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Article published In: Babel
Vol. 67:6 (2021) ► pp.683–706

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Reframing an author’s image through the style of translation

The case of Latife Tekin’s Swords of Ice

 | Hacettepe University
Published online: 22 December 2021
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https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00246.dur
Abstract
This paper seeks to explore how the style of translation reframes an author’s changing image. In light of the transformation of Latife Tekin from being considered an author of the poor and dispossessed with whom she identifies to being acknowledged as a translator who channels the marginal world of the dispossessed people into the mainstream, as evidenced in various paratextual and metatextual discourses in Turkey, the study focuses on the style of the English translation of Tekin’s Buzdan Kılıçlar (Swords of Ice). The study underlines that an author’s ontological narrative, which feeds into his or her image, may impact the style of the translation of his or her work. Noting that the style of translation may serve as a way of responding to an author’s ontological narrative, the study highlights that the stylistic features (i.e., italics and quotation marks) added to the translation of Buzdan Kılıçlar appear to be in interplay with the narratives that prepared the ground for Tekin’s self-identification as a translator. Ultimately, the study points out that those stylistic features foreground not only the cultural other against Turkey’s modern and secular establishment but also the Oriental other against Western modernity.
Résumé
Cet article cherche à explorer comment le style de traduction recadre l’image changeante d’un auteur. À la lumière de la transformation de Latife Tekin, qui est passée du statut d’auteur des pauvres et des dépossédés, auxquels elle s’identifie, à celui de traductrice qui canalise le monde marginal des dépossédés vers le courant dominant, comme en témoignent divers discours paratextuels et métatextuels en Turquie, l’étude se concentre sur le style de la traduction anglaise de Buzdan Kılıçlar (Épées de glace). L’étude souligne que le récit ontologique d’un auteur qui alimente son image peut avoir un impact sur le style de la traduction de son œuvre. Notant que le style de la traduction peut servir de moyen de réponse au récit ontologique d’un auteur, l’étude souligne que les caractéristiques stylistiques (c’est-à-dire l’italique et les guillemets) ajoutées à la traduction de Buzdan Kılıçlar semblent être en interaction avec les récits qui ont préparé le terrain pour l’auto-identification de Tekin en tant que traductrice. En fin de compte, l’étude souligne que ces caractéristiques stylistiques mettent en avant non seulement l’autre culturel contre l’establishment moderne et laïc de la Turquie, mais aussi l’autre oriental contre la modernité occidentale.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The image(s) of Latife Tekin
    • 2.1Tekin’s authorial image
    • 2.2Tekin’s translatorial image
  • 3.The role of style in reframing Tekin’s translatorial image in translation
    • 3.1Theoretical background
    • 3.2The effect of Latife Tekin’s ontological narrative on the style of the English translation
      • 3.2.1Foregrounding the social alienation of the other
      • 3.2.2Foregrounding the inner voice of the dispossessed
      • 3.2.3Foregrounding culture-specific items
      • 3.2.4Foregrounding the code-switching events
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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