A New (Mis)Conception in the Face of the (Un)Translatable: ‘Terscüme’

Year 2018, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 92 - 120, 25.12.2018

Muhammed Baydere

Abstract

The purpose of this
article is to examine the concept of ‘terscüme,’
a notion recently introduced to the Turkish literary system through the
translation of James Joyce’s Finnegans
Wake, with a focus on the translator’s possible reasons or motives for
coining the term. Seventy-seven years after the novel’s completion by Joyce, Finnegans Wake was translated into
Turkish twice in 2016, despite lingering doubts and controversy regarding its
translatability. Interestingly enough, the first translation titled Finneganın Vahı was released as a ‘terscüme,’ a word derived from the Turkish word tercüme (translation). Having certain
negative implications for the work as a translation, ‘terscüme’ could be translated into English as ‘counter-translation,’
‘inverse translation,’ or ‘contrary translation,’ among other possibilities. In
addition, the translator intentionally presents himself as a ‘Turkicizer,’ as
opposed to a ‘translator.’ In order to discover the translator’s reasons for
placing a seemingly negative cast on the ‘translation’ of this so-called ‘untranslatable’
work, this article considers paratextual elements (Genette 1997) as a research
tool and supports them with textual elements. This study argues that what gave
rise to the concept of ‘terscüme’ could
be the translator’s reticence to assume the essentialist responsibility that
would be imposed on a work called a ‘translation’ and designated by the name ‘translator’.
The study concludes that the essentialist perspective on translation may cause
the translator to avoid that title and seek to attain visibility under
different names for himself/herself and his/her work.

Keywords

terscüme, untranslatability, translator’s invisibility, essentialism, Finnegans Wake

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