Aesthetic Equivalence of Metaphor in Translation: A Case Study of Metaphor in Nahj-ul-Balagha in the Translations Made by Garmaroudi, Shahidi, and Dashti

Although there is still controversy surrounding the nature, definition, and application of the concept of equilibrium, it is one of the fundamental concepts in translation studies. Due to the wide variety of texts in terms of their aims and styles, balance cannot be judged as a general relation between the original text and its translation. In translating a text, or specific sections of it, the translator must determine what kind of balance has to be struck. Since metaphor is an aesthetic structure in its translation, aesthetic balance is of paramount importance. The aesthetic balance means preserving the communicative value of a metaphor in its translation in terms of the degree of interpretation and presence of the audience to discover its ambiguity. The present study, employing a descriptive-analytical method, examined three popular translations of Nahj-ul-Balagha and came up with the following

first, the literary features of metaphors are translated into the target language under the condition that the translator reads, like the reader of the original text, along with intellectual reflection and challenge; second, the ambiguity in metaphor is the factor that prompts the curiosity of the audience to intimately understand the meaning and image of the metaphor, third; literal translation is recommended for metaphors with intercultural implications; proverbial metaphors are suggested to be replaced with some communicative value in the target language; other metaphors, however, might be translated into similes.