Strategies of Translating Allusion in James Joyce's Ulysses: The Case of Taha Mahmoud Taha and Salah Niazi’s Translations

This paper aims to study the translation of allusions in Ulysses and the possibility of rendering them from English into Arabic. Samples of such allusions are analyzed and compared to each other. The accuracy of the novel's translators, namely Salah Niazi and Taha Mahmoud Taha, with regard to the way the allusions are rendered, is assessed in order to determine the best methods and provide suitable alternatives if necessary. This study has concluded that allusion is a linguistic and cultural complex form and is very difficult to translate, due to its direct connection with the original texts. It is not possible to reveal its implicit connotations unless the translator is knowledgeable about many domains. Overall, both translators focused on form rather than content, resulting in translations dominated by literal negative transfer with minimal change, along with some useless and decontextualized footnotes in Niyazi's translated texts.