THE IMPACT OF DOMINANT IDEOLOGY ON FRONT COVERS OF TRANSLATION OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE IN IRAN

Abstract

Purpose of the study: The present research aims to explore the impact of the dominant ideological values on the front covers (as a form of paratexts) of translations of children’s literature in Iran. Moreover, the study is going to discuss the effect of such ideological manipulation on the children’s perspective about the world as well as their own identity. Methodology: Based on the Foucauldian sense of discourse, which considers any piece of knowledge, either textual or visual, as discourse, the study employs discourse analysis (DA) as its theoretical and analytical framework. Accordingly, the collected data of this study consist of front covers, are understood as discourse, and each one is analyzed carefully with a focus on the impact of ideological manipulation on paratextual material of Persian translations of children’s literature. Main Finding: The findings revealed the supreme role of ideological constraints in the manipulation of front covers of translations of children’s literature in Iran. Application of the study: The current study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on the ideological manipulation of translation of children’s literature at the paratextual level in particular. Novelty/Originality of this study: With respect to the marginal position of translation of children’s literature in the Iranian literary polysystem, little effort has been made in this area, and ideological studies of this genre in Iran, in particular. Therefore to fill this void, the current study attempts to examine the impact of ideological constraints of Iranian society on the translation of children’s literature.