does not mean ‘agape’ (an interpretation writer had experienced right up to the point of embraced by Bashir) but human love between publication. The preface offers both intra- men and women, quoting Gibran’s words at the textual and extra-textual intended very end of the poem (Gibran, 2009, p. 7). This to influence the readers by triggering certain demonstrates that Okasha attempted a departure and creating an intriguing, favorable from the Archimandrite’s version whose milieu for a new reception, indirectly drawing a line between his interpretation and that of ’المممم مممم مممم مممم ‘ hallmark is the use of the word (almahabah – ‘agape’). Additionally, it is earlier translators. To support the added value contended that the preface entices the reader by of the retranslation, Okasha employs another expanding on Gibran’s suffering while influential paratextual device—critics’ reviews producing this work; for example, how, just (Gibran, 2009, p. 46). after publishing the book, the author received a first edition which was black in color. He, then, 7. Critics’ Reviews and Social Capital sat turning the pages of the book while Dynamics muttering some of the stanzas to himself. This took place just a couple of weeks prior to his demise. Seen from this perspective, the preface Arbab Al-ard features four reviews by serves a tempting function. Despite the reputable literary authorities in Egypt during thorough nature of the preface, the translator the sixties: Saleh Gawdat, Youssef Idris, does not explicitly highlight the motivations Ahmed Hamroush, and Al-'Awadi al-Wakeel. behind his retranslation nor does he discuss Such favorable comments function as previous translations. consecrating frames of Okasha’s translation (Gibran, 2009, pp. 46-47). Put differently, the translator benefits from his social capital and The preface lacks an open dialogue with the symbolic capital invested in those critics previous translations, which is a common who wrote a canonical genre (e.g., poetry and feature of prefaces to retranslations because the fiction) in the field. The reviews introduce him values they create are determined “not only by as both a credible translator and an author with the domestic values which the translator a unique, elegant which enabled him to inscribes in the ST, but also by the values “bring Gibran’s treasures home” (as cited in inscribed in a previous version” (Venuti, 2003, Gibran, 2009, p. 46). By way of explanation, p. 25). Inexplicably, the translator states at the the reviews establish the translator’s “embodied very end of the preface that the book entails a cultural capital” exemplified by his translation plethora of that “stimulated us to add it style, poetic knowledge, and unique lexis to the Arabic literary library”, hoping that with (Bourdieu, 1986, p. 244). The critics further this “we would have done to the praise his linguistic choices and “faithfulness to prominent Arab poet Gibran Khalil Gibran” the ST”, among others (as cited in Gibran, (Gibran, 2009, p. 12). This statement raises 2009, p. 46). Therefore, it is understandable many questions: was Bashir’s translation why such favorable comments “have considered to be inadequate? Or was it a ideological significance in guiding and, to a of power relations whereby Okasha with his degree, governing the readers’ reading overwhelming symbolic capital and political experience” (Pingping, 2013, p. 37). These power was in a position to retranslate without authoritative reviews would likely affect the justifying the need for a new translation? The reader’s and evaluation of the entire answer might be that his multiple paratextual translation. As Bourdieu (1992, p. 239) devices imply an attempt to situate his observes, “the authorized point of view may translation in relation to previous ones. come from a great critic or prestigious preface- writer or established author”. It follows that

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these reviews would exert symbolic effect on capital, but also as a marketing tool designed to readers. invite the reader to consider the acquisition of the translator’s other works. Therefore, More crucially, the strategic positioning of such bibliographies of such type serve a tempting reviews as an epilogue within the back matter function. In bibliographies, the reader is invited and immediately before the bibliography to construct an image of the translator as an section suggests that they are meant to credit the author and as an active social agent, which in translator and assert his overall contribution to turn extends a strong bridge of between the the field. Therefore, the critics’ reviews bring to reader and translator. the fore his social capital and spotlight his embodied cultural capital. From this 9. Concluding Remarks perspective, the reviews carry out a tempting function, while at the same time having a As noted above, paratext has been extensively material value ensuing from expanding the researched from linguistic and sociocultural poem and granting it the features of a book. The perspectives, with scholars mostly discussing last peritextual site is the list of the translator’s the agency of translators as cultural mediators publications which joins forces with the critics’ and asserting an individualistic concept of reviews in further crediting the translator and subjectivity. To bridge the agency-structure showcasing more forms of his cultural capital. divide, this research attempted a bidirectional analysis of The Earth Gods, resulting in a 8. Bibliographies: The Translator’s mutually determining relationship, which Authorship and Cultural Capital demonstrates the extent to which the language of sociology facilitates access to the discourse of paratext. Similarly, complex power Rather than reproducing an illusionistic effect structures can be glimpsed through tracing of authorial presence, the bibliography displays certain peculiarities in the diction of the the translator’s “objectivized and institutionalized paratext. Additionally, the paper uncovered cultural capital” in a space usually reserved for diverse paratextual strategies whereby Okasha authors or publishers (Bourdieu, 1986, p. 243). has challenged the second-order status of The bibliographical note lists 20 translations, translation by simply accentuating its 25 Arabic literary studies, 14 lectures, three translatedness. And yet, the multiple paratexts English books, two research projects, and one set Okasha up as an author with his own forthcoming encyclopaedia. The diversification copyrights, introduction, illustrations, critics’ of the items listed adds a symbolic value to a reviews, and bibliography, thereby endorsing space driven by . His symbolic the translation. These paratextual positions capital is manifested in a superior credibility; he could contribute to a change in the economics translated and authored a canonical genre of translation. The various forms of the (fiction) judged as first rate literature, along translator’s capital distributed throughout the with acquiring positive reception from those paratextual apparatus attest to the role of who had the power to say what counts as external patrons such as publishers and critics literature. Therefore, “authorized agents in delegating various forms of capital to the impose a public di-vision in the form of titles, translator. That being the case, the bidirectional academic degrees or professional qualifications” investigation of structural and agential accounts (Hanna, 2005, p. 175). The exhibition of the in paratext can be useful and valuable for translator’s academic contributions and titles researchers and practitioners asking how to contributes to cementing “the professionally endow translation with visibility and authoritative image” of all his translations distinction, how to forestall its aging, or how to (Kung, 2013, p. 63). In addition, listing his resist its cultural marginality and economic professional works functions “as an exploitation. In other words, “there is a need to endorsement to offer some guarantee to readers emerge from the corporate translator bubble about the professional authority of the because translation-what it demands, implies, translation” (Kung, 2013, p. 63). This its effects, challenges, etc.- touches more than bibliography is of particular interest, not only as just translators (Gambier, 2014, p. 11) a means of promoting the translator’s cultural

