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The Challenges of Translating Cultural Irony: A Case Study of the Arabic Translation of Günter Grass's The Tin Drum

Cilt: 8 Sayı: 1 29 Haziran 2026
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The Challenges of Translating Cultural Irony: A Case Study of the Arabic Translation of Günter Grass's The Tin Drum

Öz

This article investigates the translational challenges posed by cultural irony in Günter Grass's seminal novel The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel, 1959), with particular focus on its Arabic translation. Drawing on theories of cultural untranslatability, irony theory, and postcolonial translation studies, the paper examines how the Arabic translator negotiates between fidelity to the source text's ironic register and the demands of the target cultural context. Through close comparative analysis of selected passages, three major categories of translational difficulty are identified: the domestication of Danzig's historically specific cultural markers, the attenuation of Grass's carnivalesque irony, and the neutralization of black humour rooted in German collective memory. The study argues that such transformations are not merely linguistic but ideological, reflecting divergent narrative conventions and distinct cultural horizons between the German and Arabic literary traditions. The findings contribute to the broader theoretical debate on the limits of equivalence in literary translation and call for greater critical attention to the Arabic reception of European modernist fiction, particularly works whose satirical and historical dimensions are inseparable from their cultural specificity

Anahtar Kelimeler

Kaynakça

  1. Arnds, P. (2004). Representation, subversion, and Eugenics in Günter Grass's The Tin Drum. Camden House.
  2. Bakhtin, M. M. (1981). The dialogic imagination: Four essays (C. Emerson & M. Holquist, Trans.). University of Texas Press. (Original work published 1975)
  3. Bakhtin, M. M. (1984). Rabelais and his world (H. Iswolsky, Trans.). Indiana University Press. (Original work published 1965)
  4. Benjamin, W. (1969). The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. In H. Arendt (Ed.), Illuminations (H. Zohn, Trans., pp. 217–251). Schocken Books. (Original work published 1935)
  5. Berman, A. (1992). The experience of the foreign: Culture and translation in Romantic Germany (S. Heyvaert, Trans.). State University of New York Press. (Original work published 1984)
  6. Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The location of culture. Routledge.
  7. Bourdieu, P. (1980). Le sens pratique. Les Éditions de Minuit.
  8. Catford, J. C. (1965). A linguistic theory of translation. Oxford University Press.

Ayrıntılar

Birincil Dil

İngilizce

Konular

Çeviri ve Yorum Çalışmaları, Dünya Dilleri, Edebiyatı ve Kültürü (Diğer)

Bölüm

Araştırma Makalesi

Yayımlanma Tarihi

29 Haziran 2026

Gönderilme Tarihi

26 Mart 2026

Kabul Tarihi

5 Mayıs 2026

Yayımlandığı Sayı

Yıl 2026 Cilt: 8 Sayı: 1

Kaynak Göster

APA
Halimi, H. (2026). The Challenges of Translating Cultural Irony: A Case Study of the Arabic Translation of Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum. Alman Dili ve Kültürü Araştırmaları Dergisi, 8(1), 83-99. https://doi.org/10.55143/alkad.1916743
AMA
1.Halimi H. The Challenges of Translating Cultural Irony: A Case Study of the Arabic Translation of Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum. ALKAD. 2026;8(1):83-99. doi:10.55143/alkad.1916743
Chicago
Halimi, Housseyn. 2026. “The Challenges of Translating Cultural Irony: A Case Study of the Arabic Translation of Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum”. Alman Dili ve Kültürü Araştırmaları Dergisi 8 (1): 83-99. https://doi.org/10.55143/alkad.1916743.
EndNote
Halimi H (01 Haziran 2026) The Challenges of Translating Cultural Irony: A Case Study of the Arabic Translation of Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum. Alman Dili ve Kültürü Araştırmaları Dergisi 8 1 83–99.
IEEE
[1]H. Halimi, “The Challenges of Translating Cultural Irony: A Case Study of the Arabic Translation of Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum”, ALKAD, c. 8, sy 1, ss. 83–99, Haz. 2026, doi: 10.55143/alkad.1916743.
ISNAD
Halimi, Housseyn. “The Challenges of Translating Cultural Irony: A Case Study of the Arabic Translation of Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum”. Alman Dili ve Kültürü Araştırmaları Dergisi 8/1 (01 Haziran 2026): 83-99. https://doi.org/10.55143/alkad.1916743.
JAMA
1.Halimi H. The Challenges of Translating Cultural Irony: A Case Study of the Arabic Translation of Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum. ALKAD. 2026;8:83–99.
MLA
Halimi, Housseyn. “The Challenges of Translating Cultural Irony: A Case Study of the Arabic Translation of Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum”. Alman Dili ve Kültürü Araştırmaları Dergisi, c. 8, sy 1, Haziran 2026, ss. 83-99, doi:10.55143/alkad.1916743.
Vancouver
1.Housseyn Halimi. The Challenges of Translating Cultural Irony: A Case Study of the Arabic Translation of Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum. ALKAD. 01 Haziran 2026;8(1):83-99. doi:10.55143/alkad.1916743


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