Balancing Creative Freedom and Accuracy in English–Arabic Literary Translation:A Dynamic Equivalence Analysis of Animal Farm and The Old Man and the Sea

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between creative freedom and linguistic accuracy in English–Arabic literary translation through a qualitative comparative analysis guided by Nida’s Dynamic Equivalence Theory. Focusing on selected excerpts from Animal Farm by George Orwell and The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, along with their Arabic translations by Shamel Abatha and Mahmoud Abdulghani, the study explores how translation strategies operate across differing literary styles and communicative purposes. The findings reveal that linguistic accuracy and creative freedom function as interdependent, context-sensitive dimensions shaped by genre, narrative function, and reader response. In Animal Farm, explicitation and modulation are employed to clarify ideological meanings and preserve satirical intent, whereas in The Old Man and the Sea, literal retention and stylistic restraint maintain minimalism and emotional subtlety. These contrasting strategies are interpreted not as deviations from fidelity but as contextually appropriate applications of Dynamic Equivalence to achieve comparable literary impact. The study concludes that Dynamic Equivalence remains a flexible and effective framework for evaluating literary translation across genres, demonstrating that creative adaptation can serve as a means of achieving communicative and aesthetic accuracy. The findings offer theoretical, methodological, and practical insights for English–Arabic literary translation.