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Of particular note is Bourdieu’s concept of Arabian nights’ . A new illusio, a signifier of the belief that the game we translation from the Arabic, with copious collectively play is worth playing. It is the notes (Vols. 1-3., E. Lane, Trans.). preface space that fronts the illusio, namely the London: C. Knight & CO. stakes and interests which motivate translators Arabian Nights. (1885). A plain and literal and their patrons to actively enter the playing translation of the Arabian nights’ field. The illusio evolves in tandem with the entertainments, now entitled the book of sociocultural and political dynamics lurking in the thousand nights and a night (Vols. 1- the fields with their embedded power relations. 10., R. Burton, Trans.). Benares: The Decoding the illusio was only possible in Kama Shastra Society. relation to the social trajectories of both the Arabian Nights. (1990). The Arabian nights, writer and translators. It is thereby argued that based on the text edited by Muhsin Mahdi the illusio grants (re)translations a form of (H. Haddawy, Trans.). New York: W. W. distinction. The identification of target Norton & Company. audience and the provision of an interpretation Arabian Nigts. (2008). The Arabian nights: are the most overt methods of devising illusio, Tales of 1001 nights (Vol. 1., M. Lyons, rendering it all the more realistic. Resultantly, Trans.). London: Penguin Classics. it would be profitable to conceive of prefaces as Boosahda, E. (2003). Arab-American faces and sites of illusio. Put differently, preface is an voices: The origins of an immigrant epistemological account whereby the translator community. Austin: University of Texas answers the why, what, and who questions Press. collectively or individually. Much of the Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a theory of preface’s data can be classified as practice (R. Nice, Trans.). epistemological, namely the way the Cambridge: Cambridge University Press translator’s mind applies its to the (original work published 1972). . In conclusion, future studies Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In G. could thoroughly examine the impact of Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory paratextual strategies on the reception of and research for the sociology of translation. There remain several unanswered education (pp. 241-58). New York: questions as to how far a mapping of the illusio Greenwood Press. might help translators produce a consistent, Bourdieu, P. (1990). In other words (M. distinctive discourse. Adamson, Trans.). Cambridge: Polity Press. Bourdieu, P. (1992). Language and symbolic References power (G. Raymond & M. Adamson, Trans.). Cambridge: Polity Press. Albou-Omrani, M. (2017). ālbinīaẗ, ālmaʿnỳ, Bourdieu, P. (1993). Sociology in question (R. ālīdīūlūğīā: ālbunỳ ālṣuġrỳ wālkubrỳ Nice, Trans.). London: Sage Publications. wālʿlīā fī ādab Gibran Khalil Gibran Bourdieu, P. (1995). The rules of art, genesis [Structure, meaning, : and structure of the literary field (S. Microstructures, macrostructures, and Emanuel, Trans.). Stanford: Stanford superstructures in the literature of Gibran University Press. Khalil Gibran]. Al-Khiṭāb, 20, 41-62. Bourdieu, P. (1999). The social conditions of Alvstad, C. (2012). The strategic moves of the international circulation of ideas. In paratexts: World literature through R. Shusterman (Ed.), Bourdieu: A Swedish eyes. Translation Studies, 5(1), critical reader (pp. 220-228). Oxford: 78–94. Blackwell. Anan, E. (2017, May 11). Kaīfa Taḥūalat ālsūfīẗ Bourdieu, P., & Wacquant, L. J. (1992). An fī Maṣ ʾāl ʾādaẗ bʾaīdī ālʾnẓimaẗ alḥākimẗ invitation to reflexive sociology. [How did Sufism in Egypt turn into a tool Cambridge: Polity Press. in the hands of regimes?]. Noon Post. Bushrui, S., & Jenkins, J. (2008). Kahlil Retrieved from https://www.noonpost. Gibran, man and poet: A new biography. org/content/17946. Oxford: Oneworld. Arabian Nights. (1841). The thousand and one Buzelin, H. (2005). Unexpected allies: How nights, commonly called, in England, the Latour's network theory could

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