Cannibalism and cultural manipulation: How Morier is received in the Persian literary canon

The Adventures of Haji Baba of Ispahan

James Morier’s travels to Iran might be considered one of the first political encounters between Iranian politicians and their counterparts during the Qajar dynasty. This was the advent of a political connection which would later be strengthened and now greatly affects the trends in political negotiations between Iran and Russia (Hatami, 2008, p. 42).

James Morier, author of The Adventures of Haji Baba of Ispahan (hereafter referred to as Adventures or Haji Baba), has published several works but this is probably is most well-known. The book is a narration of Iranian customs, traditions and interests for English readers. The publication of the book contributed to European familiarity with contemporary life in Iranian society (Ale Davood, 2010, p. 130). Morier claims to have narrated the memories of the Iranian youth in his story, but it seems that Morier himself created the story. It is a story that reflects tyranny, destitution and ignorance in the Iranian community. He has attempted to make his story believable to Iranian readers (Rahmani, 2009, p. 24).

The publication of the Adventures in the UK stimulated different reactions among Iranian literary critics and scholars. Some considered the book to be an instruction and political manual for English delegates in Iran. Some others considered Haji Baba to be a stereotype of Iranian moral characteristics (Kazemi, 2010, p. 47). Nonetheless, as Jamalzade (1984) puts it, “Haji Baba was the second great literary work familiarizing Europeans with Iranian society and culture” (quoted in Modarres Sadeghi, 2009, p. 26).

This study is an attempt to analyze the Persian translation of The Adventures of Haji Baba of Ispahan in terms of cannibalism and creative rewriting. It is hoped that the results of this study will reveal the effect of cannibalism on the reception and acceptability of the translation in the sociocultural context of the target society.

As mentioned earlier, several researchers have already analyzed different aspects of Morier’s Adventures and its Persian translation by Isfahani. Yet, few studies have focused on the manipulations and interventions made in the process of rendering it into Persian. The Persian translation of Haji Baba has been mostly reviewed by non-academic practitioners. This article is going to bridge that gap and analyze the Adventures through a systematic corpus-based study.

In order to explore the translation of Haji Baba in terms of cannibalism and literary recreation, I initially pose the following research question:

Q1: Why has Haji Baba, written from an imperial orientalist point of view, been accepted and warmly received by Iranian readers as a literary masterpiece?

Theoretical framework

Postcolonialism is an intellectual trend which aims to analyze and explore the cultural effects of colonialism and domination over nations in their homelands. Being influenced by postmodernism, postcolonialism stipulates that the process of knowledge dissemination has always been determined by the images of “colonizer” and “colonized”, depicted by the former colonizers. In other words, knowledge is produced, transferred, and interpreted in shades of the imperial stance of the former colonizers toward the former colonized nations (Fischer-Tine, 2011, p. 2).

As Said (1978) noted, “the earliest studies of the post-colonial were based on studies of domination and control made from the standpoint of either a completed political independence or an incomplete liberationist project” (p. 353). Thus, orientalism deals with the long-held dispute between western colonizers and the eastern colonized. Said considers postcolonialism to be a type of thinking based on the differences between the perspectives of East and West (Madhavan, 1993).

As Innes (2007) puts it, postcolonialism is often used to refer to a range of theories in philosophy and literary studies that are mostly concerned with literary works written in English in the countries which were once subalterns of the British Empire. Postcolonialism looks at the relations between the former colonizers and the former subalterns. That is why postcolonial studies mostly ignores the literature of western countries and focuses on the literary writings of formerly colonized societies. Yet, those literary works of the foreign countries which reflect the imperial and colonial attitudes of the western countries toward the formerly subaltern countries are also relevant to postcolonial studies (p. 199).

In spite of the supposed scope of postcolonialism, it seems that countries like Iran, which have never been formerly colonized but, during their histories, have been influenced by the colonial policies of colonizing countries are still the subjects of the postcolonial stances of the West. That is why, for example, the Persian novel My Uncle Napoleon by Pezeshkzad has been read and criticized in relation to the effect western hegemony had on the mind of the writer (e.g. see Arjmand, 2007). This study will also focus on translation and postcolonialism in the Iranian context.

