The Translator as a Fictional Character in the Works of Arab Women Writers in Diaspora

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the way in which the character of the translator is depicted in the works of two Arab women writers in diaspora. Specifically, I argue that the protagonist of Arab Australian novelist Nada Awar Jarrar’s Dreams of Water (2007) and that of Arab British novelist Sabiha Al Khemir’s The Blue Manuscript (2008) find in their profession as translators fertile grounds for questioning their hyphenated identities. In other words, living in-between cultures and working as translators give Jarrar’s Aneesa and Al Khemir’s Zohra an opportunity to explore the possibilities/limitations their in-between positions open for them to contribute to founding and maintaining a common ground for cross-cultural exchange and interaction. At the same time, Aneesa and Zohra are aware of the precarious position they occupy as cultural mediators: each protagonist undergoes processes of acculturation and hybridization that ultimately stimulate her to re-define her identity, re-examine her politics of location and negotiate the incongruities of her daily experiences. Their knowledge of their home cultures and their experiences in diaspora alongside their professional position as translators mediate their understanding of seemingly unfathomable fragmented and fractured lived experiences. The two translators in the two novels realize that their identities are as malleable and mutable as the texts they work hard to faithfully render as transparent, lucid and accurate as possible.