An Inter-Semiotic Study of Ideology on the Book Covers of Persian Translations of George Orwell’s Animal Farm

Abstract All the movements and revolutions in the world’s history have been initiated and reinforced by a systematized structure of standards, opinions and thoughts establishing the foundations of political, social or economic perspectives known as ideology. Ideology plays a vital role when the dimension of translation is added to the argument, for in addition to the author’s ideas and attitudes of the world, the translator’s beliefs and value systems as the medium between two cultures come to bear upon the translated product. In Iran, the 1979 Islamic revolution changed the ideological system from the secular to a markedly religious (Islamic) one, and this has increasingly influenced the way in which the cultural products are produced and/or translated. George r28) is one of the most retranslated novels in both the pre- and post-revolution era in Iran. This article presents a semiotic analysis on the cover page of Orwell’s novel and its Persian translations at both the linguistic and illustration information level based on Serafini and Clausen’s (2012) model of typography as a semiotic resource as well as Kress and Van Leeuwen’s (2006) model of semiotic analysis. The cover pages of two Persian translations of Animal Farm which have been produced in the pre- and post-revolution era, that is, by Amirshahi (1969) and Hosseini and Nabi Zadeh (2003) respectively, will be compared in relation to the cover page of Orwell’s original novel. The findings reveal some distinct differences in the design of the cover pages which represent a particular set of values, beliefs or ideology.

摘要 世界历史上的一切运动与革命，均由系统化的标准、观点与思想体系催生并强化——这套体系为被称为意识形态（ideology）的政治、社会或经济视角奠定了根基。当翻译维度被纳入论争范畴时，意识形态将发挥至关重要的作用：因为除了作者对世界的见解与态度外，作为两种文化中介的译者的信仰与价值体系，也会对译作产生影响。1979年伊朗伊斯兰革命将伊朗的意识形态体系从世俗化转向了鲜明的宗教（伊斯兰）取向，这一变革日益影响着文化产品的生产与翻译方式。乔治·奥威尔（George Orwell）的《动物农场》（Animal Farm）是伊朗革命前与革命后两个时期内被重译次数最多的小说之一。本文基于塞拉菲尼与克劳森（Serafini and Clausen, 2012）提出的作为符号资源的排版模型，以及克雷斯与范·利乌文（Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2006）的符号分析模型，从语言与插图信息层面，对奥威尔小说的封面及其波斯语译本展开符号学分析。本文将选取两部分别诞生于伊朗革命前与革命后的《动物农场》波斯语译本封面——前者由阿米尔沙希（Amirshahi）于1969年出版，后者由侯赛尼与纳比扎德（Hosseini and Nabi Zadeh）于2003年推出——并与奥威尔原著的封面进行对照比较。研究结果显示，两部译本封面的设计存在显著差异，这些差异折射出特定的价值观、信仰与意识形态取向。