Twenty-second International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

My paper focuses on the English translation of No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison. I investigate the Boochani-Tofighian collaboration and argue that Omid Tofighian is not only a translator. He is also a collaborator in the English version of Boochani’s text written while incarcerated. I consider Tofighian’s contribution an integral and indispensable part of No Friend but the Mountains and the Manus Prison Theory. While the attention that has so far been given to the book has centralized the main English text, this paper concentrates on the frame narrative that consists of both the Translator’s Note and the supplementary essay that has the final Translator’s Reflections. In this paper, I explore the collaborative aspects of the translation and the translation challenges through a focus on this paratext. I read the paratext in light of the other scholarly work of Tofighian. This focus on the Translator’s Note, Reflections and articles sheds light on Tofighian’s intervention in No Friend but the Mountains. It shows that Tofighian’s additions are the result of 1) untranslatability and 2) his responsibility as he transmits the message of an incarcerated Kurdish refugee to the Australian public.