After Translation: Preserving/Disrupting the Concept of Polyphony with Special Focus on Hermeneutics

In modern literature, polyphony is a sort of recital which involves a variety of voices and standpoints. This plurality of independent voices was introduced by the Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin. This study sought to look into how the notion of polyphony based on the character(s)' voices in Faulkner’s novel entitled The Sound and the Fury are transmitted to the target reader This novel plus the two Persian translations were thus selected. Accordingly, the character(s)' voices and dialogues in the English novel and its Persian translations were used to identify the substantial divergences in the priorities of the two sides (i.e., the author’s aims and the translated texts). Considering the topic, the theoretical framework of the study fell into two parts: the Bakhtinian reading of polyphony and hermeneutics. To do so, the grammatical interpretation through Schleiermacher's views as the hermeneutical method was selected. Having applied the grammatical interpretation, the researchers were able to analyze the data thoroughly. An analysis of the original text and the two Persian translations revealed that the translation of the character(s)' voices or events was the most frequent strategy applied in one of the translated texts, whereas in the second translation, the concept of Bakhtinian reading of polyphony was not precisely preserved.