The Power and Burden of Self-Translation: Representation of “Turkish Identity” in Elif Shafak’s The Bastard of Istanbul

Akbatur, Arzu

doi:10.1057/978-1-137-50781-5_6

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…It is also another point that is believed to be of particular importance situating the self-translation act of a Turkish subject within the context of hybridity and plurality in the migrated country, where there is a different relation other than colonization. As Akbatur (2017) states "in some contexts, these issues immediately bring to mind the traditional western/eastern divide and the tendency to equate "minor" languages/literatures with the "non-western" (119). On this basis, this study traces the past and present of a subject through the actual translation strategies adopted during the writing-translating process in her/his entirety of historicity and relativity to experiences, realities, and memories.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Öz Çevi̇ri̇de Özne? Bi̇r Vaka Çalişmasi: Bi̇r Türk Ai̇lesi̇ni̇n Öyküsü

EMİRKADI

2023

JASSS

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In this study, self-translation is discussed in the search for the subject in line with the concepts of migration, minor literature, de/reterritorialization, and infusion of horizons. Subject, with its historicity and relativity/contextuality, is suggested to be in a constant move between territories and horizons in need to translate himself/herself into another language, which is considered the major/dominant language. Nevertheless, this majority is suggested to be due to linguistic relativity, meaning that the subject will be under the symbolic domination of the language s/he migrated into. Therefore, the approach, in which the major language is considered to be a Western language and having domination over the others is not adopted; rather it is suggested that the subject, whatever the language is, can be in an active relationship with the language of the new land by not being exposed to colonizing power relations. This active relationship will be followed up by a self-translating process, in which translation strategies are adopted. Accordingly, a descriptive case study is conducted on the self-translation of a Turkish writer, İrfan Orga, who self-translated his socio-cultural realities and experiences into English as a result of his migration into another land. The two mentioned languages have no common post-colonial past. In the data analysis, it is seen that the translation strategies of in-text translation and in-text contextualization, which are discussed within the postcolonial context by Bandia (2008), are employed by the self-translator, whose diversity and plurality are not assimilated but foregrounded within the text. Moreover, studying self-translation under the concepts of de/reterritorialization and the infusion of horizons supports the suggestion that self-translation is not a mere metaphor; rather it is an actual translation act that includes translation strategies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%