The Rendering of Figurative Language in the Arabic Smith-Van Dyke Translation of the Book of Job according to the King James Version

Abstract

The present dissertation consists of three chapters that discuss the influence of the literary attitudes towards the Holy Bible on its translation through the examination of the way the figurative language of the poetical Book of Job is rendered in the Arabic Smith-Van Dyke translation (SVD). The first two chapters form an introduction to the actual examination done in chapter III.

The position the translator holds towards the literary nature of the Holy Bible greatly influences the standard of the language s/he uses. If the translator opposes the notion of the Bible as literature, s/he would attach no importance to the literariness of the translation produced as s/he believes that the Biblical truth is much more important than the style it is conveyed in. If s/he accepts such notion, however, s/he would be keen on making use of the beauty of the target language to help him/her convey the literary beauty s/he senses in the source language.