Research Article

Towards an understanding of post-translation studies: A comparative analysis of cultural transfer in the rewritings of popular literature

Number: 26 February 21, 2022
TR EN

Towards an understanding of post-translation studies: A comparative analysis of cultural transfer in the rewritings of popular literature

Abstract

With the technological developments and the globalization process especially after the 1980s, translations have gained new functions as ‘cultural products’ that are consumed by the people in various parts of the world. Today, works of popular literature can reach people from diverse cultures in a very short time through translation. These new conditions require the evaluation of the socio-cultural functions of these translations with a new perspective in the field of translation studies. In order to analyze these functions of the translated texts, Edwin Gentzler (2017) proposes a framework with the name ‘post-translation studies’. Within this framework, Gentzler (2017) draws attention to focus on translation as a form of rewriting and to investigate pre-translation and post-translation conditions in the receiving societies. Gentzler’s (2017) approach emphasizes to analyze the translations in their social contexts and to trace the socio-cultural changes that take place in these societies after the translations are put into circulation. As part of ‘post-translation studies’, this article aims to investigate how Turkish translations of a representative of American popular literature presented American cultural elements in the 1980s and in the 2010s as forms of different rewritings. To this end, Turkish translation of Stephen King’s IT in 1987 and its retranslation by the same publisher in 2015 were compared in terms of the representation of the culture specific items. The analyses were based on Pavlovic and Poslek’s (1998) categorization of the culture specific items and Aixela’s (1996) categories of the translation strategies, which were grouped as being source-oriented and target-oriented on the macro level. Evaluating the results in relation to the socio-cultural context of the receiving society in the 1980s and the cultural changes that have occurred until the retranslation was published, it was found out that American cultural items in the source text were predominantly translated with target-oriented strategies in the initial translation in 1987 and they were mostly translated with source-oriented strategies in the retranslation in 2015. It was also observed that the familiarity of the items belonging to American culture highly increased for the Turkish readers in the 28-year period as a result of the influence of the source culture.

Keywords

References

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Linguistics

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

February 21, 2022

Submission Date

December 31, 2021

Acceptance Date

February 20, 2022

Published in Issue

Year 2022 Number: 26

APA
Özbek, D., & Söylemez, A. S. (2022). Towards an understanding of post-translation studies: A comparative analysis of cultural transfer in the rewritings of popular literature. RumeliDE Dil Ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, 26, 1098-1116. https://doi.org/10.29000/rumelide.1074528