Articulating Marxism, Silencing Liberalism: Power and Ideology in Translating Ibsen in Iran

Based on Critical Discourse Analysis and with a particular emphasis on van Dijk's social-cognitive model (van Dijk 1988, 1995, 1998a, 1998b), this article investigates the effect of Marxist tendencies of a translator in the translation of a drama. The article argues that the translator's modulations lead to the polarization of us (Marxism) versus them (Liberalism) by his (dis)approval of the ideological content of the original drama. As a Marxist activist, the article argues, Amir Hossein Aryanpor, the translator of Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People has used translation as a tool to silence Liberalism and most of its relevant values.