Şehnaz Tahir Gürçağlar

Translation, Presumed Innocent: Translation and Ideology in Turkey

Abstract In late Ottoman society, in the 19th century, translation was instrumental in the emergence of new literary genres such as the novel and western-style drama. It maintained its significance and influence in the early Republican period, starting in 1923. Apart from its literary significance, an interesting aspect of the trajectory followed by translation in Turkey concerns the way it has conspicuously allied itself with political and ideological agendas, such as westernization, Marxism and Islamism, to mention a few. This paper explores the ideological entanglements of translation in Turkey in the 20th century. It examines the discourse that emerged around translation at certain moments during that period and argues that translation served as a mirror, reflecting the literary and cultural ‘lacks’ of the target system, as much as it was meant to import new forms and ideas which would eventually help Turkish society overcome its perceived deficiencies. The study also problematizes the ways in which the translator’s subject position has been suppressed, especially in the discourse of translators reflecting upon their own work, and concludes that this self-effacing attitude seems to have become part of the professional identity of the Turkish translator.AbstractIn late Ottoman society, in the 19th century, translation was instrumental in the emergence of new literary genres such as the novel and western-style drama. It maintained its significance and influence in the early Republican period, starting in 1923. Apart from its literary significance, an interesting aspect of the trajectory followed by translation in Turkey concerns the way it has conspicuously allied itself with political and ideological agendas, such as westernization, Marxism and Islamism, to mention a few. This paper explores the ideological entanglements of translation in Turkey in the 20th century. It examines the discourse that emerged around translation at certain moments during that period and argues that translation served as a mirror, reflecting the literary and cultural ‘lacks’ of the target system, as much as it was meant to import new forms and ideas which would eventually help Turkish society overcome its perceived deficiencies. The study also problematizes the ways in which th...

Scouting the borders of translation: Pseudotranslation, concealed translations and authorship in twentieth-century Turkey

This paper addresses a relatively little explored area of Turkish literary translation history and sets out to contextualize a series of alternative translation practices previously expressed as “marginal” forms of translation. These practices are instances of textual production that can be classified neither as translation proper nor as indigenous creation: they are mainly concealed translation and pseudotranslations. The study argues that marginal forms of translation offer information regarding the literary habitus of readers in Turkey, and suggests that the second half of the twentieth century saw a transformation in this habitus which can be traced through the shifts in the use and presentation of concealed translations and pseudotranslations. After providing a historical overview of the use of such translations as a cultural and commercial tool by Turkish writers and publishers, the paper discusses two recent cases which defy established perceptions about pseudotranslations.This paper addresses a relatively little explored area of Turkish literary translation history and sets out to contextualize a series of alternative translation practices previously expressed as “marginal” forms of translation. These practices are instances of textual production that can be classified neither as translation proper nor as indigenous creation: they are mainly concealed translation and pseudotranslations. The study argues that marginal forms of translation offer information regarding the literary habitus of readers in Turkey, and suggests that the second half of the twentieth century saw a transformation in this habitus which can be traced through the shifts in the use and presentation of concealed translations and pseudotranslations. After providing a historical overview of the use of such translations as a cultural and commercial tool by Turkish writers and publishers, the paper discusses two recent cases which defy established perceptions about pseudotranslations.