A PARATEXTUAL LOOK AT THE GREEK TRANSLATIONS OF TURKISH NOVELS

Abstract

This study presents a critical, interpretative and descriptive analysis of the paratextual elements of Turkish novels in Greek translation. The paratexts of a translated text are endowed with a double function: they are specially designed to influence a readership’s reception of a text and at the same time they mirror that reception. Focusing in the first section on the book covers and titles only, I will explore how, by way of metonymy, Turkish culture is constructed and presented, and the underlying cultural and social dynamics and ideologies which are at work in that construction, which, it will be revealed, is far from being monolithic. The study will also show that the book covers do not only mirror the image of a society in the hosting one, but also give hints about how Turkish literature travels through Europe. The second part will focus on the paratextual elements –this time on certain additional paratextual elements such as footnotes as well as the title and the book covers—of a single novel, namely Ahmet Ümit’s İstanbul Hatırası in Greek translation—as they prove revealing in terms of how the novel is recontextualized for the Greek readership.

Keywords

• paratexts
• book covers
• Turkish fiction in Greek translation
• world literature
• Istanbul in translation

A PARATEXTUAL LOOK AT THE GREEK TRANSLATIONS

Abstract

Bu çalışma Türkçeden Yunancaya son yıllarda çevrilmiş olan romanların yanmetinlerinin eleştirel, yorumsal ve betimsel bir analizini sunmaktadır. Çeviri bir metnin yanmetinleri iki bakımdan işlevseldir: Bir yandan okuyucuların o metni algılama biçimini etkilemek amacıyla tasarlanmışlardır, öte yandan bu algıya ayna tutarlar. Çalışmanın ilk kısmında kitap kapakları ve başlıkların çevirilerine odaklanılacak, metonimik anlamda bu yanmetinlerde Türk kültürünün ne şekilde kurgulanıp okuyuculara sunulduğu ve hiç de birörnek olmayan bu kurgunun arkaplanındaki dinamikler ve ideoloji araştırılacaktır. Buradaki en önemli bulgulardan biri Yunanistan’da yayınlanan Türk televizyon dizileri ve roman çevirisi arasındaki etkileşime ve çevrilmiş Türk edebiyatının Avrupa’da nasıl bir yol izlediğine dairdir. İkinci kısımda ise Ahmet Ümit’in İstanbul Hatırası başlıklı romanının Yunanca çevirisinde kitap kapağı ve başlığa ek olarak çevirmen notları ve İstanbul haritası gibi başka yanmetinler de analize katılarak, bu yanmetinlerin romanın Yunan okuyucuya sunumunda ve yeniden bağlamsallaştırılmasında ne gibi işlevler gördükleri araştırılacaktır.

Keywords

• yanmetinler
• kitap kapakları
• Yunancaya çevrilmiş Türk edebiyatı
• çeviride Istanbul

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