At the Crossroads of Translation and History-Writing: Büyük İran Tarihi as a Case of Writing History through Translation

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between translation and history-writing within the framework of translation studies by analyzing Büyük İran Tarihi (Great history of Iran) translated by Ömer Halis from Persian into Ottoman Turkish in 1926. Questioning whether the distinction between the translation and the original and the distinction between the translator and the history writer were blurred in this case of translation and whether the translator used strategies that reflect his ideology during the translation process, a descriptive analysis of the extratextual elements surrounding the translation and of the textual elements has been conducted. Drawing on the analysis of the extratextual sources and the textual sources with a focus on the translation strategies such as omissions, additions and modifications, it is claimed that Ömer Halis intervenes in the translation in line with his ideological stance and becomes both a visible translator and a history writer who enters into a communication, starts a dialogue and a discussion with the author of the source text, who evaluates and construes the information in the source text from his ideological point of view and who writes a history that serves his ideology. It is further claimed that, the boundary between the translator and the historian and the boundary between translation and history-writing become eliminated in this specific case of translation, which might be considered as a constituent of the ‘history translation repertoire’ of the period in question.

Keywords

• history translation; history-writing; ideology; descriptive translation studies; history translation repertoire

References

1. Arrojo, Rosemary. 1997. “Asymmetrical Relations of Power and the Ethics of Translation.” TEXTconTEXT 11 (1): 5-24.
2. Bakihanov, Abaskuluağa. 2004. Golestan-e Eram. Edited by Abdolkarim Alizadeh. Tehran: Qoqnous.
3. Bozkurt, Eshabil. 2014. “1908-1928 Yılları Arasında Batı Dillerinden Osmanlı Türkçesine Çevrilen Romanlarda Mukaddime Geleneği.” PhD diss., Yıldız Technical University.
4. Briant, Pierre. 1998. Tarikh-e Hakhmaneshian. Translated by Mehdi Semsar. Tehran: Zaryab.
5. Diakonoff, Igor Mikhailovich. 2001. Tarikh-e Mad. Translated by Karim Keshavarz. Tehran: Elmi and Farhanghi.
6. Erdoğdu, A. Teyfur. 2013. “Açık Tarihçilik: Tarih İnşasında Tartışmalı Konular — Yeni Eğilimler — Yeni İmkanlar.” Cogito 73 (Spring): 400-434.
7. Even-Zohar, Itamar. 2002. “The Making of Culture Repertoire and the Role of Transfer.” In Translations: (Re)shaping of Literature and Culture, edited by Saliha Paker, 166-174. Istanbul: Boğaziçi University.
8. Feridun Ahmet Paşa. 1847. Münşeatü-s Selatin [The correspondences of the Kings]. Istanbul.

9. Foroughi, Mohammad Ali. 1931. Tarikh-e Iran-e Bastan [The ancient history of Iran]. Tehran: Tehran: Entesharat-e Elm.
10. Gershevitch, Ilya. 2008. Tarikh-e Iran-e Cambridge. Translated by Teimour Ghaderi. Tehran: Mahtab.
11. Gershevitch, Ilya. 2012. Tarikh-e Irandar Asr-e Hakhamaneshian. Translated by Morteza Saghebfar. Tehran: Jami.
12. Halis, Ömer, trans. 1926. Büyük İran Tarihi [Great history of Iran]. By Mohammad Ali Foroughi. Istanbul: Erkan-ı Harbiye-i Umumiye.
13. Hermans, Theo. 1985. “Introduction: Translation Studies and a New Paradigm.” In The Manipulation of Literature: Studies in Literal Translation, edited by Theo Hermans, 7- 15. London: Croom Helm.
14. Hermans, Theo. 1991. “Translational Norms and Correct Translations.” In Translation Studies: The State of the Art; Proceedings of the First James S. Holmes Symposium on Translation Studies, edited by Kitty M. van Leuven-Zwart and Ton Naaijkens, 155-169. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
15. Jahanbeiglou, Ramin. 2015. “Foroughi and the Principles of Liberalism in Iran.” Vista Electronic Journal. September 15. http://vista.ir/paper/360479.
16. Jean-Baptiste Tavernier. 1910. Safarname-ye Tavernieh. Translated by Abutorab Nouri. Tehran: Nouri.
17. Karadağ, Ayşe Banu. 2014. Çevirmenin Tanıklığında Tanzimat'tan II. Meşrutiyet’e Çeviri Tarihini Yeniden Okumak [Rereading the translation history from the reorganization era to the second constitutional era in the witness of translators]. 2 vols. Istanbul: Diye.
18. Karadağ, Ayşe Banu. 2019. “Çeviri Yoluyla Geçmiş, Şimdi ve Gelecek Arasında Köprüler Kurmak.” [Building bridges between the past, present and future through translation.] In Çeviribilimde Araştırmalar [Research in Translation Studies], edited by Seda Taş, 33-58. Istanbul: Hiperyayın.
19. Krosinski, Cary. 1984. Safarname-ye Krozinsky. Translated by Abdolrazzaq Donboli. Tehran: Kitab-e Farda.
20. Lefevere, André. 1985. “Why Waste Our Time on Rewrites: The Trouble with Interpretation and the Role of Rewriting in an Alternative Paradigm.” In The Manipulation of Literature: Studies in Literary Translation, edited by Theo Hermans, 215-243. London: Croom Helm.
21. Malcolm, John. 1908. Trakh-e Kamel-e Iran. Translated by Mirza Esmaeil Heyrat. Tehran: Efsun.
22. Öner, Senem, and Ayşe Banu Karadağ. 2016. “Lawmaking through Translation: ‘Translating’ Crimes and Punishments.” Perspectives 24 (2): 319-338. doi: 10.1080/0907676X.2015.1105829.
23. Pirnia, Hasan. 1937. Tarikh-e Iran-e Bastan [Ancient history of Iran]. Tehran: Majles.
24. Seyed Hassan Astarabadi. (1703) 1985. Tarikh-e Soltani [The history of kings]. Edited by Hossein Eshraghi. Tehran: Elmi.
25. Tellioğlu, Banu. 2019. “Özgünün Kökeni ve Çeviride Telif Hakları Meselesi.” [The origin of the original and the issue of translation copyright.] In Çeviribilimde Araştırmalar [Research in Translation Studies], edited by Seda Taş, 125-148. Istanbul: Hiperyayın.
26. Toury, Gideon. 1995. Descriptive Translation Studies — and Beyond. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
27. Vermeer, Hans J. 2012. “Çevirinin Doğası — Bir Özet.” Translated by Şebnem Bahadır and Dilek Dizdar. In Çeviri Seçkisi II: Çeviri(bilim) Nedir?, edited by Mehmet Rifat, 165-172. Istanbul: Sel.