The Master and Margarita in Persian. Challenges of translating the realia of colloquial discourse

Abstract

The article takes a look at the issues arising during translation of M. Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita [Master i Margarita] into the Persian language and the history of translations of Bulgakov’s works in Iran. The author sets out to identify specific realia and language nuances that are hard to understand by readers in the target culture of Iran as well as ways to render them in Persian, using the example of Abbas Milani’s translation. The scholar enumerates possible strategies for vocabulary that does not have equivalents in the target language: the use of transcription and transliteration, the descriptive method, contextual translation, etc. The author finds that the best strategy would combine all of the above, as well as make good use of footnotes and references to help readers reconstruct the cultural and historical background of the events described in Bulgakov’s novel. Although Iran, too, experienced effects of the socialist revolution, Sovietisms remain too complicated for Iranian readers and require more detailed knowledge of the period. In this case, the only way for a translator to preserve the flavour of the era is to use footnotes, comments, and explanations.