‘Modernist novel’ project receives TUBITAK support

The research project of Prof. Neslihan Kansu Yetkiner, Head of Department of English Translation and Interpretation, Izmir University of Economics (IUE), and Asst. Prof. Ilgın Aktener on how 13 world-famous modernist novels are presented to Turkish society, was accepted by TUBITAK. Stating that TUBITAK has decided to support 213 projects out of one thousand 740 projects in Turkey this year, and that their projects is one of the projects to be supported, Prof. Kansu Yetkiner said, “We will review 55 different translations of 13 controversial and sensational novels in their source culture on the basis of paratexts within the scope of our project. We will not translate the books verbatim and will determine how these works are presented to the public with different discourses by examining all texts and visuals in the foreword, afterword, note section of the translator or publisher, author information section, front and back covers, briefly all the paratexts.”

The project, which was prepared by Prof. Neslihan Kansu Yetkiner, IUE Head of Department of English Translation and Interpretation, Faculty of Arts and Science, and Asst. Prof. Ilgın Aktener, as a result of intensive work despite the difficult pandemic conditions, will be completed in two years. As Prof. Yetkiner oversees the coordination of the project, Asst. Prof. Aktener undertakes researching. "Tobacco Road", "God Little Acre" and "Tragic Ground" by Erskine Caldwell, "Sister Carrie" and "An American Tragedy" by Theodore Dreiser, "Sanctuary" by William Faulkner, "Point Counter Point” and “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley, “The Rainbow” and “Lady Chatterley's Lover” by D.H. Lawrence,“Tropic of Cancer” and “Tropic of Capricorn” by Henry Miller, and “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov will be reviewed as part of the project.

DETAILED REVIEW

Sharing the details of the project, Prof. Kansu Yetkiner said, “The work we will do within the scope of the project is not the verbatim translation of books into Turkish. We will review the paratexts that serve as the threshold between the real world and the fictional work in presenting a work to the public in 55 different translations of 13 books available on the market. We will focus on how these books are presented to the reader. We will focus on the forewords, front and back covers of the books, the statements created about the author and visuals. The paratexts are the channels that are the direct voice of the author, translator and publisher that clearly reveal the periodic cycles and political, socio-cultural dynamics. With each new translation, the paratexts may differ according to the publication purposes of the books. Our project is important in terms of extending the subject area of science of translation and creating a paratext analysis research design pattern which is systematic, both linguistically and visually, and applicable to other works by taking the translation issue beyond the examination of the translation text itself.”

DATABASE WILL BE CREATED

Prof. Kansu Yetkiner continued as follows: “Our project brings together two theoretical and methodological (paratexts and re-translation) focus of the review that are subject to different projects and gained great importance in the field of translation research in the world and in Turkey in recent years. Its broad scope and approaching the topic with a linguistic analysis method makes the project proposal valuable both in terms of studies in Turkey and international studies. After the budget phase of the project, a database will be created by collecting books published from the early republic period to the present day, they will be divided into periods, and then we will start working.”