Jason Goodwin’s ‘Possible Worlds’ Unveiled in Translation (Studies)

Abstract

The books with a specific cultural theme written in a foreign language stand out as a remarkable type of texts in terms of Translation Studies. In such books, description of a native culture in a foreign language reflects features similar to a translation, and it is called ‘foreign language creation,’ the product of a translation process ongoing in the writer’s mind. While these books seem to be the translation of a native culture into a foreign language, their translation back into the native language represents a ‘back translation’ in cultural sense without a physically existing ultimate source text, in other words ‘textless back translation.’ Within this context, the present study deals with English author Jason Goodwin’s Ottoman-themed books titled Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire ([1998] 2000), The Janissary Tree (2006a), and The Snake Stone ([2007] 2008) as ‘foreign language creations’ and their Turkish translations as ‘textless back translations.’ Drawing on the portrayal of the Ottoman available in many passages, Goodwin’s texts are approached from the perspective of ‘orientalism’ and the distinction between ‘history’ and ‘fiction’ in the first place. While these focal points offer a better understanding and interpreting of the ‘orientalist’ marks and the ‘possible worlds’ in the texts, an analysis of the translation methods used by the writer in his ‘foreign language creations’ and by the translators in their ‘textless back translations’ provides useful insight into the reasons and the effects of certain translation decisions.

Keywords

• foreign language creation
• back translation
• textless back translation
• orientalism
• possible worlds
• history
• fiction
• Jason Goodwin

References

1. Alimen, Nilüfer. 2019. “Batı’nın Doğu Çevirisi Olarak Oryantalizm ve Oryantalist Metinlerin Türkçeye Çevirileri.” [Orientalism as the West’s translation of the East and translation of Orientalist texts into Turkish.] In Çeviribilimde Araştırmalar [Research in Translation Studies], edited by Seda Taş, 59–92. Istanbul: Hiperyayın.
2. Doležel, Lubomír. 1998. “Possible Worlds of Fiction and History.” New Literary History 29 (4): 785–809. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20057512.
3. Goodwin, Jason. (1993) 2003. On Foot to the Golden Horn: A Walk to Istanbul. London: Penguin Books.
4. Goodwin, Jason. (1998) 2000. Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire. New York: Owl Books.
5. Goodwin, Jason. 1999. Ufukların Efendisi Osmanlılar. Translated by Armağan Anar. Istanbul: Sabah Kitapları.
6. Goodwin, Jason. 2006a. The Janissary Tree. New York: Sarah Crichton Books.
7. Goodwin, Jason. 2006b. Yeniçeri Ağacı. Translated by Çiğdem Öztekin. Istanbul: Merkez Kitaplar.
8. Goodwin, Jason. (2007) 2008. The Snake Stone. London: Faber and Faber.

9. Goodwin, Jason. 2008a. The Bellini Card. London: Faber and Faber.
10. Goodwin, Jason. 2008b. Yılanlı Sütun. Translated by Ali Cevat Akkoyunlu. Istanbul: Turkuvaz Kitap.
11. Goodwin, Jason. 2011. An Evil Eye. New York: Sarah Crichton Books.
12. Goodwin, Jason. 2014. The Baklava Club. London: Faber and Faber.
13. Goodwin, Jason. 2016. Yeniçeri Ağacı. Translated by Fethi Aytuna. Istanbul: Pegasus.
14. Goodwin, Jason. 2017. Yılanlı Sütun. Translated by Fethi Aytuna. Istanbul: Pegasus.
15. Guo, Ting. 2017. “On Foreign Language Creation and Rootless Back Translation: A Case Study of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.” Journal of Literature and Art Studies 7 (10): 1354–1364. doi:10.17265/2159-5836/2017.10.017.
16. Öztürk Kasar, Sündüz. 2020. “Çeviri Göstergebilimi ile Kent Göstergebiliminin Bütünleşik Bağlamında Özde Çeviri Kavramının İncelenmesi.” [Study of the concept of watermark translation in the syncretic context of semiotics of translation and urban semiotics.] Dünya Dilleri, Edebiyatları ve Çeviri Çalışmaları Dergisi (DEDÇED) 1 (1): 1–25. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/1918406.
17. Palumbo, Giuseppe. 2009. Key Terms in Translation Studies. London: Continuum.
18. Parla, Jale. 1985. Efendilik, Şarkiyatçılık, Kölelik [Mastery, orientalism, slavery]. Istanbul: İletişim.
19. Said, Edward. (1978) 1979. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.
20. Sun, Yifeng. 2014. “Translation and Back Translation: Transcultural Reinventions in Some Chinese American Literary Works.” Asia Pacific Translation and Intercultural Studies 1 (2): 107–121. doi:10.1080/23306343.2014.908563.
21. Tu, Qingyin, and Changbao Li. 2017. “A Review on Textless Back Translation of China-Themed Works Written in English.” Studies in Literature and Language 14 (1): 1–7. doi:10.3968/9177.