The other framework used in the present study is reception theory. Reception theory is not a fixed theory. Rather, it encompasses a wide scope in literary theory. Yet, most of the theorists working on the notion of reception agree on some of the assumptions in reception theory. The most crucial of these is the role of the reader in creating meaning (Holtorf, 2001). Reception theory deals with the role of readers in literature. So, it is a turning point in the history of literature.

Jauss believes that a real literary theory is one that tracks various receptions of a literary work. As he sees it, the history of a literary text is in fact the history of its readers’ evolution (Machor & Goldstein, 2001). As Thompson (1993, pp. 254-255) puts it, literary historians have always focused on writers and their readers, the reception of special literary works, the reputation of writers and texts, and also various interpretations and effects of the texts.

The present study uses reception theory and the ideas of Jauss as one of its theoretical bases, in addition to postcolonialism, and discusses the findings of the corpus analysis on the basis of the reactions and interpretations of literary critics and reviewers in the Iranian literary canon to The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan and its Persian translation by Mirza Habib Isfahani.

Morier’s stance toward Iranians

Having explored eighty chapters of Morier’s novel, a large number of scornful or ironical statements were detected. As mentioned earlier, the items were divided into two main categories. A large number of scornful statements were directed toward Iranian behaviors and moral characteristics. Some examples of the statements are explained here (see the appendix for all the cases). In several cases, Morier focuses on marriage customs and sexual behaviors among Iranians. Most of these cases are rooted in Islamic beliefs. Morier scorns the early age of marriage among Iranians when describing the father of Haji Baba:

Morier also magnifies the custom of polygamy among Iranians when describing the marital life of Haji Baba’s father. The word Harrem in the following line refers to a room or a set of rooms where the wives of a wealthy man would live. This word, accompanied by the word “afford”, depicts an image of the woman as the object of a man in Iran, an Islamic country.

He could afford to add a second wife to his Harrem (p.24)

This idea is also reflected in the way Haji Baba describes his relationship with his sweetheart Zeinab. In the following lines, the word “intercourse” shows the repugnantly sexual way he looks upon his beloved. At this stage, Haji Baba and his beloved are flirting only by looking at one other. In Morier’s novel Haji Baba is a symbol of an Iranian man:

Our intercourse was confined to tender glances (p. 31)

Another Iranian and Islamic tradition stressed in the novel is slavery. It is worth mentioning that in the early Islamic era, there were people who worked in Muslim houses who were owned by their masters. Yet, because these servants were not generally misbehaved and they were even treated as family members, they were not slaves in Islamic sense of the word (Mohaqqeq Damad, 2007; Kadivar, 2009). However, Morier uses the word slave, which has a negative meaning in Iranian society, to describe one of these servants in the Qajar era (about 250 years ago) in Iran:

He had a black slave who cooked for us (p.26)

Another Iranian trait scorned by Morier is their cowardice and bragging. When a group of Iranian pilgrims heading for Mashhad (a holy city) are attacked by robbers, the swordsmen protecting the pilgrims are scared to death despite bragging of their bravery. The soldiers shout with fear:

We are dying. We are dead (p. 27).

Later in the novel, Morier states that the Iranian soldiers are not comparable with English soldiers as Iranians are cowards and English soldiers are brave. Yet, Morier describe the Iranians as cruel. The following terms describe an Iranian clergyman (Darwish Safar) in the novel. Of course, this clergy is much kinder than ordinary people in Iran:

There was so much of wildness and solicitude in his words and actions (p. 47)

Morier also associates Iranians with treason. Haji Baba, the main character of the novel, does not even show mercy on the people of his own city. He accompanies a group of bandits to invade Isfahan City. Morier describes this event:

Haji Baba invades his native city (p. 33)

Finally, Morier magnifies the dogmatic attitudes of Iranians toward non-Muslims. In several cases, Iranian characters in the novels call all non-Muslims “infidel”:

Morier is contemptuous of the Iranian habit of growing a beard. These words are uttered by an English General in the novel:

We hold men’s beards as cheap as dirt (p. 47)

Generally, many Iranian traits and habits are directly or indirectly scorned or magnified by Morier. Most of these habits are rooted in the Islamic beliefs of the Iranians.

