Literary Book Flows from Persian to Periphery and Semi-periphery Languages

The International literary translation market is a hierarchical system with a non-static core-periphery structure where literary texts travel mostly from the core to the periphery. While the lion’s share of studies on literary book circulation has attempted to propose interpretations for core to periphery and, to a lesser extent, periphery to core translation flows, scant attention has been paid to the pattern of literary book exchange between the semi-periphery and the periphery. To address this gap, this descriptive-explanatory research aims to study the pattern of literary book flows in three decades, starting from 1979 to 2009, from Persian to three semi-periphery (Italian, Spanish, Scandivavian) and two periphery (Arabic, Turkish) languages. Taking a macro-level approach which focuses on political/ideological, economic, and cultural factors, and using the data from the IndexTranslationum put together by UNESCO, the study suggests tentative explanations for variation in the flow of translation from Persian to the languages in question. The analysis shows the pattern of literary book flows from Persian to the periphery is different from that to the semi-periphery. Linguistic and cultural proximity, the implemented translation policies and the role of national institutions, as well as the number of books published in Persian in each era might account for the emerged patterns. The findings can contribute to sociological understanding of book circulation in the international book market.

Keywords:

Literary book , translation flow , periphery language , semi-periphery language , sociological approach