The visibility of the translator in translating the gendered voice in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice into Arabic: a comparative analysis

Abstract

The translator’s visibility is one of the critical topics in translation studies. Hearing the translator voice in the translated text cannot be easily demonstrated and therefore evaluated. Combining this area of inquiry with the gendered voice in feminist text is the main scope of this research. Therefore, this research aims to closely examine the translator’s visibility in relation to rendering the gendered voice in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice into Arabic. To guide the analysis of this thesis, gendered related themes are selected based on socio-cultural study of Austen’s time and Pride and Prejudice feminist themes namely: inheritance, women’s education, woman’s reputation and marriage. Particular focus is given to how these themes impact the translators’ choices in rendering the gendered voice into Arabic. Examples are selected from each theme involving overt and covert gendered authorial voice, and a descriptive-comparative analysis of the types of strategies in the three Arabic translations is conducted to reach conclusions about the visibility of the translators employed in this thesis. In this regard, the basic theoretical framework of the thesis is based on the integration of theories on gendered voice, in/visibility, manipulative and conservative translation strategies that provides the foundation for the comparison of the approaches adopted when transferring the covert and overt gendered voice in Austen’s novel to the Arabic translations. The findings reach conclusions that on the paratextual level, the male translators employ more paratextual elements making them more visible. The findings of the textual analysis indicated that manipulative strategies are used to render the gendered voice into Arabic on the selected examples. The results of the frequency rate revealed that the female translator usage of manipulative strategies is more than her two male counterparts and is most prominent in delivering her own gendered voice, as a contemporary translator of Pride and Prejudice.

Thesis is embargoed until 31 July 2029.

Date of Award	Jul 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Sponsors	King Saud University
Supervisor	Kathleen Kaess (Supervisor) & David Johnston (Supervisor)