An Exercise on Literary Translation: The Arabic Translation of The Namesake

Literary translation is one of the most challenging fields of translation. This is due to the fact that it is a special use of language that is deviant from ordinary, everyday, non-literary language. Besides rendering the semantic qualities of the text, it is the translator's mission re-create the Source Text as a work of art, and he/she attempts to keep the unity of content and form and the text's national, individual and linguistic qualities. Unlike other types of writing, literatures is rich with connotations and indirect messages which are the real challenge for the translator. This paper is an exercise on literary translation and the difficulties the translator faces when dealing which have created the Source Text and given it its literariness.