Domestication and foreignisation of allusions in Persian translations of Waiting for Godot: A case study

In this thesis, Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot along with its Persian translation was analysed in terms of Venuti’s dichotomy of domestication and foreignisation. The allusion samples were selected through the whole book. Then, the translations of the allusions were analysed according to Venuti’s framework. It was found that foreignisation happened mainly when there was a proper name (PN) in the item which was translated. Items without PN were almost domesticated. Even if they had been foreignised, the referents for the TT reader would have been ungraspable mainly due to the cultural and religious differences. These findings will help literary translators to have a better understanding of such plays. Taken that the translators would stick to the findings of this research, the readers would be able to have an expressive translation of the play rather than an informative piece of translation. Keywords: Domestication, foreignisation, allusion, style, literary translation.