Investigating Creativity in the Persian Translation of Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse (1927) Based on Schjoldager’s Taxonomy

Abstract

This research investigates creativity in the Persian translation of Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse (1927), using Schjoldager’s taxonomy. Schjoldager identifies 12 micro-strategies, categorized as more or less creative (8 for creative translation and 4 for non-creative translation). First, this study examined 103 samples based on Krejcie and Morgan’s Table of the original English text and its Persian translation by Saleh Hosseini to identify instances of innovation and creativity in the translation. This implies that one sample was randomly selected from each page, whether a sentence or a paragraph. After that, the different forms of creativity were explained based on Schjoldager’s micro-strategies. The study found that 77.6% of the creative features were present in the translated texts. The results indicated that the most frequently used translation strategy was “paraphrasing,” accounting for 35% of the techniques and considered a highly creative approach according to Schjoldager’s classification. In contrast, the second most used strategy was “oblique translation,” accounting for 18.4% of the techniques employed, all of which were categorized as non-creative. This research offers useful insights for translation trainees and beginners, helping them select effective strategies and engage creatively in adapting source texts. Additionally, it assists translation instructors by providing practical, specific methods for teaching these strategies in the classroom.

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