(Re)Positioning of Inter- and Intra-Lingual Translational Adventures

Abstract

This study analyzes Bir Çalgıcının Seyahati (The travels of a musician) within the context of its inter-/intra-lingual translations in the Turkish literary and cultural system. Initially serialized in Saadet, Bir Çalgıcının Seyahati was published in Ottoman script by Saadet Matbaası in 1907/1908 [1323] and by İkbal Kütüphanesi in 1921 [1337] and 1926. The first Latin script edition of this text in book form was published by Semih Lûtfi (ca. 1945). In this edition, which lacks an author’s name, Mehmet Tevfik is presented as the book’s translator. Although the work was analyzed and categorized as an ‘interlingual translation’ based on Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff’s (1826) Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts (From the Life of a Good-for-Nothing) (Şahin 2005; Şahin 2012; Öncü 2017), it was also claimed to be an “original”/“indigenous work” (Tevfik 1945, back cover of vol. 2; Çalapala 1972, 5; Gündüz 2017, 39) and was regarded as a “pseudo translation” (Tahir Gürçağlar 2008, 228). In light of these claims, this study explores the interlingual translational adventure of the work. Another edition without an author’s name was produced by Yeni Kitapçı in 1937 and contains the note, “Translator: Kemal Tahir.” The same text was later published in 1945 and 1953 by Ahmet Halit Yaşaroğlu as “adjusted and transferred from German by Kemal Tahir” and is categorized as an ‘interlingual translation’ (Öncü 2017). Tahir’s work was also referred to as a “revision” (Şahin 2005, 2; Tahir Gürçağlar 2008, 228) or “summary” (Çalapala 1972, 5) of Tevfik’s text. Taking the relationship between Tahir’s and Tevfik’s texts as ‘intralingual translation,’ this study provides an analysis of the similarities and differences between the two texts within the context of translation studies.

Keywords

• Bir Çalgıcının Seyahati,Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts,translation/original,pseudo translation,intralingual translation

References

1. Alimen, Nilüfer. 2010. “The Ideological Aspect of the Pseudotranslations in Turkey: An Analysis of Kemal Tahir’s Pseudotranslations of Mike Hammer Series.” Master’s thesis, Aston University.
2. Alimen, Nilüfer. 2018. “Polisiye Edebiyatımızda Çeviriler ve Sözde Çeviriler.” [Translations and pseudo translations in Turkish crime fiction.] Paper presented at the 5th Asoscongress International Symposium on Philology, Istanbul, October 25–27.
3. Alt, Nil. 2008. “A Gender-Based Study of Nihal Yeğinobalı’s Pseudo-Translation Genç Kızlar.” Master’s thesis, Boğaziçi University.
4. Baydere, Muhammed. 2019. “Çalıkuşu’nun Çeviri Serüveni.” [The translational adventure of Çalıkuşu.] Unpublished manuscript, last modified July 3. Microsoft Word file.
5. Baydere, Muhammed, and Ayşe Banu Karadağ. 2019. “Çalıkuşu’nun Öz-Çeviri Serüveni Üzerine Betimleyici Bir Çalışma.” [A descriptive study on the self-translation adventure of Çalıkuşu.] In “2nd International Rumeli Symposium [Language, Literature, Translation],” edited by Yakup Yılmaz and Fatih Başpınar. Special Issue, RumeliDE Journal of Language and Literature Studies, no. 5, 314–333. doi:10.29000/rumelide.606165.
6. Bengi-Öner, Işın. (1990) 1999. “Çeviribilim, Çeviri Kuramı ve Sözdeçeviriler.” [Translation Studies, translation theory, and pseudo translations.] Chap. 1 in Çeviri Bir Süreçtir… Ya Çeviribilim? [Translation is a process... What about Translation Studies?] Istanbul: Sel.
7. Berk Albachten, Özlem. 2013. “Intralingual Translation as ‘Modernization’ of the Language: The Turkish Case.” Perspectives 21 (2): 257–271. doi:10.1080/0907676X.2012.702395.
8. Berk Albachten, Özlem. 2015. “The Turkish Language Reform and Intralingual Translation.” In Tradition, Tension and Translation in Turkey, edited by Şehnaz Tahir Gürçağlar, Saliha Paker, and John Milton, 165–180. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

