Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Ph.D. Candidate in Persian Language and Literature, Yasouj University, Yasouj, Iran.
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Yasouj University, Yasouj, Iran (Corresponding Author).
3
Associate Professor, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.
10.22034/jmzf.2026.578120.1268
Abstract
1. Introduction
This study investigates the reasons for and the manner in which the Czech people’s revolution is represented in the Persian translation of the nineteenth-century English novel The Azra’s Kiss. The translation of this critical novel, with its themes of the pursuit of freedom and resistance against authoritarian rule, acquired particular significance within the constitutionalist discourse of the Naseri period during the Qajar era.
Drawing upon the perspectives of Imagology and the representation of the Other, this article examines the Persian translation of the novel and addresses the following questions: How are the Czech people portrayed? How are these representations related to the dominant discourses of the Qajar period, such as Constitutionalism, nationalism, and the crisis of identity? How can the role and ideological position of the translator be explained? Finally, in what way can translated literature function as a medium during critical political and social transformations?
The significance of this study lies in several respects. First, the Qajar period represents one of the formative stages in the emergence of modern Iranian awareness of the West, during which many of the discourses surrounding modernity, nationalism, and resistance were first articulated. Second, because the Czech nation, as part of Eastern Europe, has received comparatively little attention in Iranian scholarship, examining its representation opens new perspectives for understanding how Iranians encountered lesser-known European cultures. This study further demonstrates that literature in the Qajar era was not merely a source of entertainment or narrative expression; rather, it functioned as a significant cultural and historical medium.
2. Methodology
The present research adopts a descriptive–analytical approach. The data were collected and classified through the examination of primary library sources, including selected Qajar-period newspapers, historical documents, theoretical books and articles, as well as previous studies related to the subject.
To establish a coherent theoretical framework, Daniel-Henri Pageaux’s imagological approach was employed. In addition to being methodologically rigorous and up-to-date, Pageaux’s model offers a distinctive degree of flexibility and analytical dynamism. He proposes two principal levels for the analysis of images in literary works: the linguistic (textual) level and the ideological–cultural (extra-textual) level.
At the linguistic level, the analysis focuses on vocabulary, descriptive expressions, and the mental patterns through which the image of the Other is constructed. At the extra-textual level, attention is directed toward the relationship between the text, the author, and the reader, as well as the political and cultural circumstances surrounding the production of the text and the translator’s intentions.
3. Discussion
At the textual level of analysis, and through an examination of the lexical choices employed in the translation, the term constitutionalism (mashrūṭeh) emerges as the central keyword of The Azra’s Kiss. This concept recurs repeatedly throughout the text, organizing and shaping the novel’s entire imagological framework. Such repetition extends far beyond mere linguistic emphasis; rather, it functions as a significant semantic and imagological marker carrying a distinct ideological charge.
At the extra-textual level, in addressing the reasons behind the translation of this novel within the intellectual climate characterized by liberalism and the Constitutional Movement, the study undertakes a more comprehensive discourse analysis of the period. Particular attention is devoted to the era of Sepahsalar, which, during the reign of Naṣer al-Din Shah, is regarded as an age of modernization and progressive reform.
Among Sepahsalar’s most significant political initiatives was the establishment of the rule of law. The fundamental principles underlying his political thought included patriotism, national development, the separation of powers, and the protection of the rights of the people. In this section of the research, several passages from the novel are examined that correspond directly to these prevailing discursive conditions and clearly reflect them. These passages revolve around themes such as the establishment of justice and equality, freedom, patriotism, oppression, and governmental corruption.
4. Conclusion
From the perspective of Translation Imagology, a translated text is not merely a representation of the Other; rather, it constitutes a reconstruction of that image in accordance with the cultural and discursive needs of the target society. Accordingly, the purpose of this Persian translation was not simply to portray the Czech nation.
The findings suggest that the translator, Sadr ol-Maali Shirazi, one of the earliest patriotic advocates of freedom in Iran, deliberately employed strategies of selective translation and purposeful rewriting to connect the image of the Czech Revolution with the discourse of the Iranian Constitutional Movement. Through an indirect critique of the existing political order, articulated by means of a foreign literary work, he sought to transform this novel into a vehicle for raising the political and social consciousness of Iranian readers and for encouraging them to draw inspiration from the experiences of a nation that had faced similar historical and cultural circumstances.
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