Reflections of allusions in translation: A comparative analysis of the Turkish versions of The French Lieutenant’s Woman

Türkçe

This study is concerned with a comparative analysis of the Turkish translations of John Fowles's novel, The French Lieutenant's Woman, (Fransız Teğmenin Kadını by Aslı Biçen and Askerin Kadını by Nihal Yeğinobalı), with special focus on how allusions were handled in their translations.Within this context, as a major type of intertextuality, allusions will be the central focus of this study.Specific samples selected from the novel and their translations will be analyzed in the light of Ritva Leppihalme's strategies for rendering allusions, particularly on the basis of her classification of proper-name and key-phrase allusions.It has been found that Biçen and Yeğinobalı's strategies for translating allusions represent two different ways of rendering allusions.While Biçen tried to keep faithful to the source text as much as possible by retaining its allusive characteristics, Yeğinobalı favoured a target-oriented approach by sometimes omitting the allusions that sound quite foreign to the receptor culture.Leppihalme's views offer some justification for each of her potential strategies for rendering alusions.Based on Leppihalme's views, this study aims to show that, whatever strategy the translator uses (retention of proper-name allusion or minimum change of key-phrase allusion), a successful translation entails accommodating the needs of target-text readers when selecting the optimum strategy for rendering allusions.If a translator fails to convey the connotative and pragmatic meaning of allusions in the source text, the target reader is faced with "culture bumps".Such translations turn out to be "puzzling and "impenetrable" for target readers, and deprive them of the chance to participate actively in the reading process.To resolve this problem, a midway solution must be found in translation in order to effectively convey the sense of allusions in the source text to the audience of a different culture.