9. Berk Albachten, Özlem. 2019. “Challenging the Boundaries of Translation and Filling the Gaps in Translation History: Two Cases of Intralingual Translation from the 19th-Century Ottoman Literary Scene.” In Moving Boundaries in Translation Studies, edited by Helle V. Dam, Matilde Nisbeth Brøgger, and Karen Korning Zethsen, 168–180. London: Routledge. PDF e-book.
10. Boy, Hülya. 2018. “Eflatun Kız within the Context of Translation Studies: A Conceptual (Re)Framing.” transLogos Translation Studies Journal 1 (1): 64–91. doi:10.29228/transLogos.1/1.9.
11. Boy, Hülya. 2019. “Bir Çalgıcının Seyahati’nin Türk Edebiyat ve Kültür Dizgesindeki Diliçi Çeviri Macerası.” [The intralingual translation adventure of Bir Çalgıcının Seyahati in the Turkish literary and cultural system.] Paper presented at the 2nd International Rumeli [Language, Literature, Translation] Symposium, Kırklareli, April 12–13.
12. Çalapala, Rakım. 1972. “Bu Romanın Hikâyesi.” [The story of this novel.] In Bir Çalgıcının Seyahati [The travels of a musician], translated by Mehmet Tevfik, 5–6. Istanbul: Atlas.
13. Demircioğlu, Cemal. 2005. “From Discourse to Practice: Rethinking ‘Translation’ (Terceme) and Related Practices of Text Production in the Late Ottoman Literary Tradition.” PhD diss, Boğaziçi University.
14. Demircioğlu, Cemal. 2009. “Osmanlı Çeviri Tarihi Araştırmaları Açısından ‘Terceme’ ve ‘Çeviri’ Kavramlarını Yeniden Düşünmek.” [Rethinking the concepts of ‘terceme’ and ‘çeviri’ from the perspective of studies on Ottoman translation history.] In “Festschrift in Honor of Cem Dilçin,” edited by Zehra Toska. Special Issue, Journal of Turkish Studies 33 (1): 159–177. https://demircioglucemal.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/a3_2009_terceme-ve-c3a7eviri-kavramlarc4b1nc4b1-yeniden-dc3bcc59fc3bcnmek.pdf.
15. Eichendorff, Joseph Freiherrn von. 1826. Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts und das Marmorbild [From the life of a good-for-nothing and the marble statue]. Berlin: Vereinsbuchhandlung.
16. Even-Zohar, Itamar. 1990. “The Position of Translated Literature within the Literary Polysystem.” Poetics Today 11 (1): 45–51. doi:10.2307/1772668.
17. Gündüz, Doğan. 2017. “Bir Kitabın Serüveni: Bir Haylazın Hayatı’ndan Bir Çalgıcının Seyahati’ne... Bir Kitabın Macerası!” [A book’s journey: From Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts to Bir Çalgıcının Seyahati... The adventure of a book!] İyi Kitap, no. 90, 38–39. https://issuu.com/tudem/docs/iyikitap_90.
18. Kalem Bakkal, Aslı. 2019. “From the ‘Real’ Author to the ‘Real’ Reader: Manipulation in Translation.” transLogos Translation Studies Journal 2 (1): 85–101. doi:10.29228/transLogos.2/1.5.
19. Karadağ, Ayşe Banu. 2019. “Türk Edebiyat ve Kültür Dizgesinin Konukseverliğinde Çeviri Roman Deneyimi.” [Experience of translated novels with the hospitality of the Turkish literary and cultural system.] Doğu-Batı 22 (88): 9–25.
20. Lefevere, André. 1982. “Mother Courage’s Cucumbers: Text, System and Refraction in a Theory of Literature.” Modern Language Studies 12 (4): 3–20. doi:10.2307/3194526.
21. Lefevere, André. 1992. Translation, Rewriting, and the Manipulation of Literary Fame. London: Routledge.
22. Lefevere, André. 2014. “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. New York: Routledge.
23. O’Sullivan, Carol. 2011. “Pseudotranslation.” In Handbook of Translation Studies, edited by Yves Gambier and Luc van Doorslaer, 2:123–125. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
24. Öncü, Mehmet Tahir. 2017. Türkçe Çeviriler Bibliyografyası: Dünya Edebiyatından Çeviriler [Bibliography of Turkish translations: Literatures of the world in Turkish translation]. Edited by Bahar Aliye Sertdemir and Gökhan Abacı. Istanbul: Hiperyayın.