Another category of Morier’s scornful statements is related to the Iranians’ Islamic beliefs and their holy figures. Morier describes the praying and religious invocations of Iranian pilgrims as shrill. He associates these shrill voices with the names of Allah (The Unique God in Islam) and the prophet of Islam:

The conductors made invocations of Allah and the prophet in loud and shrill tones (p.27)

Morier also uses the name of God when Iranians are bragging or talking and behaving in a silly fashion. When describing the bragging habit of Iranians soldiers before facing Turkaman bandits (a group of local bandits who attack Iranian pilgrims), Morier uses the word “God”:

In the name of God. Whose dogs are they? (p. 27)

Further, when Iranian pilgrims are scared of seeing Turkaman bandits (another scene in which Morier depicts Iranian cowardice), they utter the names of holy religious characters:

Oh, Allah; Oh, Imams; Oh Mohammad the prophet (p. 27)

The use of religious terms is also seen when Haji Baba, the protagonist, deceives people into buying dirty water instead of pure water. He is even proud of his treachery:

I scrawled the names of Allah, Mohammad, Ali, Hassan, Hossein and all the emams (p. 52).

Darwish Safar, a deceitful clergyman in the novel, considers himself to be the servant of the prophet. In this way, Morier associates Islam with treachery:

I am the servant of the prophet (p. 52).

When Darwish attempts to beguile ordinary people, he makes religious exclamations and calls out the names of religious characters. These statements associate Islamic figures with treachery:

Making my exclamations of Hak, Hu, Allaho Akbar (Allah is greater) (p. 52).

Another example is when Haji Baba, the main character, sells dirty water in the name of religious characters in Mashhad. “Ali” in the first statement is the first holy Imam (religious leader) of Shiites:

I extoled the water as having flowed from a spring created by Ali in person (p. 45).

I plied in the name of the prophet the refreshing draught (p. 45).

In addition to the religious characters, Morier also scorns Iranians’ belief in eternity and accuses Iranians of being mere bidders. The following words are uttered by an English character in the novel about Iranians:

They live by selling themselves to the highest bidder (p. 37).

Morier is critical of the religious feelings of Iranians who mourn for the death of Imam Hussein (the third holy leader of Shiites after the prophet) as evident in the use if the adverb “so religiously” in the following statement:

The commemoration of the death of Hossein which is so religiously kept throughout Persia (p. 46).

Generally, Morier scolded not only Iranian religious figures but also their religious customs and ceremonies, and behaviors and habits. This reveals the colonial stance of Morier toward Iranian society as an eastern country.

Recreating the novel in the Iranian cultural context

Having explored Morier’s imperial view of Iranian society in the novel, I analyzed the Persian translation by Mirza Habib Isfahani. This analysis focused on how Morier’s scornful elements were rendered. One prevalent technique is omission. In several cases, the translator has omitted controversial words and phrases to counterattack the scornful imperial glance of the English novelist. When Morier scorns the early age of marriage among Iranians, the translator omits the adverb “only” to eliminate the derogatory attitude of the writer toward the early age marriage custom among Iranians:

He was married when only seventeen years of age (p. 24).

(Literally: he was seventeen when he got married. p. 28: the adverb “only” has been eliminated)

When Morier attempts to magnify the tradition of polygamy among Iranians, the translator omits the word “Harrem”, a negative symbol of polygamy in Iranian society:

He could afford to add a second wife to his Harrem (p. 24).

(Literally: he managed to get married to his second wife. p. 28: the word “Harrem” has been eliminated).

