A Barbarian in Rome, On Writing and Translating Between Two Literatures: A Conversation with Sinan Antoon.

Contrasting bilingual texts through textual analysis might be the first step towards understanding the practice of self-translation. However, theorists like Antoine Berman have long highlighted the individual "translation project" as a backdrop against which scholars can interpret the choices of the translator. In Self-Translation: Brokering Originality in Hybrid Culture, Anthony Cordingly further highlights the figure of the self-translator as a cultural broker, as well as the importance of reading the textual analysis of a self-translated text against the personal project of the author/translator. This interview aims to elucidate the practice of the Iraqi-American author/translator Sinan Antoon through an interview that sheds light on his bilingual work Wahdaha Shajarat Alrumman (Only the Pomegranate Tree) (2010), published in English as The Corpse Washer (2013). In this conversation, Antoon discusses writing between two literatures, as well as transferring his own writing from peripheral Arabic towards the hegemonic centre of the English language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]