A war lost in translation : a translation-studies based approach to analyzing Rajiv Joseph's play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Abstract EN

Rajiv Joseph's play Bengal tiger at the Baghdad zoo (2012) is about the danger of losing communication in our world and the role translation can play as a reconciliation vehicle for a dying humanity.

with the U.S.

conquest of Iraq in the background, the playwright portrays contemporary history in a surrealist fashion where characters return from death to contemplate on the meaning of life, death, and the folly of human conflicts.

the research paper follows the evolvement of the character of Musa the Iraqi interpreter of the American army from the first moment we meet him in the play as a novice translator looking up unfamiliar words in the dictionary till he ends up murdering tom in the Sahara of Iraq.

between his first appearance and the moment violence is practiced against tom, Musa acquires linguistic competencies that empower and grant him more cultural and intellectual resistance powers in his defense of himself, his country and culture.

the research main thesis is that translators are also visible cultural figures who are sometimes engaged in a kind of resistance to injustice, oppression and colonialism, and in the production of discourses and representations.

furthermore, a translator is an active participant in jotting down or blocking the narrative that constructs culture in actual ways.

the chief line of argument also postulates that though the Americans won the battle in Iraq on the ground, they have lost it in translation.