Translator, Traitor: In Search of Pound's Poetics in Turkish Translations of 'Canto I'

Year 2022, Volume: 12 Issue: 23, 77 - 94, 27.01.2022

Utku Tönel

https://doi.org/10.33207/trkede.956194

Abstract

Translating the Imagist poetry of Ezra Pound has always been a challenge and a blessing for literary translators as Pound's poetics is tangled with his approach to verse translation. This paper argues that two Turkish translations of Ezra Pound's 'Canto I' fail to implement his approach to translation although both metapoems acknowledge the Imagist principles. The first part describes Pound's poetics and the central position translation holds within his understanding of poetry, and the second part provides an analysis of İlhan Berk's and Efe Murad's Turkish translations of 'Canto I' through Pound's poetics and J.S. Holmes's forms of verse translation.

Keywords

imagism, The Cantos, Ezra Pound, İlhan Berk, Efe Murad, verse translation

Translator, Traitor: In Search of Pound’s Poetics in Turkish Translations of ‘Canto I’

Abstract

Poetikası şiir çevirisine yaklaşımıyla iç içe olduğundan, Ezra Pound’un imajist şiiri çevirmenler için her zaman bir imtihan, öte yandan da bir nimet olmuştur. Bu makale Ezra Pound’un ‘Canto I’ şiirinin iki Türkçe çevirisinin, her iki metaşiirin de İmajist ilkeleri kabullenmesine karşın, şairin çeviriye yaklaşımını hayata geçirmekte başarısız olduklarını öne sürmektedir. Makalenin ilk kısmı Pound’un poetikasını, şairin şiir anlayışı içinde çevirinin merkezi yerini tanımlarken, ikinci kısmı ise ‘Canto I’in İlhan Berk ve Efe Murad tarafından yapılan Türkçe çevirilerinin Pound’un poetikası ve J.S. Holmes’un şiir çevirisi biçimleri açısından bir incelemesini sunar.

Keywords

imajizm, Kantolar, Ezra Pound, İlhan Berk, Efe Murad, şiir çevirisi

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