(Re)Translating In Cold Blood: The Case of Two Turkish Translations of Truman Capote\'s True Account of a Multiple Murder and its Consequences

Abstract

It would not be a mere assumption to regard retranslations as inviting cases in which one canscrutinise various interpretations undertaken by different translators. As a prevalent practice, the notion ofretranslation is an integral part of a given literary system. It is, therefore, most probable for retranslation/sto drop hints vis-à-vis the dynamics of literary systems that they pertain to. What can make their case evenmore intriguing is the identity of the translator behind the retranslation and his or her reading of the sourcetext thereof. Within this context, the Turkish translations of Truman Capote’s nonfiction novel In ColdBlood appears to be an interesting instance through which one can stare at the dynamics of the Turkish literary system spanning a period of almost forty years. There exist two Turkish translations of Capote’spiece. In Cold Blood was first translated into Turkish by Ragıp Cangara as So¤ukkanlılar in 1966, and thework was retranslated by Ayfle Ece as So¤ukkanlılıkla in 2004. The fact that the retranslation of the piecewas done by a translation scholar, who has devoted a good deal of her scholarship to the phenomenon ofretranslation, makes the case of So¤ukkanlılıkla appealing all the more. In this respect, the present paperintends to present an analysis of Ece’s retranslation of Capote’s In Cold Blood so as to be able to trace thetraits of her discourse, if there is any, with respect to the notion of retranslation. Prior to this examination,however, the study casts an eye on the concept of nonfiction novel introduced by Capote himself in his InCold Blood, and then proceeds with an investigation of Cangara’s So¤ukkanlılar in order to glance not onlyat the dynamics of the Turkish literary system in the second half of the 1960s, but also at the translator’sreading of the source text. The parts of the paper dwelling upon the poetics of the nonfiction novel, as wellas the first Turkish translation of Capote’s piece, serve as the groundwork for a discussion on Ece’sSo¤ukkanlılıkla

Keywords

• translation, retranslation, style, Capote

(Re)Translating In Cold Blood: The Case of Two Turkish Translations of Truman Capote\'s True Account of a Multiple Murder and its Consequences

Abstract

Yeniden çevirilerin, farklı çevirmenlerin de¤iflik yorumlarının irdelenmesi açısından elveriflli bir ça- lıflma alanı oldu¤unu düflünmek basit bir varsayımdan çok daha fazlasıdır. Yaygın bir uygulama olan ye- niden çeviri, herhangi bir edebiyat dizgesinin tamamlayıcı unsurlarından biridir. Bu yüzden, yeniden çevi- riler ait oldukları edebiyat dizgelerinin dinamiklerine dair önemli ipuçlarını da bünyelerinde barındırırlar. Yeniden çeviri olgularını daha da ilgi çekici kılan bir baflka noktaysa, bu metinleri üreten kiflilerin kimlik- leri ve çevirmenlerin kaynak metinleri okuma biçimleridir. Bu ba¤lamda, Truman Capote’nin gerçek olay- lara dayanarak kaleme aldı¤ı In Cold Blood’ın Türkçe çevirileri, kifliye, Türkiye edebiyat dizgesinin nere- deyse kırk yılı kapsayan bir süre içerisindeki dinamiklerine bakma imkânı tanıyan verimli bir vaka olarak göze çarpmaktadır. Capote’nin söz konusu eserinin iki çevirisi mevcuttur. In Cold Blood Türkçeye ilk de- fa 1966 yılında Ragıp Cangara tarafından So¤ukkanlılar adıyla çevrilmifl ve yapıt daha sonra 2004’te So- ¤ukkanlılıkla bafllı¤ıyla Ayfle Ece tarafından yeniden çevrilmifltir. In Cold Blood’ın yeniden çevirisinin ça- lıflmalarının büyük bir kısmını yeniden çeviri kavramı üzerine ayırmıfl bir çeviribilimci tarafından yapılmıfl olması So¤ukkanlılıkla’nın durumunu daha da önemli bir hale getirmektedir. Bu yazıda amaçlanan, Capo- te’nin In Cold Blood adlı eserinin Ayfle Ece tarafından yapılan yeniden çevirisini, çevirmenin çalıflmala- rında ortaya koydu¤u yeniden çeviri söylemini göz önüne alarak de¤erlendirmektir. Makale, Ece’nin yeni- den çevirisinin incelenmesine geçmeden önce Capote’nin bu eserle ortaya attı¤ı gerçek olaylara dayanan roman kavramını sorgulamakta ve ardından hem 1960’lı yılların ikinci yarısında Türkiye’deki edebiyat or- tamına ıflık tutmak, hem de romanın ilk çevirmeninin kaynak metni nasıl okudu¤unu tartıflmak amacıyla Cangara’nın So¤ukkanlılar bafllıklı çevirisine de¤inmektedir. Gerçek olaylara dayanan roman kavramının ve Capote’nin eserinin ilk Türkçe çevirisinin de¤erlendirilmesi yoluyla, Ece’nin So¤ukkanlılıkla bafllıklı yeniden çevirisinin arkasında yatan etmenlerin aydınlatılması hedeflenmektedir

Keywords

• ANAHTAR KEL‹MELERçeviri, yeniden çeviri, biçem, Capote

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