When Haji Baba, the main character of the novel, misuses the names of holy persons to earn money; the translator omits the holy names. In this way, the names are not associated with Haji Baba’s treachery:

I scrawled the names of Allah, Mohammad, Ali, Hassan, Hossein and all the emams (p. 52)

(Literally: I drew lines and blanks on the paper. P. 135: the names of holy characters have been eliminated)

The point in the novel where Haji Baba is depicted as a traitor to his homeland, the translator omits the phrase “native city” and replaces it with the name of the city (Isfahan):

Haji Baba invades his native city (p. 33)

(Literally: Haji Baba invading Isfahan. p. 61: the word “native” has not been mentioned. The fact that he invades his own city is rendered implicit in the Persian translation)

When Morier ridicules Muslims as those who bid with Allah and sell their world to the divine world, the translator totally omits the sentence and replaces it with another description:

They live by selling themselves to the highest bidder (p. 37: description of Iranians who use religious faith to earn money)

(Literally: they swindle people’s money off them. P. 77: in the Persian text, the relationship between religion and cheating is not mentioned)

The point in the story where the Iranians use the holy word “Allah” to flatter their commander and applaud him, the translator omits the word and replaces it with “well done”: Nothing was said but Allah (p. 146)

(Literally: they exclaimed: well done. Well done. p. 370: the word Allah has been eliminated)

When the Iranians show their animosity toward the British physician mainly due to his belief in Christianity, the translator omits the sensitive word “Christian” from the Persian translation:

This infidel doctor must be disposed of somehow or other (p. 76).

(Literally: we must do something and dispose of the doctor. p. 208: the word “infidel” indicating Iranians’ religious prejudice, has not been rendered)

Generally, omission has been applied as a translation technique by the Iranian translator to modify Morier’s scornful and derogatory attitude toward Iranian culture and society. Most cases of omission relate to sensitive religious words especially where these words are associated with immoral behaviors by the Iranian characters.

Another technique used by the translator was euphemism. Euphemism is used to protect the listeners and readers from probable insult and offense. The insult could be the result of ignoring a taboo, like those related to religion, or a reference to issues an individual or a group might regard as controversial, such as political ones. To prevent clash and confrontation, speakers/writers manipulate these controversial issues (Warren, 1992).

The translator has mainly replaced the source novel’s scornful and ironical descriptions with graceful literary expressions such as beautiful collocations, Persian verses, idioms and proverbs. Some examples of the euphemistic expressions are explained here.

Morier describes the religious exclamations of Iranian pilgrims as loud and shrill. However, the translator uses a beautiful alliterative collocation (Golbange Janfaza meaning “alluring invocations”) to eliminate the negative meaning of shrill:

The conductors made invocations of Allah and the prophet in loud and shrill tones (p.27: during trip to Mashhad)

(Literally: conductors were running forward with alluring invocations. p. 42)

When the Iranian soldiers brag of their courage and superiority against the Turkaman bandits, they utter the name of Allah. Yet, the translator renders their words into a beautiful rhymed verse in Persian. This statement not only has no negative sense, but also gives an aesthetic sense to the Persian readers:

In the name of God. Whose dogs are they? (p. 27: when coward Iranian pilgrims brag of their bravery)

(Literally: where are the Turkamans to see our bravery and sportsmanship? P.42: the target sentence is a rhymed verse in Persian)

When the Iranian pilgrims are scared of seeing Turkaman bandits, they begin to murmur holy names and seek help from them. In this context these holy names are associated with the Iranians’ timidity. But, the translator renders the statement into a literarily graceful invocation which is emotional for most Iranians. In this translation the sense of timidity is replaced with pure religious help-seeking:

Oh, Allah; Oh, Imams; Oh Mohammad the prophet. (p. 27: where Iranian pilgrims are scared of seeing Turkaman bandits)

(Literally: Oh, lonely Imam. Help the desperate. p.42: the source has been rendered into an emotional religious plea)

