A Form-focused Translation Criticism: A Case Study of the Persian Translation of As I Lay Dying by Dara Bandari

The present study aimed at criticizing the fifth edition of the Persian translation of the novel: As lay Dying (1930) by Najaf Darya Bandari based on the model presented by Manafi Anari (2005) derived from Reiss (2000), entailing recognition of text type, evaluation of linguistic elements, and examination of extra-linguistic determinants. In order to do this, at first, linguistic elements, including equivalence of semantic elements, adequacy of lexical elements, correctness of grammatical elements, and correspondence of stylistic elements in the translated novel were evaluated. After that, extra-linguistic determinants, including the subject matter, time and place, the audience, the speaker, and the affective implications as well as the subjective elements, such as socio-cultural, moral, religious, ideological and affective personal tendencies of the translator were also evaluated. The results indicated that Darya Bandari had done his best to represent the Persian translation as a form-focused type and followed the stylistic and aesthetic features of the original. In most cases, he was successful to transfer the linguistic and extra-linguistic determinants into Persian as well. Furthermore, this model was turned out to be practicable in criticizing translations of literary texts.