Toward a Sublime-to-Translate Literary Genre: The Quran Self-explained by Micro- and Macro-stylistic Conventions
AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies, Volume3, Number4. October 2019 Pp. 208- 222
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awejtls/vol3no4.17
Toward a Sublime-to-Translate Literary Genre: The Quran Self-explained by Micro- and
Macro-stylistic Conventions
Mohammad Amin Hawamdeh
English Department, Faculty of Arts
Jerash University, Jordan
Abstract:
This study aims at investigating a translated text of the Quran from a collective stylistic perspective. Taking into account the textual additions in parentheses (TAiPs) as a translation strategy, the most frequent stylistic conventions of the Quran were identified in a well-devised, total quartette by which the text could be considered as self-explanatory. Based on such an officially approved yet heavily criticized version as the Hilali and Khan Translation (HKT), six small-sized Surahs were selected in sequence. This research sample represented the Makki and Madani text-types and the conceptual story entirely entailed by the Quran. Ten stylistic conventions were found to fall under four major classes: i) ellipsis and simile, ii) digression, alteration, and interrogation, iii) repetition, variation, and narration and iv) brevity and cadence. The first two classes were specific/micro-stylistic devices, while the other two ones were general/macro-stylistic features. Each class was divided into two (or three) subtypes, creating a total stylistic quartette as each convention could affect/explain or be affected/explained by another. For the TAiPs, they helped make plain archaic words or misleading phrases; they were not highly devoted to directly tackling these conventions. Eventually, this paper is a springboard for further research on the stylistic beauty of the Quran as a sublime-to-translate literary genre.
Keywords: Addition. Hilali and Khan, the Quran, style, stylistics, translation, translate literary genre
Key Cites as: Hawamdeh, M. A. (2019). Toward a Sublime-to-Translate Literary Genre: The Quran Self-explained by Micro- and Macro-stylistic Conventions. Arab World English Journal for Translation & Literary Studies3 (4)208- 222.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awejtls/vol3no4.17