Transnationalizing world novels: issues of literary translation and circulation in Turkey and in the Sinosphere

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the international circulation of three literary works characterized by their creative use of mixed/hybridized and the comparison between the original versions and their translations. The thesis analyzes the linguistic, stylistic, cultural challenges of the translations in Turkish and Chinese, speculates on possible reasons affecting the circulation of these world novels. The three world novels are written mostly in English, categorized academically under Anglophone or English literature, often the world literature section in bookstores. The Turkish and Chinese translations published in markets that inherit important literature and culture from previous empires—Ottoman Empire and Qing Dynasty—were multilingual and multicultural with territories that could be considered transnationalized from today’s perspective. The three texts are translated with different strategies in the Republic of Turkey, People’s Republic of China, and Republic of China(Taiwan). In addition to the themes of the novels themselves and the use of mixed languages, the cultural capitals of the authors, translators, publishers, and critics have also influenced the circulation of these novels.