The same occurs in the following sentence uttered by the pilgrims in the same scene. In Morier’s novel, the Iranian pilgrims are scared to death. Their despair is evident in their words. Again, the translator renders the desperate sentences into emotional, purely helpseeking ones:

We are dying. We are dead (p.27: when the Iranian pilgrims are scared of being killed by bandits)

(Literally: help us. We are being captured. p.42: the target sentences are religious invocations)

When Haji Baba, the protagonist, describes his relationship with his beloved in a repugnantly sexual way, the translator renders his words into a tender romantic description. It is worth reminding the reader that Haji Baba is stereotype Iranian and that Morier had attempted to depict the lewd character of Haji Baba and Iranians:

Our intercourse was confined to tender glances (p.31: when Morier implies that Haji Baba’s lewdness is a prototype Iranian characteristic).

(Literally: she was all flirting and I was all devotion from a distance. p.55: the source has been rendered into an eloquent sentence and a literary “pun” is used)

When Haji Baba sells dirty water in the name of the prophet, he admits his treachery and deceitfulness. Yet, the whole negative image has been replaced with a literary and poetic description of Haji Baba selling water in the name of God. In this way, the translator has neutralized Haji Baba’s negative image:

I plied in the name of the prophet the refreshing draught (p.45)

(Literally: I gave them glasses of water and told them to drink in the name of Allah. P. 67: the source has been rendered into a prayer in Persian)

Morier depicts the Iranian clergies in negative terms using the word “wildness”. The translator has rendered the sentence into an elegant statement in which their wildness has been replaced with power and potency:

There was so much of wildness and solicitude in his words and actions (p. 47: when Morier depicts Iranian clergies in negative terms)

(Literally: he walked in such elegance and asked for money that frightened any passerby. p. 117: it has been rendered into an idiomatic expression).

Manipulation of the original novel for the Iranian cultural context

The analysis of Morier’s English Adventures and its Persian recreation by Mirza Habib Isfahani reveals that Morier adopted an imperial colonial stance toward Iranians as an eastern nation. He described and depicted Iranian culture in a repugnant and scornful manner, which is more satirical than humorous.

On the other hand, the translator has used graceful language including verses, beautiful collocations, and proverbs. This elegant language gives Persian readers an aesthetic pleasure combined with a sense of humor so that Iranian readers barely feel Morier’s imperial scornful stance toward Iranians and their culture and religion.

Our findings are in line with those of Spivak (2000) who has investigated the ideological consequences of translating third world literature into English and its distortion (quoted in Munday, 2012, p. 133). Yet, this research has taken the opposite direction and has studied the manipulation of English world literature in translation into Persian. Based on the results, two main strategies—omission and euphemism—were used in the rendering of the colonial text of Haji Baba into Persian.

The manipulation strategy adopted by the translator is an attempt to neutralize what Niranjana (1992) calls the hegemonic strategy that is related to the ideological intention of the colonial to build a fabricated image of the colonized (p. 33). The research findings have revealed an opposite phenomenon in which third world translators have attempted to challenge the colonial stance of the English writer toward Iranian society. Morier attributed some evil characteristics and moral features to Iranians. In the Persian translation, these cases have been modified or removed. This manipulation has been performed to cope with the colonial stance of the English writer.

On the other hand, our findings are in line with the qualitative evaluations made previously by Samiee Gilani (2005) who considered the Persian translation of the Adventures to be a prominent case of creative writing (p. 73). In several cases, the translator has applied cultural terms and poetical expression to creatively recreate the source statements in Persian. Our findings are also in line with those of Ale Davood (2010) who regarded the Persian translation to be a free rendering with numerous cases of manipulation.

As mentioned earlier, Isfahani has manipulated the source text to neutralize Morier’s scornful statements about Iranians. Manipulation is the main strategy Isfahani uses to render the Adventures into Persian. Jamalzade considers this translation to be a valuable work of world literature and a brilliant instance of Persian prose (Rahmani, 2009). In fact, Isfahani is an Iranian translator who has applied a strong Persian prose to render western literature.

