THE READER'S TURN: THE PACKAGING AND RECEPTION OF CONTEMPORARY ARABIC LITERATURE IN ARABIC AND IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Abstract

Although the study of reception has not been ignored in the field of Translation Studies, the role of lay readers largely has been. Some of the reasons for this are practical; before the advent of the Internet, reader reaction could be gauged mostly through statistical analysis of books sales or library records. The Internet has made possible the collection of actual reviews by readers, which makes more nuanced, qualitative analysis of reader response feasible. The research possibilities represented by online reader reviews, however, have yet to be exploited in a systematic way. Hence, this research argues that it is time for the full integration of end-readers into reception studies of translated literature. This research aims to explore images and representations of the Arabs and their cultures transmitted to the West through translated Arabic literature. Previous studies have adopted positivist approaches, investigating how accurately the Arabs and their cultures were represented in the translations as well as what images are inserted in them. This research, informed by post-positivist approaches, explores not how the source culture and its images have been depicted and represented in translations, but how lay readers interpreted and constructed those images and representations after reading. To carry out the investigation, four case studies were selected for this corpus-based, corpus-driven study. The responses of readers in the form of online book reviews of original Arabic works and their translations were compiled for analysis using corpus tools. The analysis explored how each of these works was packaged and received in the source and target cultures.