On inculturation Anthony Pym Intercultural Studies Group Universitat Rovira i Virgili Tarragona, Spain Draft for a talk at the Nida School of Translation Studies, New York, September 14, 2011. Version 1.4. 1. Hajji Baba In the picaresque novel The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan, printed in Persian in 1905, we read: ﺍﮔﺮ ﺍﻳﻨﺠﺎ ﺟﺎﺳﺖ، ﭘﺲ ﺍﻳﺮﺍﻥ ﮐﺠﺎﺳﺖ؟ ﺍﻳﻨﺠﺎ ﺩﺍﺭﺍﻟﻨﻌﻴﻢ ﺍﺳﺖ، ﺁﻧﺠﺎ ﺩﺍﺭﺍﻟﺠﺤﻴﻢ: ﺍﻳﻨﺠﺎ ﺩﺍﺭﺍﻟﺼﻔﺎ، ﺁﻧﺠﺎ ﺩﺍﺭﺍﻟﻌﺰﺍ: ﺍﻳﻨﺠﺎ ﻋﺰﺕ ﺍﺳﺖ ﻭ ﮔﻨﺞ، ﺁﻧﺠﺎ ﺫﻟﺖ ﻭ ﺭﻧﺞ: ﺍﻳﻨﺠﺎ ﺳﻠﻄﻨﺖ ﺍﺳﺖ ﻭ ﻧﻈﺎﻓﺖ، ﺁﻧﺠﺎ ﺩﺭﻭﻳﺶ ﻭ ﮐﺜﺎﻓﺖ: ﺍﻳﻨﺠﺎ ﺗﻤﺎﺷﺎ ﺧﺎﻧﻪ، ﺁﻧﺠﺎ ﺗﮑﻴﻪ ﺧﺎﻧﻪ: ﺍﻳﻨﺠﺎ ﺑﺎﺯی، ﺁﻧﺠﺎ ﺷﺒﻴﻪ: ﺍﻳﻨﺠﺎ ﻋﻴﺶ، ﺁﻧﺠﺎ ﺗﻌﺰﻳﻪ: ﺍﻳﻨﺠﺎ ﺁﻭﺍﺯﻩ، ﺁﻧﺠﺎ ﺭﻭﺿﻪ. ﺧﻮﺵ ﮔﺬﺭﺍﻧﯽ ﻭ ﻋﻴﺶ ﻭ ﻧﻮﺵ ﺗﺮﮐﺎﻥ ﺑﺎ ﺁﻥ ﻋﺰﺍﺩﺍﺭی ﺷﺒﺎﻧﻪ ﺭﻭﺯ ﺍﻳﺮﺍﻧﻴﺎﻥ ﺭﺍ ﺑﺨﺎﻁﺮ ﺁﻭﺭﺩﻩ ﺑﺮ ﺑﺨﺖ ﺑﺪ ﮔﺮﻳﺴﺘﻢ). 397 ( As in all good epics (Hajji Baba became a 1954 Hollywood film), the foreign fades away, as if by magic, to reveal what we want to know. The Iranian translation scholar Esmaeil Haddadian Moghaddam (forthcoming), from whose work we borrow liberally here, gives a version of the above: If this is a place, then what is Persia? This is heaven, Persia is hell; this is a pleasant house, that is a mourning house; here we find honor and treasure, there degradation and suffering; here governance and cleanliness, there dervishes and dirt; here the theater, there takiyeh; here a game, there shabih; here the life of pleasure, there taziyeh; here song, there ruzeh. Remembering the Ottomans’ life of pleasure and Persians’ round-the-clock life of mourning, I decried my bad luck [at having been born in Persia]. Much as the traditional picaresque hero is supposed to dissect society from below, here the critique works through comparison. Constantinople, where Hajji Baba has just arrived, has all things good; Persia, from whence he has come, has all things bad. Note, though, that the badness in this case is remarkably clerical: takiyeh is an Islamic theater, shabih is a religious drama; taziyeh is an indigenous religious play; ruzeh is religious song; so Persian institutional religion does not score well. Neither, in general terms of the novel, does the despotism with which the Qajars maintain unjust social hierarchies. Here, as in many moments since, what is now Turkey might be the model of a modernizing Islamic state. So why the comparison? The above text was presumably penned in Constantinople by Mirza Habib Isfahani (henceforth “Mirza”), who had been exiled from Persia because of his opposition to the Qajar regime. The manuscript is then reported as having been taken into Persia by Häji Shaikh Ahmad Ruhi Kirmäni (henceforth “Ahmad”), who was murdered along the way, presumably for similar political dissent. The editor of the above 1905 text was then not particularly Persian: he was Major Douglas Craven Phillott, “23 rd Cavalry F.F, Secretary to the Board of Examiners, Calcutta, Translator for the Government of India”, and the text was printed in Kolkata, ostensibly as a textbook to entertain learners of Persian.