Overcoming Marked Thematic Challenges in Literary Translation: The Case of J. D. Salinger

Languages structure the information differently and therefore, the organization of clauses in any piece of writing is of great importance. As a result, the choice of Theme plays a pivotal role in the writer’s communicative effect of the message, especially in literary texts in which the style of the writer comes to the fore. Several studies have so far been conducted on different aspects of Theme in literary genres and Salinger, as one of the modern writers known for his specific style, must be considered in this regard. The present study seeks to investigate thematic choices and challenges the Persian translators encounter in translating Salinger’s works. To do so, the collection of short stories Nine Stories (1964) by Salinger and its Persian translation by Golshiri (1982) were analyzed using Halliday’s (1985) model of Theme/Rheme analysis. In sum, it was found that the marked thematic structures were preserved in the translated texts but with specific adjustments. It can therefore be concluded that marked Themes must be considered in literary translation, because they contribute to the overall style of the author. These findings would be insightful to the literary translators of modern fiction and also to the researchers in Discourse Analysis.

Keywords:

Theme/Rheme , information structure , thematic challenges , marked Theme , unmarked Theme