A Critical Discourse Analysis of Translators’ Narratives Affecting Two Translations of the Same Text: A Case Study of Orientalism

Abstract

The present study set out to examine the translations of Edward Said’s Orientalism in light of narrative theory. The paper uses critical discourse analysis to examine the different narratives produced by two different Arabic translations of Orientalism, written originally in English. The first translation was produced by Kamal Abu Deeb in 1980, and a later one was carried out by Mohammad Enani in 2006. Our findings demonstrate two competing narratives of two cultures standing in opposition to one another, with each translation implying that one of these civilizations is unique and inherently competitive with “the other” culture.