The Representation of Gender Identity in the Persian Translations of “Pride and Prejudice”

Abstract

This paper investigated how the gender identity of the female protagonist in the English novel Pride and Prejudice (Austen, 1813) and its two Persian translations was represented under the influence of the dominant ideology in Iran`s pre-and post- Islamic Revolution eras. In so doing, Baker`s analytical model (2006) was applied by which the ST and the TTs were analyzed at micro-and macro-levels. In this regard, the configurations of features of narrativity in all versions (i.e., both ST and TTs), and the influence of Iran`s ruling systems on these configurations were investigated. As a result, it was revealed that the representation of the protagonist`s gender identity was SL oriented in the pre-Islamic Revolution translation, and it was TL oriented in the post-Islamic Revolution translation. These findings affirmed Baker`s claim that a translation as a different version of a foreign narrative disseminates the favorite social reality in the TL society.