Basil Bunting and the Challenges of Literary Translation from Persian into English: A Case of Rūdhakī

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze Basil Bunting's literary translation. It turns to the theories of translation by Steiner, Benjamin, and Eco, among others, to study Bunting’s translation of Rūdhakī’s ‘Dandaniyyeh’ poem, a 10th century qaṣīdah replete with mesmerizing musicality and with a form galvanized in its originating language, time, and locale. A deep contrastive analysis of its translation into English by the poet, Bunting, shows the difficulties that can arise from literal translations of classical Persian poetry.

Keywords

• basil bunting
• iran
• literary translation
• rūdhakī
• george steiner
• walter benjamin