Pious Cat

This article studies the role of ‘selving’ and creative interpretation in literary translation. Specifically, it analyzes one of Basil Bunting’s successful translations of Obayd Zākānī’s Mush-o Gorbeh, a picturesque and catchy poem in rhyme and rhythm, laden with animal characters, which was considered to be both a masterpiece of children’s literature and a very important political satire. Bunting, a translator of Persian classical poems into English, had both political and poetic missions as a spy and an up-and-coming poet. This study turns to the theories of translation by Steiner, Benjamin, and Bassnett, among others, to show the challenges of translating Persian poetry. Through an in-depth analysis of this translated work in dialogue with Bunting’s other works, this manuscript shows how the two missions sometimes overlapped. Ultimately, however, it is argued that literary translation functions as an aesthetic ‘other’ place where the translator can act as a cultural double agent, working to the advantage of both cultures.