Our finding is also in line with Karimi Hakkak’s description, which posited that Hajji Baba’s translation was accepted by Iranian literary critics due to the abundance of literary techniques such as proverbs, colloquialism and verses. However, Karimi Hakkak mentions that the original novel was not popular among Iranian readers and critics due to its bitter criticism of Iranians (Baker, 2001, p. 530). Also, Kamshad (2011, p. 22) believes that Mirza Habib’s translation is in a literal language that uses local features of Persian and ordinary speech to portray an interesting image of Iranian society. Kamshad’s comment is in line with the findings of this study, which show the use of euphemistic and literary expressions in the Persian translation.

In terms of manipulation techniques, the translator used omission and euphemism to deal with different kinds of scornful statements in the source text. Euphemism was mainly used to handle the Iranians’ moral characteristics. It makes sense regarding the fact that Morier had depicted Iranians in abusive terms, most of which have been modified through euphemism.

On the other hand, omission was applied to manipulate Morier’s scornful statements toward Iranian national and religious characters. The data obtained is reasonable since this category of abuse is the most controversial and is one which could have been dealt with only by omitting and eliminating holy names and replacing them with more neutral ones. It is not surprising that Iranian readers rarely feel the scornful stance of the English writer toward their religious and national figures.

Reception of Haji Baba in the Persian Literary Canon

In terms of the reception of the novel in the Persian literary canon, Azadibougar distinguishes two different stages. The first stage is when the Adventures is read in Persian and is appreciated by Iranian readers and critics as a literary masterpiece relying on the rich heritage of Persian prose. The second stage is when Iranians recognize that the English novel is a foreign entity written from an imperial degrading stance. This recognition spurs bitter reactions in Iranian society (Azadibougar, 2010, p. 314). The findings of the present study are in line with the first stage of the reception of the work in the Iranian literary canon.

Also, Haddadian Moghaddam (2013) posits that the reception of the Adventures in Iran concerned the opposition between the self and the other, the local and the foreign, the inner and the outer. Like Azadibougar, he believes that Iranians have perceived a colonial stance in Morier’s writing toward Iran and Iranians. Yet, they have praised and enjoyed the customization of the novel in Persian literature. Haddadian Moghaddam also believes that the translator manipulated the original novel in order to apply his own agency as translator. This manipulation in the novel reveals that for the translator the mission of political reform in Iran was more important than the mission of accuracy and adhering to the source text (Haddadian Moghaddam, 2011).

The translation of Haji Baba stimulated different reactions in the initial years after its publication. Many literary scholars noticed Morier’s bitter satire in the Persian translation. For example, Eghbal Ashtiani (1952, p. 47) and Minavi (1988, p. 283) believed that Morier had inconsiderably condemned all Iranian customs and values and ridiculed all social classes in Iranian society. However, the humorous aspect of the Persian translation was favored by Iranian intellectuals and motivated them in political conflicts with the kings of the Qajar dynasty (Minavi, 1988, p. 291). The Persian translation of Isfahani was admired by Iranian literary critics for its strong writing style and composition. For example, Yusofi (1991, p. 41) maintains that the Persian novel benefited from the heritage of Persian prose, and is eloquent and exhibits musical harmony, beautiful colloquial expressions and creative language. Emami (1975, p. 53) believed that Isfahani rendered a free translation of the English novel and turned a colonial novel into an anti-colonial work in Persian by manipulating the source text.

Based on the different reactions of Iranians to the Persian translation of Haji Baba, as mentioned above, it seems that the cannibalistic strategy of the translator and use of techniques such as euphemism and omission have changed Morier’s bitter sarcastic language into humorous critical language in Persian. This way, Iranian readers, as Minavi (1988, p. 283) has mentioned, have received the translation as a literary masterpiece with a critical stance toward Iranian government and society. These readers both enjoyed the literary elegance of the work and were inspired by the book in their campaigns against the dictatorship of the Qajar kings.