Religion has been one of the most influential components in humans’ life, thus the trace of it can be found not only in the creation of literary works but also in literary translation. Research on the influence of religion on translation has mostly focused on the impact of religion on the translation of sacred texts, such as the Bible and Quran. Moreover, the majority of the studies that associate with the influence of religion in the translation of the literature, put the issue of the target culture and target reader’s beliefs in the center of the attention. Therefore, there is less emphasis on the role of the translator’s religion in the process of the translation. This study reveals how the translators’ religion can contribute to and affect the translation process and lead to the rewriting of a literary work by analyzing the three Persian translations of Anna Karenina, written by Leo Tolstoy. It also stresses the need to take into account the impact of the translator’s religion in the translation of other literary texts as well as non-literary texts.
Keywords: Anna Karenina, rewriting, translator’s religion, literary translation, religion, Iran