25. Öztürk Baydere, Hilal. 2019. “Türk Edebiyatını Diliçi Çevirilerden Okumak: Osmanlıcada ve Günümüz Türkçesinde Refik Halid’in Guguklu Saat’i.” [Reading Turkish literature through intralingual translations: Refik Halid’s Guguklu Saat in Ottoman and modern Turkish.] In Çeviri Üzerine Gözlemler [Observations on translation], edited by Seda Taş, 223–241. Istanbul: Hiperyayın.
26. Öztürk Kasar, Sündüz. 2009. “Les Pseudo-Traductions de Nihal Yeğinobalı: Auctorialité Féminine et Émancipation.” [The pseudo translations of Nihal Yeğinobalı: Female authorship and emancipation.] In Femmes Écrivains à la Croisée des Langues 1700-2000, edited by Agnese Fidecaro, Henriette Partzsch, Suzan van Dijk, and Valérie Cossy, 187–197. Geneva: Métis Presses.
27. Paker, Saliha. 2014. “Terceme, Te’lîf ve Özgünlük Meselesi.” [The issue of terceme, te’lif, and originality.] In Metnin Hâlleri: Osmanlı’da Telif, Tercüme ve Şerh [The states of text: Original, translation and commentary in the Ottoman tradition], edited by Hatice Aynur, Müjgân Çakır, Hanife Koncu, Selim S. Kuru, and Ali Emre Özyıldırım, 36–71. Istanbul: Klasik.
28. Rambelli, Paolo. 2009. “Pseudotranslation.” In Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, edited by Mona Baker and Gabriela Saldanha, 208–211. London: Routledge.
29. Safa, Peyami. (1951) 2018. Yalnızız [We are lonely]. Istanbul: Ötüken.
30. Serhan, Fatma İrfan. 1979. Kemal Tahir’den Fatma İrfan’a Mektuplar [Letters from Kemal Tahir to Fatma İrfan]. Istanbul: Sander.
31. Şahin, Yelda. 2005. “Eichendorffs Novelle Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts und ihre Übersetzungen ins Türkische: Eine übersetzungs- und literatur-wissenschaftliche Untersuchung.” [Eichendorff’s novella Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts and its Turkish translations: A Translation and Literature Studies research.] PhD diss., Mersin University.
32. Şahin, Yelda. 2012. “Die übersetzungsstrategische Grundposition der Belles Infidèles bei der Übersetzung europäischer Literatur in der Tanzimat-Periode.” [The positioning of belles infidèles in terms of translation strategies in the translation of European literature in the Tanzimat period.] Hacettepe University Journal of Faculty of Letters 29 (2): 137–156. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/619395.
33. Tahir, Kemal, trans. 1937. Bir Çalgıcının Seyahatı [The travels of a musician]. n.p.: Yeni Kitapçı.
34. Tahir, Kemal, trans. 1945. Bir Çalgıcının Seyahati [The travels of a musician]. Istanbul: Ahmet Halit Yaşaroğlu.
35. Tahir, Kemal, trans. 1953. Bir Çalgıcının Seyahati [The travels of a musician]. Istanbul: Ahmet Halit Yaşaroğlu.
36. Tahir Gürçağlar, Şehnaz. 2008. The Politics and Poetics of Translation in Turkey, 1923-1960. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
37. Tahir Gürçağlar, Şehnaz. 2010. “Scouting the Borders of Translation: Pseudotranslation, Concealed Translations and Authorship in Twentieth-Century Turkey.” In “Contemporary Perspectives on Translation in Turkey,” edited by Elif Daldeniz. Special Issue, Translation Studies 3 (2): 172–187. doi:10.1080/14781701003647384.
38. 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, 123–148. Istanbul: Hiperyayın.
39. Tevfik, Mehmet, trans. 1907/1908. Bir Çalgıcının Seyahati [The travels of a musician]. 2 vols. Istanbul: Saadet Matbaası.
40. Tevfik, Mehmet, trans. 1921. Bir Çalgıcının Seyahati [The travels of a musician]. Istanbul: İkbal Kütüphanesi.
41. Tevfik, Mehmet, trans. 1926. Bir Çalgıcının Seyahati [The travels of a musician]. Istanbul: İkbal Kütüphanesi.
42. Tevfik, Mehmet, trans. 1945. Bir Çalgıcının Seyahati [The travels of a musician]. 2 vols. n.p.: Semih Lûtfi.
43. Tevfik, Mehmet, trans. 1972. Bir Çalgıcının Seyahati [The travels of a musician]. Istanbul: Atlas.
44. Toury, Gideon. 1995. Descriptive Translation Studies — and Beyond. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
45. Yeni Sabah. 1940. “Yeni Tefrikamız Bir Çalgıcının Seyahati.” [Our new serial Bir Çalgıcının Seyahati.] July 7. Accessed July 19, 2019. http://gazeteler.ankara.edu.tr/dergiler/68/1701/25780.pdf.