Date of Award
9-1-2023
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Type
Dissertation
Abstract
This hybrid dissertation consists of three distinct segments: 1) a novel titled To the Edge of the World and Back, 2) the Persian, Translated database that catalogs English translations of Persian literature, and 3) a critical essay. The essay establishes connections between the other two projects within the context of the dissertation employing the theoretical concept of translation in a broad sense. The database catalogs literal (and literary) translations, but it also “translates” metadata from the publications into data points and data visualizations. Much like any translation, the product of this transformation in the target language (of data) functions in a different way than the original does in the source language (of literary texts). The essay also explores the database, outlining its categories and elucidating its underlying structure. Furthermore, it addresses certain limitations of the database, including recency, nationality, and internet bias as well as categorical thinking. The second component of this dissertation, the Persian, Translated database, is a publicly accessible website that compiles metadata about Persian literature translated into English. The website is accessible at https://www.persiantranslated.com. This database gathers translation metadata such as title, author and translator’s names, place and date of publication, and genre. The database envisions three distinct audience categories: 1) the interested public, 2) educators teaching Persian language and literature, and 3) scholars of translation studies, Persian studies, and digital humanities. The website showcases the latest publications of Persian literature translated into English for the general public and researchers. It offers search capabilities to streamline the process of locating teaching materials for classes. Data visualizations as well as lists of translation, translators, and authors enable users to navigate the information and provide researchers access to datasets for various types of research including research in the fields of Persian/Iranian studies, translation studies, and digital humanities. Titled To the Edge of the World and Back, the novel, the third component of this hybrid dissertation, follows the journey of Rez, an Iranian man living in St. Louis, who finds out that his mother has contracted terminal cancer. Unable to return to his home country and desperate to save her, he stumbles upon a dubious company claiming to transfer a person’s consciousness from their body into an electronic device. In a final bid to save his mother, Rez arranges for her to travel to Turkey, where his mother undergoes the operation and becomes a digital face inside a plastic box. Back in St. Louis, Rez waits to receive her mother shipped by the company, but she does not arrive. As he searches for her in the city, he discovers an underground network of smugglers who, with the promise of immortality and a good life, transfer immigrants’ minds into devices, only to exploit them as free labor once they arrive in the US. Ultimately, the novel addresses various layers of translation, the most evident being the interpretations that unfold in multilingual settings throughout numerous scenes between international characters. It delves into the theme of downloading consciousness out of the organic body and into an electronic device. This transition, coupled with a more direct theme of immigration to the US, introduces an additional stratum of “translation” (into a new body, culture, and language) contributing to the overall coherence of a dissertation that addresses translation and its modalities.
Language
English (en)
Chair and Committee
Lynne Tatlock
Recommended Citation
Taheri Araghi, Alireza, "From Persian, Translated to The Edge of the World and Back" (2023). Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3148.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds/3148