Prison Literature in Translation

Challenges and Strategies of Translating Torture-Related Expressions in Mustafa Khalifah’s The Shell: Memoirs of a Hidden Observer

Resumo

This study investigates the challenges of translating traumatic and torture-related expressions in Mustafa Khalifah’s novel The Shell: Memoirs of a Hidden Observer (2008). These expressions are classified into three main categories: descriptive language, idioms and metaphors, and religious or cultural references. The article also examines the stylistic features commonly associated with the language of trauma, such as repetition, sentence fragments, brevity, silence, and metaphor. The research therefore evaluates the effectiveness of the English translation in conveying both the linguistic and emotional depth of Khalifah’s portrayal of trauma within each category. The study adopts a qualitative methodology grounded in Vinay and Darbelnet’s translation model. The research conducts a comparative textual analysis of the Arabic source text and its English translation to assess semantic accuracy, stylistic fidelity, and cultural equivalence. The analysis reveals that the translator primarily employs direct literal translation, transposition, equivalence, and borrowing. The findings also show that while the English translation generally preserves semantic accuracy, it compromises several stylistic and cultural elements. Although the English translation maintains the documentary function of the source text and reflects the protagonist’s voice and cultural context, certain linguistic and cultural nuances are diminished. Excessive borrowing weakens the intended meaning of some expressions, which potentially hinders the reader’s understanding and diminishes the emotional and existential depth of the source text.