Revisiting (In)visibility: A Reflexive Study of Two English Translations of Iqbal’s “Shikwa” and “Jawab-i-Shikwa”

Authors:
Rana Kashif Shakeel, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
Maria Farooq Maan, Air University, Islamabad, Pakistan
Email: kashif.gcuf@gmail.com
Published: December 14, 2020
https://doi.org/10.22492/ijl.9.2.02

Citation: Shakeel, R. K., Maan, M. F. (2020). Revisiting (In)visibility: A Reflexive Study of Two English Translations of Iqbal’s "Shikwa" and "Jawab-i-Shikwa". IAFOR Journal of Literature & Librarianship, 9(2). https://doi.org/10.22492/ijl.9.2.02


Abstract

This research is a comparative analysis of two translated versions of Iqbal’s Urdu poems: “Shikwa” and “Jawab-i-Shikwa” to determine the actual position of the two translators in the light of the concepts theorized by Venuti (2008). Venuti mainly focused on the visibility and invisibility of the translator. These theoretical aspects, conjoined with certain peripheral scholastic ideas, have been applied on both translated versions. Through the strategies of (in)visibility, the research also investigates how the boundaries between foreignization and domestication have been blurred, and how the ideologies are embedded in the translation process. The result displays a revised version of (in)visibility.

Keywords

domestication, foreignization, ideology, invisibility, translation/translator(s), visibility